‎What is a body image?

If you have a body, you have a body image. And if you’re worried about being too fat or too thin, or feel unhappy with your personal appearance, you might be struggling with body image issues. Maintaining a healthy body image may be difficult, but you’re not alone, and there are many things you can do to feel better about yourself.

A healthy body image involves being comfortable in the body you have, and taking care of it, not thinking that your body is “perfect”. It also means basing your self-esteem on many aspects of who you are as a person, not just how much you weigh.

Research shows that the better you feel about yourself, the better you will take care of yourself, meaning that when you achieve a positive body image you’ll be more likely to take care of yourself as well!

What is body image?
Body image refers to “how you see yourself when you look in the mirror or when you picture yourself in your mind”.
It includes:

1. What you believe about your own appearance.
2. How you talk to yourselves and others about our bodies.
3. Your sense of how other people view your body and appearance.
4. How you feel in your body, not just about your body.

Negative Body Image is when:
1. You have a distorted perception of your shape.
2. You are convinced that only other people are attractive.
3. You feel ashamed, self-conscious, and anxious about your body.
4. You feel uncomfortable and awkward in your body.

Ways to improve body fitness

Read also: Meditate yourself to happiness

It is always okay to feel good about yourself – don’t let a machine tell you any differently. Neither weight nor body mass index tell us anything substantial about body composition and health. Eating habits, activity patterns, and other self-care choices are much more important.
Make a list of all the things your body lets you do. Read it and add to it often.

1. Create a list of people you admire: people who have contributed to your life, your community, or the world. Consider whether their appearance was important to their success and accomplishments.

2. Think about all the things you could accomplish with the time and energy you currently spend worrying about your body and appearance. Try one!

3. Find a method of exercise that you enjoy and do it regularly. Do it to make your body healthy and strong and because it makes you feel good instead of to lose weight. Exercise for the Three F’s: Fun, Fitness, and Friendship.

4. Realize that you cannot change your body type: lightly muscled, bulky, or rounded, you need to appreciate your body and work with your genetic inheritance.

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now