{via etsy by J.M. Barclay}

A positive body image goes beyond liking your looks. It encompasses taking good care of yourself and leading a fulfilling life. In this new series, I’m sharing some of my favorite posts from some of my favorite bloggers on this topic. Hope you find these links inspiring, too!

Last week (9.24-9.28) was BEDA’s annual Weight Stigma Awareness Week. Here are a few posts to check out:

• Stop bullying yourself.
• “Weight stigma starts at home.”
• My interview last year with Marsha Hudnall, a board member at BEDA.

{via etsy by Machel Spence}

Sometimes your body can seem like an enigma. What does it need? What does it want? You might have a difficult time deciphering the scores of sensations.

In yesterday’s post, psychotherapist Ashley Eder, LPC, shared several valuable ways we can learn to decode our body’s cues. Today, she shares two more ideas on figuring out what our bodies are trying to tell us.

Learn more about Ashley Eder at her website  www.ashleyeder.com.

Continue reading… »

{via etsy by myan}

Last week I had the honor of sharing a guest post on strategies for listening to our bodies by Ashley Eder, LPC, a psychotherapist in Boulder, Colorado. For instance, she suggested doing a brief body scan throughout the day, so you can check for issues like tension.

Once you learn how to tune into your body, you need to decode its cues. So another important question arises: How do you know what your body’s trying to tell you?

In part one of her post, Ashley reveals two valuable ways we can interpret our body’s sensations. Stay tuned tomorrow for two more ideas.

Learn more about Ashley Eder at her website  www.ashleyeder.com.

{via etsy by Jan Skácelík}

Every Monday features a tip, activity, inspiring quote or some other tidbit that helps boost your body image, whether directly or indirectly — and hopefully kick-starts the week on a positive note!

Got a tip for improving body image? Email me at mtartakovsky at gmail dot com, and I’ll be happy to feature it. I’d love to hear from you!

How many times have you looked at a stranger — or maybe someone you know — and yearned to be her (or him)? Yearned to have their supposedly flawless face, figure, fashion style?

{via etsy by papermoth}

A positive body image goes beyond liking your looks. It encompasses taking good care of yourself and leading a fulfilling life. In this new series, I’m sharing some of my favorite posts from some of my favorite bloggers on this topic. Hope you find these links inspiring, too!

The language we use to talk to ourselves is powerful. Language can often make or break our body image. Language colors our outlook on life. That’s why I love this post from Anna on crafting accurate stories, owning these truths and using yoga to help.

Wise advice on practicing what you read.

There are many ways to practice self-care, from the simple treats of manicures and massages to the more meaningful acts of setting healthy boundaries and believing in ourselves.

Another meaningful way, which is one of my favorites, is cultivating a creative practice. I was reminded of the power of creative practices while reading Christina Rosalie’s beautiful new book A Field Guide to Now: Notes on Mindfulness and Life in the Present Tense.

Christina returns to writing after struggling through many exhausting, endless days. You know the ones, where every task can’t wait ’til tomorrow. Because it’s all important.

{via etsy by Machel Spence}

When you have a bruised body image, you’re probably used to ignoring your body. Or maybe your body image is OK, but you’re too swamped to give self-care much thought. Either way, you might not pay much, if any, attention to your body. In fact, you might be unsure what listening to your body even looks, sounds or feels like.

That’s why I’m thrilled to share this guest post by Ashley Eder, LPC, a psychotherapist in Boulder, Colorado. Below, she shares several practical, straightforward strategies to tune into our bodies. I also love how she describes the process of learning to listen to our bodies.

Next week, she’ll share how we can actually decipher what our bodies are trying to tell us.

Learn more about Ashley Eder at her website  www.ashleyeder.com.

(You might remember that Ashley has guest-posted on Weightless before. She wrote this must-read spot-on post about the eerie overlap between dieting and parenthood.)

{by Julia from Feed Me Daily}

 Every Monday features a tip, activity, inspiring quote or some other tidbit that helps boost your body image, whether directly or indirectly — and hopefully kick-starts the week on a positive note!

Got a tip for improving body image? Email me at mtartakovsky at gmail dot com, and I’ll be happy to feature it. I’d love to hear from you!

Sometimes, when you’re knee-deep in negative thoughts about your body, trying to change those thoughts can seem impossible. This can be especially true for individuals with eating disorders. Fleeting thoughts can etch into your mind, becoming more permanent fixtures.

“They become obsessions and it can often feel as though they are out of our control,” according to Julia, who struggled with an eating disorder and writes the blog Feed Me Daily.

{via etsy by Elizabeth Urquhart}

A few weeks ago a reader asked a question that many parents and caregivers struggle with when it comes to eating disorders (and other illnesses):

What do you do when your adult child doesn’t want to seek treatment for their eating disorder anymore?

Specifically, here’s the comment:

Hi there, I am a mum of 22yo daughter who has after 6 1/2 yrs told us she is BN. We had our suspicions & have confronted her in the past but to no avail. She has lived away from us for the past 4 years but now living with us & we have been going to Eating Disorder Clinic seeing Specialists but now she has said that she doesn’t want to go as feels that all talk and not actually helping and that too expensive. How can I get her to keep going as hard at her age – very independent. She is talking to me off and on but obviously only when she is ready. Very moody, distant etc. Any assistance would be appreciated.

I turned to eating disorder experts Amy Pershing, Dr. Ashley Solomon and Dr. Sarah Ravin for insight. They raised excellent questions and offered valuable ideas, everything from talking to your child about what’s not working in treatment to seeking family therapy to working together on her (or his) eating.

Here’s part two of my interview with Jenn Lawlor, who talks more about her recovery from an eating disorder. She also shares the lessons she’s learned from her struggles with and recovery from anorexia along with her wise advice for families — and much more.

Check out part one of our interview here.

Also, if you’d like to share your story of recovery, please email me at mtartakovsky at gmail dot com.