Most of us are guilty of editing or adding filters to images of ourselves – and to be honest sometimes it’s just a bit of fun – other times it reflects something much deeper. Who could blame us? We’ve learnt from the experts; Photoshop filters and airbrushed skin would appear so common in the fashion industry and the latest fashion magazines. Poor body image and low self esteem has been blamed on this industry time and time again. But these concerns just touch on the surface. Not everyone is reading or even idolizing, copying or aspiring to be the like the next top model. Body image starts in the mind, even as far back has your childhood. We’ve all heard of celebrities experiencing body shaming after weight gain most commonly due to pregnancy. However body shaming happens to the average person, you don’t need to be famous. Experiencing mental health difficulties can influence and alter your body due to medications that encourage weight gain and changes in eating patterns. (I’m writing this post in hope that I can encourage someone in a similar predicament. It’s tough but let’s begin.)
“Body image is mental and emotional: it’s both the mental picture that you have of your body and the way you feel about your body when you look in a mirror.”
– Here to Help
But what has formed these opinions we have or ourselves?
My view of the ‘ideal weight’, whether it was feed by the media I couldn’t say, but I’ve always had an ideal weight in my mind. This was often fuelled by other people’s opinions or criticism whether consciously or unconsciously. The opinion and comments of family and friends is something that has always mattered. I would go even as far as to say that sometimes stares of approval or disapproval can be a major influence on my body image on a daily basis.
The Mental Health Foundation conducted a survey of just over 4,000 people this year. This is some of their findings: I quote: 1 in 5 adults felt shame about their body image; just over 1/3 felt down or low, and 19% felt down or disgusted because of their body image. Unfortunately these statistics are not surprising (to myself), but more so a confirmation that poor body image is a growing issue.
“Higher body dissatisfaction is associated with a poorer quality of life, psychological distress and the risk of unhealthy eating behaviours and eating disorders.”
Mental Health Foundation
My Story: why body image is so important to me?
LookAfterU4me
For as long as I can remember I’ve been a fussy eater and this pickiness is what kept my weight so consistently down in my teenage years and early twenties. After my University years, I ended up in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital – My body was rejecting food, I had to have a drip forced down my nose – I couldn’t speak, note: (I would try to speak but words wouldn’t come out) this first episode and first encounter with mental health left the doctors baffled, because they couldn’t explain what had happened and was happening to me. They pumped by body with different medications until my body responded to one. I lost a lot of weight, I was severely underweight so my parents ensured they was always food ready available.
After this experience, my diet started to change and initially this was a good thing. I wanted to put on weight: (healthy weight) yet 9 to 10 months into recovery my weight gain started becoming uncontrollable. Over the space of 2 years I gained 4 ½ stone. This had a knock on effect on my self esteem and body image.
“It’s not what you say out of your mouth that determines your life, it’s what you whisper to yourself that has the most power!”
― Robert T. Kiyosaki
Something as simple as going to the corner shop, or going to the high road was hard work. I was more conscious if I happened to bump into someone who I used to know from school or uni. How would I explain the rapid weight gain? Especially to those who didn’t know my life changing experience.
“It’s like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind
- Remember your flaw can turn out to be your greatest strength
This may sound ridiculous but something that I would have once considered a flaw has turn out to be my greatest strength or feature as I’ve grown older. What I once got criticism for I now get compliments for, like my hair type, my skin complexion, my personality type. Note to self: body image can change at anytime
- Research Body image
This is a good place to start: The Mental Health Foundation/ Here to Help
- https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/body-image-report/exec-summary
- https://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/infosheet/body-image-self-esteem-and-mental-health
LookafterU4me 
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Enjoy the rest of your evening.
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