be comfortable with my body

Reflecting on the last year, I feel that my comfort level with my body fluctuates. Admittedly I have spent the past year doing next to nothing in the way of things that might’ve helped, like exercising or eating well, and so I hold those habits partly responsible. The rest is purely down to the exaggerated way I see myself which is usually far more unattractive and fat than I actually am.

At the moment my other goals on 43 Things are helping- even though results aren’t instant with exercising, it makes you feel better at yourself and that has been positive. I’m also eating well and so far have lost half a stone over the past month or so.

Last night when I was considering what I actually like about myself, I realised that I love being a woman, and as bodies go, I’ve got a pretty good one potentially. I think a lot of my dislike of my body is centred around comparisons I made as a schoolgirl and also my general sense of being a bit gawky and geeky as a teenager (the sense of which was reinforced by militant PE teachers!)

If I accept that I have grown into a woman then none of those perceptions apply and they all belong in the past. Now I am starting to move beyond them, especially since losing weight means it will be slightly easier to buy clothes- or have the motivation to buy them and look nice.

Personally, I have found that if you actually take a good hard look at your body and spend some time naked you’ll grow to accept yourself just as you are. Along with speaking ONLY positive affirmations about your body as in “My body is beautiful,flaws and all” that helps greatly. If you have a part of your body you don’t like like your legs aren’t how you want them, or your abs aren’t what you want them..find workouts and improve them..that in itself will help you feel more comfortable with your body. DO NOT resort to plastic surgery, you are BEAUTIFUL JUST THE WAY GOD MADE YOU!

i’m tired of comparing myself to the 6”1 size zero, models on all the pages of vogue.

i’m 5”5 and a size 8/10, and i’m on a constant diet..
- only a few years ago, i was a size 14 and managed to trim down to only a size 8.. (i even managed to fit into a size 6 top the other day!) and even after that, i can find ‘fat’ problems with every aspect of my body. whether its my pot belly, bingo arms.. or even my thunder thighs!

..all I want is to look in the mirror and like what I see.

I notice that I spend a lot of time comparing myself to others and thus feeling worse and worse about my own body, so I want to be able to just feel great about my body and stop comparing. I’m hoping this brings about confidence in other aspects of my life.

I am tired of looking in the mirror and studying lines and creases that really aren’t even there, of poking my cellulite, of feeling like crying when I step on the scale. I am 18 years old and am 5’6” and weigh 137-141 lbs, yet I feel horribly obese.
This has to stop!
I can find something wrong with every single part of my body. All I want is to look in the mirror and like what I see. I definitely feel better than I used to, mostly because my boyfriend does a wonderful job of telling me that I look good, but I have a ways to go.

I began reading a book last night. I only got about 45 pages in, and I turned it back into the library today. It is not an intense read worthy of the time, but I did glean something from it in the time spent.
There are women out there who are not bombshells, not gorgeous, nor perfect by any means, but who are comfortable with their bodies.
I am not terrible. I am not excessively overweight. No one would guess my weight, which consoles me in suggesting that a lot of it is muscle. Yet I am not one of those women. I am not, nor have I ever been, comfortable in my body.
In my last relationship, I got much more comfortable with how I look. I began to realize, “Hey, if this guy sees me and still acts or thinks the way he does about me, then I must be okay…”
And now I am beginning to realize that this is wrong. I am not okay. I am great. I need to say that to myself every day, if that what it takes because by the next time I’m in Europe I want to be able to walk the streets comfortable with what I look like. By my next relationship I want to be comfortable with the guy seeing every inch of me. I want to carry myself in a way that suggests I’m boasting about who I am, not trying to hide something.

And it’s going to happen.

Wooooo. I am finally happy with my body :) I still want to lose a few pounds but I have officially stopped obsessing over it.

i’m working out so I can be in shape, I wanna look at myself and be like “yeah that’s a sexy man.”
I wanna actually look better than my girlfriend.

Then I’ll feel comfortable, unless I die any day now.

This goal may take a very long time to achieve.