Weigh In

Your Two Cents on Your Body Image

A journal and guide to loving yourself and having body love and positivity. Go through it at your own pace.

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Introduction The way we see ourselves is important. Looking in a mirror, at a screen, or at a photo. We value how our family, our f riends, and even complete strangers see who we are. The way we see ourselves is always changing. Our parents did not live in the world we do now; some things were easier, but a lot of things are a lot harder.

Never before has the world been f illed with so many people and with so many ways to connect. Never before has it been possible for so many people to see what you look like, comment on what you look like, and add to the whole picture of how you see yourself. Social Media is a great tool, and a great challenge. We want it to be a force for good and believe it can be.

This book brings together a lot of positive thoughts about self image. Many people, famous, f rom history, and f rom ordinary life have positive things to say on this subject.

Personal stories of success and challenges about self image come f rom many sources. Magazines, online articles, books, and blogs combine here to provide a central spot that doesn’t exist. The goal is for this book to f ill that void.

Quotes that highlight positive body image will inspire readers. A variety of activities provide opportunity for connection and reflection. Some meditation and breathing exercises highlight positive actions you can take. This book will provide steps for the future. We hope for a generation that learns a positive way to view their own bodies and uses it as a stepping stone to a full and positive life.

What is Body Image? 8 Set aside your worries 12 life-line 17 compliment pile 23 heart to Heart 31 Gratitude journal 37 Feeling down? 47 Write a letter to yourself 53 know when to ask for help 54

What you need to start this journey!

PENS + MARKERS STICKERS WASHI TAPE

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How to Begin This journal is full of activity prompts, inspirational quotes, readings, and fun illustrations. This is your journal, do with it as you wish. Doodle anywhere, scribble down notes, rip pages out, paste other materials in that you want to keep.

Find what works for you.

Let’s get Started Find a pad of sticky notes. Write positive aff irmations about yourself on them and post them all around your mirror. af·f irm·a·tion - emotional support or encouragement.

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What is Body Image?

Body image is the perception that a person has of their physical self and the thoughts and feelings that result f rom that perception.

These feelings can be positive, negative, or both and are influenced by individual and environmental factors.

The four aspects of body image: 1. How you see your body is your perceptual body image. This is not always a correct representation of how you actually look. For example, a person may perceive themselves as overweight when they are actually underweight.

2. The way you feel about your body is your self body image. This relates to the amount of satisfaction or dissatisfaction you feel about your shape, weight and individual body parts.

3. The way you think about your body is your cognitive body image. This can lead to preoccupation with body shape and weight. For example, some people believe they will feel better about themselves if they are thinner or more muscular.

4. Behaviors in which you engage in as a result of your body image encompasses your behavioral body image. When a person is dissatisf ied with the way they look, they may isolate themselves because they feel bad about their appearance or employ destructive behaviors (e.g. excessive exercising, disordered eating) as a means to change appearance.

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Don't Forget To Tell Yourself

Positive Things Daily

Love Yourself You Must

Internally To

Glow Externally.

-Hannah Bronfman

Describe your body in five words

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Are those words kind or hurtful?

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Set aside your worries On the page to the right, use each section to write down your top f ive worries that are holding you back. Whether they are things happening currently, events f rom your past, or feelings that you have. Whatever they are, write them down. Then rip or cut out the sections on the dotted line. Throw them away, it is time to set your worries aside.

Choose Strong Soul

RATHER TO BE

OF

THAN STRONG OF BODY -Pythagoras

Life-Line This is a time-line of your life. Document all of the important moments f rom your life that played a role in your relationship with your body.

You can write or draw.

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What causes body dissatisfaction?

When a person has negative thoughts and feelings about his or her own body, body dissatisfaction can develop. Body dissatisfaction is an internal process but can be influenced by several external factors. For example, family, f riends, acquaintances, teachers, and the media all have an impact on how a person sees and feels about themselves and their appearance. Individuals in appearance oriented environments or those who receive negative feedback about their appearance are at an increased risk of body dissatisfaction.

One of the most common external contributors to body dissatisfaction is the media. People of all ages are bombarded with images through TV, magazines, internet, and advertising. These images often promote unrealistic, unobtainable, and highly stylised appearance ideals which have been fabricated by stylists, art teams, and digital manipulation and cannot be achieved in real life.

Those who feel they don’t measure up in comparison to these images, can experience intense body dissatisfaction which is damaging to their psychological and physical wellbeing.

The following factors make some people more likely to develop a negative body image than others:

Age Gender

Teasing

Body size

Low self-esteem

Depression

Personality traits

Friends and family express body image concerns

Magazine & Me On the next page, I want you to think about all of the models you see in magazines, the celebrities on Instagram, and just about anyone that has a smartphone. If you have a smartphone, go to the App Store and search “body image.” If you don’t have one, ask your parents or guardians to borrow theirs.

