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Body Image Counseling
Virtually in Marietta, GA and Serving Clients Virtually Nationwide
Do You Feel Stuck in a Strained Relationship With Your Body?
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Have you wrestled with negative body image for months or even years?
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Do you feel like you are constantly at war with your body because of how it looks?
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Do your thoughts about your weight, shape, or appearance take up more mental space than you want them to?
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Do you feel pressure to change your physical appearance in order to feel confident, accepted, or worthy?
Living with persistent body image distress can feel exhausting and isolating. You may find yourself constantly self monitoring how your body looks, comparing yourself to others, or criticizing your appearance no matter what you do. Even on “good” days, body image worries can quietly influence your mood, confidence, and decisions.
When Body Image Impacts More Than Just Appearance
For many people, body image struggles show up in everyday moments. Getting dressed can feel stressful. Photos, mirrors, or social events may bring up anxiety or self-consciousness. You might avoid certain clothes, activities, or experiences because you don’t feel comfortable in your body. Over time, this constant tension can affect your relationship with food, movement, intimacy, and how present you feel in your own life.
You may wonder why accepting your body feels so hard, especially if you have tried body positivity, self-love practices, or simply telling yourself to “be less critical.” When the negative self-talk continues to work its way back in, it can be easy to turn the blame inward and feel frustrated or defeated.
All you want is to feel more at peace in your body. With the support of body image counseling, it is possible to rebuild trust with your body and create a more peaceful, neutral relationship with how you look and feel.
You Are Not Alone in Struggling With Body Image
Body image concerns are incredibly common, especially in a culture that places constant focus on weight, appearance, and “ideal” bodies. Alongside near constant exposure to body standards that are unrealistic, surgically altered, or photoshopped, many people grow up absorbing messages that their body is something to monitor, improve, or control. Over time, these messages can quietly shape how you see yourself, even if you logically know they are unrealistic or harmful.
Your Body Isn’t the Problem. The Pressure Is.
Body image struggles often intensify during periods of change. The pressure to remain in compliance with standards while living in an ever evolving body can feel overwhelming. Life transitions such as aging, puberty, pregnancy, postpartum, health conditions, hormonal shifts, injury, stress, or changes in routine can all affect how you relate to your body. Social media, diet culture, and comparison can further reinforce the idea that your body needs to look a certain way in order to be valued or respected.
For some people, body dissatisfaction shows up alongside anxiety, depression, or stress. For others, it becomes closely tied to food and movement, leading to cycles of restriction, overeating, overexercising, or guilt. None of this means you are failing or doing something wrong. These are common responses to living in a body-focused, appearance-driven world.
The good news is that body image isn’t a body problem that needs fixing. The relationship between you and your body can change, even if your body does not. With the right support and guidance, you can start to unpack where these beliefs came from, foster more supportive ways of caring for your body, and reduce the influence that body-centric thoughts have on your life.
You do not have to love the way you look to make peace with it and treat it with compassion and respect. Body image counseling can help you take steps towards neutrality and trust, so your body and do what it is meant to do: allow you to be present and enjoy your life.
Body Image Counseling Integrated With Nutrition Support
If you feel stuck in cycles of body dissatisfaction, food stress, or critical self-talk, body image counseling can be especially effective when incorporated alongside nutrition counseling. We offer an integrated approach that addresses both the emotional relationship with your body and the practical, day-to-day experiences of eating, movement, and self-care. Rather than focusing on changing your body, our work centers on changing how you relate to it.
What to Expect in Sessions
In sessions, we typically begin by reviewing your nutrition and medical history to get a solid understanding of your nutritional needs. As dietitians, we find that a solid nutritional plan is the foundation for effective body image work. We also explore how learned beliefs about weight, shape, and appearance developed over time and how they affect your thoughts and behaviors. Though body image is often discussed in traditional therapy as well, we find that the inclusion of nutrition counseling supports this process by helping you reconnect with your body’s internal cues and reduce food-related guilt, rigidity, and restriction, and ensures that you are eating enough to support the demands of physical and emotional healing. Together, these approaches allow you to begin rebuilding trust with your body instead of trying to control it.
Our Individualized Approach To Physical and Emotional Healing
Each of our dietitians has years of experience working with a diverse range of client needs. Our approach is highly individual and person-centered.
We incorporate Intuitive Eating principles to help you move away from external food rules and towards honoring hunger, fullness, and satisfaction. This is effective in reducing the constant mental noise around food and appearance, creating space to focus on living in alignment with your true values. We also use Internal Family Systems (IFS) - informed strategies to gently explore the different “parts” of you that may be critical, protective, or fearful around body image. This approach helps reduce internal conflict and builds self-compassion without forcing positive thinking.
Nervous system regulation is another key part of this work. Body image distress often activates stress responses that keep you stuck in comparison, avoidance, or control. By learning effective regulation skills, you begin to feel safer in your body and learn to respond to body-related thoughts with more flexibility. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) techniques support this process by helping you notice body image thoughts without letting them dictate your actions, so you can live in alignment with what actually matters most to you.
Over time, you might notice that body image concerns begin to take up less mental space. Eating can feel more flexible and supportive. Movement may become less punishing and more responsive to how your body actually feels. That said, if this still feels far off or hard to imagine, that is completely okay! Body image counseling is not about forcing change, but about meeting yourself where you are and moving at a pace that feels safe and sustainable.
Our hope is that you leave sessions with intentions, goals, and practical strategies that allow you to take even just one step towards body neutrality.
But You May Still Have Questions About Body Image Counseling...
What if I have tried “body positivity” and it just doesn’t work?
It’s common to feel frustrated when body positivity advice doesn’t help. Many people feel stuck because simple “just love your body how it is” messages don’t address the deeper beliefs and cultural pressures that shaped your dissatisfaction from the start! Body image counseling gives you a safe space to share your experience and explore these thoughts through a compassionate, non-judgemental lens.
What if I feel like I “need” to lose weight for my health?
It is understandable to be concerned about health while also wanting relief from body distress. Unfortunately, there is a lot of messaging out there that also tells us the two are directly related, which isn’t true. Nutrition and body image counseling are designed to help you make informed, health-focused decisions without shame, fat-phobia, or restriction. Though it can be challenging, it is possible to improve your health without making your success dependent on a number, scale, pant size, or otherwise.
I can’t imagine myself being okay with a body that is [insert insecurity here].
It’s completely normal to feel this way, especially if your body feels unfamiliar or at odds with societal expectations. Body image counseling isn’t about forcing instant acceptance. The goal is to empower you to make regulated and informed choices that promote self-care over self-criticism. Even if acceptance feels impossible right now, remember that small steps forward are still steps forward!
Many people struggle to believe that they will ever be able to experience anything except dissatisfaction when it comes to their bodies, let alone feel positively about it. The truth is, change doesn’t need to swing from one extreme to the other. Clients often start just by noticing the small shifts in mindset! One client shared what this transformation felt like for them:
“Before working with Sydney I never really even knew body neutrality was an option. It always felt like two opposites of a spectrum, love it or hate it, and the world today only pushed that narrative further. Learning how to view my body as a middle ground and how to treat it so it stays healthy has been something I will never regret.”
Ready To Take The Next Step
If you are interested in starting nutrition or body image counseling, please fill out our contact form here. We offer free discovery calls to answer any questions you may have and determine if we are the right fit for you!
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Serving Clients Virtually Nationwide
1225 Johnson Ferry Rd # 170,
Marietta, GA 30068, United States