We’ve talked about body positivity and self-love, in fact, that’s precisely what this site stands for above all else. However, what we haven’t talked about is how much influence today’s culture and views on body shaming affects the people around us and us. It can lead to some pretty hurtful things, and it’s not just something that affects regular people either, even those who we see as perfect might feel pressured by it as well.

We’ve talked about how models face these pressures before, but even famous models and actresses who have been recognised for their looks feel inadequate when compared to people’s idealised view of the body.

One such person is Chrissy Teigen, a famous American model who’s earned a place in people’s hearts thanks to her openness about her issues and insecurities over the years, rather than try to keep up a façade of perfection as other stars do.

Chrissy, however, also faces trouble with accepting her body from time to time, especially when confronted with the younger generation of models whose bodies are different and more “ideal” than hers. She even went on record during this year’s BeautyCon in Los Angeles where she talked about how we should talk more about our flaws and accept them.

The same thing can be said about Friends star and famous actress, Jennifer Aniston, who in a recent interview with Vogue spoke about her career, her daily life and even her fitness regime. She also took the time to talk about an essay she wrote back in 2016 for the Huffington Post about body shaming after rumours circulated of a possible pregnancy (which was not the case).

Aniston, like Teigen, pointed out how tabloids and media are always obsessively talking about a person’s body, weight or even whether they’re married of having children. When prompted on what she thought could be done to improve these conditions she brought up the subject of self-love, on how people should stop worrying about what others thoughts and just accept who they are as people.

Unfortunately, self-love isn’t such an easy feat, at least not as easy as some people make it out to be. When you’ve been judged and mistreated for your weight or body condition, it’s hard just to push it all away and change your view of yourself from one day to the next.

While loving yourself isn’t easy, it also isn’t something that you can’t do, with time at least. Self-love starts with the little things, such as trying not to care so much about dieting and stopping yourself from eating what you love because you’re afraid it’ll affect your weight (plus keeping yourself from eating those things might cause you to binge it later). Exercise is good too, but if you only use out of a compulsion to stay thin, then your body could end up taking a significant toll from it.

What can you do to love yourself more? Well, as we said, it won’t be easy, but you can start by accepting your limits. If you want to take your body and how you look then you should first ask yourself why you hate your body. Is it because of people’s perceptions of you? Or is it because of the perceptions you have of yourself?

So take a step back and reassess your thoughts and slowly separate yourself from the ideas that society puts on what bodies should look like. If you still want to lose weight, diet or exercise then do it because you want to, not because of someone else’s opinion. You should also remember something very crucial though, health and weight are not one in the same.

Photo Credits: Dr Randeep Wadhawan, Be Light Living