At some point in your life you may have been casually resting your behind on that super plush and cushy couch of yours in front of the TV screen that keeps asking, “Are you still watching?” and wonder to yourself, "Should I be working out right now? Or, perhaps, do I NEED to be working out right now?"
Images of spring break and the beach and that hot lifeguard guy you know will be working at the pool this summer and super cute pics of Kylie Jenner whirl about in your head. Your breathing starts to get heavier, your eyes start to bug and then you see it: that thing in the far off distance that seems to be growing. Coming closer and close to your very self sitting there on the couch. It is officially bikini season.
Now, you’ve come to analyze the situation at hand. The fate of your bikini body is not yet doomed, but to be determined. To gym or not to gym. More questions start to trickle in like, “Does that only chicken and water diet actually work?” or “How much weight can I lose/survive on by only eating 500 calories?”
(Spoiler alert: the average person needs about 2,250 calories a day so please don’t try that.)
Disregarding the questions that may seem pertinent to your quandary of whether or not you need to start visiting that godforsaken, sweat-stained place, only three need to be taken into consideration
1. If you and ONLY you do not like the way your body works.
I could not care less if your boyfriend/girlfriend says to you, “Hey you’d look a lot better if you lost like 15 pounds.” No sir. No one has any authority over you, your body or your self-worth. If they insist you’d be better off being a few pounds lighter, then you know what: give them what they want and ditch the haters. You’ll be a few pounds lighter then for sure. That is not how friendship works. Every single one of us has a different body type, build and muscle aesthetic. In no way or form can you compare what you eat, how much you weigh or what your daily lifestyle is to other people and expect to see the same results.
If you are self-conscious about the way you look or uncomfortable in that super cute romper with the deep V, then change something. But if you think you can rock those cut-off jean shorts or that game day dress, then rock it. Because confidence is everything. Doesn’t matter if you're 7 feet tall or weigh 100 pounds if you're confident about the way you look, the people around you will be confident that you couldn't care less what they thought.
If you are not happy with your body when you look in that mirror then you have the authority to implement change in your life. If you weigh 100 pounds or if you weigh 1,000 pounds if you’re happy then keep on doing you. Now, with that said the second point of this article is brought up.
2. If you have a very SERIOUS health issue.
This is self-explanatory, people. We’ve all seen those shows on TLC of the 1,000-pound man and of course "The Biggest Loser" where individuals need to make a critical change to their lifestyle in order to survive. Severe obesity is a serious issue and should be addressed and handled with professional care. End of story.
3. This is honestly just an obligatory third point because 2 points just didn’t seem like enough.
But, the third point is if you have bought and paid for a gym membership and it was pretty expensive and you can’t get a refund, then you should consider working out for the sake of utilizing your money spent.
A great lady once said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” (This was in "The Princess Diaries," but was actually said by Eleanor Roosevelt.) So be happy, be healthy, be confident and ditch the haters.
People, especially women, are constantly surrounded by expectations for not only physical beauty but mental health as well, normalized by social media. Women are berated daily with photoshopped images of stars and celebrities implying that the body they have currently is never good enough to be considered beautiful. When the fact of the matter is, is that those images are photoshopped. And those models you may see in Victoria's Secret fashion show basically starve themselves to look that way. Being beautiful in your mind's eye is healthy and disregarding what society may think of as "beautiful" is so much better in the long run.
Although this article discusses the reasons to start working out, there are also reasons to stop working out as well. Anorexia, bulimia and any other mentally influenced eating disorders are not to be taken lightly and deserve the same professional care and attention as severe obesity. Take care of yourself first -- not for bikini season, not for your boyfriend, but for you and you alone.
