5 Ways to Feel Better in Your Body Right Now

If it’s hard to accept you body, try first respecting it.

Body love can absolutely feel unattainable, like a lofty, out-of-reach goal. And even body acceptance can be a hard place to start. Instead, let’s start with respecting your body. It’s less nuanced than love, and is action-oriented because respecting is an action that you can take, versus just a shift in mindset.

Here are 5 ways we can start feeling better in our bodies:
1. Pay attention to your body’s needs. Do you need a rest day, or will you feel better getting to the gym? What is going to make you feel better both physically AND mentally?
2. Honor your hunger. By again listening to our bodies, we can suss out if a preference or craving for a food is from an actual want from our bodies, or if it is perpetuated due to stress, anxiety or lack of rest.
3. Respect your fullness. If we do indulge in cravings - which, great! If it’s something that long-term keeps you on track, go for it! - we need to also pay attention to our hunger cues. Slowing down when we eat, trying to not eat distracted, and learning over time to understand what and when our body needs fuel is a way we can show our body the upmost respect.
4. Choose clothing that fits you. I know this might seem obvious, but if we are constantly putting our bodies into clothing too small to see if our body has changed, or too large to hide behind it, we aren’t respecting the space that we are in currently, which prevents us from being able to build body autonomy and eventually loving ourselves through every part of the journey.
5. Journal about your feelings. Sometimes we need to write down how we’re feeling both to help let us actually process the emotions, but also to be able to move forward and let it go. We can also start to create daily gratitude lists - maybe not beginning with our bodies, but hopefully eventually being thankful for everything that our bodies can do!