Building a Positive Body Image During Eating Disorder Recovery

Recovering from disordered eating often means rebuilding your relationship with food and your body at the same time. For many women, body image struggles didn’t begin overnight. They developed over years of dieting, body comparison, critical comments, and constant exposure to diet culture. Even during recovery, positive body image can take some time to figure out.

At Mel Strunk Therapy, I often remind clients that improving body image doesn’t require loving your body or feeling confident all the time. Instead, healing begins with self-compassion, curiosity, and small shifts away from self-criticism. If you’re working towards eating disorder recovery and struggling with body image, these gentle strategies can help.

1. Practice self-compassion instead of body criticism

Many women in eating disorder recovery have an automatic inner critic that focuses on perceived body flaws. Rather than trying to replace negative thoughts with forced positivity, aim for body neutrality. When critical thoughts arise, acknowledge that living in a body is hard. You might remind yourself, “I’m working on being less harsh with my body,” or “This thought is a habit, not a fact.” Practicing self-compassion supports both body image healing and long-term recovery.

2. Reduce exposure to diet culture and body comparison

Social media can significantly impact body image for many of us. Consider unfollowing accounts that trigger comparison or food guilt and replacing them with recovery-aligned, body-diverse, or non-appearance-focused content. What you consume online impacts mental health and having a positive body image.

3. Choose clothing that supports recovery

Wear comfortable clothes. I can’t emphasize this one enough. We all land differently when it comes to feeling comfortable in clothing. There are some clothes that can exacerbate feeling insecure, so we want to choose clothes that reduce body checking and shift our focus on feeling comfortable rather than thinking you need to look perfect.

4. Build a life that’s bigger than body image

When body image is the main focus of your mental energy, it can crowd out other meaningful parts of life. Recovery involves expanding your identity beyond your body and food. Engaging in hobbies, relationships, creative outlets, movement for enjoyment, or simple daily pleasures helps remind you that your worth is not defined by appearance. The fuller your life becomes, the less space body image struggles tend to take up.

Support for Body Image and Eating Disorder Recovery

If you’re struggling with negative body image, disordered eating patterns, or lingering diet culture beliefs, you don’t have to navigate this alone. Therapy can provide a supportive space to explore your relationship with food, your body, and yourself, without judgment or pressure to change your appearance.