Race weight, performance, and body image - conflicting statements

It's World Championship season for triathlon. Over the next three months, athletes from around the world will be competing in the Ironman World Championship in Nice, France (men), the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii (women) and in the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Marbella, Spain (men and women). There are also other events like the T100 in Qatar and the World Triathlon Championships in Australia. With the excitement of World Championship season comes extra attention on podcasts, YouTube videos, articles and forums. With so much hype around these sporting events, it's acceptable to discuss athlete favorites and dark horses as well as making assumptions for how the races may unfold. However, there's growing attention and discussion around the weights of many notable athletes. 

Commenting on an athlete's body image carries a significant risk of damaging mental and physical health. Publicly discussing an athlete's weight, size, or general appearance, even with good intentions, can inadvertently undermine their overall well-being and performance.

With so many discussions and conversations around race weight, there are so many contradictions.

“You should get leaner but don't get RED-S.”

“You need to be strong but lighter is faster.”

“Eat enough to support your training but don't gain weight.”

“Prioritize health but make sacrifices to win.”

“Be body positive but make yourself look ‘race ready.’”

“Performance matters the most but you’ll be judged on how you look.”

“Lose weight but don't look unhealthy."

“Be disciplined about your diet but don’t get an eating disorder."

“Long-term health matters, but you will be celebrated on short-term results from quick and healthy weight loss.”

"Get lean but don't look too skinny."

"Lose weight but don't risk your health."

"Your worth isn’t tied to your weight, but commentators will discuss your body." 

"How you perform matters but only if your appearance meets standards."

“Celebrate your body for what it can do, but only if it's at a 'race weight'.”

“You should be strong and powerful, but also light and lean.”

“Prioritize longevity in sport, but we will praise you for quick transformations.”

“It's all about how your body performs, but how you look matters.”

“Be confident in your skin, but your body will be compared to athletes faster than you.”

“Weight doesn’t define you, but your results will be linked back to it.”

“Train hard and eat well, but don't gain weight."

Commenting, discussing and highlighting an athletes' body weight is an ongoing problem, rooted in toxic sports culture, media objectification, and the widespread promotion of an ideal body image. Such comments - which are often conflicting and confusing - can significantly increase a fixation on weight and appearance. This, in turn, can result in under-fueling/eating, increasing the risk of injury, health issues, and burnout. 

The next time you hear a discussion on body weight, image or race weight, remind yourself that your body is your most valuable asset. It's not an object that needs to be manipulated to be made smaller.

Performance, health, and self-worth are not defined by a number on the scale.

Your race weight is the one where you feel energized, happy, resilient, and healthy.

Your performance is not defined by a number — it’s built on consistent training with a well-fueled and healthy body.

Celebrate what your body allows you to do and not how it looks doing it. 

Addressing the body positive movement and weight loss

Picture source

Body positivity challenges the ways in which our society presents, celebrates and views bodies.  Sadly, far too many body shapes and types have been shunned by the mainstream media or not classified as beautiful. Our society has a fixation on the "tiny" ideal and encourages everyone to fit the social standards of being lean. This is why there are so many movements promoting body positivity. Because many people feel discriminated against because their body doesn't meet the "ideal" image, the body positive movement challenges social norms and promotes the belief that all bodies - regardless of size, shape, gender, physical abilities or skin tone - should be accepted.

The body positivity movement is a necessary movement but it can also be controversial - can you have a positive relationship with your body and desire weight loss/a change in your body composition? 

First off, it is a myth that large bodies are unhealthy. Being bigger doesn't mean being unhealthy. Someone can be thin and unhealthy. As an example, all runners are susceptible to injuries and overuse injuries - not just larger bodies. 

Secondly, your body = your choices. You deserve respect, equality and kindness regardless of your body size, what foods you eat or your health status.

Lastly, large bodies are not the only humans who can struggle with body image. Learning to hate your body is the primary goal of the diet industry. You can be small/thin and have a negative body image.

One of the missing focal points when discussing the body positive movement is the topic of developing and maintaining a positive body image. A positive body image means you embrace, accept and appreciate your body for all that it can do. You can be body positive but not have a positive body image - and vice versa. But both are important when it comes to weight loss. Body dissatisfaction often leads to unhealthy behaviors. If you love something, you are more likely to treat it well.

First off, the decision to lose weight should be a personal choice - not because you feel pressure to achieve an idealized image. This is why the body positive movement is so important. You should never feel pressure to look a certain way. If you desire weight loss, you need to be body positive and have a positive body image.

