Here are my 7 best tips for ROCKING bathing suit season with the body you already have! -Mags Baker
1. Accept your current body---for what it is, now.
This isn't "giving up" or "letting yourself go". This is giving yourself the freedom to live life, even if your body is a work in progress. Even if your ________ is ________ (whatever your body woe of the minute is), you still deserve to go swimming!
This is your freaking body, enjoy it!
2. Be realistic.
Are you going to bermuda in 3 weeks and expect yourself to have a flat stomach? You'll eat just fruits and veggies and do 1000 crunches a day, right? Not only will this make you feel miserable, but you will "fail" miserably with those unrealistic expectations. You're also guaranteed to go buck wild at the buffet while on vacation and gain it all back, and more.
Be kind to yourself, and see #1.
3. Know what you want.
Do you want a string bikini? A one-piece with a skirt? Figure out ahead of time what you will feel comfortable in. I'm an active bathing suit wearer, so I want to make sure everything stays in place whether boogie boarding or cannonballing. I also love tankinis and onesies.
Yes, I love my body, but I feel most comfortable in something that protects my especially pale belly from the sun and makes me feel less "naked".
4. Be armed and ready for the dressing room.
Know that some bathing suits just aren't meant your body. There are at least 3.5 billion different types of lady bodies out there, so I can guarantee many suits will not be for everyone. Don't let this throw you down a tunnel of despair.
Be ready! Here is my favorite thing to say when I try on a bathing suit that was not meant for me (no matter how much I swore it would be when I picked it out):
"This bathing suit is terrible for my body. My body is not terrible."
5. Surround yourself with the right people.
If your friends are always talking about how fat they are, or how they could never wear a bikini "right now", or how soon their vacation is and they're "freaking out" because they have to be seen in a swimsuit, ditch them! And I don't necessarily mean ditch your friends, I mean ditch those ideas.
Tell your friends you are trying to get rid of negative body thoughts and you would love to ban those conversations this season.
They're your besties, so they should be on board. If not, ditch them (and I mean the friends!). You will never crawl out of this hole surrounded by people who are pulling you back in.
6. Cover up without shame!
If you don't feel comfortable wearing just your bathing suit in every occasion, position, hour of the day, that's ok! After all, sometimes water adventures can take place with work people, brothers, and weird neighbors you don't want to see you nearly naked. Modesty by choice is way different than modesty by body shame.
Get a few awesome cover ups and rock them whenever you want to! (yes, you can swim in them!)
7. Fake it 'till you make it.
You know what is the sexiest thing on a woman? Confidence.
Did I immediately feel completely confident and comfortable in my body the day I made the decision to stop hating it? No way.
I faked it. I lived AS IF I had the body of my dreams. I stood up tall, I did my hair, I wore a kick-ass bathing suit, and I faked my confidence. That one day, I got so many compliments, without changing anything about my body. Not even one sit up (because sit ups lead to happiness, right?). Each compliment gave me a little nugget of confidence, that ultimately turned into my real confidence.
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