People around the world want to be healthy. But sometimes more than that, they want to look good. And it can be challenging to reconcile these two ideas because they don’t always necessarily coincide in reality. There are substantial differences between focusing on what you look like, how you feel, and what you perceive yourself to look like through the eyes of others.
If you plan on trying to harmonize these ideas and integrate everything into a healthy lifestyle, you have to approach your body image from several different perspectives. First of all, you have to realize that there are three different kinds of body types. Beyond that, you need to recognize that different body shapes can all be healthy. Also, it’s important to note that your health is different than your weight. And, finally, mass media, in general, gives an extremely distorted vision of what healthy people are supposed to look like.
Three Body Types
Before you decide what a healthy version of yourself looks like, you need to know that there are three standard body types. Generally, you will look mostly like one of these types, and potentially slide toward a version that is next to it. This has to deal with bone structure, the way that you store fat, and your baseline metabolism. If you try to look healthy in someone else’s body type, that leads you to bad behaviors and a twisted self-image.
Body Shapes
After you recognize what the basic body types are, it’s time to start looking at body shapes. Your arms don’t look like everyone else’s arms. Your legs don’t look like everyone else’s legs. The form of your butt may be different than someone else’s. It’s not a matter of you figuring out how to sculpt your body to look like someone else’s. To be as healthy as possible, you simply have to shape your body into the best version of yourself.
Weight Vs. Health
If you’re trying to target your ideal weight, then your optimum health should be in that range as well. The problem is when people aim for a weight that is outside of their healthy range. This sort of focus is where people end up with eating disorders. Target your health first, and then find out how much you weigh when you look and feel healthy, and you will find the correct balance.
Mass Media Distortions
Unfortunately, the people that we see on TV, in magazines, and through other mass media outlets are not ordinary. They are not average. They look the way they look for entertainment purposes. Mass media is not a healthy cross-section of reality. This presents a problem for adults and younger people who are trying to figure out what they should look like and how they should look when they exist in their ideal state. It’s imperative to educate yourself about this fact so that you can find your correct body image and self-confidence through reality as opposed to through the distortion of a media lens.
