By Margarita Tartakovsky, MS
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!

{via etsy}
Do you ever think that you have several different bodies? The one you’re in right now, and then your real body, the one that’s leaner, more muscular, has better skin?
Last week freelance writer and blogger Kate, who blogs at “Eat the Damn Cake,” wrote a brilliant post about these several bodies. Your real body, she writes:
… might be from the past or the future. It’s mysterious, but thoroughly detailed. The real body gets obscured by the obnoxious, floppy, hungry, unflattering current one. The real body is like a place you really, really want to go. Where life makes more sense. Where it’s sunnier and you can wear a bathing suit without even thinking about it.
By Margarita Tartakovsky, MS

{via etsy}
Whenever I tell someone that diets don’t work, they follow up with, “OK, but then what does?” or “What should we eat?”
We’re so used to the idea of dieting that we yearn for rules, for barriers, for restrictions to keep us eating “right.” And when we don’t have any regulations, we get confused, uncomfortable and maybe even disappointed.
Years ago, I remember sitting with my furrowed brows, thinking, “So I can eat whatever I want? Really?” What do I do with that information? And, wait a minute, how do I keep myself in line?
By Margarita Tartakovsky, MS

{via pinterest}
I haven’t worked out in weeks. I was hit with the flu and a few bad headaches, then the holidays happened and I went to NYC, and then my boyfriend got really sick. Yesterday morning was the first time that I’d gone to my Pilates class.
It was tough to go back. For days I contemplated going. Every morning I’d set my alarm. Then I’d inevitably ruminate about how excruciatingly hard each exercise will be since I was absent for so long. How exhausted I’ll be all day. How upset I’ll be getting into my already tighter workout gear.
And then yesterday, I finally went. I pushed aside my negative thoughts, and made it to the class. I was sick of feeling uneasy, sluggish and stressed.
Before the class, I was tired. I was grumpy. I was dragging my feet.
By Margarita Tartakovsky, MS

{via pinterest}
It’s hard enough being an adult in today’s world, filled with weight-loss and diet commercials, airbrushed images, a relentless emphasis on appearance and an obsession with dieting and shame around eating.
Being a girl? Probably even more confusing and potentially damaging and demoralizing.
As I wrote in an older post on Weightless, tween and teen girls are just starting to form to their identities and figure out the world. They’re trying to make friends, yearning to belong and fit in, maybe even being bullied, dealing with a changing body, dealing with academic and other social pressures and trying to make sense of an often contradictory and damaging culture.
So what can parents and caregivers do to help girls grow up with a healthy sense of self?
By Margarita Tartakovsky, MS
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!

{via pinterest}
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve avoided wearing my prettiest clothes because I was saving them for a nicer occasion. Or avoided spraying my favorite perfume because I was just staying home or running an errand. Or avoided using any other nice products until some special moment arrived.
I’d let these items gather dust like fine china in a dining room cabinet. Because everyday occasions just didn’t make the special list.
I caught myself doing this last week when I contemplated putting on perfume. I’m just going to the store and will be spending the entire day at my parents’ house. I’d just be wasting it.
By Margarita Tartakovsky, MS

{via etsy}
I have a big problem with both women’s magazines and health publications because of their shaming and dangerous messages. But I have an even bigger problem with weight-loss and diet commercials — mainly because there’s no escape.
Yes, you can turn off the channel. But lately, these commercials are everywhere. Clearly, these companies have bought more airtime in the hopes of making big bucks over shaming viewers for the New Year, a time our society likes to equate with deprivation and restriction.
That’s why it’s critical to discuss and dissect them. Because instead of questioning ourselves — whether we’re thin enough, whether we need to go on a diet, whether we need to kick up our workouts for weight loss — we need to question these companies and the manipulative, detrimental messages they send.
By Margarita Tartakovsky, MS

{via pinterest}
I know that we’ve talked a lot about New Year’s resolutions already. But I just came across a fantastic post by blogger and high school senior Fiona Lowenstein over at Rachel Simmons’s blog.
In it, Fiona suggests teen girls try out these 10 meaningful resolutions, instead of the usual appearance-based goals we typically see around this time.
In fact, if you’re a parent, why not talk to your kids about setting goals? You might set authentic resolutions as a family. And you might start a conversation with your child about what they’ve been reading or seeing about resolutions.
With the surge in weight-loss and diet commercials, ads and articles, this time of year is annoying at best and potentially harmful at worst. Kids soak up what they see in our shallow society and learn that beauty and thin are in — usually above all else.
But this time also presents a perfect opportunity for talking to your kids about our warped culture and body image and eating issues.