Struggling with your body image?

So often our body image impacts the food choices we make, whether we realise it or not.

Body image is deep rooted i.e a core belief that it’s not enough, or a sense of not feeling worthy & projected that onto body.

What we predict to see is more influential than what we actually see.

So instead of:

“Let me see what I look like”

The process is more like: “I already know this is going to be “wrong” - now I’m checking to confirm it”

That anticipation does a few things:

• It primes the brain to focus on certain areas of the body(bias)

• It creates anxiety (vulnerability factor for poor body image)

In other words, the mirror isn’t the start of the experience : the experience starts before the mirror.

To help you understand: The area of the brain that is responsible for body image is the parietal lobe, when thats activated our perception can be skewed e.g we don't see our bodies accurately / how everyone else see's it. Also, the brain create emotions by perceptions e.g if you ate "off plan" or skipped a session and had thoughts of gaining weight because of that; that perception would be more influential than how your body actually looks. Body image is most influenced by what we predict to see rather than what we actually. This is why when we feel out of control with life and or food our brain can filter what we see in the mirror aka "feeling fat".

Keep these points in mind to support yourself in managing those moments e.g "this isn't 100% accurate" can be comforting and help with emotional regulation too, which a whole other part of it. When you are dysregulated and overwhelmed its difficult to think rationally and have clarity so the number one goal is always to regulate yourself and your body (breath, self touch, fresh air, journaling, etc).

And download this free guide to support your own relationship with your body.