For as long as I can remember I’ve been overly worried with my looks. I don’t mean in the sense of getting glammed up and fancy, I mean being skinny.
Sadly most women, especially teenage girls, feel this way.
For some reason, society has deemed a certain body type as the “ideal” body, making many women feel unworthy. Unfortunately, most women buy into that idea and spend their whole lives trying to be and look like anything but themselves. I’m guilty of that, and I know plenty of women who are too.
Although more and more people are becoming aware of this issue, it’s still very much present. And let’s not forget old habits die hard.
If you’ve spent a large portion of your life picking apart your looks, it’s not easy to “flip” the switch and stop that behavior. But I’m certainly glad that more women and men (yes, this affects men too) are speaking up and making an effort to change the way they think.
I personally believe I’ve made a huge progress and have continued to learn to love and respect myself.
For that reason, I want to share a little bit more about my experience with body image issues and how I’ve silenced that voice telling me I’m not enough.
Body image issues from the start
Since I was a child I remember thinking I was not skinny enough. I was never overweight; I had the slight chubbiness most kids have, but I was still healthy.
However, I grew up in a society and family that places a huge value on how you look. I will preface this by saying I love my parents, but I remember them talking about being too fat, or needing to lose weight, or how they used to be so skinny and look so good.
All of those things stuck with me, and sadly, formed a lot of my thoughts and behaviors.
If you’re a parent (or hope to be one) reading this, I urge you to be very aware of what you say in front of your kids.
Children learn from the people they spend most of their time with. They’re like sponges who take in anything you show them or teach them and absorb it.
If you set the example of speaking negatively about your body, chances are your kids will grow up thinking the way to live is to pick your body apart.
That is precisely how I grew up, and why I thought it was more “normal” to hate myself than to feel confident.
Body image issues lead to more problems
When you don’t like how you look, you have a high chance of engaging in unhealthy behaviors to change that.
I always struggled (and still do) with anxiety. That led me to eat almost nothing for some time and caused me to lose weight.
Remember how I said I grew up in a family that places a high value on your looks?
Well I had a family member tell me I looked so beautiful now that I had “finally” lost weight. I was told I should work hard to keep off that weight because I looked so much better that way.
Keep in mind I was a child when this happened (I wasn’t even in Middle School) and that really stuck with me.
All of a sudden I was dealing with anxiety issues (that were completely unrelated to food at first) and eating issues.
I will share this in a separate blog post, but sure enough I developed a mild (if that’s even a thing) eating disorder that would stick with me for a long time.
Bottom line is, struggling with body issues can affect you in so many different ways. Some may stick to hating the reflection on the mirror, but others might take unhealthy measures to change their looks.
Luckily for me, I found a community that changed my perspective and my whole life.
And then came Tone It Up
When I joined Tone It Up, I was very unhappy with the way I looked. I was working out, but wasn’t really making an effort to eat healthy.
I felt like I needed that extra push and guidance, and I found that and so much more in Tone It Up.
Honestly, I thought I was going to join a nutrition plan I would follow and that was it. Lucky for me, I joined a community full of supportive, beautiful, strong, and inspiring women.
I’ve made friends in real life and digital life (yay for social media) and have never felt happier. I finally feel like I fit in and have a group of women who I can go to whenever I need to vent or celebrate an accomplishment.
I credit a lot of my positive self-esteem to Tone It Up and the community because I’ve learned to love myself.
I’ve seen these women go through so much, yet they are still standing strong. Not to mention the kind words we constantly receive from K&K as a reminder of how wonderful we are.
By following the Tone It Up lifestyle I’ve learned not just to feed my body the right food but to feed my mind and heart what it needs: positivity.
If you’re struggling with body issues, I believe finding a community of women who can understand those feelings and support you is key to success.
Whether it’s Tone It Up, your best friends, neighbors, or any other group of people you can surround yourself with that bring positivity to your life, I highly recommend it.
It’s true what they say: when women support each other incredible things happen.
