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Body confidence is more difficult when you have a disability because you can’t go on highly restrictive diets or do extreme workouts like non-disabled people can without severe consequences. It is summertime, which means a lot of people are going to the beach and will likely be wearing a bathing suit, and there is more pressure to exercise more to get abs and have that “summer body.” Personally, I don’t believe in the whole idea that you must do extreme workouts in the summer to get that “summer body” because all bodies are summer bodies. Body confidence is more difficult for disabled people than it is for non-disabled people because you can’t always exercise, and even if you can, it’s not to the extent non-disabled people can. It is easy to start comparing your body to non-disabled people, but it’s so important that we try not to because it’s an unfair comparison. How can you have body confidence when you are disabled? In this post, I am going to talk about how you can feel confident in your body if you are disabled.
Do exercise you enjoy– Exercise should be a form of self-care that we do because we want to improve our strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular health, but the fitness industry has made it all about getting abs and changing our looks. There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting more muscle and exercising to achieve that goal because it can make your life easier when you have a physical disability, and I am always looking for ways to improve my strength. Exercise should be a form of self-care, but often it’s all about vanity, and people exercise for the wrong reasons. If you are doing a high-impact workout and think it’s fun, keep doing it, but if you hate your workout and are only doing it because the Internet told you that it burns lots of calories, you won’t stick to it for very long. Do exercise that you enjoy because exercise can help you feel more confident in your body. Movement is medicine, and it’s not always about doing something that burns the most calories because the most important thing is finding something you enjoy and can stick to. Exercise can make you feel more confident because when you can move better, you feel good about yourself, but if you aren’t engaging in movement that you enjoy, it will create the opposite effect.
If you have body image issues throw out your scale– Some people weigh themselves on a daily or weekly basis to keep track of their weight loss, and if it helps you stay consistent, there is nothing wrong with doing that. If you have struggled or are currently struggling with body image issues, I would not recommend weighing yourself on a daily or weekly basis just for the sake of it, because it can trigger some people and make your body image issues worse. As a disabled person, I don’t weigh myself because I can’t get an accurate weight without an accessible scale, but even if I could weigh myself, I don’t think I would, because I struggled for years with poor body image. If you find yourself being negatively impacted by the scale, get rid of it because the number on the scale should not have that much power over you. It can be good to have some idea of what your healthiest weight is, but that number alone is a very poor indicator of health because there are so many other factors that can impact your weight, such as stress and genetics. You can’t be confident in your body if you are obsessed with the scale and shrinking your body as small as possible!
Wear clothes you feel confident in – As a disabled person with a physical disability, I will never be able to gain muscle in certain areas of my body like my non-disabled sisters can, because there are some muscles I do not have, and can’t train. There is no exercise routine that I can do to repair muscles I don’t have because you can’t fix what is already broken. Most non-disabled people use exercise to feel confident in their bodies, but not all disabled people can use exercise to improve their body confidence because not everyone can exercise. If you can’t exercise to build muscle, make sure you are picking outfits that make you feel pretty. You will never feel confident in your body if you aren’t wearing things that you think you look good in. As a disabled person, I never wear a bikini when sitting on the beach because I get worried about my stoma being exposed, and I am not comfortable having that much skin showing, so I don’t wear them. The clothes you wear are so important for improving your body image because it will almost be impossible to have a positive body image of yourself if you aren’t wearing things that make you feel beautiful.
Clean up your social media- Social media has made it easy to find new workouts and learn how to exercise without paying any money to do it. It can also be very toxic because some fitness influencers are all about exercising to get abs, and people seem to have forgotten the real reason you exercise. As a disabled person who uses YouTube to exercise, I don’t typically use fitness influencers who are not personal trainers because you are more likely to get injured, but at the same time, I don’t use people who promote the idea that you have to exercise to earn that brownie. When it comes to social media, it is so easy to start comparing yourself to others who are more fit than you because a lot of people take before-and-after photos that can be triggering for people who can’t exercise. The people you follow matter because your followers should lift you up and shouldn’t make you feel bad about yourself. Clean up your social media and unfollow people who are constantly posting workout selfies for vanity reasons, because if someone makes you feel bad about yourself, they aren’t worth it and can worsen your body image.
Do not compare yourself to non-disabled people- When you are disabled, it is easy to look at a non-disabled person and start comparing your body to theirs, but it’s so important that we try not to do that because disabled people can’t always do the things to gain muscle that non-disabled people can. It is easier for a non-disabled person to get abs than it would be for a disabled person because people without disabilities can do higher-impact workouts that a disabled person may not be able to do. Please try not to compare yourself to non-disabled people because non-disabled people have it easy when it comes to fitness and can do whatever workout they choose. It’s unfair to compare yourself to someone who has no limitations. Focus on improving your fitness instead of looking at other people and wishing you had their bodies, because nothing good ever comes from that.
Body confidence is more difficult when you have a disability because you can’t exercise to the extent a non-disabled person can. Fitness should be about improving your health, but often it feels like a comparison of who has the most muscle. Disabled people can be just as happy with their bodies as non-disabled people if we unlearn some of the toxic messages that the fitness and diet industry wants us to believe. When you don’t compare yourself to others, it’s easier to have body confidence because wanting the body of a celebrity is unrealistic and often unachievable. You don’t need to look like a celebrity to be happy with yourself, and body confidence can be as simple as wearing clothes that make you look cute. Do whatever it takes to feel confident in your body because disabled people deserve to feel confident in their own skin. Say positive affirmations to yourself if it helps you feel more confident, because having a healthy relationship with your body is so freeing. How do you gain confidence in your body while living with a disability? If you liked this post, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends.
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