Up Beors! Explore the Complex World of Body Image

Lately, everywhere you turn, our bodies are being talked about.

With the rise of the body positivity movement in mainstream media, we are being bombarded with more messages about body image than ever before.

Body image is the perception that a person has of their physical self and their thoughts and feelings that are a result of that perception. What I find crazy is that these feelings are influenced by the world around us or individual factors and can be both positive and negative. It’s very complicated, which leads me to this week’s episode of Up Beors! I am joined by Personal Trainer, Nutritional and Health Coach Nathalie Lennon and the host of Pure Filth Podcast Michelle McCormick.

I found hosting this episode fascinating and incredibly eye-opening into the world of Body Image. Nathalie and Michelle both have completely contrasting experiences when it comes to their body image. Nathalie suffered from body dysmorphia and negative body image in the past due to bikini competing, while Michelle is a self-proclaimed ‘fat woman’ who has dealt with fatphobia and comments surrounding her weight since she was a little girl.

Although coming from very different backgrounds, both women agree that the body positivity movement has lost its message in recent years and has been taken over by the media industry. These days body positivity seems to be the route brands are taking to sell wellness products and fashion to the masses – a far cry from the movements 1960’s roots in the Radical Fat Acceptance Movement.

On the podcast, we discussed how people are now starting to move towards Body Neutrality and Acceptance. When it comes to Body acceptance, we are not required to love our bodies as an antidote to loathing it. We move our bodies and nourish it with healthy food because it makes us feel good, not as a method to lose weight. When it comes to accepting our bodies, we don’t need to love the way we look 24/7 to value ourselves.

While this all sounds great in theory, we all agreed body acceptance is a process, one which can be a very long journey. For many, body acceptance is a luxury which is challenging to obtain and one that requires a lot of hard work and unlearning behaviours and toxic messages learnt from society.

In the interim, no matter what shape or size you are naturally, we need to get to a place where people can embrace and accept the skin they’re in and should never be judged because of it. Risking sounding totally cheesy, but you will never be happy if you are fighting against who you are, or you’ll never be healthy if you are continually fighting against the natural shape you are meant to be.

You can listen to the latest episode of Up Beors! now on all podcast platforms. If you like this week's podcast, don’t forget to subscribe and leave a rating and review.

 If you have been affected by any of the issues discussed in this week’s episode, please contact Bodywhys.ie or call them on 01 210 7906.