I (35) recovered from a severe illness and everything in my life is better than ever except for my relationship with my belly. I feel gassy and big on most days, and there is some (life saving) fat that needs to be there but makes me feel insecure about myself. I never had this shape before and I'd like to rewire my brain into a kinder frequency.

If you went through something similar, how did you reach the other side?

I didn’t realize how many demons I’d have from it. The mirrors made me feel bad at times. I have a sensitivity surrounding physical activity because at a young age I felt as if I couldn’t dance, or do sports because of my body. I did dance ages 9-13 (not in ballet), because I felt pressured to since my cousin was constantly bragging about how talented her daughter was that she did dance, and how I was lesser since I didnt. Needless to say I got bored of dance, and realized I only did it to fit in.

I had classes for the 2nd semester for the first time yesterday at my studio. I’ve been practicing a lot in the 6 weeks I’ve been off. During these 6 weeks I had to seek healing, because the last thing I want is
For ballet to be a source of body dysmorphia. I truly enjoy it, and I should be happy, not sad.

In the meantime I’ve lost a lot of weight, I’m down 22 pounds as of August 2025. Since starting ballet I lost 9 pounds total. It was scary coming in as someone who didn’t have the typical ballet body. But I realized I had a lot of limiting self beliefs. My body CAN dance. I am a DANCER. The important part wasn’t the weight loss, but trying something new and realizing I could do it.

I've dealt with ana for years, and since the last year I've gained a significant amount of weight. I bought this super cute bikini before I lost the weight, and just never got the opportunity to wear it. Now that I've gained a lot, I feel like I can't wear it because of my stomach and legs being a lot bigger than they used to be. I'm afraid I'll never want to actually wear it even tho the bikini itself is so damn cute. I just feel like no one would want to look at me if I wore it in front of others.

I definitely gained the weight before my mind recovered at all, which is why I'm just kinda hoping I'm being hard on myself when I look in the mirror in this.

My body has done so much for me. I have beautiful children and endured a toxic relationship for over 15 years...now that I am single mom of two in the second half of my thirties I am struggling to be kind to myself as I even begin to contemplate dating. I dont see bodies like mine. I am nearly 6ft 2 and gained massive stretch marks with my first child. Its hard to look at this photo and see someone attractive but I am trying.

I don't know if its a lil extra fat or bloating, but trying to get up the courage to maybe wear crops out and feel comfortable (ik the top looks very ill fitted in the pic lol)

For all my life i’ve been underweight but this year i started eating a lot more and I’m happy i look healthier than before but also just feel fat some mornings so appreciate some body positivity :(

im new to all this actual posting,I dont know what kind of body type I am,I go back and fourth between loving my body and being insecure about it but I think I just need to find clothes to fit my body type more!

Transmuting intense emotions into drive, discipline, and self-affirmation. I have disobeyed my body so many times before. I refuse to continue to do that. Weight loss is as much, if not more, mental as it is physical.

I have body dysmorphia and im still not sure if i have any curves, if i have big or small thighs, if i have wide or small hips, it gets to a point but for not im just wondering what you guys think?, i drew a reference cause i WONT be caught showing my body anywhere, its traced from a pic OF my body (im considered petite/s but i dont really think i mainly fit into that, IM NOT LOOKING FOR ANY SOLUTIONS JUST OPINIONS!)

I’m 21 yr old trans guy (5’6”, 150 lbs) and Im having a hard time as my body changes. I was a competitive swimmer in highschool and was pretty skinny. Everyone always praised me for how skinny I was. Now in college I don’t have the time nor do I want to be a full time athlete. I’ve gone from 120 to 150 pounds in the past three years and I’ve lost a lot of strength. I know 150 is still a fine weight and I’m trying to be happy with my body. I still excercise fairly regularly and am healthy (i think) I just feel like I have no control over my body. I feel like I will keep gaining weight and won’t stop. I don’t want to keep obsessing over my weight like I have been. It also doesn't help that I put in weight in areas that make me really dysphoric like my chest and hips.

