There seems to exist a love-hate relationship between women and their bodies.

Most women are proverbial Goldilocks and their bodies are the porridge that doesn’t taste right.

Nigeria does not have any data on body image but Americans do, “53% of American girls are unhappy with their bodies. This grows to 78% by the time girls reach seventeen. 45.5% of teens report considering cosmetic surgery, 43.7% of women over 60 reports considering cosmetic surgery.”

A conversation with Nigerian women about their bodies will reveal that most of them are dissatisfied with their bodies.

Jade says “I am not my ideal weight yet, I’ve gained some weight over the year. I wish I had a slimmer waist. I have always loved how a slimmer waist looks.”

Feyi feels like she has to have bigger breasts as hers are too small.

Slim women want to be bigger and fat women want to be slim. Then there are those little quirks that they have no control over like the size of their nose, waist, the shape of their lips and breasts.

But this isn’t a Nigerian thing, all over the world, women are sold the idea of how a woman should look by the aspirational image on social media and what society tells them.

Few brands include diversity in their advertisement.

From Instagram models to their favourite celebrities selling them shapewear to men lusting over women who have the perfect bodies, there is a lot of bombardment of perfection.

The million and one diet and exercise plans out there make women feel like they constantly have to do something either to lose weight or gain it.

How to get the body you’ll love

‘Working’ on your body if it bothers you so much is a form of self-love. Do what makes you the happiest, healthiest and the best version of yourself.

For example, many big breasted women are happier when they get a breast reduction. There are healthy and unhealthy ways to change your body.

Plastic surgery

Always go for the best plastic surgeon. When celebrities change their bodies they go to the best plastic surgeons but ordinary women often turn to quacks.

With plastic surgery, there is the risk of death staring women in the face and a long recovery process, yet women remain unfazed.

Popular Instagram slay queen, Roman Goddess had liposuction which is basically fat transfer from a part of her body to her buttocks. She said her breasts have always been big and she did not do any surgery for that. When she had surgery, she wasn’t healing for a month and she had to go back to the hospital.

Another popular online personality, Omohtee had so many complications after her surgery she thought she was going to die and even sued her plastic surgeon.

Here is what a writer at Patientsafe Network said; “There is no medical benefit to cosmetic procedures and there is a significant risk of immediate and long term harm. Any perceived psychological benefits are influenced by the heavy advertising people are subjected to. Societal pressure impairs people’s ability to accept their natural beauty.”

Getting pregnant to get fatter

This is so unnecessary and bizarre. Recently, it was reported that women intentionally get pregnant so they can gain weight. After a few months, they abort the baby. Pregnancy has the effect of increasing body mass especially the breasts because of hormonal changes.

Some women also play around with birth control pills for this reason.

Makeup

Makeup has gotten so advanced that you can change how your face looks by contouring and highlighting.

Now that fuller lips are in vogue, most women tend to overline their lips to look fuller or go through a semi-permanent procedure to draw their eyebrows.

Exercise and Diet

This is the healthiest way. With determination and focus, you can lose so much weight or gain weight and become healthier. Eating fresh fruits, vegetables and reducing your portion size might be the absolute best thing you can do for yourself but not only from a weight perspective, healthy eating and exercise will make you look younger than your age.

Bleaching

The hidden colourism that women who are light-skinned are finer makes women use harmful substances to bleach their skin but taking care of your skin with the right products can give you so much confidence.

Choose skincare and not bleaching.

Why loving your body is important

Women are beautiful in all shapes [Healthline] 

Body positivity isn’t posting naked pictures on the internet for validation but truly loving your body.

Genetically, we cannot all look the same, we need to have some individuality. What plastic surgery does now is to create a uniformity in the way women look. All following the Kim Kardashian – Kylie Jenner model.

Some women will be pear-shaped and others will be like inverted triangles, others will look like an hourglass.

No matter what stage you are in, in your weight loss or gain journey, you should affirm your body, it does so much for you and it helps you exist on earth.