Body image
What is body image?
Your body image is the way you view your body, whether positive or negative, regardless of how you actually look. And the way you view your body can change from moment to moment.
Do you recognize this:
- the first thing people notice is what's wrong with my appearance
- By changing my appearance, I can change my social and emotional life
- my appearance is responsible for the things I've experienced
- If I looked the way I want, I'd be much happier
- the only way to accept myself is to change my appearance
If you answered "yes" to this question more than three times, you probably have a negative body image. This significantly impacts your life because you don't express yourself! You might hide, be ashamed of your body, or find your body so unpleasant that you don't take proper care of it. Understandable, because if you don't have a good relationship with your body, why would you?
A negative body image often also has a negative effect on your eating behavior.
Sanne, a 27-year-old woman, once received a nasty remark from a classmate during her adolescence while snacking. Back then, she already had somewhat sturdier legs than others and immediately made the connection between her legs and her eating habits. Sanne decided: I'll never eat in company again. Now, many years later, she doesn't eat at all at work, but catches up in the evening.
Do you recognize this?
Lipedema can contribute to disordered eating behaviors such as dieting, emotional eating, and binge eating due to the chronic frustration, pain, and negative body image that often accompany this condition. The LIPOEDEMA GAMECHANGER helps you achieve a healthier, more stable eating pattern without judgment, with attention to emotional aspects, realistic goals, and self-compassion.
Disordered eating behavior (such as dieting, emotional eating, and binge eating) is often fueled by body dissatisfaction, negative self-image, shame or frustration about weight or appearance, and ultimately, a sense of failure when attempting to lose weight.
Having a negative body image often leads to control mechanisms around food (dieting, compensating) or avoidance behavior (eating to suppress feelings). That's why it's so important for you to work on body acceptance!
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Working towards a more positive body image
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Self-compassion as a key to body acceptance
Self-compassion is the ability to treat yourself with kindness and understanding, even when experiencing difficult emotions or imperfections.
Self-compassion reduces disordered eating by:
- Replace negative self-criticism with gentleness – which reduces the stress and shame around eating behavior.
- Allows emotions without judgement, reducing the urge to “comfort eat.”
- Acceptance of the body is supportive, even if it does not meet the ideal image (as with lipoedema).
- The focus shifts from appearance to health and well-being – which helps to make healthier choices without coercion.
🌱 Example: Instead of thinking, "I failed, I overeat again," someone learns to think, "It was a tough day. It's okay that I sought comfort. What do I need now to take good care of myself?"
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Yoga as body-oriented support
Yoga is more than just exercise – it's also a practice of awareness, acceptance, and connection with the body. This makes it a valuable tool for disordered eating.
Yoga helps because it:
- Body awareness increases – people learn to better recognize signals such as hunger, satiety, stress and tension.
- A sense of control and strength is restored in the body, which is often lost with lipoedema.
- Exercise is linked to pleasure and well-being, rather than to burning calories or losing weight.
- The nervous system calms down – which helps break emotional eating and binge eating.
- Providing a safe, non-judgmental space to practice self-acceptance, especially in gentle, compassionate yoga styles such as hatha, yin, or yoga nidra.
🌿 Yoga postures, for example, can focus on "grounding", relaxation of the pelvic area (for lipoedema), and gentle breathing – all of which promote body confidence.
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The synergy between self-compassion, yoga and eating habits
Self-compassion and yoga reinforce each other: yoga makes you aware of your body. Self-compassion teaches you to approach your body without judgment. Together, they form a counterbalance to the culture of "dieting, punishing, and controlling."
This approach reduces the internal struggle with food, regulates emotions better without food, and creates space for a stable, intuitive eating pattern, based on what the body really needs.