It is now normal for women to feel dissatisfied with their bodies. Even women of normal weight feel their bodies need improvement. It seems that men also suffer body dissatisfaction.

The relationship between body satisfaction, self-esteem, dieting and exercise were studied. Overall, the degree of body dissatisfaction felt by men and women was the same. The main difference is that men wanted to be heavier, whereas women wanted to be thinner.

And women reported exercising for weight control more than men. Unfortunately, exercising for weight control is associated with disregulated eating. Disregulated eaters think in very black-and-white terms. If they are not thin, then they are fat. If they are not perfect, then they are a complete failure. They starve themselves on a strict diet (restraining their eating), then go on a binge.  Their standards of perfection are too high. It is okay to be imperfect because that is the way things really are.

The things that may lead to the development of disordered eating are internalised and expressed at a very early age. Research with 8- to 10-year-old children showed that they express weight, dieting, and physique concerns that reflect Western sociocultural values and preoccupation with body weight and dieting. 

If this sounds like you, cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy will help you learn how to manage these All or Nothing urges. Learning how to fail well is as important as learning how to succeed. Accepting ourselves as fallible requires us to confront our fears, so that failure is not awful, terrible or scary but something that we can manage with grace.