Episode 1: What is Body Image? (+3 tips to improve right now)
In the first episode of the Sturdy Girl podcast, we dive into a complex and often emotionally charged topic: body image. Our goal is not to provide a one-size-fits-all solution, but rather to explore how fostering resilience and body acceptance can help individuals on their unique journeys towards improved body image.
Body image, as we discuss in the episode, is a mental representation of oneself. It can be influenced by a myriad of factors, including media messages, societal norms, cultural messages, and personal experiences. Unfortunately, a staggering 70% of people worldwide struggle with body image issues at some point in their lives.
One way to improve body image is to shift the focus from physical appearance to functionality. This can mean appreciating what our bodies can do, rather than fixating on how they look. For instance, one can appreciate the ability to walk, run, dance, or lift weights rather than focusing on the size or shape of their body.
Another significant topic we discuss is the role of self-compassion in improving body image. Self-compassion is defined as the ability to be kind to oneself, to view one's difficulties as part of the common human experience, and to be mindful of one's distress without becoming overly identified with personal difficulties. By practicing self-compassion, we can learn to treat ourselves with kindness and understanding, rather than harsh judgment.
In the episode, we provide practical tips on how to improve body image. These include focusing on the things our bodies can do rather than their appearance, and exercising for functional reasons rather than aesthetics. We also emphasize the importance of acknowledging and accepting negative thoughts about our bodies, rather than trying to suppress or change them.
The Sturdy Girl podcast aims to empower listeners to cultivate a healthier body image and foster resilience and body acceptance. By discussing these topics openly and honestly, we hope to provide listeners with the tools they need to navigate their own body image journeys.
In conclusion, body image is a complex issue that affects a significant portion of the global population. By fostering resilience, practicing self-compassion, and focusing on functionality rather than appearance, we can work towards a healthier and more accepting view of our bodies. Remember, the Sturdy Girl podcast is here to support you on this journey.
-
Jess: 0:02
Hello, friend, and welcome to Sturdy Girl, a podcast focused on strength, not size, where you'll hear conversations around healthy body image, cultivating confidence and being a resilient human in both body and mind. Today, we're going to talk about the Lee thing that sets the foundation for the whole season, and that's what is body image, how it forms and three tips to start improving your body image right now. I'm your host, jess Heiss, joined by my favorite co-host, megan. Are we talking about your last name or are you just Megan? I'm just Megan. Okay, you have too many last names. It's too many, okay. This was Megan. Megan was my first friend when I moved to Portland over a decade ago and has graciously offered to co-host with me just because Sturdy Girl had kind of a deep meaning for her and, obviously, for me. Do you want to tell our audience a little bit about the Sturdy Girl things you do?
Megan: 1:02
So I just came off of a race season for mountain biking, so I do Enduro racing. You're a racer, yeah yeah, and I also like to Olympic lift, I like to hike, I like to be active, and so I think for me that's kind of how I interpret being sturdy my perception of myself has changed so much and just being able to do all these activities and not really care so much about how I might look, you're physical, okay, yeah, absolutely.
Jess: 1:33
And putting myself out there. I love it. I guess a little Sturdy side note on myself. I was a marathon runner for gosh over a decade Everything from like 5Ks to 50Ks. Loved it and then forayed into powerlifting about three years ago and have been doing that predominantly. I did run a half, I guess this spring yeah, not that long ago but it's still mainly powerlifting and that's my Sturdy Girl story. I love hiking as well being outside. We live in the Pacific Northwest. There's a lot of hiking I think that lends itself to just getting outside a lot. But yeah, these are the voices you get to hear through the podcast. Let's dive right in and let's talk about what exactly body image is. Do you want to kick us off? Sure, I'd love to. What is body image?
Megan: 2:19
Body image is the mental representation of an individual, created of themselves, so it may or may not bear any relation to how one actually appears, which I think is pretty important, right.
