Ep. 79: 10 Ways to Stop Comparing Yourself on Social Media

In this episode, Dr. Jenny Gourgari talks about something many teens struggle with—comparing themselves to others on social media. She shares 10 practical strategies to protect your peace, reduce self-sabotage, and use social media in a healthier way. You’ll learn how to spot toxic content, set boundaries, build self-worth, and focus on your own progress.

Listen now and take back your confidence.

I’m Dr. Jenny Gourgari—pediatric endocrinologist, certified in obesity medicine and a health coach.
After helping hundreds of teens struggling with their weight and hormones, I’ve created a whole new path by doing what most programs miss: balance puberty hormones naturally and create habits that actually last.

Here's what makes this different:
✅ No dieting. No calorie counting. No shame.
✅ No more food fights between parents and teens.
✅ No weight obsession—just healthy habits
✅ Real science behind how puberty hormones affect weight
✅ A safe, supportive approach that prevents eating disorders

Because when teens understand their hormones and get the right support, they don’t just lose weight—they gain strength, energy, confidence, and freedom!

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Transcript

 Hello, welcome to another episode of the Lifestyle and Weight Loss For Teens podcast. , I have talked previously on episode 28, how can social media affects kids' body image? And I have also talked on episode 18, the top three reasons social media promotes overweight in teens. On today's episode, I'm gonna focus on something different that I hear from teenagers, and that is when they are comparing themselves to social media images and that makes them feel very sad, makes them feel disappointed, and all those thoughts that are having are basically self sabotaging their progress. So the topic today is gonna be, what can teenagers do to avoid this problem? What can they do if they keep comparing themselves to others on social media? First thing I would suggest you do if you find yourself comparing with other people is unfollow these accounts that promote unrealistic body ideals. You need to protect your peace You need to take action. It's very easy to follow accounts. Maybe your friends follow this accounts. Maybe you see a hundred thousand followers. You don't need to be a follower just because an account is popular. You maybe have thought that if you follow this account, it would help you. But then you realize that instead of helping you, it disturbs your peace. So very easy to do, unfollow the accounts. When you find yourself that instead of promoting healthy ideals, they promote unrealistic body ideals. Number two is follow creators that support body positivity. They talk about healthy habits. They take into consideration puberty changes and how teenagers are different than adults. Follow creators that are from reliable sources and you know that they are people that you can trust and when you follow them, you feel actually more empowered and that gives you more confidence instead of making you feel bad and not in peace. Number three you can do is limit the time that you spend on those apps. The less time you spent on social media, the less of this adverse effect you are going to have, so it can be addictive to scroll on Facebook, on TikTok, on Instagram. Sometimes you may notice that you can be there for an hour. You don't even realize it. And all this information, all those images that you expose your brain to, whether you realize it or not, they can subconsciously affect how you think about yourself and how you think about your progress and how you think about what is health? They can make you feel anxious. They can make you feel sad, they can make you feel discouraged. So limit the amount of time that you spend on those apps. Now most phones and electronics have the ability to even set a limit. So that you are aware and that makes it easier, or you can just say, I'm not gonna do it, i'm only going to be on social media from 10 to 10:15, for example. I'll choose a specific time that works for you. The idea is to put yourself some limits on this adverse effect that you get from social media. Number four is to use affirmations to build self-acceptance. Like you can say things that I am enough as I am. I don't need to look like anybody else in order to be valuable. My body is growing and changing, and that is okay. You can get in the mirror say those out loud. You can write them on sticky notes. You can write them on your journal, but keep talking in a nice way about yourself. If you keep having negative self talk, eventually your brain will get to believe those negative thoughts that you keep repeating to yourself. Number five is talk with a trusted adult about media pressure. Maybe that is your parent, maybe that is your doctor. Maybe that is your coach. Maybe that is your counselor at school. Talk to someone if you feel that you're sad or you're failing that you are not enough. Say that you keep comparing and I, you don't know how to stop, start the conversation. Talk with professional, and there can be support, professional support if this is more serious than just a simple negative effect. Number six is learn yourself about the filters and all these editing apps. You can even experiment with images of yourself. And you see how applying all those filters can make the reality look way different. So don't believe everything that. You are seeing, you're comparing yourself to a digital illusion. Not everybody has this perfect skin. Not everybody has this perfect body. There's a lot of filters out there and it is unfair to compare yourself with the digital illusion of somebody who is like, thinner, beautiful, younger, or whatever. So this is not real. And look around you. Look around you, the people that you hang out with. Not all people come in one size and that is normal. This is human nature. Number seven is track what content makes you feel bad and mute it.. For example, write down in a week everything that you saw and make you felt bad. Like for example, when you saw this particular person, you felt less confident or you didn't like your body, or you felt anxious. So it doesn't have to be anything bad or anything dramatic. You are just protecting your space and you're, again, building awareness of what is it that affects you. Number eight. What I talked to about this previously is to celebrate your own progress every week. Like instead of focusing on other people, look at what you are doing. . I'm drinking more water this week. I went for a walk this week. I was kind to myself. I didn't have any negative self-talk. I didn't have unhealthy snack, or I had less unhealthy snacks than what I did before. Write down your wins, even the small ones. The more you write them down, the more you become aware because they do matter and they help you build awareness and self-confidence. Number nine, use the social media to learn and not to compare. Like for example, it can be a tool where you learn new, healthy recipes. It can be a tool where you learn about healthy nutrition. It can be a tool where you learn fun workouts. It can be a tool to educate yourself how to build healthy habits, but not a tool to compare and feel bad why somebody else is different than yourself. We are all different, and each of us has their own journey. And finally number 10 I think this is very powerful, is write a list of your strengths outside of how you look. Again, you can get your journal and write down three things that you are good at, three things you like about your personality, three times you helped someone else, three hobbies that make you happy. So this helps you build, again, self-worth that is not based on looks, because confidence is about who you are, not just how you look like, and particularly not just how you look like compared to other people. So my final takeaway is social media has a role, but this role can be bad or good according to how you use it. I hope the tips that I gave you today help you use the time that you spend on social media to educate yourself and become better, for those effects that make you compare yourself and feel less confident, I hope you find a way to reduce those negative effects. You are on your own journey. That's what makes you special. You don't need to compare yourself with anybody else, particularly when it's not real life and it's a digital reality that is presented. If you find this helpful, feel free to share this episode with your friends, and again, go to lifestyle fourteens.com/free and download the free resources to start your journey right away. I'll talk to you next week. Take care.