Summer is just around the corner, but just because the season changes, it doesn’t mean your body needs to.
 

In the past, I’ve felt the pressure to work out more or go on restrictive diets for ‘Summer’. At that time, I had an unhealthy relationship with myself, and with exercise. As my relationship with my health has changed, so has my view on the ‘summer body’.

It’s ingrained from a young age that it matters how our bodies look. We’re bombarded from all angles – advertising, magazines, social media – with images of ‘perfect’ bodies. This language also flows into our home / friendship environments. We often compliment each other by saying, ”you look like you’ve lost weight”. Or we create unnecessary guilt around food, saying things like, “I have to burn that off” or “I have to go on a diet tomorrow”. This language consistently reinforces that our body weight, shape and size is linked to our value, which is completely untrue.
 

With the pressure being all around us, it is so important that we make a conscious effort to undo this belief, and reframe it. 

What I hate most about the term ‘summer body’ is that it implies that movement, training and exercise is all about losing weight or looking toned for a season. It infers that what matters is the way our bodies look, not how we feel.

 

If you’re using excessive workouts or extreme fad diets to make your body look a certain way in the short-term, you’re not actually making sustainable choices for the long-term. Fad diets are only quick fixes, with 65% of dieters returning to their pre-diet weight within three years¹.

 

Exercise and food choices should never be a punishment. That’s our entire mission at Kic – to help people take care of their bodies because they love them, not because they hate them. We want to help people embrace sustainable, healthy and, most importantly, enjoyable forms of movement and nourishment that make them feel great, all year round.

 

After all, our body is our one precious home, and it’s the one we’ve got for life. We need to take care of it.

A ‘summer body’ is usually linked with a ‘bikini body’. I always say that if you have a bikini and you have a body, you have a bikini body. When we think about what really matters in this world – what people will remember about us – it’s not the way our bodies look in a swimsuit.

 

So, take advantage of the warmer weather and get out there in the fresh air for some movement you enjoy (remembering to be sun safe, of course!). Throw the frisbee around with some friends, go for a walk, or swim at the beach and appreciate the special joys of summer, without worrying about changing yourself first.

 

For me, moving past the ‘summer body’ mindset helped me change my relationship to health and myself. My motivation to exercise, eat well and look after myself is about how I feel physically and mentally, and how I show up for the people in my life. Now, I feel no pressure at all to change my body in any season. I look after it every day because I love it.