#brain lies

I got a shield muthaFuCKA A AaA!1!!

• “Obese waist”? Try on my favorite pair of pants that I know for a fact have a certain waist measurement. Do they still fit?

“Huge wrists”? Finger check! (Personally this doesn’t trigger ED behaviours in me, but you do you ofc)

Fat fingers? Try on your favorite ring!

Here’s a trick that works for any part of your body: get some string, and cut it to a length you think is the circumference of your thigh, neck, bicep, whatever. Then actually wrap the string around whatever part of your body...see how there’s so much extra? You are NOT as fat as you think you are!

Sometimes mirrors are your friend, but for me, this is generally not the time. My brain can distort my mirror image just as well as my regular image. So I avoid them.

Easy to go with the ol’ baggy clothing trick, of course.

Flexibility test—if I can still do my left and right splits and not have back rolls, I’m probably not in danger of dying of obesity.

Brain: “Holy shit, you’re like, freakishly thin. You look like a skeleton. A victim of starvation. Fucking disgusting. Your organs are probably about to shut down and you’ll die.”

Again, the string trick works great.

So does the wrist/finger check.

Close your eyes and feel whichever parts of your body are “disgustingly thin.” Feel how there’s a healthy amount of subcutaneous fat on them. You’re not in danger.

Think about how you’re nourishing your body, how you’ve balanced nutrients with calories with pleasure food—moderation and health. Think about how your body processes what you’ve been eating, and how you’ve had energy to do what you please.

Think about how you’re feeling temperature-wise. How your healthy body fat percentage keeps you from freezing all the time.

Run your hands through your hair. Feel how thick and healthy it is. How it’s not thin and brittle.

I find that stiff, boxy clothing is helpful here. I prefer a fairly butch style, so if I’m “feeling too thin” I might wear a stiff collared button-up and heavy thick jeans, or perhaps a boys’ tank top (some are ultra boxy) and basketball shorts.

Brain: “You’re weak. Your muscles have wasted away. Your hard work was all for nothing. All your gains? Gone.”

this ones a little easier...go work out! Maybe even use a little heavier weights than usual. Do whatever you know you’re good at. For me, this means curls, rows, bench presses, calf raises, and anything with abs. It also means not doing long-distance runs lol

At times like these, I find mirrors helpful. The place I work out has great lighting, and I can clearly see my muscle striations shifting beneath my skin as I move.

people follow you because they like what you post

if someone has been following you for a while it's a reasonable bet that they like you as well

people do not follow you out of a voyeuristic desire to see what depths you'll sink to next

that is a brain lie and we should not pay attention to it