It's that time of year again.

The post-January, pre-Easter, special time when you start to see summer clothes and bikinis in Penneys (even though it's still feckin' BALTIC like). You swear off bread about three times a day and begin to feel panicky about saying goodbye to your hides-a-multitude-jumpers. Recently, some terrifying statistics emerged from the UK stating that 10 million women have reported they 'feel depressed' because of the way they look and that by the age of just 17, roughly 78% of American girls are unhappy with their bodies. Ten million women depressed about their own bodies!? It makes you wonder what exactly is going on in women's minds - what are we doing to ourselves? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not immune to this depressing phenomenon of mirror fear and self-loathing. I mean, I've had three kids, in five years, and one of them was over the 10lb mark (shudder). So after two 'natural births' (hmmm nothing about it ever seemed natural to me) and one C-section my body knows all about it. Stretch marks? Yup. Scars? Check. Weird X mark from a stretched bellybutton piercing? Tick. Don't even get me started on the boobs (we consciously uncoupled). I get it; I do. BUT it has to stop girls; we have to start to love what we’ve got. Some of us may be in an unhappy on again/off again relationship with cheese and chocolate but it's time to out the not-so-secret-secret that men already know: a happy, confident woman is one hell of a sexy woman. Here are 5 ways to boost your body confidence right now: 1. Stop comparing yourself to other women Sit down and write a list of your beautiful, unique features, even if you find it a bit painful and cringe-inducing to do so. You can burn it afterwards if it makes you feel better, ok? 2. Remember that the advertising images are not real The celebrities you are comparing yourself to have a multitude of apps and teams of pre- and post-production professionals working hard to make their photos perfect. Photoshop perfection is NOT reality. 3. Exercise Yeah yeah, I know, I know… you've heard it all before, but the impact exercise has on your mind and your mood is really amazing and the science is there to back it up. Don't do it to be thin, do it for your thoughts! 4. Learn to take a compliment I think we can safely say that us Irish women are the absolute worst at this! Try to practice just saying "thanks" and ignore the negative self-talk that immediately pops up in your head as a response, believe me, that voice is not doing you any favours. 5. Compliment other women By boosting the confidence of other women you will also boost yours. Lookit, at the end of the day it's nice to be nice. Remember that compliments work on other attributes too and not just physical appearance. In the immortal words of Mark Darcy to Bridget Jones, you are beautiful just as you are. Massive pants and all.