Is your body image limiting your athletic potential?

As an athlete, your closest relationship in life will always be to your body. Your body lets you do so much on a daily basis but you can never take for granted the complexity of the human body and how much it does for you during exercise. 

Having said this, your body is going to give you mixed signals - very often. Some days you will feel amazingly strong and other days you will feel blah.

Although it is normal to feel a certain way about your body through the highs and lows of training, it's not normal to feel dissatisfied with your body image, appearance and weight, leading you to conclude that losing weight will enhance performance and will make you feel better about yourself and your body. If you are one of the many athletes who experience great anxiety and pressure to change your body to be "more lean" or "more muscular", read on. 

Due to excessive media exposure that glorifies lean and toned athletic bodies (often with the aid of weight loss pills, extreme restrictive diets, overexercising and sometimes disordered eating habits), you may find yourself constantly criticizing your appearance, assuming that if you weighed less, you would be able to do more with your body (and perhaps "look" more like an athlete). 

If you have recently found yourself engaging in restrictive eating, avoiding foods/food groups and over exercising in an effort to feel better in your skin, this can lead to patterns of disordered eating and weight obsession and may develop into anorexia, bulimia, orthorexia, compulsive overeating or binge eating disorder.

Your perception of your body plays an important role in your self esteem and confidence. If you are too critical of your body, you are likely to feel inadequate. No matter how hard you train, there will always be a limiter in your performance due to the energy that you spend on your body image. 

Reach out to a dietitian professional, specializing in body image/disordered eating/eating disorders, if you are currently struggling with your body image. Getting treatment for distorted is a necessary step to recovery so that you can start living your life to the fullest.

Here are 20 ways to love your body

(featured in this article). 

Compiled By: Margo Maine, PhD

• Think of your body as the vehicle to your dreams.  Honor it.  Respect it.  Fuel it.
• Create a list of all the things your body lets you do.  Read it and add to it often.
• Become aware of what your body can do each day.  Remember it is the instrument of your life, not just an ornament.
• Create a list of people you admire:  people who have contributed to your life, your community, or the world.  Consider whether their appearance was important to their success and accomplishments. 
• Walk with your head held high, supported by pride and confidence in yourself as a person.
• Don’t let your weight or shape keep you from activities that you enjoy.
• Wear comfortable clothes that you like, that express your personal style, and that feel good to your body.
• Count your blessings, not your blemishes.
• Think about all the things you could accomplish with the time and energy you currently spend worrying about your body and appearance.  Try one!
• Be your body’s friend and supporter, not its enemy. 
• Consider this:  your skin replaces itself once a month, your stomach lining every five days, your liver every six weeks, and your skeleton every three months.  Your body is extraordinary—begin to respect and appreciate it.
• Every morning when you wake up, thank your body for resting and rejuvenating itself so you can enjoy the day.
• Every evening when you go to bed, tell your body how much you appreciate what it has allowed you to do throughout the day.
• Find a method of exercise that you enjoy and do it regularly. Don’t exercise to lose weight or to fight your body. Do it to make your body healthy and strong and because it makes you feel good.  Exercise for the Three F’s: Fun, Fitness, and Friendship.
• Think back to a time in your life when you felt good about your body.  Loving your body means you get to feel like that again, even in this body, at this age.
• Keep a list of 10 positive things about yourself—without mentioning your appearance.  Add to it daily!
• Put a sign on each of your mirrors saying, “I’m beautiful inside and out.”
• Search for the beauty in the world and in yourself.
• Consider that, “Life is too short to waste my time hating my body this way.”
• Eat when you are hungry.  Rest when you are tired.  Surround yourself with people that remind you of your inner strength and beauty.

Re-learn to love your body

Are you satisfied with your body?
Do you wish that you looked differently?
What type of dialogue do you hear in your head when you look at yourself in a mirror?

Why are you constantly receiving and believing messages that your body is not good enough? 

