episode 142: can movement (not exercise!) change your negative body image?
Today’s episode of The Diet Diaries takes me back to my roots in teaching yoga and movement. One of the very first episodes of this podcast (when it was called The Movement Diaries!!) was about the difference between movement and exercise.
And almost 3 years later, I’m talking about that same topic again, but with a slightly different spin, through the lens of body image and how to improve body confidence.
My hope is that by the end of this episode you will be rethinking the role of movement and exercise in your life and how you can start paying attention to ways you can use your body more throughout the day—for your overall health AND as a tangible way to change your negative body image.
does movement improve body confidence?
You’ll find out in today’s episode where I cover:
The difference between movement and exercise and why it’s not semantics
How can you use your body to get stuff done as part of your life?
How this directly impacts body confidence and body image issues
Specific ways you can add more movement to your day
Why only exercising and not moving is a problem
Also take a look at this blog post where I share my top 3 tips for improving negative body image and episode 134 of The Diet Diaries to figure out if you have body image issues.
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Welcome to the Diet Diaries, a podcast where we have candid, heartfelt conversations that will help you figure out what, why and how to eat so you can feel amazing in your body, because it's time to break the all or nothing mindset of yoyo dieting, food obsession and feeling ruled by the scale. I'm your host, body image and nutrition coach, jordana Edelstein. I'm so happy you're here. Hey everyone, today is episode 142 of the Diet Diaries and I'm sitting here up at my desk in my attic office next to my new Peloton treadmill, which I'm very excited about.
Speaker 2
00:42
And so it's kind of I guess, maybe ironic that today's episode is going to be about movement, not exercise. Anything done on that treadmill, I shouldn't say anything. Actually, it just popped another potential idea I can talk about today, but pretty much anything done on a treadmill is going to be exercise, so it's actually a really good segue to kind of dive in. I'm hoping this episode is a little bit on the shorter side. You know, coming the last couple of weeks this summer everyone's busy with stuff and I happen to love short podcast episodes, so I'm going to try to do that today. But movement versus exercise I think this actually might have been the topic of my second episode of this podcast ever, which is coming up in three years, and I was. I walked to get a pedicure a couple of weeks ago and I posted about it. I just like did a little quick story on Instagram, as I often do, and it really just got me thinking that I need to talk about this again. I used to talk about it all the time when I taught movement.
01:40
And since I transitioned into coaching a few years ago, I haven't been talking about it as much kind of like you know on this platform, but it's really important and it really matters. It's actually a huge part of my life. So here's the thing.
01:54
Exercise is when we make specific time to move our bodies. You go to a workout, you do a class. It is time that is dedicated just for exercise. Yeah, maybe you listen to an audiobook or maybe you, you know, are listening to music or whatever it is, but it is time where you are not really doing anything else. That has to do with kind of like your life and getting stuff done and it might seem like semantics, but it's not movement is when you use your body to get shit done, to live your life. So that example of me walking to get a pedicure is movement, not exercise. I would have driven to get the pedicure. So the fact that I walked and used my body instead of driving is movement. I also had exercise, like when I go on my morning walks. That is exercise. That is time set aside just to move my body. But when I can move my body while I'm doing something that I already had to do, that is movement. And the reason this matters is because we often think that exercise is the only way to check the box of getting our bodies moving and that either, once we exercise for the day that we no longer need to move is kind of like there's one group of people who are able to make time to exercise and that's happening, and there's people who are struggling to exercise at all and so like nothing is happening and it feels like anything else like doesn't count or isn't good enough. Right, there's a lot of that all or nothing mindset that happens around this. The reality is that fitting in exercise is tough for a lot of people, and I totally get that, and so using movement as a way to get your body moving is a really good way to like fill in those gaps. I know we hear about the stuff all the time Take the stairs, park far away, carry your groceries, and it's kind of those things we kind of like roll our eyes at and like, oh yeah, I'll do that, but it's like legit, it's not just those aren't just like silly platitudes and wastes of your time. Think about like a big box store, like a really big grocery store or Costco or a Walmart or Target. Think about how big those parking lots are. If you park all the way at the back of that lot and walk into the store, do the walking you're going to do around the store as you're shopping and then walk back out, that counts, that is at least an additional 10 minutes of movement that you would not have done otherwise. And if you think about oh well, maybe I'd like to be working out for, you know, half an hour three times a week, well, if you get 10 minutes, that's like a nice chunk of kind of that quote missing exercise right there. But we vastly underestimate and kind of like dismisses, like oh, like that's silly, like okay, yeah, sure, I'll, for sure I'll park far away. Um, I do this all the time. I Very often park towards the back of those big parking lots, danny doesn't? He always likes to park closest. And I'm, like you know you're married to like, why are you doing this? It like, whatever, I've given up on that.
