Body Dysmorphia And How We Can Struggle With It Less.

We read a really interested quote the other day about body dysmorphia that read: “your perception of your body changes a lot more than your physical body does”.

And that got me thinking, have you ever had moments where you’ve looked back on pictures of yourself and you remember thinking at that time “oh god, I don’t like XYZ of myself in that picture” or “I don’t feel like I look my best” and then you look back at that photo and you think…what was I thinking when I thought I didn’t look good? I looked great then and I was worried about myself? For what?

I can almost guarantee that most people reading this have felt the above.

Which really re-aliterates the quote “your perception of your body changes a lot more than your physical body does”.

Body dysmorphia comes in all varying degrees and anyone can experience it. During this short article I will try to explore why we experience it and how we can work with it, rather than a constant battle against it.

When we look over the last 20 years and the different body shapes that were/are in “fashion” we know that in the 90’s the very skinny look was in. As reference the biggest TV shows on at that time were Sex and The City and Friends, both of which the main character occupied a very slim and lean body shape.

Run way models were at their absolute peak, where you would only ever see size 0 models walking the run way, in magazines, and on our TV’s advertising anything and everything. I remember in the early to mid 2000’s collar bones and thigh gaps were all the rage and every magazine you reached for had some kind of celebrity diet plastered all over it.

Now fast forward to the last 5 years and we’ve seen a gradual rise of the “fit chick”, a look that supports a more muscular figure with a huge emphasis on big glutes - the biggest the glutes the better! As long as you have a small waist to go with it of course….

Our inspirations for this latest movement? The Kardashians have played a bigger role than what we realise, with the Brazilian butt lift rising a whopping 20% from 2018 to 2019 with numbers continually climbing in conjunction with the obsession of curves.

A vast juxtaposition when looking at the bodies who were our ‘inspiration’ 20 years earlier.

And if we are to look at the last 2 years we will find a more body diverse media with plus size models on the up-rise both in the magazines and on the cat walks. If we are the compare body shapes (which is obviously not something we recommend but for the sake of making a point) of our plus size models now in comparison to the first plus size model for example Marilyn Monroe, there is a huge contrast. Marilyn arguably walked around in a size 8-10 body of her time and was deemed a plus size model? When in comparison to today, size 8-10 is DEFINITELY not considered “plus size”.

Now that we’ve had a little history lesson on body fashions and how they have evolved, have they effected the way we perceive ourselves and if so, why?

I truly believe that the way we see our bodies is hugely contributed by the media we CHOOSE to consume. I say choose because while there are many not so obvious ways in which the media sneakily puts in our face that we’re too big, too small, too muscly, not muscly enough, too wrinkly, need bigger lips, bigger boobs etc etc, there are MANY forms of media that we choose to consume on a daily basis simply because it’s far more accessible now than it ever has been.

For example, instagram has been the most game changing app in regards to our consumption of toxic media. At your fingertips you have strangers who post their bodies for every one to see and without realising it, human nature will have us comparing ourselves to them, their lives and their bodies. You times that by thousands of other people doing the same thing and all of a sudden the things you maybe didn’t have a problem with about your body, suddenly you’re looking in the mirror thinking “how do I look more like her?”. For example, “hip dips” NEVER used to be a thing, we all had/have them and didn’t blink an eye. Someone decides to bring it up on instagram and put a label on it and now I have females sitting in my office listing that their “hip dips” are something they’re self conscious about.

Photos on instagram don’t give us the whole picture though, in fact pictures in magazines, news papers, ads, websites, facebook etc do not give us transparency over everything that has gone into that photo. Now, this is not me saying that their aren’t individuals out there that have fantastic physics naturally because yes, there’s a small population of people where genetics are definitely on their side! Or that hard work over a long period of time contributed to an easily maintainable physic because that is equally true and possible.

However, when you see that instagram fitness model with the body goals of your dreams, you need to have critical thinking rather than emotional thinking. How many days a week do they exercise to maintain that body? What does their diet look? Do they diet severely in order to uphold that body? Have they had cosmetic injections or surgery to enhance certain features? Do they have an abundance of money that allows them the time and resources to achieve a certain look? Are they happy? Are they healthy outside of their looks? Have they edited their photos/videos to look a certain way?

None of the above things are wrong, if someone wants to diet down, get surgery, get fillers, filter their photos, pay for a chef to prep their meals, or have a lifestyle where they train twice a day, that is entirely their provocative! What I think we need more of, is transparency of what celebrities and/or influencers are doing because that is where the opinions of ourselves start to change.

We start trialing things that our inspirations are doing and after a while when we aren’t getting the same results we blame ourselves and think that something must be wrong with us. When you times that emotional rollercoaster by the hundreds of influencers and celebrities you follow, you’re looking at a pretty rocky way down into poor mental health and viewing your body in a light that isn’t accurate.

I also want to preface by saying there is NOTHING wrong with wanting to change your body if it’s coming from a positive and healthy mindset. If you want to lose a couple of kgs because you’ve felt your body not feeling the same healthy way is once did, you shouldn’t feel guilty for tightening up your nutrition and training a little more. It’s when those thoughts become obsessive or you start to seek out potentially detrimental actions to achieve an outcome like cutting your calories too low, over exercising based on your unique goal, using dieting pills or your mental health starts to suffer.

I don’t think there is ever going to be a resources or quick fix of eliminating body dysphoria and I think the process of self love and respecting our bodies is an ever-evolving thing that takes time, maturity, practice, failure and a whole lot of self work. I do think that if you’re someone who suffers with body dysphoria there are steps you can take to protect yourself like:

• Unfollowing anyone on social media both friends and/or influencers that make you feel bad about your body, or encourage toxic behaviours towards eating and exercising that are not sustainable to you or realistic to your lifestyle.

• Being mindful of the media you read and watch - are they body focused or diet focused and if they are do they trigger you? If they do, unfollow, unsubscribe and see you LATER.

• Follow accounts that make you feel good about excising and eating - that give you inspiration to move your body more and eat better.

• Seek out professional help if you feel this issue might stem deeper for you and there is more unhealthy habits that need unpacking - therapy is always a great idea.

• If after all of the above you still have decided to change your body out of love and respect, seek out a coach that aligns with your beliefs and values so you have guidance from someone who can help you take the healthiest most sustainable approach. Google is not going to be that for you…..