Updated on October 23rd, 2023 at 07:36 pm
If you’re struggling with feeling confident with your body, it can really make life quite stressful.
You’ll find yourself constantly questioning if you look good, you’ll be checking yourself in the mirror frequently, or you might avoid them completely.
Losing body confidence can lead to you questioning everything about yourself, and it can be hard to recover from. But just know that all hope is not lost!
We’ve put together a list of 6 steps to help you be body confident again, and if you follow this advice, you’ll be able to live your best life without worrying about body image at all!
What is body image?
To understand body confidence, you have to understand body image. Body image is a person’s personal perception of their physical self and appearance. It can be a positive body image or a negative body image, but it will always be an opinion about the way you look at yourself.
Body image can be influenced by lots of things, and at the moment, one of the biggest influences is social media, but we will get into that a bit later.
How to be confident with your body
There are lots of different ways you can gain confidence in your body and the way you look. From portraying confidence in your body language to dressing in clothes that make you feel good, once you have these little tricks in place, your mind will naturally start to think positively about your body.
Pretty much everything about body image and confidence stems from mental health, so if you can train your mind to love your body, you will naturally gain more confidence. Let’s have a look at 6 steps you can do to train yourself to be more confident in your body image.
1. Do something that challenges you physically
While most people don’t enjoy exercise, you’d be surprised how much of a huge impact it has on both your physical and mental health. If you’re feeling self-conscious about your body and your body issues are stemming from your weight, then this is quite literally the best thing you can do to get past your negative body image.
Exercise will help you lose weight, stay healthy, and regulate your energy, and it will release endorphins in your mind that will keep you in a positive place. There is no downside to exercising, and when you find a form of exercise that you actually enjoy on a daily basis, you’ll find that exercise isn’t as much of a chore as you first thought.
2. Do things that make you feel confident
Having a better body image doesn’t always mean you have to do something physical. If you start doing things that make you feel confident more regularly, you’ll find that that confidence will extend to the way you look too.
If you have a hobby or a skill, you’re especially good at, carve out more time for it! Hobbies and interests are meant to be there to help us enjoy life more and feel better about ourselves. If you’re an artist, work on a new piece and really pour your soul into it. If you sing or play an instrument, have a jam session and really go for it. Impress yourself with your skills! When we do well at something, it naturally increases our confidence in every aspect of our lives.
3. Confidence in body language
If you want to be more confident in your body, you have to project that confidence in the first place! When we project positive body language, we will naturally start to feel like more of a confident person.
If you find yourself slouching when you stand or sit, stretch your spine out and stand/sit tall! Always make eye contact with anyone when you talk to them, and mirror other people’s body language so they get the vibe that you are engaged with them.
Confident body language is one of the best ways to regain confidence in our body image.
4. Don’t look at your scales
It can be very tempting to constantly check your weight, but this will do you no good for your body image overall. Even if you do an intense workout, DON’T check the scales.
To regain your body confidence, you need to spend some time away from monitoring your weight. You won’t see changes and results in your body straight away, so give yourself a chance first!
5. Dress to impress
Everyone has clothes that make them feel like a million dollars, and that goes for you too! Sometimes the best way to feel confident in the way you look is to break out your favorite outfit and flaunt it!
Don’t wear things that make you feel “ugly”, “fat”, or whatever gives you a negative body image. You want to radiate positivity and wear things that make you think “Damn, I look GOOD!” Remember, we all have different body types and wear different clothing sizes, so wear things that compliment your own body type!
And if you have some areas that bother you, look for tips on how to address them like how to hide back fat,
6. Clean up your social media feeds
Finally, let’s talk about social media. This is where most of your lack of confidence and bad mental health comes from. If you’re following any social media accounts that have impossible or perfect bodies, remove them from your feed immediately!
Most of the influencers and celebrity profiles are heavily edited to project a body image that just isn’t physically possible. The likelihood is your body is completely normal and fine, but all of these profiles will warp the reality of that. Unfollow any accounts that make you have a negative body image and watch how much better you will feel!
Conclusion
It really does suck when you stop being body confident. You don’t want to go anywhere and your mental health suffers. But if you follow the simple steps we’ve provided for you here, you will start to see a drastic improvement and regain your body positivity!
This change in perspective won’t happen overnight, but if you are committed to squashing that negative mindset and feeling more confident, you will thank yourself later. Stay positive even when it seems impossible!