I HATE MY BODY (WHY)
By
OptimistMinds
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Author bio
The Optimistminds editorial team is made up of psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health professionals. Each article is written by a team member with exposure to and experience in the subject matter. The article then gets reviewed by a more senior editorial member. This is someone with extensive knowledge of the subject matter and highly cited published material.
In this brief guide, we will discuss the topic “I hate my body.” We will present you with some of the main reasons why some people say or think,” I hate my body,” and we will give you some tips to stop or to reduce that negative feeling about your body and steps to love it.
Why I Hate My Body?
In modern society, people are addicted to the internet.
They like posting their daily lives, their photos in different poses doing some activities or having a good time in a restaurant or with their friends.
Day by day, we see new apps that allow you to change your appearance: to make your eyes more significant, to make your skin colour darker or more white, to make your body fatty or thinner and other changes.
Using and enjoying the changes through such apps and programs, such as Snapchat, Fortify, and others, people start valuing their appearance more than they should do.
People become much more narcissistic and critical of their bodies.
Enjoying the changes through programs, people unconsciously start feeling negative about their bodies, and unfortunately, it is not that unusual to listen to the phrase, “I hate my body” from friends etc
Here are some reasons that may make you hate your body:
- Social media
We have already discussed this above. Social media, including apps, programs, movies, and cartoons, can make people get a poor body image and hate their body.
They start asking questions to themselves like, ‘Am I good looking?’ You can also see posts and statuses connected to the topic “I hate my body” on Facebook, Tumblr, and other social networking websites.
- Low self-esteem
Low self-esteem can be typical for people of any age. However, more often, it can be seen among teenagers.
As you know, adolescence is a developmental period when girls and boys get physiological and psychological changes. During this period they begin to develop their sexual identification.
Bodies change: boys look more like men, and girls get changes to look more like women.
This makes teenagers ashamed from each other, and girls start interacting more with girls, a little distancing from boys also begins to kick in.
Adolescents get interested in their bodies and pay more attention to them, and as a result, many of them find disadvantages in their appearance.
We can often hear from them expressions like, “I hate my body,” “I am fatty,” “My eyes are tiny,” “My legs are crooked,” and others.
Some teenagers get body changes earlier than others, and it can make those without any visible changes become more critical to their bodies, causing low self-esteem.
Low self-esteem could also have developed since childhood.
The way your family, relatives, friends and other people whom you perceived as authorities have treated you, could also play a significant role in your self-perception in general.
- Self-criticism
Self-criticism is good if it has a constructive nature and is reasonable.
However, many people criticize themselves so much and in irrational ways, which makes a negative effect lowering self-esteem.
These people in reality practice self-loathing. You might claim ‘I hate myself’ and this is the reason why you hate your body too because you’re too conscious of your self image and identity.
- Family values and experiences
In families where physical beauty is perceived as a primary value, people can be more critical about their body because of being criticized or just because of valuing physical beauty too much.
As a result, many of them get a poor body image.
Also, in the cases when parents have low self-esteem, and weak body image, this influences their children on a subconscious level, and by the time they have grown-up, the children criticize their appearance and say, “I hate my body.”
I Hate My Body: Can it Lead to Disorders?
Hating your body can lead to disorders.
People who hate their bodies can suffer from eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia.
Anorexia
People (especially women) with poor body image, who consider their waist, thighs or stomach fat, and who tend to become “more beautiful,” which for them means to be skinny, they will often stop eating properly; they eat with small amounts and only eat particular types of food.
To be thin, people with this eating disorder make themselves throw up because they fear they will gain weight.
Bulimia
Bulimia can be considered the opposite of anorexia.
People who suffer from this disorder eat a significant amount of food uncontrollably in a short period.
People can get this eating disorder if they hate their body and want to gain more weight to look more beautiful and “normal.”
People who say, “I hate my body,” can also get another type of disorder called body dysmorphic disorder:
Body dysmorphic disorder
Body dysmorphic disorder is a mental disorder.
People with body dysmorphic disorder spend much time finding flaws in their appearance that are usually unnoticeable for others and worry about them.
I Hate My Body: Ways to Learn to Love Your Body
Tired of claiming, “I hate my body?” Here are some tips that can help you learn to love your body:
- Change the expression “I hate my body” with more positive ones
Even if you do not like your body much, and if you think you have flaws in your appearance, you should not say, “I hate my body.”
Be aware of your thoughts, and every time you want to say it, use more positive or neutral words and expressions.
For example, you could say, “My body is not that bad/is worthy/is fine.”
- Accept your body
In order to accept your body, you should reduce and stop the use of the expression, “I hate my body,” and try to accept it in the way it is.
Everyone has some part of the body or some features in their appearance that looks nice or not that bad.
So do pay attention to such features or part(s) too. Try to replace the expression “I hate my body” with “I love my body” by time.
It can be hard, but if you are seriously worried and are willing to do everything possible to love your body, you should try this.
- Take care of your body
You should take baths, use body lotions and other beauty products, go to massages.
Do regular physical exercises, eat healthy food, and get enough sleep and drink more water.
Taking care of your body can help you like your body.
- Follow models that have an average (not “perfect”) body
Some models do not have perfect bodies but are beautiful.
Following such models, you can notice that they are quite confident and love their bodies the way they are. It can help you perceive your body more positively.
- Get professional help.
You can go to an individual or group therapy. Both can be helpful, as each has its advantages and disadvantages: individual therapy allows meeting with the psychologist or psychotherapist alone when you can feel more comfortable to share your feelings and thoughts.
Group therapy gives you a chance to listen to other people’s experiences connected to the problems you have.
I Hate My Body: Quotes
“I have body issues, but everybody does. When you realize that everybody does that—even the people that I consider flawless—then you can start to live with the way you are.” — Taylor Swift
“If we make self-love or body acceptance conditional, the truth is, we will never be happy with ourselves. The reality is that our bodies are constantly changing, and they will never remain the same. If we base our self-worth on something as ever-changing as our bodies, we will forever be on the emotional roller coaster of body obsession and shame.” — Chrissy King
“My weight? It is what it is. You could get hit by a bus tomorrow. It is about being content. Moreover, sometimes, other priorities win.” — Melissa McCarthy
“Since I do not look like every other girl, it takes a while to be okay with that. To be different. However, different is good.” — Serena Williams
“You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it has not worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” — Louise Hay
“You cannot hate yourself happy. You cannot criticize yourself thin. You cannot shame yourself worthy. Real change begins with self-love and self-care.” — Jessica Ortner
“You are not a mistake. You are not a problem to be solved. However, you will not discover this until you are willing to stop banging your head against the wall of shaming and caging and fearing yourself.” — Geneen Roth
“To love yourself right now, just as you are, is to give yourself heaven. Do not wait until you die. If you wait, you die now. If you love, you live now.” — Alan Cohen
“To be beautiful means to be yourself. You do not need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.” — Thich Nhat Hanh
Recommended books and sources
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Eating Disorders: A process-focused Guide to Treating Anorexia and Bulimia
- HFNE “I Hate Kids”
- HFNE “I Hate My Mom”
- How To Love Your Body. Sarah Doyle, TEDx
- Living with Your Body and Other Things You Hate: How to Let Go of Your Struggle with Body Image Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Conclusion
In this brief guide, we discussed the reasons why some people hate their bodies.
We also discussed different mental disorders that can come about due to you hating your body and discussed different ways to ensure your hard for your body turns into love for your body.
Please feel free to comment on the content or ask any questions in the comments section below.
References
- Help! Why do I Hate My Body?
- How to Improve Body Image?
- Ways I Learned to Love My Body
