Should we be rushing to get that beach bod?

It’s that time of year again. As summer approaches and the world reaches for their short shorts and panics about cellulite, we asked the age-old question: do we really need to get in shape for summer? Caroline Lallis and Amelia Hockey weigh in on the debate

For – Caroline Lallis

As the snow eventually melts away, the sun creeps out and that fourth layer of clothing is finally no longer necessary, we can finally take our scarves off. At long last, summer is only just around the corner. However, as the hemlines rise and fabrics thin, that familiar sinking feeling returns as we realise that come the hot lazy evenings of summer, we will be wearing the outfits adorning the tanned, toned, and worryingly, exposed bodies of the models in the magazines. Inevitably, such panic will lead to the majority of us at the very least worrying about what we eat, whilst others will give into a full blown health and exercise regime overhaul worthy of a C-list celebrity. But the question is, is it worth losing the last few pounds that insist on sticking around as stubbornly as our recent arctic winter?

If recent trends are anything to go by, the amount of sheer fabric, cut out panels, crop tops and thigh skimming hems are enough to have even the most stubborn exercise-phobe tempted by the gym. The likes of Rihanna, Katy Perry, Rita Ora and even Queen B herself are most likely to blame here, since their stage costumes and general style are not the most conservative. And whilst bodies like theirs are achieved by consulting the best and most expensive in the business, us mere mortals cannot help but look at these women and want what they have; the toned bodies and killer abs as well as their superhuman confidence.

This is the main point that it all boils down to: confidence. We can unanimously agree that a large factor in how good someone looks is how confident they are. If they believe they can pull off their look, then the chances are they will. Any uncertainty or insecurity and you may as well have a neon sign attached to you advertising the fact. It is true that it is a vicious cycle, that the better we feel the better we look, and the better we look the better we feel. By making the decision to do something about our insecurities – whether it’s deciding to go to the gym and tone up or improving our diets and hoping to lose those few pounds still hanging around from the extra tin of quality streets at Christmas –  we are making the decision to take control. And whilst fad diets only pander to quick fix needs rooted in insecurity, the determination to look better through healthy diet and exercise can be what it takes to make us feel better about ourselves too, and not quake in fear in the changing rooms of Topshop at the prospect of tiny crop tops and even tinier hot pants.

The best diets are about balance. So if you have worked hard at the gym and are on your third salad of the week by Tuesday lunch, you can treat yourself to a Mr Whippy when the ice cream van pulls up to the piazza guilt free.

Against – Amelia Hockey

So we have reached that time of year again. The time when the sun comes out and the magazine stands are filled with pictures of women who are more tanned than you, skinnier than you and always have much better beach hair than you. (I do not understand how these girls have such good hair on the beach. Mine always ends up resembling Monica from Friends in that episode where they go to Barbados.) And with this bombarding of images comes the inevitable guilt over the fact that you went to the supermarket to buy a massive chocolate bar or an ice cream or something equally unhealthy that would most certainly not help you get a ‘beach bod.’

I would like to stress that, despite feeling intensely jealous, I actually have nothing against these women. Some of them have worked very hard to have bodies that look that good and I don’t begrudge them wanting to show them off. My main problem with the modern media’s annual onslaught of ‘beach bod’ pictures and diets are their toxic ability to make women who don’t look like that feel inadequate and self-conscious. It is rare to find someone who hasn’t looked into one of those magazines and negatively compared themselves to the visions of perfection that are presented to us. Personally, I feel that the ‘hot bod’ issues are poisonous. They perpetuate the ideas that the way you look is the be all and end all of your summer and in order to have any fun on holiday one must starve oneself. Their readership, which is usually made up of young impressionable women, is made to feel that they are not good enough because they don’t have a washboard stomach or a perfectly pert bottom. This is a world in which the tiniest imperfection is highlighted, circled and ridiculed, because God forbid that any human being should show any signs of actually being a human and not a life size Barbie doll for the rest of us to all gawk at. The most frustrating thing is that these magazines do not represent real life. In the real world, the vast majority of people are not sculpted and preened and polished to within an inch of their life. People have flabby arms and wobbly stomachs and cellulite. In an ideal world, I would want to see magazines where people of every shape and size are represented. People look different and I want that to be celebrated – that’s real life and your appearance should be a matter of personal choice. So if you want to hit the gym before you hit the beach then I applaud you. But if your idea of fun is kicking back with a 99 flake there is no shame in that either. Because it is your life and no one should dictate or make you feel negative about the way you are living it.