Maybe you've told yourself it's not that bad.
Maybe you've never had an eating disorder, never been in crisis, never hit rock bottom. So you figure you don't really qualify for help. You just have bad days. Lots of them. And you carry them and get on with it.
But there's no threshold you have to cross before your experience counts. There's no level of suffering you have to reach before you're allowed to ask for support.
If the way you feel about your body is taking up space in your life, that's enough. That's what this guide is for.
You know the feeling
Someone pulls out a phone at a family gathering and you step back, or angle away, or suddenly need to be somewhere else. You've left a changing room before trying a single thing on. You've put off a medical appointment because you didn't want to be weighed. You look at clothes that used to fit and feel something you can't quite name.
It doesn't happen every day. Some days are fine. But the bad days come back, and they tend to come back in the same kinds of moments, and after a while you stop being surprised and start being tired.
Tired is tired. And tired is enough.
What the guide is
It's a free 13-page PDF guide. There's no programme to follow and no challenge to keep up with, and nothing in it asks you to change your body, your eating or your routine.
It's a way of starting to understand what's underneath the bad days, so they feel less random and more like something you can work with.
What's inside
- Why bad body image days feel random, and why they usually aren't
- Nine common things that set them off, each with a short reflection question to help you notice what's happening for you:
- being in a photo, or seeing one of yourself
- a comment, even a kind one
- mirrors and changing rooms
- medical appointments and being weighed
- clothes shopping, or clothes that no longer fit
- social media and news about weight-loss drugs
- diet talk at work or family meals
- pregnancy and postpartum body changes
- big events, holidays and seasons
- The difference between noticing and controlling, and why it matters
- Five options for what to do with what you notice, to use in whatever order feels right for you: name it, reframe it (calling a "bad" day a "difficult" one, to step out of black-and-white thinking), get curious rather than critical, do one small comforting thing, and talk to someone you trust
- Why you don't need an eating disorder to deserve support, and how to book a free 15-minute call if you'd like to talk
What you'll take away
- A clearer sense of what tends to set off your bad days, rather than feeling like they come out of nowhere
- Some language for what you've been experiencing, which can make it easier to sit with and easier to talk about
- A few small, concrete things you can try when a bad day hits
- And, if it feels right, a next step
I've walked this road too
I'm Yasmine. I had food and body image concerns from my teens, and I started dieting young. In my mid-twenties, after losing a lot of weight during a difficult emotional time, I stood in front of the mirror at the weight I'd wanted for years. And all I could think was how hungry I was, and how much time and energy food and exercise were taking up. That moment changed the road I was on.
It's part of why I do this work now.
I'm a counsellor with a Master of Counselling, and a Level 2 member of the Australian Counselling Association. I work with adults on body image, disordered eating, body dysmorphia, and pregnancy and postpartum body changes, from an anti-diet, trauma-informed, gender-affirmative and Health At Every Size® approach.
My practice is size-inclusive and fat-positive, and people of all shapes and sizes are welcome. Sessions are online, by video, across Australia and worldwide (excluding the USA and Canada), in English or Dutch.
Ready to start noticing?
The guide is free, and it's ready for you.
Free PDF, 13 pages. Unsubscribe any time.
Just so you know, this guide isn't treatment. I'm a counsellor. I'm not a dietitian or a doctor.
If you're not sure whether what you're experiencing goes beyond what this guide covers, the free 15-minute call is a good place to start. We can work out together whether my work is the right fit, or whether something else might serve you better.
If this sounds like something you've been carrying for a while, I'd love to hear from you.