Resolving to make positive body image a goal for the New Year is one we can get behind. According to the National Eating Disorder Association the ideal body weight is the weight that allows you to feel strong and energetic and lets you lead a healthy, normal life.

The curve and muscle we develop provides strength to accomplish the ordinary and daily routines we keep, as well as great successes like completing a 5k. All too often we are surrounded by altered images of women where their vitality has been Photoshopped away. The beginning of the year can be a great time to let go of comparing yourself to unrealistic standards, and embrace your body for all the wonderful things it does.

“I want to be strong, healthy and powerful!”

An important first step is to remember that bodies come in different shapes and sizes and that we all have different genetic and cultural traits. If, for example, everyone were to eat and do the same activities all year, we still wouldn’t all look the same. Accepting and respecting the natural diversity of body sizes and shapes is an empowering way to practice healthy body image.

Take time to reflect on other parts of yourself that make you who you are. Having a healthy body makes dancing, painting, cleaning the house or walking the dog, possible. Identifying ourselves by abilities, strengths and passions is something which can’t be measured simply by appearance, but by how we move and what we do.

Confidence grows from self-acceptance, and even though it can’t necessarily be measured, it draws people and opportunity. Making this New Year’s resolution about having a positive body image can transform the courage to change into a new accepting and loving outlook for the future.

 

Go to the top