{via etsy by Kay Hulbert}

Today, I’m honored to share a guest post by Darla Breckenridge, MS, a psychologist specializing in binge eating at Green Mountain at Fox Run, a women’s healthy weight retreat. In 2011, Darla co-authored Journey into Self: A Hundred Days of Guided Mindful Reflection.

Below, Darla explores what we can do when we don’t love our bodies and any positive body talk feels oh-so faraway. She offers a powerful and valuable technique that leads us away from body hatred and onto a more positive — and feasible and authentic — path.

{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… »

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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 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.)

{via etsy by Patricia Henderson}

Today I’m honored to present an inspiring and empowering guest post by Shaye Boddington, a 26-year-old woman who’s recovered from bulimia after a 12-year struggle. Below, she shares how she finally found help, overcame the shame of the disorder, and the two important steps that contributed to her recovery.

My bulimia recovery. Wow, it was a roller coaster for sure – such a learning experience! In many ways, I was learning a whole new way of living – so there is much to tell.

My bulimia recovery started off with a realization that there was no way in hell I could do it alone. I had tried that for over 5 years with promises to myself every night  “Tomorrow I will not binge and purge.” The next morning by 8 a.m., I would be zoned out plowing through the pantry.

When you become a parent, suddenly everyone has advice on what you’re doing wrong or what you could be doing better. The same is true when it comes to health, weight and size.

In fact, the advice is eerily similar — and somehow you’re always at fault.

Below, in her poignant post, parent and licensed professional counselor Ashley Eder, LPC, reveals how these tips often overlap — and are laced with criticism and inaccuracies.

Eder works in Boulder, Colorado, with teens and adults who would like to create more satisfying lives.

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

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Being part of Body Image Warrior Week has introduced me to several brilliant bloggers I wasn’t familiar with before. One of these bloggers is Caitlin from Fit and Feminist. I love her powerful post about today’s narrow physical standards, and I know you will, too. It’s empowering, beautiful and oh-so true!

Recently, I came across a blog post by a personal trainer in which she explored the one of my least favorite terms as applied to women’s bodies – the word “bulky.”  Any weight-training woman is familiar with this term, as it is often the first thing other women will say as their reason for refusing to lift weights.  The idea is that lifting weights will lead to the development of big muscles, and the development of big muscles means a woman will no longer be beautiful and will instead be manly, unattractive, scary and doomed to a sex-free, love-free life.

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I’m a huge fan of Rosie Molinary, the author of Beautiful You: A Daily Guide to Radical Self Acceptance and Hijas Americanas: Beauty, Body Image, and Growing Up Latina.

I’ve referred to her books countless times here on Weightless, and I’ve even interviewed her. (Here’s part 1 and part 2.)

I love that both Beautiful You and Rosie’s blog offer valuable and practical suggestions on building self-acceptance. I’ve certainly learned a lot from her writing.

Below, Rosie shares incredibly empowering words about never playing small.

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Mara from Medicinal Marzipan is one of my favorite bloggers. Not only is she a beautiful writer, but she always has a wise and thoughtful take on everything from body image to emotional eating. She’s honest and writes with her heart. She gives readers practical and valuable tools to respect and appreciate our bodies and ourselves — and she always raises thought-provoking questions.

Below, Mara explores the meaning and process of loving our bodies. Many of us just aren’t there yet. And that’s totally OK. Mara offers a brilliant idea that’ll help.

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Today, I’m honored to share a guest post by Kate Fridkis of the excellent blog Eat the Damn Cake. This is part of a series called Body Image Warrior Week, which was started by Sally at Already Pretty.

Here’s just a snippet from Kate’s “about” page, which I think so many of us can relate to: “Women should be able to eat the damn cake. We should be able to look in the mirror and like what we see. I love cake. But when I lift the fork, this monologue starts in my head. It’s about my arm fat and my waist fat and the fact that if you have this particular face, as I do, then you can’t really afford to gain weight. Sometimes I think we’re all wrestling with an image of the imaginary perfect woman. I’m sick of her.”

Below, Kate explains beautifully why she writes about body image, and why it’s important .