Let’s get one thing straight: You can be fully recovered from an eating disorder… and still have days when you feel like a human-shaped bag of potatoes in skinny jeans. Maybe it hits you in the dressing room with fluorescent lighting that makes even mannequins look regretful. Or maybe it’s that quiet moment after lunch when your brain whispers, “Should you really be eating that?” Whatever the trigger—mirror, mood, or memory— a bad body image day will show up uninvited, like your neighbor’s cat who’s somehow inside your house again.

But here’s the kicker:

• You don’t have to spiral just because your brain’s being rude.
• You don’t have to force a fake smile or chant “I love my body” into the abyss.
• You just need some tools. Real ones.

11 Things You Can Do on a Bad Body Image Day

Let’s walk through 11 things you can do—today—to feel more grounded, more capable, and more you, even when your body feels like a battleground.

1. Name It Without Fixing It

You’re not broken. You’re just having a tough day.

Instead of trying to instantly fix or reframe the thought, try this:

“I’m having a bad body image day. That’s allowed. It doesn’t mean I’m backsliding. It means I’m human.”

This removes the moral judgment and gives your nervous system a chance to not go full DEFCON 1.

2. Use a 5-Sense Grounding Scan

When your mind’s in the gutter, go to your senses. Literally.

Try this quick sensory check-in:

• Sight: What’s one color or object in the room that feels calming or neutral?
• Sound: Can you hear birds? White noise? Music? Pick something non-triggering.
• Smell: Light a candle. Sniff your shampoo (no… literally). Smell is deeply regulating.
• Touch: Hold something cool (like a mug or ice pack) or soft (blanket, pet, fuzzy sock).
• Taste: Chew gum, eat a mint, or sip a warm drink—something you like, without judgment.

Sensory regulation helps bring your body into the present, which is often a lot kinder than wherever your brain just went. Check out this blog post for 3 of my go-to strategies to stay in the moment during a bad body image day.

3. Move Your Body Like You’re on Your Own Side

Not to burn calories. Not to “undo” anything. But to come home to your body.

Try:

• Stretching in bed.
• Dancing to a weird playlist from 2009.
• Shaking your arms like a wet dog.

Motion isn’t punishment—it’s a protest against the self-hate spiral.

4. Try Opposite Action (DBT-Style)

Dialectical Behavior Therapy has this skill called “opposite action,” and it’s weirdly effective.

Bad body image says: “Hide. Cancel plans. Don’t wear that.”
Opposite action says: “Do the thing anyway.”

Put on the outfit. Go to the brunch. Show up imperfectly.
You’re not faking confidence—you’re practicing courage, which is way cooler anyway.

5. Ask: “What’s Actually Bothering Me Right Now?”

Sometimes the problem isn’t your thighs.
It’s the friend who ghosted.
The assignment you’re behind on.
The way someone looked at you sideways in your 9am pilates class.

Bad body image is often a disguise for deeper discomfort.

Get curious—not cruel. Ask yourself what else might be going on.
Then, support that part of you.

6. Do Something Tactile and Mindless

Think of this as “productive fidgeting for emotional first aid.”

Try:

• Washing dishes with warm water
• Watercolor painting
• Reorganizing a drawer
• Braiding your hair
• Petting your dog like you’re both in a commercial for mental health

Tactile tasks help your brain shift out of critical mode and into the now.

7. Go “Low Visual” For the Day

This is your permission slip to:

• Skip mirrors.
• Avoid body-checking.
• Wear the comfy oversized hoodie again.

You’re not avoiding reality—you’re setting boundaries with the part of your brain that’s being a jerk.

This isn’t giving up. It’s giving space.

8. Use the “Container Skill” to Hold the Noise

This one’s for the overthinkers (hello, my people).

Imagine placing all your loud, intrusive, shamey thoughts into a box, jar, or folder. Mentally close it. Tell yourself:

“These can exist. But I’m not opening that right now.”

It’s mindfulness without having to zen your way into enlightenment.
You’re not deleting the thoughts—you’re choosing when to engage with them.

9. Wear the Damn Outfit

Yes, that one.

The one you told yourself you’d wear “once you feel better about your body.”
Wearing it now—even on a bad body image day—is an act of rebellion.

Don’t wait for your brain to be chill to start dressing the way you want. That’s like waiting to be hydrated before you drink water.

10. Talk to Someone Who Gets It (Not the Internet)

Scrolling recovery hashtags or reading body-positive platitudes can backfire hard.

Instead:

• Text a friend who won’t try to “fix” you.
• DM your therapist or coach (hi, me).
• Journal like you’re writing to your wisest future self.
• Talk to yourself like your 5 year old niece just came to you with the same triggers. What would you tell her?

Connection heals shame. Especially the quiet kind that thrives in isolation.

11. Allow the Body Grief

This part? It’s not fun. But it’s real.

Body image work isn’t just about self-love. It’s about grieving the time, freedom, ability, accessibility and peace you lost to body obsession and a fat phobic belief system.

So if what you feel today is sad or angry or tired—don’t rush it away.

Light a candle. Cry a little. Let the grief be part of your healing, not something that disqualifies you from it.

If You Take Away Anything From this Blog, Let it be this: Bad Body Image Days Aren’t a Sign of Failure

They’re not proof that recovery didn’t work.
And they’re not evidence that you secretly hate your body forever.
They’re just part of the process.

If you can ride the wave without letting it define you—
If you can care for yourself like you would a little kid having a meltdown in a dressing room—
Then you’re doing this work exactly right.

Bonus: What to Wear on a Bad Body Image Day

Because yes, the right outfit helps.

Try:

• Soft textures (cotton, fleece, jersey)
• Loose silhouettes or layers
• Favorite colors that lift your mood
• Clothes that make you feel like you, not a performance

Put comfort over confidence. Confidence comes after safety.

You’re Not Alone. And You’re Not Broken.

Bad body image days don’t get the final say.
But how you respond to them? That builds the muscle of resilience, bit by bit.

And if no one’s told you today—
You’re allowed to feel how you feel. You don’t have to love your body to care for it.

You’re doing enough. Even when it doesn’t feel like it.

Need more tools like this? I’m a body image coach and therapist (LCSW) who helps women stop spiraling on hard body days and feel like themselves again. Join my newsletter below for honest, no-BS body image tips every week.