What is the Meaning of Body Freedom

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Last updated on January 25th, 2025 at 10:51 pm

Body freedom is the idea of being fully authentic and honoring your body as it is right now.  

Body freedom can mean: 

To achieve true body freedom you may need to come to a neutral relationship with the body you are in.  

This article explores the meaning of body freedom, how your body can help you feel at peace in the world, and tips for achieving body freedom. 

infographic on how to achieve body freedom with blue background and colors

What is The Meaning of Body Freedom

Body freedom is having peace with your body as it is now without feeling the urgency to change your body. 

Body freedom means: 

  • Accepting your current body weight 
  • Accepting your current body shape
  • Being at peace with your gender identity 
  • Acknowledging and being at peace with disabilities 
  • Making peace with medical conditions that cannot be healed 
  • Accepting and respecting that your body will change 

Body freedom does not mean you must always love every part of your body. You might acknowledge that there are parts of your body that you want to change, but you have the skills to make peace with these thoughts.

Body freedom means often feeling neutral about your body, rather than experiencing extreme happiness or disappointment as your body changes throughout your life. 

How Does Our Body Give Us Freedom

Once you can accept your body as it is without continuously trying to change it to fit social standards of beauty or health, you will have more freedom in your life.  

Improving your relationship with your body gives you more freedom in life by: 

  • Improving your friendships and romantic relationships 
  • You get to go to the beach without anxiety 
  • You’re willing to capture memories in photographs 
  • You can be more present with your children 
  • You can enjoy your favorite foods without guilt 
  • You don’t wait to lose weight before doing the things you want
  • You can stop apologizing for not looking the way someone else likes
  • You’re willing to take up space 
  • You’re not afraid to be hungry
  • You might take more risks like getting on video or public speaking 
  • You can have a bigger impact on the world by showing up more 
  • You’ll experience more pleasure in all things 
  • Freedom from disordered eating/eating disorders

Once you learn to accept your body as it is you are free. When you reject the opinions of body standards from others, you win.  

You will never achieve body peace by trying to change your body. You must change your relationship with your body. 

How To Trust Your Body

Your body knows what size it wants to be, how it needs to nourish itself, and what it should look like. Trust that internal wisdom!  

Diet culture has probably told you that your body is something that cannot be trusted, especially if it doesn’t meet conventional standards for beauty or a biased BMI standard.  This is bullshit and harmful.

You might not always like your body or think its perfect, but you can still learn skills so that you will always be able to trust it. Trusting your body is the first step to body freedom. 

Body trust is a two-way street.  You are learning to trust your body to tell you what it needs and when it needs it. In return, your body is trusting you to nourish it when it gives you the appropriate cues. 

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Let your body know you can trust it by: 

10 Tips For Achieving Body Freedom

  1. Think of your body as an instrument rather than an ornament 
  2. Understand that the purpose of your body is not to be beautiful and admired by others
  3. Reflect on your body image challenges daily without judgment
  4. Treat your body like a partner 
  5. Move your body in a way that feels good
  6. Stop counting calories
  7. Wear clothes that express your individuality 
  8. Express your gender identity 
  9. Stop body checking
  10. Journal about your body experiences

Learning to respect your body is not a one-and-done.  Your body will change throughout your life, and as so you will need to learn to respect your body in a new way many times throughout your life.  

To love your body means that you will not always like it and that’s okay.  The goal of body freedom is to respect your body at all times for what it does for you, not feel completely content with every part of your body.

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Shena Jaramillo. Registered Dietitian
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