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Why Changing Appearance Isn’t the Solution to Body Image Concerns

Decades of research tells us that efforts to directly change your body shape, weight, or appearance to be closer to societal ideals is not an effective way of overcoming body image concerns.

• Body image is influenced by more than just physical appearance, and therefore changing actual appearance does not address other underlying factors.
• People often continue to feel dissatisfied even if they manage to achieve their goals.
• Changing appearance often increases concerns in the long term (e.g., if an individual becomes overly critical of minor imperfections or the new look is difficult to maintain).
• Constantly striving to meet appearance ideals can be mentally and physically exhausting and damaging.

Mindfulness practice is an effective way to learn about and improve our own experience of body image concerns without relying on physical changes, which is crucial to achieve meaningful and lasting improvements.