Choosing to become more active, eat a more nutritious diet and to live a more healthy lifestyle doesn't need to happen because you hate your body. Taking better care of yourself is a positive thing to do for your body.

The diet industry wants you to believe that your looks are everything and with weight loss, you will be happy and healthy. This desire of happy and "healthy" can lead to unhealthy behaviors like overexercising, dieting and eating disorders. When it comes to body positivity, I want to remind you that health is made of many different factors. You can't tell how healthy someone is from how they look.

And just because you lose weight or change the way your body looks, this doesn't mean that you will feel happier - or become healthier. Don't pin your happiness on achieving a smaller version of yourself. Weight loss should not come from a place of hate towards your body. Changing your body doesn't change how you feel about food, exercise and your body image.

For those who don't understand the body positive movement, there's a belief that this movement is normalizing unhealthy bodies. And this is not what this movement is about.

There's tremendous social pressure to look a certain way. Most people are not comfortable with what they see in the mirror because society has brainwashed you to believe that you need to change how you look in order to be healthier, fitter, happier and more successful. The diet industry has created an illusion that smaller = healthier.

All bodies deserve to be accepted. Your body should not be judged. But let's also celebrate self-care - even if your self-care acts don't lead you down the road to significant weight loss - and that is ok.

Body positivity is about finding an exercise regime that you enjoy, changing your diet because it makes you feel good, sleeping well to be more rested and looking after your mental health. Weight loss goals or not - don't forget to be kind to your body.

Body Positive Resolutions

Becoming more body positive is a necessary step in developing better physical, mental and emotional health. A positive body image ensures proper nutrition and fueling to support the intentional training stress that you place on your body. To move closer to your athletic goals and dreams, you must recognize that all bodies are normal bodies.

In 2022, I challenge you to unlearn the messages from decades of social conditioning that only certain bodies are worth acceptance, love, happiness, success and praise. The media has created a narrow, unrealistic and inaccurate definition of healthy, athletic and beautiful. You deserve to embrace your body no matter your size, shape or appearance. We live in a world that constantly tries to tell us that our body is wrong and needs to be fixed, but just think how inspiring, empowering and encouraging our society would be if we celebrated body diversity!

You may not love your body today but you can accept it and appreciate all that it does for you.

What do you think about your body?

Winning my first Ironman as overall amateur female at 2017 IM Chattanooga and giving my body a huge thank you for being oh-so-amazingly strong and healthy.

What do you think about your body?

• Standing on the podium in first place, yet you feel "too fat."
• Achieving a personal best time, yet your legs/butt feels "too big."
• Doubting your abilities because your stomach feels "too heavy."
• Blaming your subpar performance on your weight. 
• Lacking self confidence because you don't look like other athletes.

In each of these scenarios, is an athlete who believes one of two things: That looking differently will improve athletic success or a current look is the reason for lack of athletic success.

Despite putting in the training and being physically prepared for an event, actual acceptance of one-self can be a major athletic limiter. Inside, you have internalized feelings of being inadequate because of a look, a comparison or an assumption.

Poor body image can wreak havoc on performance, physical health and mental well-being.
There are great consequences to trying to conform to rigid societal ideals.

Underfueling, skipping meals, restricting carbohydrates, eliminating certain foods groups and ignoring body hunger cues are some of the many unhealthy dieting and disordered eating strategies that athletes turn to when trying to achieve a specific body type ideal. Sadly, many of the above strategies are unhealthy (for the body and mind), yet encouraged by coaches, nutrition experts and the media as a means to an end to gain the competitive edge.

Through the rise of social media and prejudgment statements from coaches/nutrition experts, the pressure to change how you look is almost inevitable. But that doesn't make it acceptable. Comparing your body to the body of another athlete can make you feel inadequate, unprepared and doubtful of your abilities. You may even assume that other athletes are more serious/successful than you because of their strict diets, body type and large social media following.

Pressure around body type can be detrimental to health (physical and mental), confidence and most of all, love of sport. It's not uncommon for an athlete to slip down the road of dieting, disordered eating and body image obsession only to reduce longevity (and potential) in the sport that was once fun, enjoyable and health promoting.

The way your body looks and the way your body moves/performance are not necessarily correlated. How you think your body should look to perform well may not match what your body really needs to look like to perform well.