Healthy bodies come in all sizes.
Body weight does not predict athletic success.
A number on the scale does not define you as a person.

There is a strong association between social media usage and body image concerns. On social media, you are viewing a snapshot of life.
But what about all the filtered, edited and perfectly posed and cropped images that you believe equate to happiness and body satisfaction?

To compare is to despair.

If a visual image makes you think less of yourself or causes you to develop negative feelings about your body, it's time to stop following that image. Stop fixating on what is perfect on another person's body, thinking that you will be happier, more liked or more successful if you looked that way.

Seeing that athletes already feel great pressure to look a certain way, I feel it is very important that we (professionals/coaches) take the focus away from an athlete's weight or image when it comes to improving performance and health. Athletes are more likely to make smart, realistic and sustainable changes that foster improvements in performance and health when the end result is not for a better or change in body image. Athletes can feel a tremendous amount of pressure, anxiety and control when body image is a primary focus and we don't need to add more pressure to body that is already stressed from training and life.

Let me remind you that your body is incredible. Accept yourself for who you are right now and where you are right now and love your body for what it is, right now.

I encourage you to filter through the many images that you often like, view, stalk or obsess over and if there are images that make you feel unhappy about your body, stop following that image. It's time to stop following the life of someone else and learn to be happy with your life and your body.

It's time to become more attuned to your own successes, your own journey, your own needs and your own accomplishments.

10 "Will Powers" for Improving Body Image

By: Michael Levine, PhD and Linda Smolak, PhD

I WILL ask myself: “Am I benefiting from focusing on what I believe are flaws in my body weight or shape?”

I WILL think of three reasons why it is ridiculous for me to believe that thinner people are happier or “better.” I will repeat these reasons to myself whenever I feel the urge to compare my body shape to someone else’s.

I WILL spend less and less time in front of mirrors—especially when they are making me feel uncomfortable and self-conscious about my body.   

I WILL exercise for the joy of feeling my body move and grow stronger. I will not exercise simply to lose weight, purge fat from my body, or to “make-up” for calories I have eaten.

I WILL participate in activities that I enjoy, even if they call attention to my weight and shape.I will constantly remind myself that I deserve to do things I enjoy, like dancing, swimming, etc., no matter what my shape or size is!

I WILL refuse to wear clothes that are uncomfortable or that I do not like but wear simply because they divert attention from my weight or shape. I will wear clothes that are comfortable and that make me feel at home in my body.

I WILL list 5 to10 good qualities that I have, such as understanding, intelligence, or creativity. I will repeat these to myself whenever I start to feel bad about my body.

I WILL practice taking people seriously for what they say, feel, and do. Not for how slender, or “well put together” they appear.

I WILL surround myself with people and things that make me feel good about myself and my abilities. When I am around people and things that support me and make me feel good, I will be less likely to base my self-esteem on the way my body looks.

I WILL treat my body with respect and kindness. I will feed it, keep it active, and listen to its needs. I will remember that my body is the vehicle that will carry me to my dreams! 

A Declaration of Independence from a Weight-Obsessed World

I, do hereby declare that from this day forward I will choose to live my life by the following tenets.  In so doing, I declare myself free and independent from the pressures and constraints of a weight-obsessed world. 

• I will accept my body in its natural shape and size.
• I will celebrate all that my body can do for me each day.
• I will treat my body with respect, giving it enough rest, fueling it with a variety of foods, exercising it moderately, and listening to what it needs.
• I will defy our society’s pressures to judge myself and other people on physical characteristics like body weight, shape, or size.  I will respect people based on the qualities of their character and the impact of their accomplishments.
• I will refuse to deny my body valuable nutrients by dieting or using weight loss products.
• I will avoid categorizing foods as either “good” or “bad.”  I will not guilt or shame myself for eating certain foods.  Instead, I will nourish my body with a balanced variety of foods, listening and responding to what it needs.
• I will not use food to mask my emotional needs.
• I will not avoid participating in activities that I enjoy (e.g., swimming, dancing, enjoying a meal with friends) simply because I am self-conscious about the way my body looks.  I will recognize that I have the right to enjoy any activities regardless of my body shape or size.
• I will base my self-esteem and identity on that which comes from within!