Jess: 2:32
How much of it is about how we actually look versus our perception of our appearance, and that ties right into the types of body image. There are four types. So there's perceptual the way you see your body. Effective, the way you feel about your body this is effective, not effective. Cognitive the way you think about your body. And then behavioral, which is probably the big one here. Right, the way you act as a result of your body image. So it's not the way you act as a result of the way your body looks, it's the way you perceive your body. So four types there. Okay, so diving a little bit more into body image itself, there are so many different ways to identify body image. Right, we have positive and negative body image. You may have heard talk of body image neutrality, feeling neither positive nor negative about our bodies. There is I just realized I said there's a growing body of research on body acceptance and body image. Resilience is another term as well. So what's our goal here? Sturdy girl is its own mindset, with a big focus on resilience and body acceptance. But one thing I really want to just throw out there there's no right answer Isn't body positivity, body neutrality, body acceptance, body image resilience? That's really up for you, as a listener, to decide. Throughout this whole first season, our goal here is to help you understand two things One, combating negative body image as a practice and two, the way our body looks has nothing to do with our worth. Okay, so that first part, body image being a practice. It is like when people talk about happiness and achieving happiness, they're moments and they come and they go. So having a quote, unquote healthy body image, however you choose to define that isn't a constant state of being. It's not a state that you achieve and just stay there. It is a practice. It takes work and effort and a lot of awareness on that. So that's why Sturdy girl exists, yeah, right.
Megan: 4:32
I love it.
Jess: 4:35
So that's statistics, and then we'll look at what influences and what helps form body image. I think it's safe to say negative body image is something the majority of us struggle with at one point or another. Yes, 100%.
Megan: 4:48
I'm not and I know that. And just kind of going into the next point, like the 70% of people world, or like over the world, are struggling with their body image. At one point I'm surprised at 70, honestly.
Jess: 5:01
I know, I want to know how that was quantified. Yeah, and everywhere I looked, but it's like I would assume that every human at some point struggles with body image and then ebbs and flows and good days and bad, and it doesn't mean you're always stuck in that state, but at some point, right, yeah. And I mean you look at like kids, kids as young as four years old, yeah, struggling with body image issues. Looking at my niece's six, and she had an instance a few months back with body image where she was telling her mom that she didn't want to eat all of her dinner. Oh no, because she wanted to have a six pack like her cousin. No, and so we made it a point the next time we went and visited, like to talk about, like eating all your veggies and eating all your food. And yeah, we live cookies. These help fuel our bodies to do the fun things like jump on the trampoline for six hours straight and carry their uncle around.
Megan: 5:53
Yeah, and it's not something that a child should have to be worrying about.
Jess: 5:57
No, it's so crazy though. Four years old, yeah. And then another study talking statistics still nearly 70% of young adult women reported withdrawing from activities due to their body image.
Megan: 6:08
So sad and I know that I have personally been in that same.
Jess: 6:11
How many times your life have you purposefully withdrawn or not done something because of how you feel about your body? Yeah, not like because of how your body actually looks like. How many times have you not gone to the pool or to the lake or the river? Mm, hmm, because you didn't want to be seen in a bikini, because you didn't feel good about your body? Mm, hmm, how many times All of my teen years? Yeah, how many times did you wear the big like cover up or t-shirt over your swimsuit because you were not wanting to expose your stomach in any capacity? You know, didn't shy away from wearing the fun outfit because you wore the safe outfit to. You know, hang out with your friends, right, like. How many times have we not done the thing? Yeah, taken the opportunities because of our appearance?
Megan: 6:59
Mm, hmm Well, and especially as a woman and like, as you know, a female, as you age, you know, and certain things become a little different. Looking with your body too.
Jess: 7:09
Yeah, okay, so after these statistics, just some food for thought. As we dive into what influences body image. I want to have you, as the listener, ask yourself how you feel about your body. What would you say If I were to ask you if you were healthy? What would you say If you consider your health without focusing on body weight, shape or size? How does that change your perception of health? Now you know, I'm going to be clear. Like, health has a really, really broad definition here. I don't want to give a definition to this, I want this to just be floating around in your brain as we start talking about the things that influence body image. Mm, hmm, let's dive into body image influences. Just a disclaimer I am going to kind of gloss over these as we go through them, because there's a whole different episode where we're going to break down these influences in greater detail, because there's a lot to be said about how these things influence our body image story and how important it is to understand them and be able to break them down. But the first one is media. So media messages, societal norms, cultural messages.
