Body Confident Tips For Summer
Feel more body confident with these top tips to help you love your body more this summer and beyond.
Schools out and the summer holidays have begun and you’re probably getting all prepared for your upcoming family getaway. Unfortunately for us, this time of year is also greeted with the latest fad diets to help us get the ‘perfect bikini body.‘ I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of these negative messages that women need to look a certain way while on holiday.
The diet culture constantly tells us that we need to change and conform to societies beauty ideals to be socially accepted. However, I’d like to rebel against societies ideal and say that if you have a body and a bikini then you already have a bikini body, whether it’s in line with the media’s unattainable body image or not.
Every year, women punish their bodies with grueling workout routines and deprive themselves of food because the diet culture tells them that this is the way that you’re going to feel fabulous on the beach. Let me tell you this, no amount of dieting is going to make you love your body more, it’s all about your mindset. Confidence and feeling good derives from working on your inner self, knowing that you are worthy whatever your size and discovering what makes you feel like a million dollars without having to morph into something you’re not.
Happiness is not determined by reaching a certain body weight, it’s achieved through experiences, creating memories and spending time with loved ones – basically living your life the way you want to without giving a second thought to what anyone else thinks. No one should ever be at war with their bodies, constantly feeling ashamed because they don’t have a thigh gap or washboard abs. If I really wanted to I probably could achieve a thigh gap and a six-pack, but truly the effort to get there just isn’t worth it to me because I know that I would be giving up my happiness. I have so much gratitude for my life right now, things are really good and I know that none of this is down to how my clothes fit.
Self love is ultimately about acceptance and seeing how incredible you are. Loving your body doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be totally happy with every inch because the reality for some is that’s probably never going to happen. However, embracing your body, flaws and all, practicing self-compassion and knowing that your size is not anyway related to your worth as a human being is when the real magic starts to happen.
I’m sharing my top 5 tips to help you love your body and feel more body confident. It doesn’t involve restrictive eating, calorie counting or anything that’s going to make you hate the way you look, in fact, if anything it’s going to have the opposite effect. It takes a lot of mindset work to get to the point when you are truly happy with your body, but that sense of freedom it brings is worth its price in gold!
Reward Your Body For Being Crazy Awesome
We’re very shy about celebrating our own successes, big and small. From a wellbeing perspective, this can work wonders to boost your mood and to get those feel good vibes flowing. Make it a priority to reward yourself and your body for simply being awesome with a little treat now and then. Try to practice this regularly, a little gift from you to you, because if nothing else you deserve it. These gifts to yourself will work as a reminder to be kind to your body and what you love about yourself. Never feel ashamed for celebrating your amazingness!
Talk About Your Body as You Would Your BFF
Would you ever tell your friend that she looks ugly in that dress, or that her thighs jiggle when she walks? I can answer this question for you, no. Turn down the inner critic when you talk about your body, use the same tone and words that you would if you were telling your best friend how amazing they looked.
Make Your Social Media Feeds More Diverse With Body Confident Women
If your social media feeds are full of insta-perfect body types and these are having a negative effect on the way you think about your own body, it’s time to have a refresh. Have a social media detox and clear out these accounts from your feed. This is a great way to make more space for accounts that bring you more joy and perhaps have a similar body type to you. This will help to reinforce the idea that your body type is just as normal as anyone else’s because you are seeing it more regularly on your feeds.
Additionally, following women who are body confident may help you on your journey to love yourself that bit more through their inspiring accounts.
Do All The Things That You Have Been Putting Off
Life is happening now, this isn’t the rehearsal and we’re only given this one chance. Stop putting things off until you achieve your “perfect” body. You will start to cultivate a life full of happiness if you start living your life the way you want to now. So book that holiday, buy that dress you’ve wanted to buy when you finally reach your goal weight. I know that I don’t want to be looking back at my life in a few years time, regretting that I didn’t do something because I let how I felt about my body limit me.
