There’s a Difference in Being Physically Healthy vs. Public Appearance Healthy

Your Body Is Beautiful

As a college student being body confident can be hard. What we see in the mirror is different from how someone else is going to view us. Social media has changed the way we view our own bodies now because we see all these skinny models or girls showing off their body and it hurt because we as a human compare ourselves to others.

This has been something that I have personally struggled with my entire life. Not feeling

beautiful in my own skin should be crime. Wanting to look like all the models that come up on your instagram feed doesn’t help you feel any better, but what most people tend to forget is that there is a big difference in being physically healthy and trying to look a certain way for public appearance. It's hard, and can really take a toll on one's mental health. You have to tell yourself you're going to the gym to better yourself and it's for you. It's not something you're going to do just to get accepted by the world because the world might not always notice.

When starting on your workout journey you want to make sure you're doing this for all the right reasons and going about it in all the right ways. Consuming enough calories and not skipping out on meals to lose some “extra weight.” That's only going to hurt you and could potentially turn into something far worse. Being super skinny isn’t always “sexy” or attractive to other people. The most attractive thing to have is self confidence. Loving yourself is the best thing you can do for yourself as well as keeping yourself healthy.

It's always good to get exercise, but there is a thing called “too much” exercise. Pushing your body's limits can be fun and a challenge, but you have to know when enough is enough. Most people ignore the signs that their body needs a rest day, or maybe to just walk this time instead of run. This is how you get hurt. Wanting to reach your body goals is amazing and you should want to do that, but you have to give your body the time to recover from the work out beforehand or those results you're dying to see, won’t show at all.

Your body is the only one you have and we need to learn how to love ourselves. Yes, going to the gym and eating healthy can help lose weight and better ourselves, but even in the process of bettering yourself, you still need to love yourself. For most women I know looking at themselves in the mirror can be hard, pointing out all the areas you're unhappy with or just thinking bad thoughts about yourself. As a college student this can happen more and more when you're trying to compare yourself to all the girls on social media or even your friends. One thing good to know about all the modeling posts, is most of the time those women don’t even look like that in person. It's all the editing the photo has done to be “perfect” before being released. Thus leading to teens and young women using apps to alter their body before posting on their social media account. This is something that a lot of girls struggle with and it can affect your mental health as a person.

You shouldn’t be focused on how you look, or how to have to photoshop abs into a picture before you post it. There are bigger and better things to put your time into. No one cares, when you edit your pictures just for some likes. All your doing is trying to please the social media world by showing off, but you're still unhappy. Dare to be different, go out try a green drink, sign up for a spin class, or even just go for a walk. Just by doing a small amount of physical exercise, it can help release stress and it will even make you feel good about yourself. You have to want to do this for you. Not for the internet, not for that singular “like” someone can give you, but for you.

The gym is a safe space. The workout and fitness world is a safe space. Everyone is coming to do the same thing, better themselves and feel good along the way. There isn’t a better feeling than seeing progress when you're going about it all the right way. That feel is indescribable, you have worked so hard and have come so far from where you started. This is something to be proud of even if it's not the full results you want to see. It will all come with time, effort and the strength to keep going. Hitting your personal best (PB) whether it's running that extra mile or lifting heavier weights. Whatever it is it's something to be proud of yourself for because you have dedicated a lot of time to yourself to make this happen.

With that being said, just because you're going to the gym to be healthy and better yourself doesn’t mean you have to give up all the foods you love having. Having a cheat day or a cheat snack or anything is better than not allowing yourself to have it at all because it can affect how much you consume of it later. Don’t restrict yourself, you still need to eat enough to actually lose weight. It's funny to think that you have to eat so many calories in order to actually lose weight. As long as you're taking care of yourself and you're physically healthy that's all that should matter.

We need to stop worrying about public appearance or social appearance, yes it's hard because we all need to look our best and be the best. With that being said, don’t let yourself have a good time or restrict yourself from going out for ice cream with your friends because you “can’t.” As long as you're healthy, go enjoy yourself.