TW in caption: eating disorder mention. . . I haven't poste..
Added 2020-12-13 15:37:59 +0000 UTCTW in caption: eating disorder mention. . . I haven't posted much about the actual work that goes into body positivity yet, but people ask me alllllllll the time how to work on confidence, self esteem, and body image so let's give it a shot. I don't air my trauma very frequently online, but years ago after falling into multiple eating disorders, I sought help and went to therapy. It saved, and changed, my life. After losing over 90 pounds in a few months binging, purging, and starving myself in between binging and purging, I hated myself and my body more than I ever did at my heaviest. I wanted to die. I felt trapped in my body and in my mind. (I've now gained all that weight back and then some, by the way, and my metabolism will probably never recover. Doing the things I did slows and messes with your metabolism long term and I've definitely noticed that) I say all this to tell you from personal experience your weight really has nothing to do with your body image. The negative things we constantly tell ourselves, the way we talk to ourselves, many times that determines our body image. (There are more nuanced things here as well, fat folks can have great body image and self esteem but that doesn't change how society treats them which can impact mental health in and of itself, but maybe another day for that discussion 😅) My biggest thing i advocate is learning to ditch negative self talk. The Internet is never a replacement for therapy with a professional (unless of course you're using a therapy app like Talkspace, etc) but there are some amazing resources out there. One of my favorite accounts is @thebodyimagetherapist on Instagram. She recently posted this thread and I think those of you struggling with body image (which is completely normal by the way, and even people with great body image most days still struggle sometimes!) may get something out of this. Happy Sunday 💕
