Overcoming body dysmorphia? : r/naturalbodybuilding

Any anecdotal advice on how to manage body dysmorphia? I’m a 26M that has a well developed physique, specifically upper body. I’ve worked tremendously hard to get to where I am and boosting up weak points, but for some reason my mind just hyper focuses on what’s not the best

For instance, I think I have strengths in my chest and back, but I have relatively smaller arms and don’t walk around with a 6 pack year round. I find whenever I’m looking at myslef it’s just looking at my waist.

It makes me sad since I was on a hike with some buddies the other day and they wanted to take a shirtless picture and I felt uncomfortable so just took it w my shirt on

I’m never gonna be the biggest, leanest, or strongest, but I just want to learn to appreciate my own progress

I’d classify this as more being overly critical of yourself. Someone who is truly body dysmorphic wouldn’t typically describe their body with “…a well developed physique, specifically upper body” type of language. They would more likely claim they had made no gains and were much smaller than they are in reality. The other side of that coin, and we see it a LOT around here, are little guys who think they are much bigger than they are or the occasional “I’m 15% bodyfat” when their pics show more like mid 30’s. 😉

Anyhow – getting abs and working on your waist are something you can easily address if it’s important to you. You did say that you worked hard at “boosting up weak points” – so maybe, it’s time to focus on the ones that are currently bothering you.

You’ll never be as big as your pump. For real though, if you think it’s affecting your wellbeing then it’s certainly beyond reddit’s scope of practice. You should talk to a therapist.