It's hard to believe it's April already. As with every year, there seem to be some set "health" mentalities in accordance with the season: a "new year, new me" mentality in the beginning of January, a "gotta work off all this chocolate" mentality following Valentine's Day, and a "time to get that summer bikini body" when the light of the springtime sunshine cracks through the haze of winter. These mentalities are often on a cyclical brainwave in a person's mind, coming up every January 1st, February 15th, and March 22nd, give or take, of a person's given lifetime. Yet, why are we adhering to these mentalities—or, at least, stuck in this cyclical sense of needing to adhere to these mentalities?
Summer is only one season out of the year. A measly three months, between June 21st and September 21st in which we're blasting the AC in the office, attempting to not sweat through all of our clothing, and still trying to go about our lives as per usual. Yet, there is so much stigma placed from this season on the individual: it's hot, you're going to be wearing shorter skirts and tank tops, so why not make sure your body looks its best in that type of clothing?
For a great deal of people, this mentality of having the "perfect bikini body" by the time its societally acceptable to hit the beach starts when the new year clocks in, on January 1st. Gym memberships are bought, juice cleanses are sent in the mail, and some feel as though this new and invigorating lifestyle could be their entire future. However, speaking from personal experience, six months of the same dietary restrictions, the long and tiring workouts, and the slow to invisible results doesn't make for a very positive outlook. That's why the gym is often so much less crowded on February 1st than it is on January 1st—the lifestyle is incredibly exhausting, and when you're unable to see quick results, you may give up hope.
Further, the "bikini body" mentality focuses primarily on just that—having a nice body for the summer, when you can strut your stuff on the beach. In reality, do you think it's healthy to just focus on having a healthier stature during three out of the 12 months of the year? No, probably not. Yet, this crash dieting and over-exerting in the gym can lead to just that; an undulating body type that can be very dangerous to your overall health. Losing too much weight too quickly is not advised; neither is gaining back a lot of weight quickly. When it's summer and you want to be outside enjoying life in a bikini, are you going to be as mindful of your eating habits? How about exercising? This undulation of your weight goes hand-in-hand with the cyclical brainwave of "needing to" or "wanting to" get that bikini body at certain times of the year; you're focusing only on one section of what could be a much more rewarding road to a healthy body.
Coming from this writer, this message may not sway most. You may think, "well, she's overweight, why should I listen to her?" That's understandable—but it would be an even better use of your time to actually research what the average female body looks like. This writer works out six times a week, watches what she eats, and still fluctuates between an 8 and a 12 in most clothing. America's sweetheart Jennifer Lawrence also recently came out with her feelings about the idea of a "normal" body type, saying:
"I think we've gotten so used to underweight that when you are a normal weight it's like, 'Oh, my God, she's curvy [...] Which is crazy. The bare minimum, just for me, would be to up the ante."
Somewhat surprisingly, this writer's body type and size is smaller than the average American woman—and yet, magazines, television and films have proven differently, by and large, up until the past few years. We have seen more and more women come to the forefront of proving that varied body types are beautiful, from model Ashley Graham to actress Daisy Ridley. While these women vary in size and shape, they still have had to come to the defense in terms of their bodies; outsiders (and, truly, Internet trolls) claim that "being anorexic/bulimic/overweight are all connected to health problems" and that "real women have curves."
So, what else can we gather from the bikini body trend, if you still choose to believe in it? Well, there are a fair number of articles from fitness and health professionals that also discredit this mentality. Dr. Kristen Bentson of YouAnew Lifestyle Nutrition says that images of bikini bodies in magazines are "an unrealistic expectation," and that "working out and eating right for a few days, a few weeks, a few months or even a few years will probably never get you looking like the photo-shopped images of a perfectly styled person in a magazine." Women's Health Editor-in-Chief Amy Keller Laird told her readers that she and the magazine would drop the phrases "bikini body" and "drop two sizes" from their vocabulary; she goes on to write pseudo "Dear John" letters to the phrases to demonstrate their outdated usage. RetiFit creator and motivational speaker Ali Reti comments on Keller Laird's updates to Women's Health in an opinion piece for The Huffington Post, where she states that she has struggled with the commercialized mentality of needing a bikini body, feeling that she must "be a walking billboard of six-pack abs and invincible cellulite in order to seem credible." She goes on to explain her own journey to coming to terms with her body, and explains that many women, like herself, are "searching for a place to find self-worth and satisfaction, hoping Google can provide something that can only be found within themselves."
According to the above and many other sources—including our own perceptions of our own bodies—the notion of having a "bikini body" is more and more quickly becoming a thing of the past. Even if a woman doesn't look like she has the "bikini body" of the mentalities of some, she definitely does have a bikini body—as long as she has a body, and a bikini.
