Summer Body Image

My reflection was different, 
As I stood in front of the exact same mirror, 
In the exact same bikini,
Because we don’t waste money and environmental costs on frivolous purchases anymore,
For that split second,
I noticed the difference in my body compared to previous years in Kos. 
 
I put on my cycling shorts and headed to the hills,
And as I blew through my ass and sweated violently up the mountain looking exactly like a Tour de France cyclist,
I took a moment to recognise just how good it felt. 
 
I’d had my three course breakfast,
The mini warm cinnamon croissant,
The feta pesto eggs I’d waited a year for,
The tahini yoghurt 10% greek yoghurt that is made best only in Greece,
And I’d slept for 8hours under the sounds of crickets and woken up to the song of birds,
And a snail crawling up the wall actually but that’s neither here nor there.
 
As I hauled my body up that mountain,
I encouraged her,
Reminded her she was doing incredibly,
And took a moment of gratitude to reflect,
I actually feel good in my body. 
 
You see,
People think a ‘bad body image day’ is not liking the way you look one day,
They think a good body image means liking the way you look,
But people be wrong.
 
A good body image day might be not loving the way you look,
But putting on some comfortable clothes,
Reminding yourself you are worthy of having a good day,
And living your best life regardless.
 
I don’t call that a bad body image day,
I call that a very objective,
Positive body image.
 
Release the idea that there is this end point where you’ll always love what you look like,
The goal is simply not letting our body impact our life choices,
And within that,
There may be days you like the way you look,
And there’ll certainly be days you don’t. 
 
We’re in spring,
Not sure you’ve noticed,
The season where we see most people start a diet.
 
In fact,
Some research that looked at twitter over 8 years found a total of over 600,000 dieting hashtags,
And of the nine most common dieting hashtags,
All nine peaked during Spring.
 
This coincides with seasonal body image,
Which refers to within-person variation in body image that occurs across the seasons,
Where we see a peak in body dissatisfaction in summer,
And it’s no surprise then that we’re dieting more in spring,
We remember how we felt last summer and we hope that dieting will change that.
 
The problem being, 
Yo-yo dieting, 
Constant dieting,
It’s associated with a less positive body image,
Greater body dissatisfaction.
 
Constantly dieting is not the route to a better body image. 
 
If you want to diet into summer,
Which is totally ok,
I wonder,
What will you do differently that means this time will last?
That means you won’t regain the weight,
You won’t repeat this dieting cycle forever more?
 
And given we know dieting is not what supports our body image,
What will you do alongside that diet to support your body image?
 
Regardless of whether you’re dieting or not,
You need to take an active role in changing your body image.
It doesn't change overnight,
It rarely naturally improves.
 
Things we coach at ETPHD include things like managing body checking,
Developing body image flexibility,
The ability to get on with your day like I mentioned above,
Keeping body functionality journals or simply logging it during yoga or the end of the day,
And on that note,
Actually doing yoga is associated with a more positive body image.

Not exercising for fat loss but for health,
Keeping a body image diary,
Which you can get your own copy of here,
Minimising access to fitspo diet accounts,
Practicing self-compassion and developing a compassionate self,
Reducing the negative self-talk.
 
I wonder,
How many of these things are you committing to on your journey into summer?
 
Drop me a message if you want to feel comfortable this summer,
Reply to this,
Give me more details here,
Or hit the WhatsApp icon on the website above and reach me directly right away.
 
You deserve better than a few months of food preoccupation,
A holiday of mindless overeating,
Yet still,
Not feeling at peace in your body,
Don’t you think?
 
Have a fab weekend,
I’m always here,
Em x