Did you give/receive a hug today?

Hugging

Hugging is healthy. 

It helps the body's immune system. 

It keeps you healthier. 

It cures depression. 

It reduces stress.

It induces sleep. 

It's invigorating. 

It's rejuvenating.

It has no unpleasant side effects. 

And, hugging is nothing less than a miracle drug. 

Hugging is all natural. 

It's organic. 

Naturally sweet, no pesticides, no preservatives, no artificial ingredients and 100% wholesome. 

Hugging is practically perfect. 

There are no moving parts, no batteries to wear out and no periodic check-ups. 

Low energy consumption, high energy yield, inflation proof, non-fattening, no monthly payments, no insurance requirements, theft-proof, non-taxable, non-polluting and of course....

Fully Returnable!!

This is not an original poem. My mom was given this to her and she passed it along to me. I thought you would enjoy this message so be sure to hug someone today!

Body, show me what you can do!

If you want to feel inspired, motivated to work out and amazed by the human body, I recommend to watch Kacy Catanzaro do the incredible as she becomes the first women to make the finals in American Ninja Warrior. 

I am extremely passionate about helping athletes learn how to develop a healthy relationship with food and the body through my business but I am also no stranger to expressing my thoughts with the athlete's body, and concerns with body image and ultimately giving guidance to athletes on how to build a better body image.

So when something so amazing, related to the human body in motion, goes viral in the mainstream media, I love the opportunity to share my thoughts on a very important topic. 

Body Image

How do you see your body at rest and how to do you see your body in motion? As an athlete or fitness enthusiast, we must not forget that you are not an exerciser. You have goals for your body and ultimately, you have a training plan that allows you to make the necessary physiological gains necessary (along with proper recovery) to improve fitness by a specific deadline. 

For good reason, you likely have an intensified image of your body when it is in motion for at no other time during your day will you feel so close to your organs, brain, skin and body parts.

Body image is the way that you perceive your body and also how you assume others perceive you. For most age group athletes, there is great joy in having an "athlete" status - either in training or on race day. For athletes are dedicated, motivated and disciplined and they love challenges, overcoming obstacles and reaching personal goals. However,  for many, with this "athlete" status comes a deep pressure to "look" like an athlete. And in the quest to work hard (or earn) the image of the athlete that you feel is relative to an improvement in speed or power, it's extremely easy to develop negative thoughts about your body in motion and to want a different body composition.

Rather than being focused and aware of personal gains in fitness and attention on developing a fueling regime that meets your individual needs, a negative body image creates a dramatic shift of an individual focus to, instead, a focus of what everyone else is doing and what you are not. 

Although not every athlete will develop a classified eating disorder while changing the diet or exercise routine in order to change body image, I have discovered that many athletes create extremely unhealthy methods of eating and fueling the body (or lack of fueling) and exercising which consequently negatively affect performance. 

The tough issue for many is recognizing how a negative body image negatively affects performance and health. As a health and fitness professional, I have experience with athletes who carry a negative body image with them throughout the day and end up intentionally underfueling and perhaps overexercising all in the quests to achieve "ideal". 

I find that for many athletes, there is a greater chase for a body image than for performance and health gains. 

Strong is the new skinny

I am very happy to see that our society has shifted away from idolizing the size-0 "model" body as the norm for only 5% of our population naturally possess the body portrayed by the media (ex. magazines, clothing ads, TV shows, etc.). 

You may have noticed that "strong is the new skinny" is the new slogan that has taken over social media in many forms from motivation pictures, quotes and workouts. 

Not limited to women, our society is moving into a trend where we celebrate and marvel over bodies for what they can do instead of just looking a certain way. 

We awe over physical feats such as (but not limited to) grand cycling tours, the Ironman, ultra running, cross fit and now, Kacy in the Ninja Warrior (she inspired me to do 4 full unassisted pull-ups today - she rocks!). I am sure I am not alone that there are amazing athletes out there who are doing incredible things with their body....and perhaps you are one of them! 

We should not forget that those who are fighting cancer or an illness, balancing working life while having a family or individuals experiencing uncontrollable life changes should also be celebrated for what they are able to do with their bodies. Certainly, strong is not limited to individuals who sweat and cross finish lines but instead, for the many people who are not so lucky to have good health and freedom to train for and cross finish lines. 

So here we are in modern day when we are focused on the best way to fuel and train a body in motion instead of just obsessing about what size clothes we wear. This makes me happy as a sport RD and exercise physiologist. 

However, we slowly move away from the super-model body image which has been marketed as the ideal look for our society over the past decade or so, even though many of us know that it is not realistic or healthy to have very limited body fat, no curves or muscle tone but nevertheless, the pressure remained high from the media. We now have strong, muscular, extremely fit and toned athletes (of all fitness levels) as the new normal to motivate and inspire us to work hard in order to be strong.

For many athletes, however, this new fitness movement of clean eating, power and strength and ultra endurance may be no better than dieting to be "skinny."  For we are still a society that continues to obsess about health, food and the body. And the more we focus and obsess about it, it seems like the more unhealthy we become. 

Simply put, we have the message that strong is the new skinny and that is extremely motivating because we have permission from society (I know, very sad right?!) that we can have muscles and be sexy, beautiful and fit. 

But is this fit-focused movement really helping athletes create a healthier relationship with food and the body?

Sadly, I think this movement is making things worse. 

For now, instead of cutting out calories to lose weight to be thin (the old normal), athletes are making extreme dietary changes while training the body (up to 10-20+ hours per week) in hopes to get stronger and faster AND change body composition (the new normal). Athletes are overtrained, undernourished, sleep deprived and lacking proper tools to train smart and to build self-confidence as an athlete. 

Simply put, there are many athletes out there who look fit or are on a mission to be fit, but are extremely unhealthy.

Hopefully you now understand why I am so passionate about helping incredible athletes (of all fitness levels) learn how to fuel their bodies in motion. I find that so many athletes take extreme or destructive measures when it come to body composition changes or performance gains. I am not sure if this is because the athlete does not know the proper steps or if the athlete is following the advice (or rules) of some higher figure who feels that there is only the right way to reach health and fitness goals. And this needs to stop. I am tired of seeing athletes compromising their health and potential as a hard working athlete because of a body image goal.
Whereas you may feel you need to train more or train harder, I feel that a productive area that athletes can work on is learning how to have a healthier relationship with food and the body. 

What's the point of having a lean body if you can not do anything with it?

A strong body in motion

What does your body allow you to do? 

Cross finish lines, participate in a spin class, climb mountains on your bike, zumba for hours or keep up with your super energetic family?

Now ask yourself, if you are currently trying to become faster, lose weight, change body composition or reach a PR, what are you not able to do with your body because of the following:

-Low blood sugar

-Low energy

-Underfueling/overeating

-Guilty eating

-Restrictive eating

-Extreme fatigue

-Overtraining

-Body image critiquing/comparing

-Altered blood values

-Chronic sickness and/or fatigue

-On going injuries

-Burnout

-Depression

-Mood swings

-Exercise/food obsession

-Relying on energy boosters/pills to energize a tired/worn down body

-Food runs your life

-Missing a workout ruins your day

-Your eating and workout routine control your life

It is not uncommon for the athlete to experience a mix of symptoms that reflect improper fueling or haphazard training and instead of trying to gain fitness while training, the athlete actually ends up losing fitness, compromising health and often times, missing out on life. 

