In April of 2020, we highlighted the importance and steps to take to create long-lasting and important goals and how to break bad habits that you no longer want to continue. These are topics that we would like to bring back in a different way.
Around this time of the year, we hear a lot of the body transformation talk in gyms and in the Fitness industry a lot more. We want to talk about why this type of talk is not inclusive of the current changes in the Fitness industry and why this talk is hurtful to those who hit their wanted goal and not be motivated to continue with habits they had created along the way.
Issues with the ‘Beach Bod’/’Summer Body’ mentality
Some in the Fitness and Wellness realm now coin the term ‘Beach Bod tyranny’ during this time of the year because of the anxiety that is now associated with those who have tried to go through the phrases of being ‘beach ready'. In the past, we used to think that this type of talk would just affect women significantly more than men, however, we are now learning that that is not the case. Yes, women are targeted more in promotions, advertisements, and backlash for not looking a certain way over the summer. However, men start planning for ‘summer body’ earlier than women and use more dramatic methods to achieve this endpoint.
Seasonal body image, according to Griffiths et al. in a 2021 study, is the ‘within-person variation in body image that occurs across the…seasons of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter’. Through their study, the team found that in the summer months, all groups indicated peak body dissatisfaction associated with advertisements, social media, comparing oneself against others, and the feeling that one’s body was on display. It was also found that the group that felt this the most was sexual minority males.
Beach body mentality is heavily set now in our culture because of magazines judging celebrities who looked ‘too thin’ or had an ‘imperfection’ somewhere that wasn’t normally seen with regular clothing. Then, with the addition of social media where individuals can instantly profess their opinions about how someone looks, it has only enforced the beach body mentality.
We have talked in the past about how social media is the biggest modern influencer of body image. Words like ‘thinspiration’ are linked to more and more pro-anorexic behaviours and beliefs, arguing with individuals who are recovering from anorexia when they speak about their experiences and viewpoints. Social media has become a place where unfounded opinions are displayed without any supporting evidence or acknowledgement that there can be different sides to a view. Especially when it comes to body image.
A recent study in California found that 83.7% of the adults (18 years old and older) they studied thought that obesity was a serious public health issue. The study found that individuals who saw thin as healthy were more likely to strongly agree with the statement that obesity was a public health issue. Another interesting finding in this study also found that 84.1% of individuals agreed that there were environmental factors that influenced obesity. These environmental factors included less access to fresh food, walkability/bike-ability of an area, and increased access to fast food/liquor stores.
What to do instead?
We know that this time of year produces a lot of noise to push beach body ideals onto people. But we know that this is one of the few times of the year that individuals start having thoughts or increased goals that are linked to the changes in their bodies. So, what can we do instead that will help us maintain the new healthy habit we are trying to achieve even after we reach the body composition change you are looking for?
Focus on behaviour change instead of on what currently may make you happy: Your goals may change over the course of the time you are working towards them. Perhaps you realize that they do not fit what is healthy for you or maybe you were not personally attached to the goal, to begin with. We talked about earlier in the year that there is health at every size and just because someone you know or look up to is healthy at one size, may not mean you will be.
Now, what behaviour changes do we recommend you focus on? It should be independent of you and what you think you need to work on but here is a general list that may give you some ideas.
Food-related:
- Make a home-cooked meal once a week instead of ordering in
- Switch a coffee with water
- Try a new vegetable every month
- Try to have a rainbow of fruits and veggies throughout the day
- Remove a refined sugar snack with an option you think is healthier once a week
- Eat with a group of friends once a week
Physical Activity related:
- Try a new sport (A&R runs intramurals over the summer)
- Add 1-2 minutes of exercise every 3 days
- Exercise with a friend once a week
- Go for a walk outside once a week
- Try a stress lowering/management activity like yoga or meditation (we have online classes that are free for all)
Other:
- Go to bed 5 minutes earlier every week to total 7-8 hours of sleep daily
- Reach out to someone you have not spoken to all week
- Start journaling once a week
Resources:
Griffiths, S., Austen, E., Krug, I., Blake, K. “Beach body ready? Shredding for summer? A first look at “seasonal body image”.” Body Image, Volume 37, 2021. Pages 269-281. ISSN 1740-1445. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.03.004
Oron, N. (2020). Fat as Flawless or Fatal? Weight Stigma and its Effect on Perceptions of Fat, Health, and Eating Disorders (Doctoral dissertation, The University of California, Santa Cruz).
Marcus, S.-R. (2016). Thinspiration vs. thicksperation: Comparing pro-anorexic and fat acceptance image posts on a photo-sharing site. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 10(2), 5. https://doi.org/10.5817/CP2016-2-5