What is body image?
Body image is so much more than what you see when you look in the mirror.
Body image is your internal relationship with your physical body. It’s the dynamic mental blueprint that shapes how you perceive, think about, feel toward, and treat the body you live in every single day.
It isn't a static trait or a reflection of your actual physical appearance; it’s a living experience rooted in your subconscious conditioning, life history, and nervous system.
What are the four pillars of body image?
Perceptual (How you see yourself): This is your brain’s visual picture of your body. It isn't always accurate—stress, fatigue, or years of body checking can distort how your brain processes your physical dimensions.
Cognitive (What you think): The internal commentary, beliefs, and rules you hold about your shape, size, weight, and features.
Affective (How you feel): The emotional reactions tied to your body—whether that’s comfort, anxiety, shame, gratitude, or neutrality.
Behavioral (What you do): The actions you take based on those thoughts and feelings, such as hiding under oversized clothes, avoiding photos, body-checking, or altering how you nourish yourself.
These pillars are all interconnected to create your holistic body image. As a dietitian nutritionist who specializes in disordered eating and eating disorder treatment, I work with patients to help them restore the relationship they have with food and body. Get actionable strategies and start to feel better today.
Dietitian Support for Lasting Healing: Improve your relationship with your body.
The Bad Body Image Survival Guide
The Bad Body Image Survival Guide is a practical toolkit for the days you wake up feeling at war with your body. Get the exact strategies to get dressed, leave the house, and be present in your life instead of hiding or letting your body image dictate your choices.
I am a recovered clinician who recovered from my own disordered eating and body image shaming journey.
I am obsessed with helping people free themselves from body image distress and this unrealistic and downright mean dialogue that causes distrust and shame around body image, affecting every relationship in our life from food, exercise, friends, family, partners, to our complex and nuanced relationship with ourselves!
My online program will give you the strategies and tools you need to improve your body image. There’s no magic formula – just realistic, actionable strategies that help you or someone you love work through body image issues.
How to stop a negative body image - overcoming and understanding:
Overcoming a negative body image takes time. There are no quick fixes. There are, however, real things you can do starting today to improve your relationship with your body. As a dietitian nutritionist, I specialize in working with patients to achieve sustainable recovery from eating disorders, disordered eating, and body dysmorphia.
Are you ready?
Is this program for you?
You’re in the right place if:
You woke up feeling disgusting, and now you’re spiralling about what to wear, whether to cancel plans, and how to get through the day
You’ve tried on every outfit you own and nothing feels right (and you’re running out of time to leave the house)
You’re constantly body checking (in mirrors, in windows, in your phone camera) and it’s making you feel worse, not better
You’ve cancelled plans before because you felt too gross to be seen, and you’re tired of your body dictating your life
you want to get through one bad body image day without it ruining your whole day
This isn’t for you if:
You’re looking for body positivity affirmations (we both know “just love yourself” doesn’t work when you feel disgusting)
You want someone to tell you to “just push through it” (that’s not sustainable and it doesn’t address why you’re spiraling)
You’re not ready to leave the house on a bad body image day (this system helps you get through the day, not avoid it)
This is what people are saying
This is what people are saying
FAQ
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Social media can affect body image by encouraging comparison, unrealistic expectations/standards, and the belief that narrow beauty standards around appearance determines worth. Repeated exposure to appearance-focused content can shape the way we relate to our bodies. Choosing content that promotes body image flexibility, self-compassion, and body respect can help support a healthier body image.
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Improving body image isn't about changing your body…it's about changing your relationship with your body. This often involves uncovering the deeper beliefs and experiences that shaped your body image, reducing unhelpful coping behaviors like comparison, dieting, and body checking, and building a more compassionate, flexible relationship with your body over time. The goal isn't to love your body all the time, but to build a relationship that isn't controlled by shame or appearance. This deeper work takes time, but as you begin to understand your body image and what has shaped it, lasting healing and a more peaceful relationship with your body are possible.
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Body image is the relationship you have with your body. It includes the thoughts you think, the feelings you experience, and the behaviors you engage in because of your body. Body image is about much more than appearance…it influences how you care for yourself, move through the world, and experience daily life. Like any relationship, it can become healthier over time.
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Body image develops through a combination of experiences, beliefs, and cultural influences. Family messages, social media, relationships, life experiences, weight stigma, and societal beauty ideals all shape how people think and feel about their bodies. Because body image is learned, it can also be unlearned and reshaped through intentional practice and support.
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The best way to support someone with body image concerns is to listen without judgment and avoid reinforcing the idea that appearance determines worth. Instead of offering reassurance about how they look, encourage self-compassion, validate their experience, and focus on who they are beyond their body. If body image struggles are significantly affecting their life, encourage them to seek support from someone who specializes in body image such as a dietitian or therapist who specializes in body image.
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Healing body image isn't about learning to love your body overnight. It's about understanding the deeper roots of your body image struggles—including the beliefs, experiences, nervous system responses, and protective patterns that have kept you stuck—and learning how to heal them. As you cultivate body trust, body respect, and body image flexibility, your relationship with your body can become a source of peace instead of constant stress. Working with a body image specialist can also help you develop lasting tools for healing.
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Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a mental health condition that involves an obsessive preoccupation with perceived flaws in appearance and often requires specialized treatment, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and, for some people, medication. However, many people who describe themselves as having "body dysmorphia" are actually struggling with significant body image concerns that don't meet the criteria for BDD. Whether your concerns are diagnosed as BDD or not, healing often involves understanding the deeper beliefs, experiences, and protective patterns that shaped your relationship with your body while building greater self-compassion, body image flexibility, and body trust.
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Feeling bad about your body doesn't mean your body is the problem. Often, it reflects a relationship with your body that has been shaped by painful experiences, cultural messages, protective patterns, and beliefs that no longer serve you. Healing isn't about forcing yourself to love your body—it's about understanding those deeper roots and building a relationship with your body that is grounded in self-compassion, body trust, body respect, and flexibility.
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Body checking is the repeated habit of monitoring or evaluating your body's size, shape, or appearance. It can include frequently looking in mirrors, pinching body fat, weighing yourself, checking how clothes fit, or comparing your body to others. While body checking often develops as a protective strategy to reduce uncertainty or anxiety, it usually provides only temporary relief and ultimately reinforces body dissatisfaction, strengthens negative body image, and keeps the cycle going. Healing involves not only reducing body checking but also understanding the deeper beliefs, fears, and protective patterns that drive it.