The Beginner’s Guide to Body Neutrality: How to Make Peace with Your Body (Without Loving It)

We’ve been told for years to “love your body.” There are hashtags, T-shirts, and self-love slogans everywhere telling us to worship every inch of ourselves. But let’s be honest: if loving your body feels impossible most days, those messages can feel like another impossible standard to meet.

That’s where body neutrality comes in. It’s not about looking in the mirror and feeling butterflies. It’s not about hyping yourself up with affirmations you don’t believe. It’s about stepping off the exhausting rollercoaster of hating and loving your body, and instead just… existing in it.

Because sometimes the healthiest thing you can do isn’t learning to adore your body. It’s learning not to make your body the center of your happiness at all.

Here’s how to start shifting toward body neutrality today:

1. Stop Treating Your Body Like a Project

Most of us treat our bodies like something to fix, like we’re living in a “before” photo waiting to become the “after.” Body neutrality means stepping off that hamster wheel and letting your body just be your body. You can still work out or eat well, but not because you hate yourself into it.

Ask yourself this: if nothing about your body changed, would you still treat it kindly? If the answer feels like “no,” that’s the real problem to work on. Not your waistline.

2. Focus on What Your Body Does, Not How It Looks

Your body’s not just decoration. Your legs carry you through the day. Your lungs keep you alive. Your hands hold the people (or pets) you care about. When you shift your focus to what your body does instead of how it looks, it’s a lot harder to hate it.

Every day, write down three things your body allowed you to do, no matter how small. They can be as basic as “I got out of bed” or “I laughed with a friend.” It’s not about gratitude journals, it’s about perspective.

3. Clear Out the Comparison Triggers

It’s hard to feel neutral about your body when your social feed is filled with “perfect” people and diet culture noise. If scrolling leaves you feeling worse about yourself, hit unfollow. Replace those accounts with ones that show unfiltered, diverse bodies, or better yet, things that have nothing to do with bodies at all.

The less comparison you invite in, the easier it is to stop obsessing over every flaw.

4. Talk to Yourself Like You’re Neutral

You don’t need to stand in the mirror and shout, “I’m a goddess!” (Let’s be real—half the time, you won’t believe it.) But you also don’t need to call yourself names every time you catch your reflection.

Neutral talk sounds more like: “This is my stomach. It exists. It helps me digest food. I don’t need to love it, but I don’t need to hate it either.”

It feels weird at first, but it’s a middle ground between self-loathing and fake positivity, and it works.

5. Give Yourself Permission to Just Be

You don’t need to “pose” or find your “best angle” every time you exist in the world. You don’t need to cover up when you’re alone or wear clothes that only “flatter” your shape.

Body neutrality isn’t flashy, but it’s freeing. When you stop waiting for your body to change before you live your life, you get to actually live it.

If you’re ready to try this for yourself, I put together a 5-Day Body Reset Checklist. Simple daily habits to quiet body shame and make neutrality stick.
Join The Skinny Dip to grab it for free.