We’ve all heard it time and time again— spring break is coming up, and there are hoards of new “beach diets” and “crash diets” women around the country are willing to try to attempt to look their best on the beaches this spring. With the onset of spring break and the hot-bed topic of body positivity, shouldn’t we stray away from these unhealthy, potentially harmful methods of looking our best? Shouldn’t we feel our best? Everyone can agree that if you feel confident in your body and yourself—you’ll look your best. There are healthy, body-positive ways to feel your best this spring break, while not being destructive.
Here are five ways to be your spring break best without any diet culture or crazy, unhealthy ideas.
1. Find a Workout Buddy and a Workout Plan you ENJOY
When working out, it’s essential that you’re working out because you want to work out, not because you want to lose weight. If your general mindset is to work out to lose weight, it won’t be fun or sustainable; it’ll be drab and difficult to get through. If you find a workout your passionate about— hiking, spin classes, Orange Theory, Pure Barre, Peloton— it’ll be much easier to be motivated to do it— because you’ll want to. Not only that, if you have a friend who is also looking to get active, rope them in on your fun, active plan, and do it together!
2. Don’t cut anything out of your diet—food is fuel and should be treated as such
Starving yourself to look good on the beach simply won’t get the job done. It leads to bingeing and not to mention a series of other health complications. Instead of cutting things out of your diet—carbs, sugar, fat— or doing some crazy diet fad like Keto or Paleo, think of everything in moderation. If 80% of your day is spent fueling your body with healthy, nourishing ingredients and 20% is spent with a treat or a glass of wine, you’ve found a healthy balance and it’s important when trying to feel your best.
3. Take the stairs!
Selecting the stairs over an elevator is an easy switch that helps keep your body active. Likewise, if you’re studying for midterms or doing a lot of staying inside, try and get active as much as possible. Go on a walk with friends after dinner, or opt to walk instead of Uber wherever that you’re going. It’s important to get your steps in, and you’ll see a change in how you feel if you opt to walk over a more convenient alternative.
4. Use Positive Self Talk
If you look in the mirror every day before spring break and criticizing how you look, it will 100% alter how you feel about yourself. Spend time thinking positive and supportive thoughts about the things you are proud of that you feel are your strengths. If you see something you’d like to improve, instead of being cruel and negative to yourself, think about it as something you’d like to improve and figure out a productive way to do so. When you speak to yourself like you’re worthy and powerful, you’ll feel that way. Cut out the negative self-talk!
5. Remember that these are YOUR memories, and YOU define that
Of course, we all want to look good on the beach. We’d be lying if we said we didn’t. But if you’re only caught up in how you look and what you’re wearing, you will completely miss out on making memories. So remember that it’s important to feel good, to get active, to stay hydrated, and to eat right, but it’s more important to feel your best, whatever that means for you. If you’re so caught up in such small specificities, you’ll completely miss out on the memories. What is vacationing for if not for making lasting memories for years to come?
Featured Image by Sardaka on Wikimedia Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
