As collegiates, the ever growing pressure to look a certain way or remain a specific size tends to dictate and control many of our thoughts regarding our own appearance. In such a technology-driven age, it seems impossible to escape the societal norms constantly being placed on young girls and women to maintain an unrealistic beauty. Women magazines, in particular, have a tendency to advertise ridiculous workout plans with a promise to help you drop 5-10 lbs in a week. Enticing? Sure. Realistic? Absolutely not. Lucky for us, Women’s Health, the fitness magazine with over 1.5 million readers, has had enough of the unhealthy verbiage being printed in publications and has decided to take a stand.
Editor-in-Chief, Amy Keller Laird, released a blog post, “Peace Out, ‘Bikini Body’- We’re Kicking You Off of Our Covers for Good” announcing that Women’s Health had a few resolutions of their own this year. Constantly seeking improvement, the team asked their audience in a recent survey what they would like to see more and less of on the cover. Laird wrote: “You told us you don’t love the words shrink and diet, and we’re happy to say we kicked those to the cover curb ourselves over the past year. But we’re still using two other phrases (‘Bikini Body’ and ‘Drop Two Sizes’) that you want retired.” In an effort to exemplify and promote a healthy and happy lifestyle, the magazine did what will hopefully become a trend in 2016: Women’s Health has put a ban on those two phrases. Laird explained: “Since our goal is always to pump you up, and never to make you feel bad, here’s our pledge: They’re gone. They’ll no longer appear on Women’s Health covers.”
As an avid reader of this magazine, I can’t help but express my gratitude towards the ban. Fitness is not about dropping an obscene amount of weight in a limited time or believing that you must look a certain way in order to confidently wear a bikini. “Rocking a bikini does require confidence, but we’d rather focus on the greater benefits of getting a strong-as-hell core: running, surfing, dancing, climbing, being able to carry a 2-year-old up and down the stairs 10 times a day,” Laird said. While working out and eating right has great external reward, focus your attention more so on the way these life changes influence you internally.
Thank you, Women’s Health, for listening and acting upon our concerns. Just as the women’s publication is doing, make 2016 your year for change. Work out to feel like you can conquer the world; eat healthy to energize and fuel your body; rely on yourself for love and respect because confidence starts and ends with you.