No doubt, you want to have a fabulous body image. Feeling positive about the way you look can give you confidence. In addition, you probably know that feeling negative about your appearance makes you unhappy. Nonetheless, there are at least five things you might inadvertently do to wreck your plans to be happy about the appearance of your body. When you become aware of them, you can work on making constructive changes.
Look at celebrity magazines
People who hate their bodies often spend a great deal of time poring over celebrity magazines. Instead of marveling at the brilliance of airbrushing techniques applied to photographs of attractive media stars, they drink in the beautifying effects before them as though it were truth. At the same time, they compare their looks to that of the people in the snaps. Naturally, they come out unfavorably because they have not spent hours primping and preening, with the help of a professional crew before their appearance has been examined and perfected.
If you want to wreck your body image, make an effort to scour glossy magazines for photographs of beautiful models and celebrities. Compare their appearance to yours, and then feel your spirits sink into a black hole.
Make an enemy of your mirror
Mirrors are strange because they do not always reflect back to people exactly what they look like. Their accuracy is dependent on how people see themselves as well as their appearance. The combination of how people feel and what they see reflected in a mirror can result in an obscure image that emphasizes flaws, or indeed, creates flaws where none exist.
Women and men who dislike their image sometimes spend too long gazing at their reflection while thinking hateful thoughts. If you do likewise, you too can begin to see your body as ugly, and watch your imaginary flaws grow.
Compare yourself to a good-looking friend
People who have a poor body image tend to measure their appearance up against their gorgeous best friend, sibling, or coworker. Doing so is a confidence killer because, unlike the models in magazines, these stunning people are real. Of course, the truth is that they have bad hair days, get the odd pimple, and probably do not consider themselves to be beautiful. People with a bad body image, however, only see the best in them and the worst in themselves.
A great way to make your body image plummet is to constantly admire people you know whom you think of as stunningly beautiful. Having insider knowledge that they regularly snack on candy bars, but remain stick thin, and do not bother to workout at a gym will be enough to make you feel sick with envy.
Shame yourself via your internal critic
Everyone has an internal critic. Their critic provides them with a running commentary about how bad they are, or how ugly they are. People with a negative body image listen intently to their negative inner-voice and encourage it to chatter by accepting what they hear.
By listening to your internal critic, and believing what it says, you can squeeze what little self-esteem you have down the drain.
Keep clothes for thin days that never happen
Poor body image veterans often have piles of clothing that are a size or more too small. They tell themselves that one day they will fit into them. Occasionally, they lay them out on their bed and admire them. They try to squish themselves into them, and then sigh, and put them away once more.
Give your body image a knock now and then by trying to get into clothes that are too small for you. As you struggle to pull them over you and wince as you fight with zips that are never going to rise, you can rest assured knowing that your body image is sinking.
You can successfully wreck your body image by scrutinizing celebrities and models in glossy magazines and comparing yourself to them unfavorably. At the same time, you can use your mirror as an enemy so that it reflects back to you a poor representation of what you look like. To make matters worse, all you have to do is build an unhealthy level of envy regarding good-looking people you know, let your inner critic fill you with shame, and punish yourself for not being slim by attempting to fit into small clothes. Follow all the advice above and you will soon be wallowing in self-hatred.