Do you see all of the apps that allow you to morph your body and face? Photoshop has gone mobile, people now have access to morph their pictures to make them appear skinnier, tanner, blemish-f ree, whiter teeth, or any other adjustments to their bodies that they could dream of.

These just enhance body image issues in the users and people viewing the photos thinking that these people actually look that way naturally.

Rip out a page of a model in a magazine. Paste it on the next page and write down where the model has been Photoshopped.

This activity is not for you to now use these apps. This activity is for you to realize that everyone with a smart phone has access to an app that allows them to change how they look. There is no disclaimer saying that their photos were edited. So don’t judge yourself so hard after seeing f riends, celebrities, or strangers on social media. There’s a more than likely chance that they edited their photos for social media.

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Your notes on photo editing on the photo of your choosing!

Paste in a photo on the page to the right, write down all the places it could have been photoshopped because most likely it has been.

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Pile Your Compliments Store every good thing anyone has ever said about you here.

From family and f riends to the strangers you may have met.

Look back at this if you are feeling down.

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How does social media make me feel?

I want you to think about how you feel when you’re scrolling through social media. Do they make you feel bad about yourself or do they make you feel empowered?

On the page to the right, make a tally mark for every time you start to feel bad about yourself while scrolling on those social medias. After about a month or so, take a look at the collection of tallies and reflect on whether or not these social medias are good for your self-esteem. If there are other social medias that you use, make space for tallies below this text.

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Love yourself IT IS IMPORTANT

TO STAY POSITIVE BECAUSE

beauty

COMES FROM

THE INSIDE OUT. -Jenn Proske

I love my body...

1: I love my body because it lets me do:

2: I love my body because it lets me experience:

3: I love my body because it lets me be a:

4: I love my body because it lets me see:

5: I love my body because it lets me feel:

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Choose five power words for your body 29

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where you want to be and write them in between the two hearts.

Step 5 : Identify ways that you can go f rom where you are to

the nooks and crannies. Then color and decorate the heart.

Step 4 : Now f ill in your now heart using your barrier word, f ill in

where they would like to end up.

heart now and the right heart represents your heart when you are

like to be and where you are now. The left heart represents your

Step 3 : Find some differences are between where you would

them to the right of the right heart.

in your heart” that describe where you would like to be. Write

Step 2 : Choose 3-4 words that describe emotions that you “hold

Write them to the left of the left heart.

“holding in your heart” that may be a barrier for you right now.

Step 1 : Choose 3-4 words that describe emotions that you are

Heart to Heart

Where you are right NOW

How you can get from now to where you’d like to be

Where you’d like to be

Why is positive body image important?

Positive body image occurs when a person is able to accept, appreciate, and respect their body. Positive body image is important because it is one of the protective factors which can make a person more resilient to eating disorders. In fact, the most effective eating disorder prevention programs use a health promotion approach, focusing on building self-esteem and positive body image, and a balanced approach to nutrition and physical activity.

A positive body image will improve: Self esteem, which dictates how a person feels about themselves and can inf iltrate every aspect of life, and contribute to happiness and wellbeing.

Self-acceptance, making a person more likely to feel comfortable and happy with the way they look and less likely to feel impacted by unrealistic images in the media and societal pressures to look a certain way.

Healthy outlook and behaviors, as it is easier to lead a balanced lifestyle with healthier attitudes and practices relating to food and exercise when you are in tune with, and respond to the needs of your body.

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YOUR BODY IS

Your Body; IT'S NATURAL. LEARN TO

Love Yourself FOR IT.

-Emily Ratajkowski

Mile in my shoes Design shoes to show someone what it would be like to walk a day in your shoes. Use illustration or written words to express what a mile in your shoes would feel like. Try to illustrate at least one secret that you may be hiding f rom the world.

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Gratitude Journal

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Use the thirty one boxes to the right to the right to write something you are grateful for every day in a month. It is important to reflect and be grateful for the things, people, and places around you. Just take a moment everyday and decide what you are grateful for that day.

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HEALTH AND

a Positive BODY IMAGE

Personal Values

ARE PART OF MY

-Deborah Joy Winans

Which of these self care actions do you do because you feel like it and they make you feel better in your body, and which you do so others would like how you look?

Think about each one and write “myself ” if you do those things for you and “others” if you do it for how other people see you.

Make up:

Dress up:

Exercise:

Diet:

Mani/pedi:

Any others?

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What do I do for myself VS what I do for others

Take a moment to reflect on everything that you do for other people. If you are doing something that you don’t like to do, because you know other people like it, is it worth doing? Is it gonna benef it you or your conf idence if you continue to do it? Only you can answer these questions, everyone’s answers will be a little different.

