Tips for Dealing with Negative Body Image during Quarantine

Social media has its good moments and its bad. Now more than ever we are playing the comparison game and we are all guilty of it.

The truth is we are on our phones a lot! It seems like everyone has turned in to a fitness blogger, offering diet and workout tips because gaining weight is the worst thing that can happen during a pandemic… (eye roll) But still, you may be feeling pressure to work out, eat less in order to keep yourself from gaining weight. I know for certain that the memes do not help… the before/after quarantine, the ridiculous tips saying to try on your jeans every few days to make sure they still fit, the quarantine diets… seriously… HELLO, PEOPLE, WE ARE EXPERIENCING A PANDEMIC! A few pounds are the least of our worries!

I like to consider myself a body positive blogger, meaning I believe we should love ourselves as we are, in whatever state (or weight) that may be. I am not anti-exercise or anti-healthy eating but I am against exercising or eating less because you hate your body. We should all love our bodies and do for ourselves from a positive place. Depending on the day, sometimes that can be exercising or eating a slice of cake. Let us not pass judgment on another because we all deal with high-stress situations differently. And this pandemic is a very high-stress situation.

So now…

Here are my tips for dealing with negative body image during quarantine:

1. Unfollow people that post content that may trigger your negative body image.

2. When you have a negative body thought, stop yourself and say 3 things you love about your body.

3. Get dressed, not for anyone else but for yourself. Nothing is worse than being negative about your body image and being in pajamas, unshowered.

4. Push yourself to do something good for your mental health every day. Listen to music, dance, read a book, go for a walk, get fresh air, paint.. etc (I have more ideas here)

5. Follow other body positive people during this time. All you have to do it search #bodypositiveblogger to find their accounts. Flood your feed with beautiful body positivity.

Lastly, understand it’s okay to stress eat, to cry, to sit on the couch because what we are experiencing is a traumatic event that has affected every person in the world right now. These aren’t normal times. Don’t put pressure on yourself, this will all be over soon!

If you need someone to talk to my messages, DMs, and email are always open. You are not alone.