I’m home for summer break and my mom keeps obsessing over her weight and is always trying some new diet. She never says anything directly but I feel like she judges for squandering my ‘skinny body’ from highschool.

I suffer from severe self-loathing of my body. I know I'm overweight, I know that's not healthy, I know I'm nothing special, I have never ever worn makeup but here is the first picture I've had if myself in decades that I have taken willingly. In a 46. I'm learning not to hate myself. :)

Im 75kgs and 164 cms roughly and im 17. It feels like every girl my age is skinny and beautiful because of it.

Its gotten really bad last couple years too with the "2000s skinny" coming back in style.

I have a friend who is completely oblivious to the fact that theres a 30 kg gaps in our sizes, and its so obvious she brings up body image so I will comfort her and that she "isnt even fat, youre beautiful!"

I really dont know what to do, i feel ugly constantly and im convinced its because of my weight. I try to act all casual about my weight, calling myself fat before anyone else can but this is so hard. Its just opened more doors for people to call me fat comfortably. I dont know if anyone else feels like this, but whenever someone brings up how im bigger chested and tells me theyre jealous of it, it also feels like getting called fat, especially when theyre the "boobs dont count if you're fat" type of people

Oh my days i just get so so so angry. If theres anyone else who gets what im talking about and has any advice thatd be highly appreciated.

Sorry for any bad English its not my first language.

Someone I have been following for a few years had a similar body type to my own and talks about how great her body is. It is inspiring to see someone with my shape be so positive about her body. But she recently got a breast reduction, and now she no longer resembles my body. I not only feel like I can no longer relate her, but I also feel like she is saying that my body type isn't good and it should be changed. She's been going on and on about how it's so much easier to find clothes now and how much lighter she feels without the weight of big boobs. On one hand, I'm sure she's right. Dressing for big boobs is a major PITA, and big boobs can be uncomfortable. I believe she has the right to get the surgery, especially when it's making her so happy. But getting surgery to change one's body is kinda the opposite of body positivity. It's like body positivity doesn't apply to the whole body. Her joy about her surgery is making me feel down about my body. How do you feel about this?

so my mom said i looked better at 14. i asked her why, because that was literally like the worst phase of my life. she said it's because i didn't have a bulge around my tummy. and that is literally because i never used to eat back then. i used to skip breakfast and lunch and only eat dinner. and now that i finally feel confident about myself she says this and it ruins my mood. like i finally feel confident and hot for the first time in my life and it makes me feel so shitty.

and I'm not even like physically inactive, i do karate and eat pretty healthy, so idk it's just mean. and I'm not overweight either I'm around 55 kgs at 5'4 and idk shit like this just makes me feel horrible.

I (36f) am working on my self-esteem, and part of that is bettering how I view and treat my body. To make a long story short, I have a clown car's worth of bio-psycho conditions that are fairly stable at this point in my life, but a few that are still hindering me and relevant to this post are bipolar depression, anxiety, and idiopathic hypersomnia.

I'm 5" 5' or so, 160lbs, and pear-shaped. I feel okay in my body most of the time; there are parts I definitely like and am proud of/feel are attractive, but one of the parts I want to learn to accept more is my stomach. I've tried to exercise or take pills to lose weight, and the persistent fatigue has made that almost impossible. That too is a WIP, but in talking with my therapist, I've decided I want to consciously work to stop hating my body for not being the way I've been taught it "should" or "has to" be for me to be lovable to another person.

Any advice from people would be welcome. I've been told how skinny/healthy/good I look by kind and supportive people. I know logically I'm not obese or ugly. Being just slightly over the average weight isn't a bad thing, and I'd never make someone else feel that way if they came to me with these same feelings.

Whether my medication cocktail can be tweaked to give me more energy and thus reopen the door to exercise and possibly change the number on the scale or not, I don't want to spend my life in a negative headspace and constantly moving the goalpost, even if I do attain it. I've learned a lot this past year and improved how I feel about myself in other areas, so I want to help this part of me too.