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PLAYLIST to your LIFE In this activity, you will be creating a playlist of songs that best describe your past, present, and what you want your future to be.

Your past and present songs can have a dark place, but explain their connection to you. Try to select songs for your future that have a positive message. Place the songs in the past, present, or future on the page to the right. If you need to explain about your song choice, write it below this paragraph.

Past

Present

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Future

Mantras Below are seven mantras to tell yourself daily, to write on post-it notes and place them on your mirror, and to remind yourself about. You don’t have to use the seven below, you could f ind or create your own and write them to the right.

“My body deserves love and respect.”

“I love my body as it is today.”

“I am beautiful.”

“My body is perfect the way that it is and I honor it in this state.”

“I am comfortable in my own skin.”

“I accept my body the way it is.”

“I am allowed to take up space.”

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Have Patience WITH ALL THINGS, BUT, FIRST OF ALL

With Yourself -SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES

Feeling Down?

Create a list of things that cheer you up. You can do these things when you are feeling sad or down.

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Black out poetry Black out poetry is a creative way to make poems. You are going to need a pencil, a marker, and a book that you are willing to lose a page of. Go to a thrift store and buy a book for a cheap cost or see if anyone is giving one away for f ree.

Step 1 : Now that you have a book, f ind a random page to start.

You can switch it later if you don’t like. Read or scan the page to get sense of the words on the page, some of these words will be featured in your poem. Underline any key words that stand out to you with pencil. This way you can erase it later in case you found better words for your poem.

Step 2 : Select words and piece them together to create the lines of a poem. You can eliminate parts of words, especially any endings, if it helps to keep the meaning of the poem clear.

Try different possibilities for your poem before selecting the lines for your f inal poem. If you are stuck during this step, return back to the original page of text as a whole. The right word you are searching for could be there waiting for you.

Step 3 : Now use a marker to circle, underline, or box around the lines and words you are going to use in your poem. Use the space around your space to draw, doodle, color, or just solid lines through the other words. This is so your poem stands out more.

Step 4 : Have fun with it! Paste on the page to the right once your done to save it!

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Why is self-esteem important?

Self-esteem is important for everyone because it helps you keep a positive outlook on life and makes you feel proud of the person you are, both inside and out. Most teens with self-esteem f ind life much more enjoyable. They tend to have better relationships with peers and adults, f ind it easier to deal with mistakes or disappointments, and are more likely to stick with a task until they succeed.

Self-esteem gives you the:

Courage to try new things

Power to believe in yourself

Conf idence to make healthy choices for your

mind and body now and throughout your life

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WRITE A LETTER TO YOURSELF Take a moment and reflect.

If you could back to before you started this journey, what would you tell yourself? What things would you tell yourself to think about? What things to look forward to? What things should younger you cherish?

Think back to a time in your life when you could have used advice f rom a wiser you. Before writing, take a moment to close your eyes, breathe deeply, and bring yourself back, back in memory to that time in your life, re-experiencing the event, emotions, and thoughts of that time. Think about what you have learned about yourself and life since then. Write your letter.

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Know when to ask for help This journal is just helpful worksheets with activities to make you think more about your body image and your body positivity. This is not to substitute for professional help. If you have strong negative feelings about your body and are harming it in any way, please seek help.

This includes not eating properly. Below is the information for a conf idential help line. Call the help line now.

Call our toll-f ree, conf idential help line, Monday - Thursday f rom 9:00 am - 9:00 pm and Friday f rom 9:00 am - 5:00 pm (EST): Holiday Closures 1-800-931-2237 CALL HELPLINE NOW

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YOUR BODY IS YOUR BODY;

It's Natural LEARN TO LOVE

YOURSELF FOR IT.

Sources & COLOPHON “Body Image.” Body Image, www.nedc.com.au/eating-disorders/eating-disorders-explained/body-image/.

“Free Worksheets for Building Body Conf idence and Self Acceptance.” Lazy Mom’s Blog, 21 Nov. 2015, www.lazymomsblog.com/2015/11/18/worksheets-for-building-bodyconf idence/#_a5y_p=5832410.

Gibbons, Sarah, and Hannah Stebbins. “Activities for People Who Struggle with Body Image.”

Posted under Health Guides. Updated 29 January 2019. +Related Content. “Self-Esteem and Body Image.” Center for Young Women’s Health, 29 Jan. 2019, youngwomenshealth.org/2012/05/30/self-esteem/.

This book is set in Montserrat, Amatic, & Pinot. This book was designed by Sarah Gibbons for her Senior Studio Thesis project. This book was made for her class at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell in May of 2019.

Illustrations were made by Sarah Gibbons as well.

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