it’s a number is Yahoo Life’s Body Image series, which delves into the journeys of influential and inspirational figures and what it means to be body confident, body neutral, and self-love.
If Katie Austin Learned One Thing sports illustration swimsuitof 2022 Rookie of the Year, when it comes to your relationship with your body, comparisons will get you nowhere.
“I’m like a real normal girl sports illustrated“Honestly, I don’t like traditional models, so I think it’s a representation of that,” she told Yahoo Life. That goes for my fitness brands as well. “
It might seem like an improbable goal for the daughter of 80s fitness icon Denise Austin. She made her career at a time when women’s fitness was marketed as a means of shedding fat and losing weight. But Katie says outdated ideas about working out have never been preached at home.
“A lot of her tapes were ‘Lose the last 10 pounds,’ and they also talked about weight loss. There was no,” she explains. “I think it’s because I was an athlete. My dad was a professional tennis player, so it was always about working out to be strong and training for something. It wasn’t about aesthetics.” I wasn’t exercising or running, I wanted abs, I wanted to lose weight, or I wanted to drop inches off my waistline.”
Before that conversation became mainstream, her parents combined a philosophy when it came to exercise that focused on physical health and even mental health. I feel better and more confident,” Austin recalls learning.
But that didn’t mean she would be immune from the toxic messages of diet and exercise culture that she was exposed to, especially when she left home as a college athlete.
“In college, mental health wasn’t the focus, it was all about getting over. … It was always a battle,” she says. “That’s when my anxiety really started, when I got into college and started playing lacrosse.”
Austin’s diet and exercise were given so much attention as they were associated with his success on the field. Her body image coincided with her athletic identity for much of her upbringing, but it wasn’t until after college that the relationship really started to suffer.
“I’ve never had a weird relationship with food in my life, but as an athlete, they give you lots of carbs and two scoops of muscle milk after your workout to make sure you’re getting protein. I need to drink,” she explains.
Austin says that not only did he experience a kind of loss of identity when his athletic career came to an end, but he also faced dissonance with his body for the first time since he stopped training sports. For months she started running. “She inadvertently lost too much weight,” she says. She then realized she needed to focus on identifying her new regimen that fit her updated lifestyle.
“I’ve been very inside about it. I don’t think I’ve ever voiced it,” she says, hoping she will. “Sometimes it’s really hard to get out of something when you’re stuck in a rut or have no motivation. It’s really, really important to have a community and ask for help with that.”
When that community wasn’t found, Austin tried to create one. Her mission was to become her own coach after losing that team structure in her life, but also to make her approach relatable. I had no intention of following in my mother’s footsteps. But she accepted the opportunity to repeat Denise’s journey for her own audience.
“I feel like I have a very non-intimidating brand because I’m a really normal girl. I work out for 30 minutes a day and eat honestly bad like 70% of the time.” Then you can grow your brand, become an entrepreneur, and be successful in the world. sports illustration swimsuit,” she says.
After walking with her 65-year-old mother on the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit runway and being named Rookie of the Year with her best friends and peers sports illustration swimsuit Austin, model Kristen Harper, is avoiding comparisons and prioritizing her own happiness when setting her goals for 2023.
“It’s really important to remember why you exercise. It’s not to fit these beauty standards, it’s to make you feel like you’re the best you can be. Because I hate my body.” It’s not because I love you,” she says.
Wellness, Parenting, Body Image and More: Get to Know Who behind Ho In the Yahoo Life newsletter. SIGN UP HERE.