As a dietitian who works primarily with people who have eating disorders, I have a front-row seat to the body image struggles many young adults face in their college years. This period is a time when you’re developing your self-identity, which often means looking to your peers for validation. And college also marks the transition between childhood and adulthood, which brings a lot of mental, physical, and emotional changes.
All of this plays into how you think and feel about your body, a.k.a. your body image. “The definition of body image is complex and multifactorial,” Khadijah Booth Watkins, MD, MPH, a psychiatrist and the associate director of the Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital, tells SELF. “In the simplest of terms, it’s how you see yourself.” But body image isn’t just what you see in the mirror, Dr. Booth Watkins adds. It also encompasses how you feel about your appearance and the image you have of yourself in your head, which may or may not line up with what other people see when they look at you.
It isn’t set in stone either. Even if your body image was pretty solid in high school, that doesn’t mean it won’t be challenged in college. “Body image is dynamic and is tremendously impacted by family, environment, peers, and media,” Alyssa Goldenberg, LMSW, a therapist at The Dorm, a mental health treatment center for young adults, tells SELF. “College can be such a volatile and difficult time for body image as impressionable young adults are learning to navigate the world independently,” Goldenberg says.
Below, I consulted experts and dug into body-image research to identify some of the main reasons why your relationship with your body might be extra challenging while you’re in college—and what you can do to feel better about yourself.
Know that your body will probably change during college.
There are so many factors that go into someone’s body shape and size. It’s hard to generalize what rate of growth and weight gain is “normal,” but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) developmental growth charts show that most people continue to gain weight until age 20 (and perhaps beyond, but this is where the growth charts end), even though height tends to taper off in your late teens.
Adjusting to a totally new food and movement routine—eating at a cafeteria instead of at home, going out more often (and maybe drinking alcohol), no longer participating in high school sports (if that was your thing), and having access to a gym for perhaps the first time—can also lead to changes in body shape and size. A meta-analysis published in 2015 in the journal BMC Obesity found that about two thirds of college freshmen gain weight over the course of the year, and that the average increase (excluding students whose weight didn’t change) is about 7.5 pounds.
These weight changes can add to the body image distress that you might already be feeling, particularly because we live in a culture that sees thinness as “ideal” and fatness as bad. But knowing that isn’t really true—and that college weight gain is totally normal—can help you be kinder to yourself and your body as you evolve throughout your time on campus.
Work toward body neutrality and acceptance.
Feeling great about your body when you’re also trying to stay on top of school and your social life might seem like a tall order, but that’s not necessarily the case. “A healthy body image involves having an objective perception of your appearance and an ability to separate your value as a person from the way you look,” Marcia Herrin, EdD, MPH, RDN, an eating disorder dietitian based in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and the coauthor of Nutrition Counseling in the Treatment of Eating Disorders, tells SELF. In other words, the goal isn’t necessarily to love how your body looks.
A better aim, Dr. Herrin says, is body neutrality, which looks like living your life fully without having strong feelings—good or bad—about your appearance. A good way to practice this is to list (mentally, spoken out loud, or maybe written in a journal) some of the things you’re grateful for that your body does for you whenever you’re having a bad body image day. “For example, you might appreciate that you have legs to walk or feel grateful for your organs for keeping you alive,” Goldberg says. It may sound a bit cheesy, but taking the focus off what your body looks like can, over time, help you detach your worth from your appearance, she says.
Nourish and move your body in a way that feels good.
Once you’ve cultivated some gratitude for all the things your body does for you, try to focus on treating it well. That doesn’t mean obsessing over what you eat or exercising to the point of exhaustion, though—those things are harmful, not helpful, even when done under the guise of health.
Instead, find a type of movement that you enjoy, and don’t be afraid to think outside the box. You might like more traditional forms of exercise like running or going to the gym, or you might prefer dancing, walking, gardening, or rock climbing. “Your physical activity does not have to look like someone else’s,” Dr. Booth Watkins says.
