Love Your Body

We’ve been doing a bit of homework and have been startled at how negative our nation has become about body image and weight. So here are our 6 suggestions for starting to love your body again! Let us know how you do on your new diet of body love!

Positive body image is an important element of emotional well being and yet we are so good at doing ourselves down.

Do you have a feel good strategy?

As a society we are terrible at defining how we feel about ourselves in terms of our bodies. We focus a lot of time and attention on how we look. Defining yourself in terms of appearance is a dangerous route to take for your self-esteem so how about actively trying looking at yourself from other perspectives? Write down the activities that you really value. Perhaps these are spending time with your friends or volunteering. It’s important to remember that so much matters more in your life than your appearance. 

Let us know what matters to you more than your appearance #LoveYourBody.

Did you know that fewer than 5% of the population could ever realistically attain the body ideals currently presented in visual media and advertising?

Be your own person; love your body for what it is!

It is time to stop chasing after unrealistic and unattainable goals and start being yourself and accentuating your best bits! This is all very Gok Wan isn’t it? But we should celebrate our differences and unique features, rather than striving after these pin up ideals.

Let us know what you love about your body – just as it is! #LoveYourBody

Cultivating and maintaining an appearance ideal is often seen to be more important than maintaining good health

What do you do to look after your body?

Everyone has become so pre-occupied with weight that we might have forgotten than you can be healthy at any weight. In fact keeping your body healthy should not be about weight loss! Moderate bits of exercise here and there are much better than a weight loss goal. And when we say moderate, we mean moderate. One of the best ways to achieve this is to take a new hobby, maybe your’s is rock climbing, canoeing or dancing. Whatever floats your boat – just make sure you are having fun! 

So let us know what you do to look after your body! #LoveYourBody

Did you know that 60% of adults report that they feel ashamed of the way they look! ?!

Where are you hiding that pride?

60% feel ashamed. Now that is just ridiculous. Whichever way you look at it. We feel ashamed when we feel we are not good enough. Are you telling me that over half of the UK population isn’t good enough? There is beauty in everyone, and you know what? You won’t find it by standing on the scales. Taking pride in appearance is a state of mind, it is about looking in the mirror and saying, ‘I am proud to be me.’ Try picking out your favourite body parts; maybe it is your hair or your eyes, maybe it’s your fingers or your ears. There is so much more to appearance than weight, but it’s up to you to remember that! A great suggestion is to put your best bits on a post it note on the mirror, so you know where to look when you steal a glance.


Let’s be bold and brave and share what we are proud of – let us know which bits of your appearance you are most proud of. #Loveyourbody

Did you know 42% of girls and young women feel that the most negative part about being a female is the pressure to look attractive?

Can you see the bigger picture?

Who is forcing us to be attractive? Any chance ladies, that we are doing this to each other? Did we fight for the right to vote and the right to work alongside men only to judge each other on our appearance? We are very good at holding up beautiful women as ideals, our pop stars have to be beautiful, our models are beautiful, our actresses idealise what we wish we were, but are we forgetting many of the women who actually make society what it is today? What about the doctors and the teachers? What about Marie Curie, the only individual to be awarded Nobel Prizes in two fields of science or female astronauts who have walked in space? What about J K Rowling? What about the many inspirational business women? Perhaps we need new role models. Perhaps we need to check our own aspirations? 

Women, let us know who you find most inspiring. #Loveyourbody.

Around a quarter of the population is estimated to be on a diet at any one time in the UK

What is your happy weight?

Believe it or not dieting isn’t good for you. While dieting is often seen as a solution to health and body image dissatisfaction, Susie Orbach suggests that dieting is often part of our problem. Dieting can cause us to disconnect with internal hunger cues and lead to a preoccupation with food, making it harder to regulate what we eat in a healthy and natural manner. Worse, 95% of dieters regain the weight lost and many can gain additional weight within five years of initiating a diet regime or programme. Yo-yo dieting can actually be more dangerous to health than maintaining a high but stable weight.

So what is your happy weight? This is not going to be your ideal weight. We are not talking about that. We are talking about your body’s set-point? We are all built differently and our bodies will settle at different weights. It is much better to be healthy at your body’s happy weight than push for some ideal numbers. In our minds, worst of all, dieting leads to a preoccupation with what we are or are not eating. What a waste of headspace, just think about all the other things you could be enjoying if you weren’t worrying about the diets.

Let us know what is more important to you than thinking about the dreaded diet. #loveyourbody.

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