Body Kindness

Ellie Keck: University of Delaware Swimming

Body image is a problem everywhere. We hear about body image issues, practicing self love, etc. Self love is great don’t get me wrong but we can get more personal when it comes to struggling with body image. We should be talking about body kindness.

Shortly after leaving a Division 1 swim team, I began to struggle with body image. I went from training four hours a day to searching for the motivation to do a 10 minute workout video on YouTube. If you’re sitting there thinking - dang she probably lost all muscle tone and definition she had from swimming - you are 100% correct. Despite loving exercise, I was not self disciplined enough to workout by myself. I missed my coaches and having structured practices. As my hours of exercising decreased, my negative perceptions of my body increased.

Now, I am a huge fan of self-help books (the only books I read). Lucky for me, I intern with a mental health non-profit that has a library full of books on mindset, positive psychology, self-care and of course, self-help. It’s a dream - I know. One day I conveniently came across a book titled, Body Kindness. I knew it was exactly what I needed and I snatched it.

So what is body kindness? Body kindness is not a set of rules; it’s a self-care mindset grounded in the simple belief that health begins by being good to yourself. It allows you to make decisions based on what is actually helpful instead of viewing things as “good” or “bad.” The universal body kindness question asks, Is this helping to create a better life for myself?

I learned this cool concept called ‘spiraling up.’ When you practice body kindness, you “spiral up” in energy and positive emotions because (surprise) you really do want to be good to yourself! There are three pillars in body kindness/spiraling up: love, connect and care.

Here is how I implemented the pillars into my life:

1. Love: make choices from a place of love.

I eat what I love and I do movements that I love. By doing this, I never think of eating as dieting, or exercising as punishment. I love carbs and sugar - so I consume carbs and sugar. I love CrossFit and Peloton - so I do CrossFit and Peloton. Making choices from a place of love makes it hard to beat yourself up for your choices.

2. Connect: connect to your body.

I love waking up and having the freedom to choose my workout. It’s truly a gift. I’ve been experimenting with different types of workouts including resistance bands, free weights, bikes, ergs or body weight workouts. Some workouts are much more intense than others. Some workouts burn a lot more calories than others. I am working on shifting my focus from intensity and calories to feeling proud of working on ways to improve myself and lead a healthy lifestyle.

3. Fully commit to taking care of yourself.

I have been taking better care of myself and I find it harder to be mean to your body when you take care of it. Taking care of yourself can be eating a salad or it can be eating a piece of chocolate cake. It can be running 10 miles or doing a yoga video. We have different needs everyday. Spice it up sometimes!

This new mindset has allowed me to create new habits and feel confident in my decisions. I hope you can begin implementing these practices in your life - it’s never too late to start :)

Source: Body Kindness by Rebecca Scritchfield