Are You Ready For Swim Suit Season?

The messages to lose weight are omnipresent, but there is a new vigor about them as we approach the dreaded “swim suit season”. We fret about our perceived flaws all year long, and as the weather gets warmer, and we have to peel off the layers of clothing, our insecurities are also brought to light. Generally people seem to have one of two approaches this time of year: Work out like crazy, and eat like a bird in an attempt to squeeze into the mold of what one “should” look like in a swim suit; or, hide their head in the sand, avoiding the issue altogether, and finding new ways to call additional layers a “swim cover-up”.

How many summers have you spent your time at the pool or beach fretting away over how you looked in your swimsuit rather than splashing around or digging in the sand? Is that anyway to live? If you have kids is that what you want them to remember about your play time together? Or maybe you just avoid those situations all together. How much more time are you going to give to the negative thoughts that keep you down and out, and prevent you from experiencing life from the fullest?

I’m here to offer you a third approach to the swim suit season. Find the swim suit that fits the body you have now, and wear it with confidence, regardless of your size and shape. The only reason you are afraid to put on a bathing suit is because you have been so conditioned to think that you can only look good in one if you are a size 2, have flat abs, and a BMI of 18. But I beg to differ. Just do a google search on “plus size swimsuits” and you will find image after image of women representing many different sizes who look body confident and just all around beautiful in their swim wear. And let’s face it, that’s what so much of it comes down to anyway — body confidence. Do you think Queen Latifah hides under the umbrella because she doesn’t want to show off her larger than life curves? I can’t say with good authority, but I would guess when she walks out onto the beach or alongside the pool, she commands attention with her poise, and self-assured stature that reveals nothing short of body confidence.

These models wearing Lane Bryant swim wear certainly don’t look self conscious. If you saw them on the beach, the only thing you would notice about them would be how beautiful they are.

This year, say no to the last-ditched attempts at quick weight loss that don’t do anyone any good, and instead declare the coming season a summer of fun that won’t get “weighed down”.