How to Survive Swimsuit Season

I hate that I need to write “survive” and “swimsuit” in the same sentence. I’d much prefer we lived in a world where body judgement didn’t exist, and people never felt uncomfortable putting on a swimsuit and enjoying time at the beach or the pool. But this is not our world right now, and the fact is way too many of us feel like we need to “survive” the summer months where more revealing clothing like bathing suits are worn.

During the summer months there are two main areas we can experience challenges: physically and emotionally. 

Physical Challenges

If you’re not a hot weather person, it doesn’t matter how small your body is, the heat will be a challenge. Back when I was suppressing my weight and was in a thin body (of course I never thought I was thin), I went to Mexico during the summer (not the best decision I’ve ever made!). Even in that smaller body, I simply couldn’t handle the heat. I yearned for the relief nighttime would bring but never actually came. I share this because it can be easy to blame our bigger body for not bearing the summer heat, while forgetting that perhaps we never handled heat well to begin with!

However, being in a bigger body can turn up the heat and result in more sweating and chafing, and it can be enough to make us want to run back to weight loss attempts. To avoid falling back into the diet cycle trap, we can take steps to keep cooler and more comfortable in the summer heat. Here are a couple ideas:

1. Prevent Chafing 

The first summer after I gained weight I was on a long walk with a friend and wearing a dress, and my thighs started to chafe. It was so uncomfortable, bordering on painful, that I knew I needed to remedy this as fast as possible. After doing some research I settled on a couple options: 1) Megababe Thigh Rescue - a balm-like formula that creates a barrier between the thighs to prevent friction. It felt kinda weird and took some getting used to, but it was so much better than burning thighs!  2) Thigh Society under shorts. Both were a “thigh-saver” ;)

2. Do What You Can to Keep Cool

Sounds obvious, but we may not actually think to take practical steps to keep ourselves cooler in the summer - like staying hydrated, avoiding peak sun hours, wearing a breathable hat, wearing breathable clothing, finding shade. We simply need to prioritize keeping ourselves cooler whenever possible. 

Emotional Challenges

For the clients I work with, this tends to be the bigger challenge - moving about in the summer while showing more skin. This is completely understandable given the history of how one’s body may have been commented on, judged, or manipulated with diets, especially at a young age. If you find yourself struggling with anxiety, fear, or insecurity of being in a bigger body, know you are not alone, and it’s not your fault. 

The process of accepting a bigger body takes time, and often requires focused work to dig into the barriers and beliefs that come up for us around body size. It’s for this very reason I developed my 8-Week one-on-one Body Acceptance Coaching program. 

However there are some things we can do to help move through the emotional challenges that we may encounter. I’ll share a few here:

1. Be Aware of Diet Culture Influences

Advertisements to get a “beach body” really ramp up when the summer heat does. They are so common that we may not even notice how the message of “thin body=summer body” gets imprinted into our subconscious, leading us to compare and judge our bodies if they don’t match up. Anytime you see an ad for a diet on social media - hide it or report it. I get a sense of satisfaction every time I see a diet ad on Facebook and report it as “misleading or scam” - because that’s exactly what it is! Realize that vast majority of diet and fitness companies are there to make money, and do so by profiting off our insecurities. 

2. Cut Yourself a Break

If you are working to recover from dieting, disordered eating, or an eating disorder, entering into the summer months when body talk and insecurity ramps up, is hard. Body insecurities bring up a lot of feelings (which can run quite deep). Body acceptance work requires feeling those feelings and for many of us, dieting and disordered eating was a useful tool to avoid feeling those feelings. So if a lot is coming up for you, it’s completely understandable. Have some compassion for yourself. It’s not easy to live in a thin-obsessed world. To help process these feelings, you can try my “Breathing Through Discomfort” video, or my 20-Minute Yoga for Body Acceptance video. 

Also, while it would be great to just walk on the beach wearing a swimsuit feeling confident AF, the likelihood of that happening right away isn’t high. So if you feel like you want some more coverage, check out ModLi. I’ve been really liking the many different styles of suits they’ve created with varying coverage (and as I see it, many are much more practical for swimming!). 

3. Empower Yourself to Handle Judgement 

Judgement from others regarding body size is one of the most common fears I hear from clients, which makes perfect sense if you have experienced this judgement before (especially as a child). Being on the receiving end of judgement (or worse, abuse) for our body size can be hurtful and even harmful. It’s real and needs to be acknowledged, and abuse is never ok. 

That being said, I’m a believer that in order to live the lives we want (like enjoying the summer), we will have more success by focusing on what is within our control, rather than what isn’t. Would I like to put an end to people judging each other’s bodies? Absolutely. Do I want to live in a world where abuse ceases to exist? 100%. And the reality is, it’s impossible for me to control other people. 

I’m reminded of the following quote from the Buddhist Monk Shantideva: 

“Where would I find enough leather

To cover the entire surface of the earth?

But with leather soles beneath my feet,
It’s as if the whole world has been covered.”

When we can heal the open wounds that get activated when someone touches them, we are better equipped to stand up for ourselves and set boundaries when needed. We are better able to ask for support from others. We are more likely to advocate for just treatment of all bodies in our society; and we are much less likely to take other people’s judgements personally - because we will realize that when someone judges our bodies, it’s a sign they are actually judging their own.  

Now I’m not saying this is easy, accepting our bodies can be life-long practice. But I believe it’s necessary to do this inner work if we want to move through the fear that inhibits us from living the lives we want to live. The truth is our thin-obsessed culture likely isn't going away anytime soon. However change is happening, and it starts with one person at a time (as it did way back in the 1960s with a small group of women). When we can give ourselves permission to show up and wear the swimsuit (feel the fear and do it anyways), we take a bold step forward in reclaiming our bodies for ourselves, and may even be the reason someone else feels they too can do the same.

Photo by Jubéo Hernandez on Unsplash