Dr. Booth Watkins also recommends avoiding fad diets and other forms of food restriction. That may be easier said than done in our weight-obsessed culture, but restricting food will only cause you to hyper-focus on your appearance and prevent you from tuning into your body’s needs. Instead, try to pay attention to your hunger and fullness cues and nourish yourself with a variety of nutritious foods that leave you feeling satisfied.
Surround yourself with friends who make you feel good.
Another unique part of campus life is that you’re spending almost all of your time around peers who are dealing with similar issues. A study published in 2020 in Eating and Weight Disorders found that approximately 62% of women and 54% of men reported having body image concerns and/or engaging in disordered eating behaviors at the end of the first year of college. And a 2022 paper in Annals of Epidemiology found that gender-nonconforming and transgender men may be at a particularly high risk of developing an eating disorder in college.
“Students are sharing bathrooms, mirrors, and clothing,” Goldenberg says. These close quarters make it more likely that you’ll start comparing your body to others and counting all the ways that yours doesn’t seem to measure up—which only worsens body image, she says. Certain social pressures of college, like finding a romantic partner or joining an organization that values appearance (like a fraternity or sorority) can also make it challenging to have a healthy body image, Dr. Herrin explains.
It’s tough to escape the comparison trap, but surrounding yourself with friends who lift you up can go a long way. Find a group of people who don’t outwardly compare themselves to each other or others, Goldberg suggests, and make a point to not play the comparison game yourself. A good way to find your people? Engage in the hobbies, clubs, and activities that you enjoy, she says. You’re likely to meet people with similar interests and connect with them beyond the surface level, which can make your appearance feel less important.
Wear clothes that fit and feel comfortable.
In college you might feel pressure to dress a certain way in order to fit in. To a degree, that’s fine. But both Goldenberg and Dr. Herrin say that it’s important to wear clothes that you like and that fit you properly so you’ll feel more confident and less aware of your body.
If you gain weight and some of your clothes start to feel too snug, for example, it’s best not to keep wearing them. Being physically uncomfortable isn’t good for your body image, both experts say, and constantly feeling tightness around certain body parts will draw your attention to them more often and probably make you feel self-conscious.
If it’s within your budget, you can go shopping for some new clothes that you feel good in. If your budget is tight, try hitting up a secondhand store or participating in (maybe even hosting) a clothing swap with other folks in your dorm or on campus.
Unfollow any social media accounts that feel triggering.
Having a social media presence can feel like an important part of college life, but research shows that scrolling apps like Instagram and TikTok may be hurting your body image.
A research review published in 2020 in the journal Nutrition and Dietetics looked at existing studies on social media, food choices, and body image among young adults between the ages of 18 and 30. The authors found that social media was shown to promote “a culture of personal appearance and food‐related comparison and competition among peers.” Multiple studies in the analysis showed that being on social media made participants feel like they were constantly being compared, and comparing themselves, to others. It was also clear from the research that looking at social media (particularly images like fitness posts, celebrity shots, and peers portraying “perfect lifestyles”) was associated with a worse body image.
Based on this review and similar research, cutting back on the time you spend on social media apps is probably a smart move to protect your body image. But if that feels impossible, at least unfollow any accounts that promote thinness or a certain body ideal, or that make you feel like your body isn’t good enough as it is. And on that note, here are more tips for making social media a safer space for your mental health.
Seek help if your body image is preventing you from living your best college life.
If you’re seriously struggling with your body image in college—which might look like being preoccupied with food and/or body thoughts to the point where you can’t focus on studying or having fun—Dr. Herrin recommends seeking the help of a therapist. “College health services usually have on-staff experienced clinicians who offer treatment for body image issues and eating disorders for students,” she says. A qualified therapist can help you overcome negative self-talk and work toward self-compassion, which can improve your body image and self-worth so you can live more fully and joyfully—until graduation and beyond.
If you’re struggling with an eating disorder, you can find support and resources from the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA). If you are in a crisis, you can text “NEDA” to 741741 to be connected with a trained volunteer at Crisis Text Line for immediate support.
Related:
