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Wednesday February 11, 2009 1:04 pm

What’s Your Locker-Room Body Image?

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Posted by Katie Gutierrez Painter Categories: Advice, Celebrities, Editorials, Entertainment, Health

Dove campaign for real beauty Shortly before I got married last May, my amazing mom—who knew I’d been wanting to get back in shape—gifted me 20 half-hour sessions with a personal trainer. Fast forward five months. I received a call from 24 Hour Fitness; it seemed they checked their records and I still had 18 of my 20 sessions remaining. (Oops.) Did I want to come in and use them? Damn, I thought. But my summer of blissful post-wedding eating had taken a toll—ten pounds, to be exact—on my figure. I’ve always been pretty small, so that increase made a major difference in the way my clothes fit and the way I thought about my own body. So I said grudgingly, “Okay. I’ll go in tomorrow.”

Since then, several things have happened, all amazing in their own right. (1) I weigh the exact same as I did in September… but my body fat has dropped by 6%. I’ve gone from the “Acceptable” to the “Lean” range! (2) I’ve committed to participating in a triathlon in May… How did that happen? (3) I renewed my training sessions—twice—and am now in another class three days a week to prepare for the triathlon. All in all, I’m working out seven days per week—crazy! (4) I can do awesome man-pushups, and I feel strong and powerful. (5) My skin is clearer… a happy surprise, to be sure!

Of course, to be fair, half my pants still don’t fit, and I’ve been sore every day for, oh, five months.

But anyway! I want to talk about body image. See, all this working out and I’m still appalled at the idea of showering in a locker room where other women can judge—I mean, see—my naked body. I won’t do it, and I’m shocked every single time I see ladies baring all. Am I just shy, or do I have some warped conception of what my body must look like in order for me to struggle with my sports bra outside a bathroom stall? (I think it’s the former.) And are those women who do strip ‘n stretch doing so out of necessity, or are they just supremely confident? (Again, judging by the grim determination with which every woman avoids every other woman’s eyes in the locker room, I vote the former.) But the truth is—and this should come as no shock to any living, breathing woman in America—we do have highly unrealistic ideals of beauty.

When I worked at a major national magazine, my co-workers and I talked about celebrities’ fluctuating weights the way bankers talk about money. Some days we defended those stars who’d gained a few pounds and were now being eviscerated all over print and online. And on other, cattier days, we participated in the evisceration. Those conversations lingered with me long after I’d get home at night, and I’d examine myself in the mirror from every angle, calculate my BMI online, and be generally unkind to the body I’d mostly always appreciated.

The point of this admitted ramble is this: Exercise several times a week and eat healthfully to reach your fitness goals—but don’t disparage your body in the meantime. I believe that all women should have three things (but at least one) that they love about their bodies. I particularly like my clavicle (weird, but true), my legs (which I hated when I was younger for being so skinny), and my strong shoulders.

What do you love about your body? And what’s your take on the pressure on women to be not just healthy—like the women in Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty photo—but celeb thin? What (or who) is your beauty ideal?


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Comments:

Maria Maria 3/30/09 12:28 am

Katie,

I used to feel exactly like you do, but now I’m the total opposite.
The showers in the ladies locker room at my gym are those communal group showers like we had in junior high and high school where everyone is out in the open while they shower.
When I first joined the gym it didn’t matter very much because I would always go straight home after my workouts, and I would just shower at home. But after a while I had to change my workout hours, and from then on I have had to go straight to work after I workout.

So I had no choice but to start baring all in the locker rooms showers. I thought that i was going to die of embarrassment, but shockingly it was much easier to do than i ever dreamed of. I remember on the first day that i had to shower at the gym that as I showered I noticed virtually every age and weight range imaginable were showering in the buff right along side of me. There was a young mother with her young daughter showering off after a swim, there were a couple of old ladies doing the same, there were a couple of teen age girls showering after their workouts. Some were in fantastic shape, and some were definitely overweight. But no one seemed to care, and no one ever seemed to look at me directly.

After that I thought to myself “get over yourself, no one cares what you look like nude.” And I also thought “if all of these other women and girls can comfortable shower in the buff without it being an issue, then so can I.”

It’s never been even remotely embarrassing since then.

In fact I’ve gotten to know many of the women and girls who tend to be in the locker room at the same time as me every day. We know each other so well that not a day goes by that we don’t carry on conversation while we shower. No ones looking at anyone’s body parts. It’s gotten to the point that we can all speak with each other just as comfortably as we would if everyone was fully dressed. The nudity isn’t an issue of any kind, really. It’s kind of nice to be able to be so free and open with that comfort level.

I’m a straight mother of 3 children, so don’t get the wrong idea about what I’m gonna say. LOL. But seriously, do yourself a favor and force yourself to start showering at your gym and spend some quality “naked time” in the ladies locker room. If your locker room has stalls then just undress at your locker and walk to the shower carrying your towel in your hand. Before you know it you will no longer feel any awkwardness about it, and you’ll actually prefer to walk around in the buff. Honestly, I guarantee it! You’ll never want to go back to being overly shy around other females. Just remember there’s nothing sexual about it. It’s more about bonding with the females around you, and you feeling personal growth and confidence. EVERY WOMAN who’s ever felt shy around other females in the locker room seriously needs to do them self a huge favor and learn to be comfortable baring all in the ladies locker room. If I can do it, anyone can do it!

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Kevin from Home Gym Workouts Kevin from Home Gym Workouts 3/30/09 10:55 am

Did you girls know that women of all ages ought to lift weights to tone your bodies and add some muscle mass? Weight lifting also helps to fight osteoporosis and is beneficial to your health in many other ways.

<a href=“http://www.homegymadviser.com/home-gym-workouts.html”>Read my tips on home gym workouts here</a>!

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Katie Katie 3/30/09 11:35 am

Thanks, Maria, for your comment! I love the idea of women of all shapes and sizes finding a comfort zone and community with each other—both in the locker room showers and in the rest of our everyday lives. When I get up the nerve to whip off that towel, I’ll let you know! Hope you’re enjoying the blog, and I’d love to see more of your comments in the future. smile

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Maria Maria 3/30/09 4:55 pm

Katie,

Thank you for the warm welcome.

I promise you it will be much easier to “whip off that towel” than you probably think! The next time your in the ladies locker room at your gym take a look around, you’ll notice that everyone’s just doing their own thing and not looking at one another. Plus no one has anything the others haven’t seen before.

Good luck!

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Tarot Tarot 4/12/09 4:28 am

thanks you very mach

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Astroloji Astroloji 4/12/09 4:29 am

thanks you very mach

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Maria Maria 7/17/09 3:32 pm

Katie,

Today at my gym one of the ladies that I was speaking with mentioned to me that she used to be shy in the locker room but that it’s no longer a problem for her.
That reminded me about this post of yours.
Has showering or changing at the gym gotten any easier for you yet?

I don’t mean to pry! Since I remembered your post here I thought I’d ask.

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