It’s the New Year and this is when everyone around you is probably making resolutions to lose weight, work out, or do something to change the appearance of their body. This may have been you in years past but maybe you want to try something different. Sadly we know that 95 percent of diets will lead to more weight gain than what was lost. This leads to lower self-esteem and more focus on body image than before. A focus on weight loss may not be what you want to aim for this year.
Many women who struggle with body image issues will utilize a diet in hopes that it will help them feel better about their bodies. They’ll lose weight and feel better for a while, but it never feels like enough. I’m not here to make you feel guilty for wanting to lose weight. What I do want to do is help you find more ways to focus on improving your body image and getting to the core issues contributing to your discomfort.
Body Image Goals to try this New Year
There are so many goals that you could focus on in 2023 that can help you improve your body image. I want to offer four ideas to try but there are so many more to utilize.
Focus on being body positive
We live in a society obsessed with perfecting their bodies at whatever cost. You are probably surrounded by people in your life that don’t like their bodies and don’t hesitate to point it out. If you are prone to focus on your body’s flaws and the negative, this probably makes you feel more depressed and anxious about what you look like. You might feel angry at your body because it doesn’t look like what you want it to look like. I want to challenge you this new year to be more body positive. Body positivity means focusing on having more self-compassion for your body regardless of what it looks like. Being body-positive means focusing on having gratitude for your body and appreciating what it does. If this is the only focus of your entire year, you’d be crushing it. You will be surprised how your mental health improves when you focus on being kind and accepting of your body instead of changing it.
Stop making negative comments about appearance
I want this one so badly for you. When you look in the bathroom mirror, I want you to stop talking about how disgusting you look and how horrible your body is. When you put on a pair of jeans, I want you to withhold talking about how fat you are and how tight your pants are. I want you to withhold making these comments no matter how uncomfortable you might feel. Focus on whatever emotions you are feeling. “I feel fat” is not an emotional statement. I hope you’ll dig deeper into how you really feel. I know it can be hard to cope with negative body image. Another part of this goal that I want to gently remind you of is to not make negative comments about other people’s appearance. It doesn’t matter if you don’t think they should be wearing that short of shorts or a crop top.
Avoid Comparisons
Something many of the women I work with does that they don’t always realize until we talk about it is constantly comparing themselves to others. When you walk in a room of people, I want you to avoid seeing where you size up. You don’t need to look at who you are thinner or bigger than. You don’t need to compare your legs to the person sitting next to you. Comparisons always result in feeling badly or that you are losing at something. If you admire something about someone else it can just end there. You can like someone else hair without it meaning that your hair sucks. Take yourself out of the equation when it comes to other people and what they look like. How someone else appears has nothing to do with you, and it doesn’t need to. You can appreciate the qualities of other people without it making you feel terrible when you stop comparing.
Change who you follow on social media
Who you follow on social media can make a big difference in how you view your body or bodies in general. Along the same vein of comparison, social media can cause us to compare our appearance to images that have been filtered and facetuned. Even if they haven’t been changed or altered, it doesn’t help to follow people that put emphasis on their bodies. It’s ok to mute or unfollow people that are sharing weight loss or exercise tips. It doesn’t make you feel good or is making you think about your body more than you’d like, changing your social media feed can make a world of difference.
Try Body Image Therapy in Utah in 2023
There are many reasons to go to body image therapy in the New Year. Going to therapy to focus on healing from your body image issues would have a substantial impact on your life and your overall mental health. I understand it can be difficult to focus on changing how you think and feel about your body when there are some deep-seated beliefs and experiences. The goal of body image therapy is to help you work through those beliefs and experiences that you may struggle to do on your own. Body image therapy isn’t just about learning to stop hating your body but it’s about learning to challenge your overall negative beliefs about yourself. Body image therapy can start out as focusing on your body image struggles but you’d be surprised at what else comes up in a therapy session that can make a difference.
Start working with a body image therapist in Utah today
You don’t have to keep hating your body. You don’t have to have all-consuming thoughts about wishing your body looked different. Body image therapy can help. This Utah Counseling Practice has a body image therapist that specializes in treating body image issues. To start counseling follow these steps:
Meet with a therapist for body image issues
Begin healing
Online therapy in Utah
I know it’s not easy to make time to travel to another therapy appointment. It’s not convenient to leave work or home in the middle of the day when you have things to do. It also can be difficult when you need a therapist that specializes in treating the issue you work with but they don’t live in your town. This is why I offer online therapy in Utah. It’s just as effective as in-person therapy but much more convenient. I think you’ll love online therapy.
Online counseling means I work with clients all over the state of Utah including Provo, Salt Lake City, St. George, Heber City, Cedar City, Logan, and more.
Other mental health services in Utah
Body image therapy isn’t the only counseling service provided at this Utah Counseling Center. Other counseling services provided by Maple Canyon Therapy include counseling for college students, birth trauma therapy, EMDR therapy, anxiety therapy, eating disorder therapy, and binge eating disorder treatment in Utah. Reach out for a free 15-minute phone consultation to see how I can help.
About the Author
Ashlee Hunt is a licensed clinical social worker and founder of Maple Canyon Therapy in 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 obtained her master's degree in social work from Utah State University. Ashlee has a passion for working with women who struggle with perfectionism and don’t always see themselves accurately. She loves helping women gain more self-compassion and to be able to heal from their past experiences. Ashlee knows that struggling with body image issues can have a profound impact on your mental health and can be difficult to navigate.