Stop Covering Your Belly And Embrace It For All That It Is!
I love my job and I love certain parts of the fitness industry I work in, but there are certain areas I don’t like, in fact let me rephrase that, there are certain areas I loathe…..and it’s the part which portrays females to naturally and comfortably walk around all day with a flat stomach and abs.
One thing that upsets me most is hearing and seeing women who believe that unless they have a washboard stomach they shouldn’t have their body on show and something they should be ashamed of. And I too am victim of this. If I am completely honest it is probably one of the reasons I developed my eating disorder; I had a very unhealthy obsession with my stomach thinking the area under my belly button (always my stubborn area) was unattractive that I had to get skinnier to get rid of it…and well the rest is history.
And the stomach is also the one area my clients always say they want to ‘tone’ up or the area they feel most uncomfortable with, understandable with todays social media influence.
But the truth is a washboard stomach is extremely hard to not only obtain, but also to maintain (unless you are one of the few percent who naturally have abs). And not only is it hard to keep, it can actually be very unhealthy for our bodies, no matter how good we think we look in a bikini!
Why? The essential body fat for women is between 10 – 12% give or take…that means the bare minimum we need to make life possible (and just to put this in perspective for men this is 2 – 4% - should make it a bit clearer on why guys seem to get lean just by looking at a gym!).
But don’t get me wrong I’m not saying you can’t live at under 10%, there are plenty of girls that get under 10% for bodybuilding comps or photo-shoots, I am only saying that anything lower than this (and that’s normally where you need to get to if you want that six pack) can really affect the hormone levels in your body, in particular estrogen. This is because our fat actually stores and releases small amounts of it, so get rid of fat, get rid of estrogen.
And we do want estrogen for a number of reasons. It is responsible for:
Keeping our menstrual cycle in check
Our cholesterol balanced
Healthy breast development
Mood regulation
Bone health
Skin health
The list really does go on. So when us females end up with unusual estrogen levels, everything can start to go downhill. For example I am sure you have heard that if females get to a low body fat they lose their periods? This is why. And for some women it takes years to get their menstrual cycle back even if they are at a healthy body fat.
Now for any of you that follow me regularly you will know not only have I gained a six pack before but I am currently in the process of trying to achieve it again prepping for an up and coming photo-shoot – yep I am a hypocrite all right. But the truth is I know the dangers, I will only do it for a very short period of time and I have a very strong support network around me to make sure I stay as healthy as I can in this prep.
Where women go wrong is thinking they can have this all year round and that they shouldn’t show their bodies off if they don’t. What we need to realize is the women we see on instagram or on stage at a body building compition only look like that for ONE DAY. They are purposely dehydrated with empty stomachs making sure they look as flat as possible for that couple of hours a day they are on stage or doing a shoot.
So the next time you put a bikini this summer and compare yourself to a ‘fitspo’ picture just remember that it means you are 100% women, natural and healthy. Of course this doesn’t mean you can gorge on everything in sight either, but just remember that everything in moderation is the key without trying to force your body into something its not.
Social media should not dictate how you look and it certainly shouldn’t dictate how you feel. I have to remind myself of this everyday. Its time to take our hands away from that pooch below our belly buttons, but our hands in the air and shout from the rooftops we proud of who we are!
Time to enjoy the summer belly and all :)