Focus on How You Feel & Not The Number on The Scale
The number on the scale is totally void of knowing how you feel and isn’t really a true measure of being wholly healthy. Focus on how you feel, feed your hunger with the foods you love and show up in your life in ways that are aligned with your heart. When you’re connected with your emotions and letting them guide you, then your weight is just that, how much you weigh and in no relation to how you live your life.
Remember that there is only one of you walking this earth – your uniqueness is beautiful and shouldn’t be frowned upon. Be you and be proud to be you!
If you’re looking for more guidance on how to love yourself more and feel more body confident, check out these blog posts.
10 Powerful Mindset Shifts to Love Yourself
Honest Thoughts On Weight Loss & Self Love
Learning to Re-love My Body Post-Pregnancy
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I would love to hear what you’re working on to help you feel more body confident this summer in the comments.
This is so true! We dont appreciate our bodies at all!
I havent had a proper soul food night in ages only because I am scared of eating way too much!
Make a date with some soul food and enjoy it! ?
This was so encouraging to read! I agree we must live in the now because life is happening right now!
Thanks Candice, glad you liked it.
I totally agree about making your social media more diverse. If you only follow a certain type of person, then you can start comparing yourself.
So true! It’s important that we don’t get sucked in to thinking that only one way is normal.
Some great tips here. Personally I am so guilty of negative comments about myself but its how I really feel and I’m lost as to how I can change this mindset
It’s definitely a mindset issue. I have some posts on the blog to help move away from the dieting mentality and embrace balance if you would like to take a look.
I need to learn to treat my body with more respect and treat my insides as I would my outside x
Yes! You’re not alone, so many women focus on the outside because that’s what the diet culture tells us to do.
Great advice. I think “focus on how you feel’ is so essential to our health and happiness
It really is. Focusing on the numbers really doesn’t take into account how you feel.
I used to buy into the whole ‘pre-holiday diet’ thing all the time, but when I’m on holiday I have never actually cared about being in a bikini in front of people. I think part of it was doing the diet because it’s almost expected. As I’ve got older, I’ve realised what a completely pointless thing it is, as I know what will make me enjoy my holiday is being happy, not being 2lbs lighter!
Yes! Exactly this!
I love these ideas, all activities that I will definitely try to put into practice this summer.
I hope you find them helpful.
These are all very important points to have made! I got to a point recently where I realised I’d let myself go and I’ve been trying to get myself back on track. I’m slowly getting there with getting back into fitness and I’ve been eating lots of fruit and I already feel better!
Glad to hear that you are beginning to feel better about yourself. ?
These are some great ideas, I think we all have a bit of a skewed idea of what our bodies should look like these days which is a shame, so anything to help people love their bodies more is a good thing
Thank you Sarah. I agree, we need more self love in this world.
I have gone through my social media recently and followed more women with my body type. It has made me much more happier when checking my social media throughout the day! Less filtered!
Yay! So happy to hear that it’s working for you.
I am trying to do things I have been putting off. It’s not always easy when you have a busy lifestyle but sometimes we need to just prioritise better.
Yes. It can be hard sometimes can’t it.
I love this post. I picked up a copy of a women’s magazine the other day which I haven’t read for about 10 years (one I used to love!) and there was an article in it about the best bikinis to pose on Instagram with! The pressure!
Seriously! This is why I don’t buy those type of magazines anymore.
All of us are beautiful in our own ways. Whatever our body type is. This is a great post. We should really focus on how we feel instead on the number on scale .Even if the number looks good, but if you still feel something’s missing or if you’re unhappy, it’s useless.
Yes to this! Thank you for such a great response.
Great ways to feel better about yourself. I have my on and off days. I am starting to learn to treat myself when I work hard though.
Good for you. It can’t be all work and no play.
It’s great that you are focusing on an area that would keep you heallthy and hopefully happy. You’re right what is a scale but a perception, as long as you are happy with yourself, that is really what counts. I need to focus on spending more time with my son and have quality time at home and worrying less about work.
Sounds like you have great mindset Afshan. It’s all about finding out what works for you.