To escape the immense pressure to attention body image perfection, body positivity is critical. What you think about your body matters. Without it, confidence and self-esteem are destroyed. How can you believe in your abilities if you don't appreciate your body?

To improve body image positivity, here are a few tips: 

• Every body is different. A look doesn't predict athletic success (or failure). 
• Always thank your body and appreciate what it can do. 
• Become more accepting of yourself. When you accept who and where you are, that's when change can occur. Mentally beating yourself up gets you nowhere. 
• Take control over your inner dialogue. Body image is closely linked to self-esteem. 
• Avoid a perfectionist mindset. Good enough is great. 
• Don't make comparisons or assumptions. 
• Remind yourself that in the world of social media, many people are presenting carefully selected images and posts of their lives, designed to look better than reality. 
• Break the habit of making excuses for yourself, being all or nothing or being highly critical of yourself. 
• Surround yourself with body positive advocates. Steer clear of people who make you feel bad about how you look. 
• Select your role models and influencers carefully. 
• A negative body image can be the start of an eating disorder, depression and anxiety. If you think you are suffering from a mental illness, don't be afraid to seek professional help. Brave athletes speak up and get help. 
• Learn to overpower negative thoughts with positive ones. Build your confidence with body positive affirmations and mantras. For example, workout because you love your body, not because you hate it.
• Wear clothing that makes you feel good about your body. Work with your body, not against it. 
• Be ok with change. Seeing your body change does not remove your great qualities and skills. Respect yourself. You must take care of your human self before your athlete self. Let your body know how much you care and appreciate it. 

Becoming more body image positive in 2019

The New Year is flooded with ways to improve your health - specifically through diet and exercise.While there is nothing wrong with embarking on a new journey, the first step to improve your health is to learn to be kind to your body.

To start the New Year, I wanted to share a few of my thoughts on the topics that I feel athletes become vulnerable to as it relates to diet and exercise. Athletes are very disciplined, dedicated and hard working individuals but tend to function on the side of extreme. Many athletes are so focused on an outcome that they forget to be kind to the body. Most diets and exercise plans require a lot of willpower and discipline. People fall in and out of programs because they are exhausting - mentally and physically. In turn becomes body shaming, critical judgement, self-hate and unrealistic body ideals. In other words, in a quest to become healthier, you lose sight on the first step of improving your health - being kind to your body.

I hope you find these videos helpful as you explore a new journey of good health, happiness and body kindness.

New Year.....New You?
As you count down the hours until the New Year, are you once again resolving that this will finally be the year where you will take better care of your body?

Despite the many ways that you can practice self-improvement, January 1st is strongly associated with making changes to your body size, weight and looks through extreme exercise and rigid dieting.

Sadly, social media has a lot to do with your body image and relationship with food.

Here are my thoughts on how you can start the year off right, without falling victim to the New Year, New You campaign.

                                                     
                                   
Quick Fixes and Trendy Diets

We are a weight obsessed, social-media influenced, quick-fix seeking culture.

While there are many reasons why people diet, those with low self-esteem, poor body image, individuals with an addictive personality, anxiety, depression and feel pressure from society to look differently are susceptible to follow a style of eating that includes rules, good vs bad foods, strict eating regimes and social motivation.

Therefore, it's no surprise why so many people are tempted to follow a trendy diet that claims to improve mental and physical health, boost self-esteem, improve body image, eliminate cravings, boost energy levels, heal your gut, reprogram your body and achieve incredible results.

Don't be fooled! There are many physical and mental dangers of extreme dieting.

                                                    
     
Race Weight
Let's talk race weight.

We live in a society that focuses on competitive leanness. Most athletes train, eat and live with the mindset that the leaner or more defined you are, the better you'll perform in sport.

Often this mindset gets messy. Whereas the initial focus for weight loss is to perform better, athletes can easily get obsessed with the idea of achieving the perfect athletic body image but sadly, sickness, injury, a performance decline and burnout occurs.

Do you nourish and fuel your body because it's an incredible vehicle that allows you to do incredible things in your sport or are you chasing a weight/image through rigid eating, calorie restriction and over exercising?

                                                   

Gadgets and Trackers

Fitness tracking, calorie counting, body composition measuring and body weighing may not be inherently bad, unless you have an obsession with data.

An obsessive focus on numbers may encourage unhealthy attitudes, behaviors and thoughts related to your self-worth, body image, eating choices, exercise regime, athletic worthiness and self-esteem.

Are your gadgets and tracking devices doing more harm than good?