Body Image: 36 affirmations to say in the mirror
By Tanja, Psychologist for Eating Disorders & Body Image
The way you think about yourself and the world affects the way you feel and behave!
Hi there!
I’m Tanja. I’m a qualified psychologist specialising in eating disorders, negative body image and body hate. I’m also a survivor of anorexia.
My mission is to help you to end your lifelong struggles with food and your body and inspire you to uncover and embrace you true worth. Read more…
A central concept of CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) is that our thoughts precede our emotions and our behaviours. If we allow our inner critic and body-bullying voice to put us down with shame, negative and hateful thoughts about our bodies and our relationship with food, we get caught in a vicious circle of self-sabotage.
However, by shifting your negative thoughts into healthy and positive ones through daily affirmations you can rewire your neuronal pathways, which will enable you to improve your body image.
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The power of affirmations
Categories
Anorexia
Binge Eating Disorder
Bulimia
Intuitive Eating
Mindfulness
Orthorexia
Strategies for Recovery
Affirmations are conscious positive statements about a perceived truth, which can help you to change your unconscious negative thought process and reasoning about your body. Theses powerful statements force you to become aware of your thoughts and confront your body-hating and harmful inner demons.
By using affirmations regularly you will feel better about yourself and develop a positive attitude, which will have a significant impact on your personal life. You’ll find yourself feeling more neutral about your body and maybe even feeling love and acceptance towards it, which will also have a positive impact on your eating habits and confidence.
How to use affirmations
At the start, try to set aside a certain time of day to do the affirmations, such as first thing in the morning or last thing in the evening. However, try not to rush through them, as this will reduce their effectiveness. It is important that you take the time to truly visualise what you are saying.
You might feel some discomfort at the beginning, as this process can bring a lot of difficult issues to the surface that you might not want to deal with. Your inner critical voice may try to prevent these positive and healthy body affirmations from resonating with your mind and body. However, the further you go, the easier it gets and the more the affirmations will become your new belief system, which will lead you to a new way of life filled with body positivity, self-acceptance and love.
So when you start saying these phrases, they might not be true yet, but they are designed to reflect what you want to be and have in future.
A very good method is to stand in front of the mirror, take some deep breaths and try to look yourself in the eyes and smile if this feels comfortable for you. Then say your affirmations clearly and slowly, and try to feel and believe them, as if they were already true. Focus on the meaning of each word and repeat these powerful statements 3-5 times. Then breathe and feel the positive feeling of the affirmations through your mind and body.
Here are 36 body image affirmations to make you feel better.
- “I treat myself with kindness and I value every inch of my body. I choose to remember that many people do not have fully functional bodies. Many people do not have legs to walk on, arms to hug with, eyes to see with or ears to hear with. I remind myself that I am blessed with the miracle of a healthy and mobile body.”
- “I accept my body and my curves as they are today.”
- “My worth is not defined by a scale number or clothing size. My true worth has everything to do with who I am.”
- “I’m a beautiful and sexy person and I believe in myself, trust myself, love myself, respect myself, honour myself, appreciate myself and value myself.”
- “I feel comfortable in my body.”
- “My body can do wonderful things.”
- “Today, I honour my body and treat it with respect.”
- “I treat my body with kindness, compassion, respect and love.”
- “I acknowledge the inner light in me. I honour that inner light, which is the true source of my beauty.”
- “I deny others the chance to make me feel bad about my body. My opinion of myself is the only one that counts.”
- “I allow my body to relax.”
- “I make decisions that contribute to my body’s wellbeing and benefit me as a person. I’m responsible for taking care of me.”
- “I honour my body and I think positively about it.”
- “Life is too short and too precious to waste time obsessing about my body. I am going to take care of it to the best of my ability.”
- “Being skinny or fat is not my identity. I am identified by who I am on the inside: a loving, wonderful person.”
- “Sugar [or any fear food or your choice] is not the enemy. It’s not my friend either. It’s just sugar; it has no power over me.”
- “My very existence makes the world a better place”.
- “I choose to do and say kind things for and about myself.”
- “Just because someone looks perfect on the outside, this doesn’t mean they have a perfect life. No one has a perfect life; we all struggle. That’s just what being human is.”
- “If I binge today, I can still love and accept myself, I don’t have to starve myself afterwards, and I have plenty of time to get back on track later.”
- “Restricting my food doesn’t make me a better person. Being kind to myself and to others makes me a better person.”
- “I can be healthy at any size.”
- “My life is what I make of it. I have all the power I need within me.”
- “Not everyone has to like me. I just have to like me.”
- “I can eat a variety of foods for health and wellness without bingeing.”
- “It’s okay to let others love me; why wouldn’t they?”
- “Having an eating disorder is not my identity.”
- “Other people are too busy thinking about themselves to care what my weight is or how I look.”
- “I have everything inside of me that I need to take care of myself without using food.”
- “Food is my friend. It can be nurturing and healing.”
- “It’s my life; I can choose the way I want to live it.”
- “I am responsible for what I do with my body, so I only do what’s best.”
- “I listen to my body’s needs with respect and kindness.”
- “Today I let go of self-criticism.”
- “I love my appearance.”
- “I am a fierce and radiant person.”
Put these on your bedside table or tape them to your mirror and say one or more throughout the day to yourself with confidence and belief. Note how this makes you feel about your body.
If you feel that none of these affirmations resonates with you, come up with your own affirmations – just make sure that they are positive and rooted in the present.
You don’t need to struggle alone on your recovery journey. Simply get in touch to discuss how I can help you.
It is entirely possible to overcome an eating disorder or body hate – I have done it, others have done it and so can you!
Join the Body Acceptance & Food Freedom Collective
Receive a weekly dose of inspirations to help you make peace with your body and food.
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Hi there!
I’m Tanja. I’m a qualified psychologist specialising in eating disorders, negative body image and body hate. I’m also a survivor of anorexia.
My mission is to help you to end your lifelong struggles with food and your body and inspire you to uncover and embrace you true worth. Read more…