Megan: 8:20
Mm, hmm. The idealized beauty standards is a whole other thing, and this has changed so much over time. I mean, even in my, you know, growing up, the perfect image of what you should be has changed so much from what it is now. But that's the thing, like societal standards are always changing, yeah, and so if you're trying to constantly keep up with that, mm. Hmm, yeah, yeah.
Jess: 8:42
And you think about those that messaging. Yeah, you know, one thing to remember with all of this too is like other people don't judge you as harshly as you judge yourself. Yes, so when you look at all those media messages and you're like internalizing a lot of messages and judging were our own worst critic, mm hmm. And then the next one is interpersonal and life experiences. So relationships, family, friends, our community partners, siblings Mm hmm.
Megan: 9:11
The list could go on.
Jess: 9:13
Yeah, yeah, the people you have surrounded yourself with your whole life. You know what messages did your parents promote about body image growing up? What about your relationship with your siblings? Were you teased as a kid for some kind of like physical attribute? And then, looking at that story of your body image through early adult or, excuse me, early childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, right, what influences played a?
Megan: 9:35
part in that. So, like physical characteristics and changes, so this could be anything from like an illness or cancer. Pregnancy, you know, if you're going through a time that has really high stress, high anxiety, yeah, that's a battle of mine, big perception change. Yes, um, you know acne, or just not fitting into what society deems is like the norm.
Jess: 9:58
Yeah, yeah, this was a huge one. Talk about physical characteristics and those things is like if your body is marginalized because of race, ethnicity or ability, I mean that really, really shapes your body image. If you were not a quote, unquote accepted body type. Yes, that's right, I'm yeah, that's a whole. That's a whole. Another thing that we could talk about. That's a whole episode. Yeah, it is, and it's something that you know. We, we as quite straight, straight sized humans in this world. Um, we don't know that experience, so just speak to that being recognizing the struggles that people who live in marginalized bodies go through. And then, lastly, the big thing to talk about, too, is personality traits. I'm a really big fan of talking about growth mindset and talking about how we view challenges, if we shy away from them, if we embrace them, and that, like genetics, play a big part in our body image and how risk-averse we are and how resilient we are, based on our experiences and how we choose to respond to those.
Megan: 11:12
Yeah, and I mean even things as like trauma, growing up or like your dynamic. I mean this kind of goes back into the family, yeah, how we perceive it. But I mean I think that all of that stuff can really play into it as well.
Jess: 11:24
And growing up, yeah, I agree, and talking about personality traits too, the biggest influence on our body image are our own ways of judging and thinking about our looks, thought patterns that may have become habitual or automatic, but the thing about that is those thought patterns can change. It's not solid state. We have the story of how we grew up and the way that our body image was influenced growing up, but we have the ability to change that perception and shape how we want to view ourselves, going forward and work on those things.
Megan: 11:58
Yeah, and it's a constant work in progress, but like that's why Sturdy Girl is here. Yeah, and therapy, oh my gosh. Well, yes, yes I can't.
Jess: 12:08
That goes without saying. Yes, we are not therapists, we are not dietitians, we are not doctors. We are not any of that. I am a performance coach, I'm a dental hygienist, I am a fellow Sturdy human living this experience right, that's what we're here for. But if body image is to the point that you are struggling with some kind of eating disorder or body dysmorphia at those things, please seek therapy. Let's talk about body image disruptions and then let's get straight into tips to improve body image. Yeah, this is another thing that I'm going to kind of gloss over, because next week we're going to talk all about it, and that's body image disruptions, and this is kind of when events can trigger us to question our body image. So, when we're talking about the practice of body image, if there is a comparison that comes up, if you are scrolling social media, if you do these different triggers, these things that disrupt the status quo of where your body image is like, feeling its best, it is something that can lead us to change our appearance or change our behavior. See quick fixes, but more on that next week. Let's dive into tips to improve body image. A loving but tough reminder improving our body image is an inside job. None of these tips are going to be about how to change your appearance or how to quote unquote fix your appearance. When we keep attempting to fix an internal mental problem with outside physical solutions, these quick fixes will never really solve our problems. If body image was something that could be viewed and understood from the outside, then we could improve it from the outside too. This is repetition. But changing your body is trying to fix an internal issue with an external bandaid. Your body is not the problem. The thoughts about your body are yes, mic drop, mic drop.
