Body image, part two: Action

I've been mostly ticking the intuitive eating box, and mostly ticking the 'feel your emotions, don't eat them' box. However I am not doing ok on the self-esteem/body image front. I suppose it's a sign of progress that I am even thinking about body image as a problem instead of a hilariously ridiculous concept propagated in preteen magazines, but I still feel frustrated and upset.

Given that I only have a month left with my therapist, I think body image is something I have to fix myself, using the tools I've been taught. I realise this is going to be much harder than it looks, but gotta give it a stab! Summarised from this fantastic document:

Body image is a part of self-esteem. Having poor body image will contribute to having low self-esteem, meaning that you will feel worse about yourself overall. (Self-esteem is just how you feel about yourself.)

Body image has four components:

• The way you see yourself and your body (perceptual)
• The way you feel about how you look (affective)
• The thoughts and beliefs you feel about your body (cognitive)
• The things you do in relation to how you look (behavioural)

Ways you can fix your body image:

• Cognitive
• Working out what core beliefs I have in regards to my body
• Reframing those beliefs (focusing on the positives of my body and my skills beyond my body; setting goals around health and wellbeing rather than weight)
• Behavioural 
• Positive self-talk
• Avoiding comparing myself to other people
• Avoiding body images 'triggers' as much as possible (I can't avoid shopping!)

Examples of positive self-talk: ??? I'll just start with identifying instances of negative talk.


P.S. I went out with my friend today. She commented on "massive" the dish I'd ordered was a couple of times (she wasn't eating at all), but otherwise left it at that luckily.