If you are one of the many women that struggle with looking in the mirror, avoid photos, and are constantly thinking about how you need to change what you eat and exercise, that probably means you struggle with body image. I understand how hard it is to deal with these feelings day after day. It seems like no matter what you do you continue to hate what you look like. It doesn’t seem to matter. It can be hard to know where to start and how not to keep doing what you’ve always done when you know it won’t work long term.
Tips to improve your body image from a body image therapist
As a body image therapist, I work with women who really struggle to exist in their bodies. They can’t stand how they feel and they believe things would be better if they were smaller, or they just looked different. While that isn’t anywhere close to being the truth, I want to offer you some tips on how to relieve some of the body image stress.
Wear Clothes That are Comfortable
This might seem like a no-brainer but when you think about it how many items of clothing do you wear that you feel comfortable in? If you are constantly thinking about how tight your waistband is then you are going to be thinking about your body a ton more than when you are dressing comfortably. Dressing in comfortable clothes even if it means you go up a size can help you stop feeling so consumed by your body image. When clothes don’t feel right on your body you are more prone to think negatively and to spend more time considering ways to change your body. The solution might be to find different clothes.
Get rid of clothes that don’t fit
Every time I talk to my clients about getting rid of clothes that don’t fit, they tell me, “I don’t want to spend the money on new clothes!”. I totally understand that financially it can be difficult to get rid of the clothes that don’t fit and replace them with new ones. However, first I want to challenge you on whether is it really the money that is the biggest barrier to this. Or is it because you have rules for yourself on what size you can be or that you might hold beliefs about yourself if you go up a size? If it is financial stress, you can consider selling your clothes that don’t fit as well as consider buying clothes that do fit from a thrift store. Holding onto clothes that do not fit your body in hopes that you will lose weight or fear that you will gain weight is going to hold more power over you and your body than you realize.
Stop body checking
Body checking can be an unconscious behavior that you don’t realize you do to make sure your body is “ok”. Body checking can be looking in the mirror too often to check what you look like, weighing yourself, or measuring parts of your body to make sure it hasn’t changed. There are numerous behaviors that people can engage in that I couldn’t even name them all. I have had clients who have measured how their towel fits around their body after they shower to make sure their body hasn’t changed to other behaviors. Whatever they look like for you, work on decreasing these behaviors. They aren’t serving you and they are keeping you focused on your body and its size.
Don’t keep changing clothes
The women I work with have been known to change their clothes numerous times a day. It could be that you try on 5 outfits before leaving the house and you hate what you look like in all of them. It seems like the more and more you do this and look in the mirror the more and more unsatisfied you are. Please realize it’s how you feel about yourself and not the outfits that are causing the problem. If you are a compulsive clothes changer stick to not changing your outfit more than two times to start. Again, this is in an effort to help you stop focusing on what you look like. If you never looked in the mirror again, I think your life might be better for it. I’m not going to go to the extreme but if you can decrease it, you’ll likely feel better.
Body image therapy can help
If you are struggling with your body image, and you’ve done everything you can on your own, and you still feel horrible consider body image therapy. It’s not easy to overcome this all on your own especially when you’ve struggled with body image issues for a long time. Struggling with body image and going to therapy doesn’t mean that anything is wrong with you. It means that you are a person that wants to grow and change. That’s something admirable. You deserve to feel better about yourself and your body. Working with a body image therapist that can help you work through how you feel can change your life.
Ready to start working with a body image therapist in Utah?
You don’t have to keep battling with your body and cringe every time you look in the mirror. You can feel so much better about yourself and body image therapy can help. This Utah Counseling Clinic has a body image therapist specializing in treating body image. To begin therapy follow the steps below:
Schedule a free 15-minute phone consultation
Meet with a body image therapist in Utah
Start making peace with your body
Online therapy in Utah
I know it’s not always convenient to take time out of your schedule to travel to a therapy appointment. However, I believe therapy is worth it and can lead to big changes in your life. I want to make it more accessible for you, which is why I provide online therapy in Utah. This is safe and effective as much as in-person therapy is.
Online counseling means I can work with you wherever you are in Utah. I work with clients in Salt Lake City, Heber City, Logan, St. George, Cedar City, and more.
Other mental health services provided by Maple Canyon Therapy
Body image therapy isn’t the only mental health service provided by this Utah Counseling Center. Other mental health services provided by Maple Canyon Therapy include eating disorder therapy, anxiety therapy, EMDR therapy, and birth trauma.
About the Author
Ashlee Hunt is a therapist and owner of Maple Canyon Therapy in the state of Utah. Ashlee has a bachelor's degree in psychology and a bachelor's degree in family life and human development from Southern Utah University. She has a master's degree from Utah State University in Social Work. Ashlee works with women who struggle with eating disorders and negative body image by helping them utilize self-compassion. She has been working with women with eating disorders since 2013 and hopes to continue working with these wonderful women forever. When Ashlee isn’t doing therapy she enjoys spending time outside and playing with her Goldendoodles in Spanish Fork.