Megan: 14:01
And this isn't to say it's like anti-diet. Just throw this out there Like, or you know, like, changing your body or.
Jess: 14:08
Yeah, we are not exactly. We are not anti-changing your body. Changing body composition for some people can lead to an improved quality of life. But again, weight loss, body come changes are physical One issue, yeah, body image, body acceptance are mental yeah, two separate issues.
Megan: 14:27
Yeah, okay, you can be as fit as you want and still not have the mental Exactly.
Jess: 14:32
Okay, tip number one for improving your body image Instead of thinking about all the instances where you don't feel good in your body, can you think about times or activities that you were so caught up in that you didn't even think about your body or its appearance? On a mountain bike, yeah, on a run, racing, lifting heavy shit, doing yoga, embracing yourself in a book, like it doesn't have to be necessarily a physical thing. I was telling Megan this before we hit record, but we were supposed to have family in town and I was really stoked to see family but they canceled last minute and I was like well shoot, what am I gonna do with my weekend? And I realized that I really wanted to do a puzzle and I got really excited to like get this puzzle out because I can just kind of reach that flow state right. Your appearance doesn't play a part in that, and that's runners will understand this. We talk about flow state, like lifters can too. It's definitely something that is worth seeking out and achieving. Yeah, because you're taking the focus away from appearance and onto activities that you enjoy.
Megan: 15:37
Yeah, I mean, I would just say, like for me personally, like I think one thing that when you kind of start talking about this, one thing that it did kind of trigger in my head a little bit is I feel like in the moment, when I'm like riding or like even at the races that I've like recently done, yeah, I think that I don't even think about it, I don't think about how I look, I don't think about anything like that. And then sometimes I see the pictures and they come back and I'm like oh, my knee pads look really like my legs look like little sausages, like squished into my knee pads. So it's after the fact, but it's after the fact. And then you kind of have to get back into that of like, oh my goodness, like just but.
Jess: 16:14
I was so in the moment doing my thing. What is it really matter? It doesn't, you know, it didn't affect your performance.
Megan: 16:20
It was something I didn't think about. It didn't affect your environment in the moment, yeah, and it's kind of more to that later.
Jess: 16:25
Yeah, okay, that's actually like. So tip number two for improving your body image is to shift your focus from how does my body look to what can my body do. Does your body do the things that you want? Can you Mountain bike the way you enjoy, run races, lift the weights, hike the mountains? Can you keep up with your kids and your nieces, who never want to get off the trampoline? Right, just this shift in narrative can help us see that our satisfaction in life Doesn't come from our appearance. Yeah, one thing worth noting here. When we're talking about shifting away from looks to what can our body do, this statement can be problematic and triggering for those that aren't able-bodied. Yeah, the intent here is to draw attention away from our appearance and more on the appreciation for our body itself, the meat sack that gives us the ability to experience life on earth Like that. That's the point here. It is not to take away from anyone who has some kind of disability or isn't able to do the things that they're, that they generally enjoy. If you're going through an injury, if you are disabled, if you have other things right, many of us lose sight of the things that we can do and instead get caught up in how it may not fit the quote ideal of the activity that we're doing or the society that we reside in, and especially when you're bombarded so much by social media.
Megan: 17:49
Oh yeah, you're just sitting there, doom scrolling everything and and then seeing, or you're like I will.
Jess: 17:55
I'll do this thing when my body looks this way.
Megan: 17:58
Yeah, putting something off. Yeah, right, yeah, I'm waiting for your body to look a certain way, when I'm this, I mean like, I mean it goes. You know, for me it's always like oh, I could do that, when I'm like that fit or something. Yeah, that's how I look, you know, versus, exactly, and I actually do it and tip number three for improving your body image is exercise.
