28/02/2022
How much of your time and energy is spent thinking, worrying about or trying to change parts of your body or appearance?
Have you ever stopped to consider….🤷🏻♀️
If you are a human female it is a fact that you probably experience negative thoughts and feelings towards your body 🚹( men and boys I see you, I know this affects you too and you find it harder to even entertain the idea of ever openly admitting you struggle with it, I’m truly sorry. But women have had this s**t inflicted on them for time and with huge ferocity, we are disproportionately negatively affected). People with a disability, and those who are transgender are also disproportionately affected.
I will be happy when I ….
‘Lose half a stone’
‘Fit into a smaller clothes size’
‘Have smaller thighs’
‘Have a flatter stomach’
‘Have bigger boobs’
…. And on , and on and on …. And on 😔
(Spoiler alert, there ain’t no magic pot of self-esteem at the end of that s**tty diet rainbow !)
Research clearly shows that women and girls put their lives on hold due to body dissatisfaction ☹️
From dropping out of sports at school, not putting hand up to contribute in class , to not putting ourselves forwards for jobs, not going swimming or wearing swimwear at the beach, withdrawing from social events to pursuing relationships
….. and on, and on ….. And on 😟
This affects women and girls of ALL ages, the stats from research are shocking, but not surprising given the culture we live in where thinness, weight loss at any cost and many disordered eating and exercise habits are celebrated and praised. Here are a few :
🤯 Nearly 80% of young teenage girls report fears of becoming fat
🤯 Nearly 70% of adult women report withdrawing from activities due to their body image
🤯 61% of adults and 66% of children feel negative or very negative about their body image most of the time. (2021 survey , women & equalities committee )
Body image problems are one of the strongest risk factor for the development of an eating disorder. Higher body dissatisfaction is associated with a poorer quality of life, psychological distress and the risk of unhealthy eating behaviours.
So, how can you cultivate more appreciation and satisfaction with your body? We are bombarded with messages from many sources that are not always obvious, telling us that we need to look a certain way, there is one body type that is acceptable/ attractive / beautiful
… and on , and on …. And on 😠
So it’ll likely take a bit of work. But wouldn’t that be worthwhile? Just imagine how fulfilling life could be if all the time resources and energy we poured into our appearance, our body and how we think others see us was spent on the things that we truly value 🤔❤️✨
Start today ….. what about your body are you grateful for? What does it allow you to do and have you stopped lately to think just how amazing it really is? ✨☺️
I’m not naively telling you to just ‘love your body’ and that it will all be fine…. Far from it and if only it were that simple 🙈 but this s**t is ruining lives and it makes me really sad.
Let’s break the cycle …. We can all contribute to not engaging in diet talk, not berating our bodies in front of our children, not commenting on other women’s appearance at any opportunity and understanding that we don’t actually care about how our loved ones bodies look…..so why is it we believe they would judge us because of ours ❤️
As a personal trainer I see how much harm ‘fitspiration’ & the one depiction of what a ‘fit’ body (that is mostly unrealistic and unachievable) should look like can inflict and I will do everything in my power not to contribute to that.
More posts to come on this, please comment and share your thoughts 💭