How to boost your body confidence

Our bodies are constantly changing due to our diet, age and more. We have to adjust our body image all of the time to keep up. On top of that, there are all those picture perfect photo’s on social media of picture perfect bodies. It’s no wonder all of us feel ashamed of our bodies sometimes, even if some are ashamed more than most. However, there are some things you can do to boost your body confidence.

The miracle of the body

Whenever I feel down about my body, I dive into things that interest me about the body; how brains work, how the gut influences your entire body or how it derives energy from several sources to function optimally. Although I might not feel happy with for instance my belly at that point, I still respect how it works. This gets us to the second point.

Take care of your body

Somehow, taking good care of your body makes you feel better about it. It not only helps to actually improve how it looks in many ways, since skincare, exercise and good food can help all facets of your look. It also helps you love it more. Putting effort into self love and learning about how your body works will help you much more in looking at your body like the amazing machine it is. This is a way better focus than focussing on how others see it. Also, working on your body (exercise and diet) will make you proud of yourself. Hopefully, a general sense of pride will help your body confidence a boost as well. The more you take care of it, the better it’ll become, the more you see it improve and the more you’ll have to love. It’s an upward spiral.

Focus on the parts you love

Everyone has parts of his or her body that you hate, but everyone also has parts that you like or even love. That’s what body positivity is all about! To start with focussing on the parts you already love, makes it easier to be nicer to yourself and it’ll make the ‘bad’ parts seem better as well. Looking for the things you don’t like will only get you down, so there’s no use in doing that. The only way that’ll help is if there are things that you can improve if it’s an option within reason. For instance, if you don’t like your belly fat like me, there are two things you can do: you can exercise more and diet or you can accept it.

Having said this, there are some things to consider in this regard. Although I don’t like the sight of my belly, I am still within the limits of a healthy weight. Although I could exercise more and eat better, it could also be way, way worse. I think that if things are really impacting your health, you might want to be a little bit stricter. For instance, my main reason to start dieting was because prior diet was seriously impacting my mental health. Sugar and alcohol can severely impact physical and mental health both. Therefore, they might pose reasons to focus more on parts you like less to monitor them. However, you can still try to focus on parts you do like as well, since it’ll help you keep your motivation up for the rest of it!

Dress to impress yourself

What helped me most was to dress well. Although my belly isn’t the smallest, my waist is pretty slim. Therefore, clothes that accentuate my waist are great for me. I also have blue and green in my eyes, so those colours light them up. Looking in the mirror is therefore much more pleasant when I’m wearing a blue skater skirt than an orange, form-fitting dress. Although I’m not saying I shouldn’t wear dresses like that, it doesn’t do much good for my body confidence. Thus, I don’t see why I would. Learning how to dress well for your body type is therefore a great help when you’re trying to focus on the things you like about your body. The right clothes guide your eyes immediately to the right places. This is especially important when there are events you’re nervous for and here are more tips!

Take in the compliments

Getting a compliment, especially one you don’t agree with, is hard! There are a few stages to this I think. The thing a lot of people do is to downplay it or dismiss it; ‘It’s just the lighting’ or ‘I’m just having a good day’ or ‘yeah, thanks to the make-up it’s allright’. Another option is to take it, but not letting it in. You say thank you, but talk around it afterwards immediately, because it feels awkward and uncomfortable to really let it in.

However, this is all such a shame! People don’t generally give that many compliments to others. Therefore, when you get one, don’t be scared to take it in like a great gift! Try to believe them, because more often than not, people truly mean the compliment. When you start doing this, it will not only boost your own confidence, but it’s also much nicer for the giver. That way, chances are they’ll compliment much more often! This is again a way to get an upward spiral going. As a cherry on the cake, if you feel better, you’ll also be much more inclined to compliment others and share the positivity.

I hope these tips will help you out when you need to boost your body confidence. I you have tips, please add them in the comments below! What are your thoughts on the body positivity movement and how is your body image right now? If you liked this post, please subscribe to my blog to get my free e-book on saving money! You can also follow me on Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter, so you’ll never have to miss a new post!

Lots of love,

Lisa

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