Jess: 18:22
Now, hear us out on this. We're not going to tell you that running, lifting, mountain biking, they're going to fix your body image struggles. But looking at a few different studies the total over 500 individuals showed that those who exercise for functional reasons rather than aesthetics had a better body image and better body satisfaction. That's worth noting. And this isn't to say exercise and go join a CrossFit gym so that you can compete in the CrossFit games. This isn't to say go become the best lifter or runner or you know, challenge yourself to doing something every single day, like that's not our point here. There's a lot to be said about getting out and going for a walk. Yeah, there's a lot to be said for Going through a mobility flow or yoga or something like that, where you're just moving moving.
Megan: 19:11
Yeah, exactly, I mean even like I think you know we were talking about this before but like Even working remote at home, you know, having that shift and only kind of being at my desk and bubble where I'm only at home I was able to Kind of time myself to be like all right, I need to go out and like take walks, I need to go out and, even if it's just playing with a dog for a little while, like have some type of movement, because I feel like that just made me feel better overall. I don't know if that necessarily is you know kind of like with the body, but like I feel like it ties in. Yeah, absolutely.
Jess: 19:46
Yeah, working from home, you are sedentary, you're sitting it's almost like that inertia piece, right. Our point here being moving your body can help with us kind of getting out of that negative head space. I don't want it to be like that Instagram video of like going for what Cures your depression, being in nature, but there is value in this, so that is why it is on kind of our top three tips. So taking a walk, moving your body, even if that's, I guess. So this is like four times jumping on the trampoline with your nieces.
Megan: 20:18
Yeah, and I mean like exercise to me like a big bullet point with this is just really movement. Yeah, like in any form really.
Jess: 20:28
It makes me this is a total aside, but it makes me think of Legally Blonde when she's making her case about, like exercise producing endorphins. Yeah, and endorphins make people happy, and happy people just don't kill their husbands, they just don't. They don't. So, like, our point here is that exercise can help improve body image. Yeah, yeah.
Megan: 20:52
There you go Well, and it can improve. Like I know, for me exercise is a huge piece, like when I I recently went through an injury on my shoulder and I had to cut back with a lot of my lifting, a lot of my regular pattern things.
Jess: 21:06
Well, you also were in season for racing as well, which changes your lifting habits, true it?
Megan: 21:11
was a combination. I feel like the injury happened and then it cycled into it. Okay, so it just like went for so long without doing my regular pattern and like I honestly I felt my body changing and like not necessarily in the way that I wanted it to. And I think it was a mental barrier for a while, because I was like I'm losing strength, I'm not able to do these things.
Jess: 21:35
And that note noticing like oh, the time has gone by, I've clearly lost physical strength. Yeah, that also involves our perception of our body too.
Megan: 21:44
Yeah, cause I was doing other things. I mean, I was got there, you're biking, you're climbing a ton of elevation like every weekend. You were still super active.
Jess: 21:51
I was very active, living your body, but like when you know you've shifted away from this modality for a time, I mean that's me and me and running right now, yeah, I still run a couple of days a week and I keep that in cardio base, if you will, but I'm not as fast as I used to be and it's not and I so I changed that perception. Oh, my God, I don't look like a runner, I don't feel like a runner and having to have that that piece of like, no, no, no, you know, I'm still staying active. We're still like powerlifting, we still like walk the dogs, we still do those things. And I think this ties perfectly into kind of the last and bonus point for our body image tips and that self compassion and having that self compassion practice. You're going to hear us talk a lot about self compassion in this, in this podcast. There's a ton of research on it. Kristen Neff is a huge researcher for self compassion and there's a lot to be said about self compassion with body image, with with so many things. So Let me define it real quick. It's defined as the ability to be kind to oneself, to see one's difficulties as part of the common human experience and to be mindful of one's distress, as opposed to being self-judgmental, feeling isolated and getting over, identified with personal difficulties. Yeah, so this can look like accepting that a moment's painful or uncomfortable, for example feeling extreme dissatisfaction with our bodies, but we don't sit there and try to change our thoughts. Right, if these things, if we're sitting in a day that's just bad body image and we're saying all kinds of shit to ourselves, it's letting those thoughts come up and it's acknowledging that they exist, but it's not trying to change those thoughts or shame ourselves for having those thoughts. It's having that self-compassionate like. Here's the self-compassion check. Ask yourself the question how would we respond to a close friend feeling this way or saying these things? That is the self-compassion question there, because this ties into the overarching theme of body images, about our relationship with ourself. It is the longest, most intimate relationship that we will ever have and there's a lot of value of being able to shift away from shame and guilt to self-compassion and that's something that you and I had. We'd kind of talked about shame earlier and just how important it is to shift away, because it's like there's even times now I would say in the last, like six months or so. Self-compassion has been heavy on my mind and it's really come from a lot of the reading I've been doing for research for Sturdy Girl is paying attention to those thoughts that come up and I'd get home from work at the end of the day and shame, and you know it's like shame and or guilt to just be like why don't you go to about five and work out in the morning? Now you still have to work on the evening. You're so lazy, it's this, it's that. And yeah, the self-compassionate piece would come in and say you're still getting your workout done, it just looks a little bit different and it's at a different time of day. What's the difference and I think that that is such an important piece of body image is being able to be compassionate, because you're going to go a lot further in life with compassion than that shame. Yes.
