Apps like Timehop and Facebook’s On This Day can be fun to see what you were doing on a certain day throughout the years. It can also be incredibly triggering. I hear from clients whose bodies have changed throughout the years that seeing pictures of themselves at lower weights triggers them to want to restrict food again or return to eating disorder behaviors. They may feel that their bodies look so much better in the pictures than they do now.
However, a picture does not tell the whole story. A picture does not tell you that you spent the whole week starving yourself before your vacation in order to feel comfortable in a bikini. It does not tell you how you changed outfits 15 times before deciding on one that you felt made you look the skinniest. It does not show you the meltdown you had because you ate something you “shouldn’t have”. It does not show the pain or the suffering.
Similarly, when you’re scrolling through your feed this weekend and seeing a variety of bodies, remember that you do not know anyone’s story. You do not know what it took for them to look a certain way or what their thoughts are about their body in the picture.
So remember when you’re looking at pictures of yourself or others to keep the whole story in mind. To remember how much better you feel now that you’re taking care of yourself or that some of the people in pictures you see don’t even like the way they look or may be digitally altered.
Struggling with your relationship to food and your body? Recovering from an eating disorder or chronic dieting and in search of an experienced eating disorder registered dietitian in the Centerport, New York area or virtually? Send Christina an email to learn more about 1:1 nutrition therapy sessions!