Written By: Lauren MacLeod, Outdoor Women’s Wellness registered dietitian. She specializes in mountain sports nutrition and body image work.

Bad body image days suck.

These are the days when you wake up and don’t feel comfortable in your body. Whether you’re in recovery from an eating disorder or just aren’t quite feeling yourself today, they can happen to anyone.

Body acceptance and body positivity don’t happen overnight. There’s so much unpacking to do about where negative body image comes from and how to best move through it. Start by taking one day at a time.

Here are seven tips for cultivating self-compassion and moving through these difficult days – and getting one step closer to loving yourself as you are.

Choose clothes that make you feel good

People have a bad habit of holding on to clothes that don’t make them feel good in their bodies – the “one day” outfits. You know, that body con dress that looked SO cute on the hyper-photoshopped model, so you’ll wear it “one day” when your body looks “right” or when you get to an arbitrary weight. 

Stop that thought process. Don’t put it on if it won’t make you feel good today. Better yet, donate it. Instead, pick out that very favorite outfit of yours – the perfectly-worn jeans and knit sweater. Put on your bold earrings and special perfume. Empower yourself with the way you get ready for the day; you deserve to wear your very favorite clothes any time!

Don’t look in the mirror

On days when you aren’t feeling comfortable in your body, it can be tempting to “body check.” Body checking consists of looking at parts of yourself in the mirror, or even pinching body parts. Even if it’s “just to see” how much fat/muscle/skin you do or don’t have, don’t do it. There’s a very strong relationship between body checking, worsening body image, and eating disorder development.

In order to avoid body checking in the mirror, throw on that perfect outfit first thing in the morning and consider covering your mirrors for the day.

Skip the scale

Checking weight is another form of body checking. Many people feel they need to check weight daily, either from the false belief that weight = health, or due to a known obsession with weight. If you’re really feeling down about the way your body feels, the scale is not the place to look for comfort. While a scale can measure mass in relation to gravity, it cannot measure your value, skills, personality, and the qualities that make you you.

If you’re feeling especially frisky, just throw out the scale. Or smash it with a hammer. Both methods are dietitian-approved.

Put down the phone

Don’t compare yourself to others on a bad body image day. Here are some quick facts about social media use and body image

• 21% of teens feel worse about themselves after using social media (Pew Research Center, 2015).

• 70% of women and 50% of men aged 18-35 edit their images before posting them on social media (Renfrew Center Foundation, 2014).

• 56% of women said seeing body diversity in the media made them feel better about themselves (Refinery29, 2016).

• The ideal male body type in mass media is lean and muscular. Research shows that the amount of images of lean/muscular men that males see predicts drive for muscularity (Daniel, 2010).

There is a growing number of body positivity-focused accounts, but for today it’s important to focus on yourself in ways that don’t involve a phone.

Name the true feeling

If you’re feeling uncomfortable in your body today, you may be tempted to say something like:

“I feel fat today”

“I feel skinny today”

Here’s a secret that that damaging voice doesn’t want you to know: fat, skinny, muscular, small, etc are not feelings. It’s like you’re saying “I feel feet today.” Fat, lack of fat, and appearance are all just part of your body. Consider the feelings that are actually at the root of these negative emotions.

Are you feeling:

• Ashamed

• Sad

• Lonely

• Anxious

• Something else?

Identifying deeper emotions is the first step to separating feelings from the way you experience your body.

Think of (at least) one thing you love about yourself

Break your negative thought patterns with a positive one. Everyone has at least one thing they genuinely love about themselves–remind yourself of it! This doesn’t have to be a body part, and it may be more beneficial to think about non-physical attributes. 

Do you love your ability to make other people laugh? Do you love the color of your eyes? How about your gift for painting? Your ability to keep up the stoke, long after your friends have bonked on the trail? 

A body is just one piece of who you are as a person – and compared to your ability to laugh, love, and create, it’s not that important anyway.

Practice body acceptance before body love

There’s literally nothing you can do to change the way your body looks TODAY. 

Yes, it may change a little bit from sunrise to sunset, but all in all, you’re not going to gain or lose massive amounts of fat or muscle no matter what you do or eat. Think about that for a moment; even if you binged today and/or ran all day, your body will not drastically change in one day. 

This is a HUGE point for body acceptance; there’s nothing to do except ACCEPT your body as it is, right now. Cultivating body neutrality is the first step towards learning to love your body.