Realistic Body Image

Today is the first day of "30 Blog Posts for 30 Days" to celebrate the opening of our website. These posts will have great tips for bettering yourself physically and mentally. I will attempt to keep these blog posts shorter than normal since there will be one every day for the next 30 days. I don't want to overload you guys!

The first topic I want to write about is body image. I think this is an important first topic because television/movies/social media today has skewed everyone’s views and goals for themselves.

I hear many people talking about how they desire the bodies of their favorite celebrities that they see on television and movies, and we all know the feeling of stalking Instagram accounts of people wondering how they have the “perfect” bodies. What many people don't realize is that we are only seeing the final product (which actually only lasts for a short period of time). These celebrities that we envy are getting paid to look good on screen. They are under the watchful eyes of trainers and nutritionists, guiding them every step of the way. This allows them to eat, train, and sleep exactly as required, and even after all of those circumstances, they still use lighting and special effects to get the desired results. Male actors who have a shirtless scene coming up will perform push-ups, curls, pull-ups, etc. in order to achieve the “pumped” look so that their muscles look bigger for their scene. There are also many celebrities who use performance enhancing drugs to make quicker transformations for movie roles. Now, the point of this article isn’t to downplay the work that actors/actresses put in to transform their bodies for their roles. The point is that many people do not see the countless hours of training, meal planning, etc. that they go through to achieve their results. They only see that one minute they look one way and the next minute they look phenomenal on screen. It is important to realize that results like these take time and do not happen overnight.

Instagram pictures can also be very deceiving. People use poses, angles, lighting, and even photoshop to get the “perfect” picture to post. People only post the best pictures of themselves. No one is going to post a picture of themselves on a day that they feel "a little bloated" or "look tired". I bring this up because I think it is important that everyone manages their expectations. People can be very hard on themselves and it can be very stressful to try and have the “perfect” body image 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Don’t get me wrong, it is very possible to build a body that you will be more than happy with, but unnecessary worry and stress will only hinder your results. Do not compare yourself to others, work to better yourself. Be better than you were yesterday. Work hard, stress less, achieve results. 

TIP: Try not to compare yourself to others. You are not anyone else but yourself. Be better than you were yesterday. Make attainable goals and achieve them. Stay consistent with your nutrition and training and you will be surprised with how your body transforms. Check out "25 Tips for your Best Body" (provided for free when you subscribe!)  and follow as many of those tips as you can. 

I hope you guys enjoyed my first blog post of "30 Blog Posts for 30 Days". Feel free to comment and subscribe to the blog using the pop up form or box below!