--- title: How I Boosted My Body Image and Confidence description: Learn how one woman boosted her body image and confidence by making four lifestyle and mindset changes in the latest Do It Scared podcast. canonical: https://time.com/5343287/body-image-boost-confidence/ author: Ruth Soukup article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-24T12:00:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:45:06.522Z og:title: How I Tricked Myself Into Enjoying Healthier Foods and Exercise og:description: 'There were many moments that were downright painful' og:url: https://time.com/5343287/body-image-boost-confidence/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd59f444f97782ee0/698935fe7cdbacf0d4d5d7af/body-image-and-confidence.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 6720 og:image:height: 3780 og:image:alt: Body Image and Confidence og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How I Tricked Myself Into Enjoying Healthier Foods and Exercise twitter:description: 'There were many moments that were downright painful' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd59f444f97782ee0/698935fe7cdbacf0d4d5d7af/body-image-and-confidence.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How I Tricked Myself Into Enjoying Healthier Foods and Exercise > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: These 5 Habits May Help You Live 10 Years Longer [Watch (HLS stream): These 5 Habits May Help You Live 10 Years Longer](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/UQ1AmWWC.m3u8) (2:03)  _Published 2018-04-30. Making five healthy lifestyle choices could prolong your life by longer than 10 years, according to a new study._ by [Ruth Soukup](https://time.com/author/ruth-soukup/) ## Ruth Soukup Jul 24, 2018 12:00 PM UTC  View from behind of a Woman looking her reflection in the mirror. View from behind of a Woman looking her reflection in the mirror.Sally Anscombe—Getty Images by [Ruth Soukup](https://time.com/author/ruth-soukup/) ## Ruth Soukup Jul 24, 2018 12:00 PM UTC Most of us would like to think that when we reach a certain age or point in our careers that we automatically evolve past the point of [worrying about our appearance](http://time.com/4459153/social-media-body-image/). Body image and [self-confidence](http://time.com/81811/how-to-be-more-confident-5-research-backed-methods/), or our lack of confidence, is something that we never really talk about for fear of drawing attention to our insecurities. But the truth is that our body image issues affect us more than we’d like to admit. Over the last eight years I’ve worked hard to [grow my business](http://time.com/tag/the-boss/). My main focus has been my work — writing [books](http://time.com/tag/books/), creating products, launching products, growing my team — and I’ve dedicated long hours to my company’s success. My diligence has definitely paid off and my business is thriving, but all of that hustling has come at a personal cost. I’ve spent long hours at the computer and [little time exercising](http://time.com/5296639/streaming-exercise-peloton-workout/) or eating right. I tried to ignore it and I told myself that no one noticed, but my weight steadily creeped up. As a result, my confidence slowly decreased and I retreated from the activities — both personal and professional — that I loved. I stopped going out with friends, stopped sharing photos of myself on social media and avoided media interviews. Even if I didn’t want to admit it, I knew that the underlying problem was that I just didn’t feel good about myself. I had to make a change. I started by getting clear about my goals, which included getting into the best shape of my life, changing the way I ate and running a 10K on my 40th birthday. But more importantly, I got honest with myself about why those goals were so important and then I asked the people that I trust the most to hold me accountable. From there, I had to make the daily decision to follow through. It wasn’t easy. In fact, there were many moments that were downright painful. But I’m succeeding, and in this week’s [Do It Scared podcast](https://doitscared.com/), I’ll discuss the four main changes that I implemented in order to help me lead a healthier lifestyle. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5343287/body-image-boost-confidence/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5343287/body-image-boost-confidence/"},"headline":"How I Tricked Myself Into Enjoying Healthier Foods and Exercise","datePublished":"2018-07-24T12:00:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:45:06.522Z","description":"'There were many moments that were downright painful'","url":"https://time.com/5343287/body-image-boost-confidence/","keywords":["Living","advice","motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd59f444f97782ee0/698935fe7cdbacf0d4d5d7af/body-image-and-confidence.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ruth Soukup","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ruth-soukup/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd59f444f97782ee0/698935fe7cdbacf0d4d5d7af/body-image-and-confidence.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Body Image and Confidence","caption":"Young woman looking in the mirror","creditText":"Sally Anscombe—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5343287/body-image-boost-confidence/","name":"How I Tricked Myself Into Enjoying Healthier Foods and Exercise"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"These 5 Habits May Help You Live 10 Years Longer","description":"Making five healthy lifestyle choices could prolong your life by longer than 10 years, according to a new study.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/UQ1AmWWC/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-04-30T20:44:35.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/UQ1AmWWC.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5343287/body-image-boost-confidence/","duration":"PT2M3S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5343287/body-image-boost-confidence/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```