Are you ready for summer? Do you have your beach body? In recent years, there has been a trend for companies to persuade people that the idea of a beach body is one that is super slim and removes every ounce of fat to look good when hitting the beach come summer. However, this message can be extremely toxic and harmful, and the diet culture promoted can damage people’s relationships with food and their attitudes toward their bodies.
With eating disorders on the rise along with more extreme diet and fitness viewpoints coming through via social media, over 89% of people feel social media drives harmful behaviors in many extremes and say it can be extremely hard to avoid the more extreme message being pushed, being able to buck this trend and ignore the noise to help you care for your body can be challenging.
This article will empower you with healthy ways to prepare your body for summer. It will give you the confidence to wear that bikini on the beach, not because you’re conforming to the media’s ideal of the beach body but because you’re embracing your own unique beauty and health.
Eat Well
Eating well gives your body the nutrients it needs to be healthy, and when the summer comes, you want to be feeling as good and healthy as possible so you can indulge in all of the summer fun. Increase the amount of fruit and vegetables you eat, include more whole foods, and limit how many sugary foods and ultra-processed foods you eat. This doesn’t need to be done in conjunction with a calorie deficit to lose weight; simply eat better so you feel better and give your body what it needs. Remember, thin doesn’t always equal healthy, and being overweight or any size outside of stick thin doesn’t automatically mean unhealthy either.
Moisturize and Sun Protection
In the summer, you will naturally have more skin on show as you wear fewer covering clothes to account for the increase in temperatures. To help your skin cope with the increased exposure to the sun, you need to make sure you have a good level of SPF on your body at all times. The last thing you want is to burn your skin. Ideally, you will want to wear as high a factor as possible; however, ensuring it protects you from UVA and UVB rays is vital.
In addition, you can prepare your body for summer by moisturizing your skin to help you remove dry patches and make it look nourished while feeling soft and smooth and looking good. Because if you want to feel good for the summer, you need to feel good, and soft, smooth, moisturized skin is a great way to do this.
Avoid Negativity
If you feel under pressure to look a certain way, eat a certain type of way, or simply aren’t good enough, then you need to remove this negativity from your life. You do not need to look a certain way for the summer; you do not need to conform to someone else’s idea of the summer body or health. And if this is impacting your mental health, you need to remove yourself from these sources, Be it real-life friends or family members or online accounts pushing harmful narratives that make you feel bad about yourself. Summer is a time for fun, and anything that detracts from living your best life needs to be shown the door.
Buy The Clothes You Love
Your ‘summer body’ or your ‘beach body’ is your body as it is; you don’t need to punish it; you need to care for it. This means you need to buy the clothes you love to wear, and you will feel good regardless of your shape and size. You will feel much better if you wear clothes you feel comfortable in. If you’re heading to the beach, why not shop a Bikini Sale to hope you feel good on the beach or chilling around the pool? Buy the shorts, wear the cute top, and focus on feeling good in your skin and dressing for you this summer. The mental boost of wearing clothes you love can give you confidence and bring enjoyment to your life.
Increase Water Intake
Whether you drink plain water, use sugar-free sweeteners, or give it some flavor, you need to increase hydration and ensure you’re drinking enough water before temperatures start to rise. Dehydration and heat can be harmful to your health. Do try to increase your water consumption slowly so you’re automatically drinking more before the summer. Increased hydration can help to reduce headaches, reduce hunger, aid digestion, and regulate temperature, amongst other things. Remember, hydration doesn’t just come from drinking water. Although this is the best, you can add other drinks to help you get your fluid intake each day. Don’t forget that if the temperatures rise drastically or you’re exerting more energy from exercising, you need to drink more water to replenish lost fluids.
Practice Self Care
You need to make sure you care for yourself so you are ready for all the fun and festivities over the summer, which means paying attention to self-care. Self-care can be anything and everything that makes you feel good. It be can adding exercise to your life so you feel physically and mentally well and improve your strength and stamina. It can be practicing mindfulness or meditation, taking regular breaks from life to help you improve stress levels and recharge, or it can be something you enjoy, such as taking long baths, reading a book, or getting an early night.
Sleep
If you want to prepare your body for summer, you need to make sure you’re getting enough sleep so your body can function properly and support you through everything you want to do this summer. You need at least 7-9 hours of sleep every night on a regular basis to give you adequate energy, repair your body from your activities, and allow you to have the best summer ever. If you are tempted to burn the candle at both ends, don’t and get some sleep.