Stop Letting Social Media Control How You Feed Yourself and Feel About Your Body.
Who here constantly contemplates deleting their social media?
Are you comparing what you eat, how you look, or the goals you have reached to others?
Here is the hard truth, constant comparison makes it harder to listen to and trust your own body.
Many people rely on external influences like social media, trends, or other people’s advice because they lack internal trust. Internal trust feels scary. Relying on these external influences only disconnects you further from your body. Constantly searching for what has worked for others keep you from feeling content with yourself.
Reality check, there is no one on this earth that is exactly the same as you. Your body needs, metabolism, preferences, genetics, history, and experiences are uniquely yours.
That said, social media can be a positive, motivating, and encouraging space. That is exactly why I created my instagram page. To provide support to anyone wanting to improve their relationship with food, body, and movement.
Here’s a little exercise to help you reflect on how social media is serving you.
Why do you use social media?
Is social media giving you encouragement, or is it bringing you down?
Depending on how you answered these questions you may want to re-evaluate how you use social media.
I have created 7 potential strategies to help you build a neutral relationship with social media if you are struggling with food and body comparison.
Set Boundaries
Limit your time scrolling each day. Pay attention to when your mental health might not benefit from being on online. On difficult food or body image days, you may need more self care and less scrolling.
Curate Your Feed to Support You
Follow accounts that inspire, educate, and encourage you. Unfollow accounts that make you feel competitive or ashamed. This is not supportive to your relationship with food or body.
Notice Restrictive Languages that Reinforce Food Rules
Be mindful of messaging like:
“How to lose weight quickly”
“Get back on track”
“Count your macros to stay in control”
“Calories in versus calories out”
“What i eat in a day”
“How i looked in my eating disorder”
Your brain absorbs these messages and they influences how you take care of your body.
Remember, Social Media is a Highlight
Life is complex. There are beautiful moments, hard moments, emotional moments, challenging moments, and stable moments. Social media only allows us to see through the lens that the individual is posting. Remember this as you scroll.
Diversify Your Feed
All bodies, ages, ethnicities, and abilities are valuable. Expose yourself to a wide range of perspectives and body types. When your brain sees more diversity, it naturals expands what is considered “normal”.
Pause Before Reacting
Different posts are going to make you feel different toward yourself. Ask yourself, does this post educate me, inspire, trigger restriction, or trigger comparison? This simple processing moment allows you to reconnect with YOURSELF and challenge your thoughts.
Lastly Strengthen Internal Cues
The stronger your internal trust becomes, the quieter external noise feels. Work with a registered dietitian to help you eat consistently, meet your nutritional needs, incorporate balance and variety, and honor your hunger/fullness. This will help comparison lose power.
You are encouraged to exist in your body without constantly measuring yourself against someone else. The more you strengthen internal trust, the less power social media has over how you eat and how you feel in your body. This work takes intention, consistency, patience, and support. Rebuilding internal trust takes time, but every step toward trusting yourself is a step toward freedom.
