Self Care: Physical Fitness & Body Image

Earlier this year I started F45 Training and for once in my life, I am excited about physical fitness. Within the last few years, we have seen a movement for women’s body positivity, and while I recognize that I am a man and my experiences with fitness and body image could be very different, I hope to shed light on why we need to share body positivity with men as well.

First and foremost, society has conditioned us to believe that to be healthy or attractive women and men must look a certain way or meet a ridiculous standard. "Body image" is the way that someone perceives their body and assumes that others perceive them. This image is often affected by family, friends, social pressure, and the media.

For most of my life, I have been overweight, and I haven’t always been comfortable saying that out loud. I used to be the kid at the pool that swam in a tee shirt. If you asked me why, I would blame it on protecting my skin from the sun (I mean, who can argue with the powerful effects of UV rays). In reality, I swam in those shirts because I was not proud of the skin I was in, although I would have never admitted that because boys are supposed to be “tough”. Eventually, I had no choice but to face my insecurity head-on, because nothing sticks out like a sore thumb more than being the only person swimming in a tee-shirt, and the skincare excuse no longer works after so long.

As I began to grow out of my “husky” Levi Jeans, I realized I could boost my self-confidence by working out, but I struggled to stay motivated. By the time I reached my senior year of high school I was the slimmest I have ever been, but I still felt like the kid swimming in his tee-shirt. I continued to watch what I ate and work out, but that happened to be harder to do once I got to college. Being planted into a new environment, especially as a young Lumbee man from rural North Carolina, is hard, and while I eventually transitioned fine...I spent a lot of time finding comfort in food.

Since then, I have come a long way. I work out when I can, and try to have an understanding of the food I am putting into my body. Coming from a community where food can take the role of being a social activity, I have found it helpful to think of food as fuel for the body. While I may not go for a jog without a shirt, for the first time in a long time I feel confident in my own skin. I feel empowered to take my shirt off on the beach and live freely. I could dig into how the fashion industry has continued to be fat-phobic

, but I will save that for another blog post.