Can Exercise Heal Negative Body Image?

Losing weight to heal negative body image is like smiling to cure depression. 

It changes what looks like, to the uninformed, the “problem” but it doesn’t heal the underlying issue. Plus, it’s usually unsustainable. Any professional, whether it’s an MD or a shaman who focuses on changing your appearance as a way to improve confidence is serving diet culture, not you. Sure, losing weight may satisfy your short term need to fit into the fat phobic beauty ideal, but it’s never going to make you like yourself, or feel content. 

Ok, thought this was gonna be a piece on how to use exercise to heal body image…?. Stay with me! It IS… but not for the reason you may think. Exercise is one of the best ways I know to instill feelings of confidence and empowerment, but it’s not because it can affect the way you look. 

Exercise helps heal negative body image only when you choose to do it out of love for your body, not hate.

Try moving with the intent of accomplishing a goal. Blow off some steam. Do 20 push ups. Hold a 1 min plank. Carry your baby on a hike without throwing out your back. When you train with a doable task in mind, you are training your brain to see how powerful you are. The equation is simple: you see a challenge, you tackle it, you feel proud. 

I’ve written on affirmations and how effective they can be to change the way we perceive ourselves, and they are- but the fact is, our brains sometimes need to see to believe. When you move daily with the intention of nurturing yourself, supporting your health, boosting your mood, accomplishing goals (fitness goals, not dress size goals) your brain is much more primed to receive, process and believe those affirmations. Telling your reflection “I am strong and capable” is much more impactful when you have the experience of pushing through a difficult class that morning in the back of your mind. You’re literally giving your brain evidence to back that affirmation up- and that makes is 12903819283x more convincing. 

So, what is your body loving motivation?

If you hear yourself repeating traditional, patriarchal language designed to keep up literally small and powerless, like I need to exercise to “make up” for a meal or feel shame around a specific part of your body, you’re definitely not alone. After making this my whole career- I still struggle with it. That’s how pervasive diet culture is. Know that there is nothing wrong with you for reacting to your conditioning. However, I encourage you to examine the language that goes through your head before, during, and after your workout, and see what needs some shifting to support your entire well being. Trying something like “ I can do hard things” or “I deserve to feel powerful” instead - or one of these eighteen affirmations I suggest. 

No, exercise didn’t heal my body image because it changed my appearance- thinking like that actually made things worse in the beginning. It’s true, when you exercise daily, your muscles develop and that shows up visibly. But that’s the least interesting part of it all. Exercise helped heal my disordered eating and exercising because it helped me feel worthy of taking up space, to own the room, to feel proud of all the hardcore things I was capable of. In one of my favorite books The Joy of Movement, Dr. Kelly Mcgonigal even explains studies that show when people move and breathe together in unison, whether it’s ecstatic dance, burpees, a hatha flow, or one of my mat classes, our sense of self expands to include everybody in the room. This makes us feel strong, confident, alive, and that we belong to a community  because it actually makes us feel larger than life. 

Losing those “last 5lbs” could NEVER.

Interested in seeing what body neutral, functional cueing looks like in action? Join Helen Phelan Studio for 10 days, free.