This might shock you. According to the National Institute on Media and the Family, 78% of girls are unhappy with their bodies by the time they reach age 17. The majority of these girls will spend their entire adult lives having low body confidence.
Your Partner’s Body Confidence Matters
How many times has your partner indicated she’s not happy in her body? In other words, expressing low body confidence.
Maybe she’s been on the dieting hamster wheel for years. Maybe she looks in the mirror and comments on how ‘fat’ or ‘ugly’ she thinks she looks. Maybe she’s considered cosmetic procedures to try and ‘fix’ her perceived flaws.
Not only does low body confidence wear her down emotionally, if you’re like most men it feels frustrating to see the woman you love feel this way. Moreover, it could even be wearing on your relationship and ultimately your own confidence.
Certainly in terms of your sex life, but also in terms of your ability to enjoy life with your partner.
Imagine how much happier life would be if she was finally able to look in the mirror and feel good. How much more fun you’ll both have when she stops constantly worrying about how she looks. And how amazing you’ll feel when you support and encourage her in achieving this.
Well, bro. I’m here to tell you this is entirely possible.
After a 10-year eating disorder and many more years of self-abuse, I finally achieved the body confidence I had been craving through a series of simple but powerful rebellious acts.
And now I’m here to share these with you—so you can help your partner do the same.
Why She Has Low Body Confidence
Before I share these tools, it’s important to understand why your partner has low body confidence, so you can help her navigate the hang ups that keep her (and you) feeling stuck.
Every. Single. Day. We are inundated with BS (beliefs and stories) from the media, the diet industry and even our own friends and family that tell us we’re ‘not good enough’.
Not pretty enough. Not slim enough. Not curvy enough…you fill in the blank.
These beliefs and stories become embedded into our subconscious belief system over time, to the point where they don’t feel like stories any more. This gets reinforced by our own inner ‘mean girl’ voice, who likes to shame and judge us about our bodies.
Therefore, the challenges we face when it comes to reclaiming body confidence are to turn our backs on the people and products selling the idea of ‘not good enough,’ while learning how to silence our own inner mean girl.
Rewrite The Story
Just like we can choose what we wear in the morning, we can choose what thoughts we have. Choosing to rewrite our negative stories into positive stories that elevate our body confidence allows us to gradually move away from all the BS.
For example, when my client Hannah* (not her real name) first came to me, she had a story about ‘her saggy boobs,’ and felt like she needed plastic surgery like her friends. She was in a constant state of comparison with other women, living with crippling anxiety about showing her body to her partner.
We got to work on her stories.
After six months, Hannah was grateful for her natural, healthy, incredible body that produced her son. She didn’t need surgery, she stopped the endless worrying, and began to exude body confidence.
I used to tell myself a story that I wasn’t ‘pretty enough,’ which resulted in me never wanting to have my picture taken.
Once I learned to consistently choose to tell myself I had beautiful eyes and a nice smile, I was able to relax and actually have my picture taken with my husband. The result? A family album filled with many happy memories!
By now you’re starting to see how empowering rewriting our stories can be.
Be Her Cheer Squad
Rewriting stories to improve our body confidence is a game-changer, but requires patience, practice and consistency.
It also requires support. In times when the old negative stories feel very real and the new ones false, your partner is going to need someone there helping her. This is where you can come in on your white horse and provide that shoulder for her to rest on.
Sometimes that is literally what’s needed. Other times, she may need words of encouragement, and still other times she’ll need some quality time with you.
Knowing what to do or say when she’s going through this life-changing body confidence transformation can be tricky, so I’ve created a way to keep it simple.
The Self Love Language Method
My NEW Self Love Language Quiz™️ will quickly show you easy and effective ways to help your partner feel loved and supported whilst she reclaims her body confidence.
In five minutes, you’ll discover whether words of affirmation will help her feel good in her body, or if physical touch is more her style.
Click here to discover her Self Love Language. Whilst you’re there, take the quiz for yourself for ideas on how to boost your own body confidence.
Body Confidence Pep Talk
We are all born with the ability to have body confidence. Over time, external and internal BS causes us to lose this. In the same way your confidence level is paramount when you decide to grow long hair, your partner’s body confidence is critical when choosing to feel good in her body.
In the end it’s not a matter of achieving body confidence—it’s actually a matter of reclaiming it—which is entirely possible using the powerful tools I’m sharing.
Not only will they help your partner finally feel good about herself, it’ll also benefit your own confidence, and ultimately your happiness in your relationship.
Expert Nutritionist Lizzy Cangro
Connect
nutritionbylizzy.com
Reclaim The Rebel
Lizzy’s beautiful new book helps women reclaim their body confidence using 12 rebellious acts in their nutrition, movement and mindset.
A wonderful gift for a loved one, or for yourself—to better understand and support the women in your life.
What men are saying about Reclaim the Rebel:
‘As a husband, father, and teacher of adolescent girls, it offers me a fresh perspective on the trials and travails that many face.’
‘I absolutely adored the book. Lizzy does a wonderful job walking the reader through an improvement process that has a proven track record of helping women. I'm purchasing more to have on hand as gifts to the wonderful women in my life.’
‘This is such an important and easy to read book! The author shares her own personal journey to self-love and empowerment and gives you all the tools for you to reclaim your true self back.’
