Newswise — Before you think about shedding pounds to fit into your bathing suit this summer, realize that society puts pressure on you to slim down to a certain size - particularly if you're female - and learn to love yourself as you are, according to two faculty members at the University of North Texas
Dr. Carolyn Kern, director of the university's Counseling and Human Development Center and an associate professor of counseling, teaches courses in counseling adolescents and college student development.
"It's very important that you love and accept yourself for who you are," she says. "When you like yourself it is easier to choose healthy eating and exercise habits. If you can look at it from a health perspective rather than an appearance factor, it changes the whole focus."
Dr. Christy Greenleaf, an assistant professor in UNT's Department of Kinesiology, Health Promotion and Recreation, studies body image and self-objectification of women. Her research has found that thin body shapes are often associated with positive characteristics, such as being smart, friendly, motivated and fit. Larger body shapes are likely to be stereotyped as fat, lazy, and stupid. But thin bodies aren't necessarily healthy, Greenleaf says.
"The bottom line is women are socialized to have very unrealistic expectations about how they should look," she says. "In general, we are not very well educated about nutrition and the levels of physical activity that would be required to look like models. Most people don't have a natural physique like that. Usually they have gone to some extreme measures."
The desire to get thin might drive more people to the gym in the summer, but the motivation is fleeting, she says. Instead, people should focus on getting healthy.
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