Megan: 25:04
Well, and shame does. No one could, as someone who has dealt with a lot of therapy and shame and guilt, and you know, I think that that has spilled over into so many things, and body image is a huge part of it. Oh, absolutely. And the response of like feeling shame when you're not as active as you should be and I know it's kind of like we said exercise. But there is a point where you can be in the opposite spectrum of it, where you're used to a pattern of like I need to do this and this and this and like I have to be consistent with this and this is the only way I'm going to feel better. And it took kind of going for me personally, kind of going into like therapy and also recognizing like it's okay to have those moments of the positive and I'm not going to think about anything and I'm going to be in this.
Jess: 25:53
Yeah, or choosing the self compassionate person is the one who gets done with a long day of work and realizes that the better answer is to rest yeah. Then it is to push through a hard workout yeah. Or do the puzzle. Instead of going on the long walk, self compassion can also say the right answer is to get my workout in, at whatever capacity I do have. If I'm tired, do I adjust the RPE, do I adjust the intensity, do I pick the main lift and move on? Or sometimes the answer can be simply to rest.
Megan: 26:34
I will say I've never regretted working out, though True.
Jess: 26:39
True, no, I know, but I feel like that's such a misunderstood when someone's like, the only workout you regret is the one you didn't do. Oh, 100%, it's not like that.
Megan: 26:49
But you learn if you want to do something super simple and you're like I'm not going to do that, yeah, it's like modified, we've all programmed today.
Jess: 26:55
Right, but it's the modification of showing up where you are that day. I think that's more to the point than like, don't skip your workout. You train based on RPE and you train based on like where you're at that day, and that's super important. So that, yeah, if you have six exercises on the lift or something and you go in, you get the first one done. You're like, if this, I'm done, yeah, can I?
Megan: 27:19
just say two. Can I just say two? Like in you said RPE, in my like lifting program I will say I love doing RPE versus your percentages because I feel like it's so. I know this is a separate Tangent.
Jess: 27:34
This is like so lifting? Yeah, niche, I don't ever. I hate lifting percentages as well. Yeah, because that give me, you give me RPE and give me a weight range.
Megan: 27:45
Yeah, Well, sometimes it just makes me feel bad because I'm like I can't be at my 80% today. No, it should be like what I think is what I think is 80% yeah.
Jess: 27:55
How. Whatever 80% feels like yeah, absolutely life, rpe. Yeah, there you go, oh my God. So here's how to recap. Here are three tips to improving body image. Think about times or activities when you didn't think about your body. Find that flow state. Do those things. Shift your focus away from how does my body look to what can it do? Third, exercise and everything that entails. And lastly, practice self compassion. And that is it for your tips on improving body image. Thank you for tuning into the first episode of Sturdy Girl podcast. Next week we will be talking about getting through a bad body image day and, like we had said before, talking about body image disruptions. Be sure to tune in next Wednesday with the next episode drops. We'll talk to you then. Friends. Bye, hey friend, sending you a virtual hug, high five or fist bump to say thank you for listening to another episode of Sturdy Girl. We're so stoked you're here. Please consider following or subscribing on iTunes, spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts like us, review us. We're just glad you're here. Until next Wednesday, stay sturdy friends. text goes here