The amazing effort that was shown my Kacy on the American Ninja Warrior shows a strong body that can perform amazingly well. A body that is trained, fueled, healthy and fit. 

However, what works for Kacy may not work for everyone. Ande for most of us, we have our own goals of what we want to achieve with our bodies and perhaps it involves swimming, biking and/or running and not rope climbing or conquering the salmon ladder or the spider wall. 

And that's ok. As long as you have a goal that challenges you and makes you motivated to work hard every day, that's what is most important. 

Your training, eating and lifestyle routine should reflect your goals for it is your journey that you get to take your body and mind on every time you have an athletic commitment and a deadline. 

Rather than idolizing any one body type, it's time to start showing yourself what YOU can do with your trained and well fueled body. 

Your body has strengths and weaknesses and only you can make sure that you are fueling and training it appropriately so that you are enjoying life with your one and only body. 

It's not a complicated statement to understand but I realize for many who have yet to master a healthy relationship with food and the body, that it can be very difficult to change the mindset in a food and exercise obsessed athlete (regardless if the methods in place are actually working to improve performance). More often than not, I find that athletes are so rigid with the training and eating routine and are so scared of change that even the thought of changing what's not working keeps an athlete doing the same thing over and over and sometimes, hoping for different results but even being content if results don't come so long as training and the diet never have to change.

My ongoing message stays the same. 

If you do not have a healthy relationship with food and the body, you will find yourself undernourished and underfueled and eventually unmotivated and unhealthy.  This is no life to live, especially if you are taking time out of your life to train for a sporting event. 

A body that can not perform is absolutely not the state that you want your body to be in when you place intentional physiologically stress on your body because you have goals for your body which you want to meet by a definite deadline. 

If you are unable to address and change what is not working, then you need to find someone as soon as possible who is qualified to help you learn how to train and fuel in a way that is supportive of your health and fitness goals. We have far too many fit-looking motivational experts as well as opinionated athletes with loud voices who think they know what works for everyone, because it works for them. Therefore, athletes have endless material to use when it comes to modifying the diet for performance and body composition changes and sadly, this only confuses athletes as to what is the right individual approach for each human body. 

Be sure you work with a coach who has experience in tailoring training plans to your individual lifestyle needs and understands the human body in motion. Also be sure that you work with a registered dietitian who specializes in sport nutrition so that you are not taking short cuts or wasting time when it comes to your training and racing goals. 

Most top athletes know what works for their body. They recognize what sport nutrition is best tolerated and useful during training and the best foods to eat before and after workouts. Athletes who fuel properly for performance gains, instead of for a body image, do so because they love how great it feels to perform with a body that is not compromised.  They have focused not on what everyone else is doing but instead, through ongoing individual trial and error, they have figured out what works for them. (key word - patience). 

Athletes who are always on the search of something better, quicker and easier will constantly find themselves trying something new until it doesn't work anymore and then moving on to something else without ever spending time to consider what works best long term.

In my opinion, it is a waste of your time, money and energy as well as missing out on life if you spend your days always focusing on what others are doing instead of focusing on yourself. 

Love your body in motion

What a simple concept. 

If you nourish and fuel your body, you will love the results that come with a strong and healthy body. 

A body surviving on a restricted diet and hours and hours of weekly cardio is not what you should be celebrating when you idolize over fit bodies in pictures or what you should be aiming for. A fit body isn't always a fast, a lean body isn't always strong, a perfect looking body is not always healthy and a fit, lean, perfect body is not always happy in life. 

It's time that you create a strong and healthy body that will help you reach your health and fitness goals.

Your body is amazing and you do not always have to cross a finish line to show your inner strength. 

But if you are focusing on your body composition in hopes to improve performance and health, just be sure that you feel as healthy as you want to look. And in my belief, healthy comes in all types of body compositions, shapes and sizes and the bottom line is that a healthy athlete performs amazingly well. 

Eat well, train smart, recover hard and then show me (no, show YOU) what you can do with your amazing body.