5 ways women sabotage their body confidence

Could you be stuck in the body confidence trap?

I regularly see women sabotaging their chances of having a better relationship with their body.

I’ve found there are a few common ways this can happen, which I collectively call ‘The Body Confidence Trap’.

Lurking in the trap are misconceptions about what body confidence means, and what it takes to improve it.

Falling into this trap makes your journey towards better body image harder than it needs to be, but having an awareness of these pitfalls will help you to navigate them.

Listen or read below:

Here are 5 ways you may be falling into the trap:

1. Not having a clear understanding of what body confidence means

Body confidence is how comfortable you feel in your body, and it’s determined by your body image – the way you think and feel about your body. Body image isn’t about the way your body physically looks.

There is a misconception that body confidence is determined by what your body looks like. This is something that the diet, beauty and fitness industries play on. They want you to believe that the key to better body image is changing your body. But the real key is understanding your body beliefs and challenging and reframing these.

Key take-away:  The key to better body confidence starts with the mind, not the body.

2. Thinking you have to love everything about your body to be body confident

Being body confident doesn’t mean you have to love everything (or even anything) about your body.

Rather, it means coming to a place of acceptance and respect for your body. You might love everything, but you might not. Either way it’s fine. You don’t even have to like your body, but you do need to move away from hating it.

Key take-away: You don’t have to love or even like everything about your body to feel comfortable in it.

3. Believing that working on body confidence means working ON your body

Feeling comfortable in your skin happens when you think about your body in an accepting, respectful and compassionate way.

Body confidence isn’t found in the latest diet, exercise programme or beauty regime. These work on the physical body, not the root cause of poor body image – unhelpful conditioning about your body and the negative thoughts and feelings it creates.

Key take-away: You don’t have to change your body to be body confident.

4. Believing your body IS the problem

Negative feelings about your body are not always what they seem. Dislike of the body is often dissatisfaction with your life turned on the body.

So, it’s sometimes easier to blame your body for what’s not working in your life than face difficult emotions or challenges.

Choosing not to start dating again until your body is more ‘acceptable’ is one way to avoid being rejected or hurt by a potential partner. BUT, it’s also a limiting and dissatisfying way to live your life if you genuinely want to be in a relationship.

Focusing on what you want from life, rather than your looks will improve your self-worth, which in turn has a positive impact on body image.

Key take-away: Focus on your LIFE not your looks.

5. Looking for body confidence from others

If you are relying on compliments from others about your appearance, you are looking outside of yourself for body confidence.

And, if you rely on others to validate your body or looks, you’re equating physical appearance with body confidence.

Body confidence comes from inside of you. It’s that feeling of being at peace and ease within your skin, regardless of what it looks like or what anyone else thinks about it.

When you accept your body, you also accept that others may not.

Key takeaway: Look for body confidence within you, not from others.

In what ways are you sabotaging your body confidence? Leave me a comment below.

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