How to Achieve the Perfect Summer Body

The last time I heard this sentiment echoed was from my older cousin, sighing that her legs had gotten thicker since she moved to the U.S. for college. It was alright to put on weight during the winter, she reasoned, but she started dieting so she could wear short skirts in the summer. This affected the way I thought about body image. I’ve been implicitly told that only thin bodies are acceptable countless times, but this particular conversation stuck with me. 

My cousin saw firsthand my long struggles with body image and watched me overcome them, gaining my weight back. She told me that the weight gain made me “cuter” and more energized. I know she knows that dieting to lose weight in a short amount of time is unhealthy. We all know, deep down, that size is not indicative of overall health or objective beauty. And yet, we still fall into that cycle of criticizing ourselves and wondering if our bodies deserve to exist uncovered in hot weather. It took me years to unlearn this mindset, a mindset so often regarded as normal. 

Women and girls, especially, are often told that taking up more space makes you worth less, that gaining weight is shameful and losing weight is an achievement. We are led to believe that becoming thinner will make you happier, healthier, and more liked, when in truth, it doesn’t. But when we constantly hear that the key to a “better self” is weight loss, it becomes an outlet for insecurity and self-hate. The summer body needs to be thinner than the current body. The current self needs to be reinvented because it is inadequate. 

For me, this narrative made me tie my self-worth to my weight. I ignored the root causes of my insecurities and only devalued myself further. In my mind, being thinner would finally make me worthy of self-love. So when I gained any weight, it triggered intense guilt and shame. When I lost weight, though, it was never enough. I hadn’t yet reached that nebulous “better self” who was perfect and happy, so obviously I needed to eat less, exercise more, and lose more weight. During that period, when I was at my lowest weight, I was also at my unhealthiest. Every waking thought was about food. I was lethargic and didn’t even have the energy to exercise, but I was still convinced that I needed to weigh less. 

This is the reality of diet culture and the “summer body” narrative — the ideal future self is always out of reach if you don’t accept your current self first. Every version of myself, every form my body took, was enough. My inherent beauty and worth was never dependent on my size. 

This year, my summer body isn’t smaller— in fact, it’s bigger, because I’ve been growing. It tells me when I need to eat and I fuel it with good food so I have the energy for my favorite summer activities, like volleyball and badminton. My summer body is unique and beautiful, and so is yours. It doesn’t have to be thinner or more toned to be worth celebrating. 

Especially for students, who must maintain a level cognitive function and energy throughout the day, proper nutrition is crucial. Going on a strict diet to lose weight quickly, especially without consulting a nutritionist or doctor, is simply not sustainable. It can lead to long-term consequences like weight cycling, nutrient deficiencies, high blood pressure, anxiety, and depression, not to mention the unhealthy relationship with food that dieting can foster. 

Summers are for fun and relaxation. Believe me when I say they are so much more enjoyable when you let yourself eat ice cream and s’mores with your friends, and when you’re not sucking in your stomach all the time. Life is more enjoyable when you stop being ashamed for not “glowing up.” 

The decision to lose weight is valid, but it should never hinge on whether a thinner body looks better in beach pics. The idea that a “summer body” should be smaller than a spring, fall or winter body is absurd and damaging, especially for adolescents. We shouldn’t spend our time worrying about meeting this arbitrary beauty standard during our hard-earned summer holiday. We already have summer bodies, and we should be nourishing them the way they deserve instead of disregarding their needs.