How does your body compare to the ideal body?

Do you want a better body? Sure, we all do!

Do you think the way to get it is to make negative comparisons between your body and other bodies of the same gender and approximate age? I got news for you; it isn’t!

 

Spending your time looking for flaws on your own body, feeling jealous because your body doesn’t measure up to the bodies you see is engaging in one of the most negative and self-destructive habits you could have.

It may surprise you to know that the people you see in magazines don’t look like that either. They look good thanks to people skilled with Photoshop! You might agree with that, but you may also argue that you see real bodies on the beach and in the gyms that are truly perfect. There is no “virtual Photoshop imaging taking place with live and in person bodies!

Okay, so there are real life beautiful bodies. Being jealous because you don’t have one of them isn’t going make you feel better. When you make negative comparisons the outcome will never be good.

You might get so discouraged you just stop caring because you will never have the “perfect body.” What difference does it matter what you eat, how much exercise you get, or how much you weigh? You’ll never look perfect like the people you see in magazines, so why bother? That attitude could cheat you out of health and happiness!

If I can't be perfect why work at it at all?

“If I can’t be perfect why work at it at all?”

You might become so determined to have the perfect body that you can only see the next “flaw” you need to fix. Despite all the work and effort put into becoming perfect, there will always be somebody who has a body or at least a specific body part better than yours.

It’s important to appreciate your body, regardless of its current weight and level of fitness if you hope to successfully lose weight and maintain the loss. Making negative comparisons of your body to somebody else’s body undermines your progress and is unnecessarily unkind to yourself.

I thought I looked perfect, but when I look at the profiles of my friends from high school I look so much worse than all of them!

“I thought I looked perfect, but when I look at the profiles of my friends from high school I look so much worse than all of them!”

You are so much more than just your body. Although there are multiple sources that try to convince your value is totally dependent on body size and shape, there is no truth to that. Your body is your container of you. Your body doesn’t affect your value except in the eyes of people whose opinions are warped and don’t matter.

Avoiding comparing our bodies to the bodies we wish we could have isn’t easy. Here are 5 Steps to Free Yourself from odious body comparisons:

  1. Appreciate your body for what it can do, or in other words, what you can do with it; not how it looks.
  2. It’s okay to admire a fit body; it’s not okay to dislike your body because it doesn’t look like the bodies you admire.
  3. Repeat to yourself as often as necessary: I am NOT A BODY! I’m a person with talents and strengths.
  4. Take inventory of those talents and strengths often. Make a point of recognizing and celebrating them.
  5. Set goals for yourself to learn new skills, and maximize your talents and strengths.

How can you get the perfect body? You already have one! You were born with it. You have the ideal body for you! All you need to do is give it the good care it (and you) deserves!

 

Jackie Conn

About Jackie Conn

Jackie Conn is married and has four grown daughters and four grandchildren. She is a Weight Watchers success story. She's a weight loss expert with 25 years of experience guiding women and men to their weight-related goals. Her articles on weight management have been published in health, family and women's magazines. She has been a regular guest on Channel 5 WABI news, FOX network morning program Good Day Maine and 207 on WCSH.