Olympian Bodies Come in All Shapes & Sizes: Why You Should Stop Caring About Your Weight & Clothing Size

Photographer Howard Schatz’s work has helped to expose the wide spectrum of body types belonging to 125 of the world’s best athletes.  Although the male & female athletes captured on camera vary widely in their body size, shape, weight, height, and sport, all of them are top competitors with physiques to match their Olympic sport.

What I love about this project is that it completely goes against images that are normally portrayed as “thinspiration” or “fitspo” on social media.  Not all male and female athletes fit into one perfect fitness body type – and thank goodness they don’t!  Some are tall, some are incredibly short, some are very muscular, some are quite lean, some have six-packs, others do not, and most weigh more than what you think a “healthy athlete” should weigh (especially for the photographed females).  Not one of them is superior or inferior to the other simply based on aesthetics or what society expects an athlete should look like on the outside.  All of them are incredible at what they work their butts off to do.

What you weigh on the scale has very little relevance to a top athlete… or even to the rest of us.  The best athletes in the world spend their time, effort, and training motivation on what actually matters to performance: quality training sessions, good nutrition, rest/recovery time, injury prevention and management, mobility work, controlled stress levels, good sleep habits, mental preparedness/ mental toughness, and so on.

Through my work as a Registered Dietitian & Sports Nutritionist, I regularly counsel active individuals who struggle with disordered eating.  The online fitness world loves to promise a perfect body at a perfect weight with perfectly defined abs if you obey a strict “eat clean, train mean” obsessive mentality.  Personally, that doesn’t work for me.  I’ve been a competitive athlete my whole life – from dance, to hockey, to triathlons, to rowing, to CrossFit, my body has adapted into a slightly different shape, size, and weight to match the demands of my sport.  Each adjustment my body has made helped me to perform better in my chosen sport as an athlete.  As I’ve matured as an athlete and healthcare professional, what I weigh and what I look like matters very little today.  My personal and professional philosophy has always been about challenging myself and others to take MEANINGFUL ACTION – work on building up healthy habits to last a lifetime that support health, active living, and vibrancy that shines from the inside out.

I would rather worry about being the healthiest and best version of myself, than counting calories or weighing myself daily.  As an athlete, Registered Dietitian, and university nutrition educator, here’s where I like to spend my time and effort:

1. EXERCISE: Exercising daily in a way that makes me feel good.  Right now that’s training at CrossFit London, but it’s changed over the years, and will likely change in the future.

2. HEALTHY FOOD CHOICES: I love eating well, and also fully enjoy some indulgent treats from time to time.  Food to me isn’t “black or white”, “good or bad”, “healthy or unhealthy”, and I always feel bad for clients who live in an all or nothing world.  Eighty percent of the time (or sometimes 60% or sometimes 90%), I focus on eating minimally processed foods that feel good inside my body, and the other 20% of the time, I eat foods that I enjoy and find pleasurable, just because they taste good.  Life is a lot more fun when you can fully enjoy the ride!

3. ORGANIZATION & PREP: Eating well and exercising are a lot easier to pull off if you’re organized.  Every night before I go to bed, my gym bag is packed, my lunch is made (including my healthy snacks for the day), and my bags are ready by the front door.  Weekly Farmer’s Market trips are a must, and I try to wash & cut up all of my veggies on the weekend to ensure I actually eat them vs. letting them die a slow horrible death rotting inside my refrigerator crisper.  You laugh, but we’ve all murdered perfectly good vegetables this way.  There’s more organization habits I could list, but the point is, if you set yourself up to succeed, you have a much better chance living out your healthy intentions the next day if you can make your environment as supportive as possible.

 4. SLEEP: This has become increasingly important the more I’ve taken my athletic performance seriously.  I aim for 7.5-8 hours sleep per night, with a few naps scattered in throughout the work week (I’m self-employed and generally work 8:30am-1:00pm and 3:00pm-7:00pm).  My bedroom is dark, I don’t bring any work, food, or TV into bed, I have the same bedtime and same wake-up time most days of the week, and I try to disconnect from all technology at least 45 minutes before I want to be asleep.  It’s not like this 100% of the time (no one is perfect or always has a perfect situation), but it’s a good ideal to aim for.

5. INJURY PREVENTION: Mobility sessions, weekly hot yoga, stretching through the day, avoiding sitting for hours at a time, taking a weekly rest day (and additional random rest days when needed), as well as working with great healthcare professionals (e.g. physio, massage) when things are starting to feel a bit off really pay of themselves in dividends.  Again, by listening to my body and staying injury free, I can keep exercising and doing what I love, which again, allows you to not have to worry about your weight.

6. STRESS MANAGEMENT: I’ve finally discovered the secret (for me) to not being an overly stressed out, overly-worked maniac.  The power of A) identifying what’s most important to you, B) eliminating unnecessary activities/people/commitments that don’t relate to what you value or what’s most important, and C) learning politely to say no so that you don’t end up with too much on your plate.

7. LIVE IN THE NOW: I always tell my clients, you can’t change the past, there’s nothing you can do about the future, all you have is this moment right in front of you to make a good choice. Feeling guilty about the past, what you at yesterday, the bad choices you made, well, that unfortunately accomplishes nothing and steals energy from making a good choice RIGHT NOW. Worrying about the future, well, it’s not here yet, so you can deal with what’s coming if and when it actually happens. By focusing on making the best choice that’s happening right now, that’s where good health truly blossoms! If you ate poorly for lunch, make your afternoon snack and dinner awesome! If you’re feeling guilty about how you ate earlier in the day, don’t wait to fix things tomorrow, or start again on Monday, or wait until January 1st, or (insert hypothetical good time to begin here), go make your next meal or snack extra awesome with healthy foods you can control!

This list I have completely control over. This list helps me feel good. This list helps me stay healthy. This list elevates my performance as an athlete. To a large extent, focusing my efforts on this list helps me look good and stay at a healthy weight, but it’s really not about either of those two things at all.

So here’s my take-away for everyone who’s struggling in that dark world of disordered eating and over-exercising: stop looking to Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, magazine covers, and online fitness articles for inspiration. Stop oogling other people’s bodies wishing yours was different. Stop hating your body. Start taking action. Start small. Set mini-goals that help you reach bigger fitness, nutrition, and health goals. Focus on what you can control. Let go of what you can’t control. Take care of your mental health. Accept that beauty, strength, and athleticism come in more than one shape and size. Go cut up some vegetables. Try to get to sleep earlier. Turn off the electronics more. Get outside. Move your body, make it fun. Practice positive self-talk. Hold yourself accountable by working with a personal trainer or coach, nutrition professional, or even a friend who will help keep you motivated and on-track. Work on building consistency with good habits. Let go of what’s no longer working or serving you. Don’t diet. Ditch the scale (or at least the notion that you have to be at a “goal weight”). Put in the work. Be realistic. Aim for progress, not perfection. Love yourself.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2502477/Can-guess-sport-shape-Olympians-body.html#ixzz2kdWsTEhM