4 Ways to Start Living a More Body Neutral Lifestyle
The term “body neutral” might be new to you. It was new to me just a few years ago, but has since become the term I use to describe the way that I live my life in recovery from disordered eating. Body neutrality is different from body positivity, although I tend to think of them as belonging to the same family. Body neutrality is exactly what it sounds like, taking a neutral stance toward your body, both physically and emotionally. For me, this means that I do not make decisions about how I care for my body based on how they will impact the way my body looks. Instead, I make decisions about caring for my body based on respect and recognizing that my body is worthy of being cared for no matter what she looks like.
As someone with a history of disordered eating and body image issues, the concept of body neutrality appealed to me more than body positivity. I could grasp the idea of treating my body with respect, more than I could grasp the idea of actively loving my body.
If you are working on separating yourself from diet culture and recovering from disordered eating, a body neutral approach might be exactly the mindset shift you need. Here are 4 things you can start doing today that can help bring more body neutrality into your life.
1. Stop Weighing Yourself
Despite what we have all been taught, your weight is basically irrelevant when it comes to your health. There is nuance to this of course, certain medications require dosing by weight, and weight may be associated with some disease risk factors, but there are no situations where weight alone is causative of disease. I used to be someone who weighed herself daily (sometimes multiple times per day), and for me this played a huge role in the unhealthy relationship I had with food and my body. The number on the scale not only determined the kind of day I was going to have mood-wise, but it also dictated how much food I would be allowed to eat, as well as the amount of exercise I needed to do. This is a perfect example of an external cue overpowering internal cues, which is one of the foundations of diet culture.
Instead of weight, focus on how your body feels and the internal cues your body is sending you about what it needs. This means tuning into hunger and fullness cues, paying attention to how food and movement affect your energy levels and sleep, and learning how to achieve both satiety and satisfaction with meals and snacks.
2. Focus on Addition Instead of Subtraction
Diet culture teaches us that less is best, and the more you can eliminate from your diet the better, and that calories are something to be restricted. This way of thinking fuels the belief that food is nothing more than a means of making your body smaller. As we now know, body neutrality means making decisions about the way you care for your body without considering how those decisions will change the size of your body. So instead of approaching food from a place of what you need to eliminate, you can start thinking about what you can add in order to respect your body’s needs. For me that meant adding more carbs for energy and healthy digestion, adding more calories for satiety and satisfaction to help prevent binge eating, and incorporating more of the foods I love like chips, pizza, fruit and sweet treats.
The idea of adding instead of subtracting may mean something completely different to you, but you can start by asking yourself these questions to help you find out:
What foods/food groups am I currently eliminating from my diet and why?
What foods do I wish could be a part of my diet on a regular basis?
Am I currently ignoring my body’s internal cues in favor of external food rules?
What foods do I feel out of control around?
What do I need my food to do for me and my body?
3. Reassess Your Relationship with Exercise
For the majority of my life I used exercise as a way to lose weight or punish myself for eating something I deemed bad. As you might imagine, this created a pretty unhealthy relationship with exercise and movement that took years of unlearning and relearning to improve. When I was focused only on exercise for weight loss I would spend hours doing things I didn’t enjoy, like running on a treadmill, or trudging on the stairmaster, or crushing myself with high intensity circuits. When I started to view exercise as a means of supporting my body rather than punishing her, that’s when I really started to fall in love with movement. I found exercise that brings me joy, and supports my mental health, and contributes to my health goals. This body neutral approach to exercise has helped me to build strength, confidence and a relationship with movement that I am really proud of. Just like you can do with your relationship with food, you can assess your relationship with movement by starting with these questions:
Why do I exercise?
How does my current movement routine make me feel physically and mentally?
What kind of movement makes me feel the best?
How does my current exercise routine support my health goals?
What kind of exercise or movement have I always wanted to try, but never have?
4. Cleanse Your Social Media Feeds
This one really applies to any content you’re taking in, not just social media. Being aware of the content you consume and how it impacts the way you think about your body is so important. If you follow accounts that are constantly talking about intentional weight loss, posting what I eat in a day videos, giving calorie restriction advice, and only representing people in small bodies, it makes sense that those things are also going to be what you fixate on. Take some time to go through your “following” list and remove the accounts that focus on body size. You can also utilize the tools available on different platforms to block or restrict content that you don’t want to see. I think the idea of cleansing your social media feeds may seem a bit silly, but if you spend a lot of time on your phone (like me) those messages make there way into your brain and affect the way you think, whether you’re aware of it or not. As you cleanse your feed, you can also start to follow more accounts that post content that aligns with your goals and values. You can find a list of my trusted social media accounts and other resources here.
Even if you’re not sure if a body neutral approach to life is right for you, starting to explore some of these concepts might open your mind to new ways of thinking when it comes to your relationship with food and movement. And one thing that I know for sure, is that there is always room for exploration and new ideas.
Author Bio
The post was written and reviewed by Leah Barron, RD, LD, CPT, a Registered Dietitian and Certified Personal Trainer. She specializes in weight-inclusive nutrition therapy and strength training, helping people heal from chronic dieting and disordered eating. Leah holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Nutrition and Dietetics, registration with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and maintains her training certification with the National Academy of Sports Medicine.