05:06
I Will sometimes use baskets at the grocery store instead of a cart if you need a ton of stuff. Obviously, like that's not Realistic. But carrying a heavy I've made jokes about this one. I do it whenever I go to Trader Joe's. I always think that I need less or I don't need as much as I'm gonna buy, and I end up getting, like you know, cans of seltzer and stuff that's really heavy. And by the time I get to that checkout thing, oh my god, I'm carrying it with two hands in front of me and it's super awkward, but you know what? Like it's heavy and I'm using my body like there's an upside to that and you know, the thing about this is like it could be inconvenient and it can take more time. Right, when I decided to walk to go get that pedicure instead of driving, it took a bunch of extra time, right. So you're thinking, oh, I already ready, don't have time to exercise, I'm not gonna have time to go walk to get a pedicure. I get that.
05:53
And again, it's not all or nothing. That's like, if you're driving someplace, can you park in such a way that you get some movement in? Like. So I live in a Suburban town that has like a town center, which is amazing and it's wonderful, and I know not everyone lives in a place like that. So sometimes I will walk to town if I'm doing something. It's like a mile away, it's like a decent walk. So, yes, I have to have the time available, but when I can, I do. But again, it's not either walk or drive. You could drive halfway and then walk the rest of the way, right, If, if, if a living Kind of environment like this is similar to where you live, right, if you live out in the country and with no sidewalks and a two-lane road, probably that's not gonna be realistic for you. I get it right. So you have to kind of see what makes sense in your life. But there's always something Right. The parking lot thing is like anyone can do that and I'm telling you it adds up.
06:53
So if you're in a place where you're just not exercising right now, for whatever reason, you can get some movement in just by doing that, and your body knows the difference. Your brain might be thinking Does this count? This isn't real. It's not a workout, I'm not sweating, it's not hard, I'm in my regular clothes, but your body doesn't know that. Your body just feels movement. It doesn't like register all of that. You know all of the, the anxieties and the thoughts and the feelings we have. Our bodies do register our feelings, but in terms of this, your body just feels that it's moving. It's like, oh good, jordy and his moving. This is awesome.
07:26
Things like sitting on the floor instead of always sitting on the couch. You have to get up and down off the floor, which is using much wider range of movement of your body. You're sitting on the floor, which uses your body in a different way. There's so many different ways to do this. The point of this episode is to get you thinking about how can you use your body to get shit done as part of your life. I listed off a bunch of examples already of things that I do, and they're not all going to be relevant to you. I totally get that, but there are always some sitting on the floor to watch TV for a couple of minutes or, if you're scrolling your phone instead of sitting at your desk, sit down on the floor for a couple of minutes. You're getting up and down off the floor and you're again using your body in a different way. It's going to feel uncomfortable because you're not used to sitting on the floor. That's a good thing. That's showing you that, oh, I'm using my body in a way that it's not really adapted to and it's different and it's new, and that is good. That's increasing your capacity If you have a mall and you're going to return something. We live in a world where we online shop and then we return to the mall at least, that's a lot of what I do park on the other side of the mall and then walk to the store and then walk back to your car.
08:40
All of this little stuff adds up. This is true if you're someone who exercises. This is true for you too, because we have this belief that I exercise for 30 minutes or whatever it is, I check the box and it's okay to sit the rest of the day and not move. That's not really true. We need to be moving and using our bodies throughout the day. You don't just eat one meal a day and then you're good for the rest of the day. No, you're hungry. Your body's telling you, you need food. The same, you'll just pee once a day. The same is true for movement. We've just gotten really good at ignoring those signals. But our bodies need to move frequently throughout the day. It doesn't have to be intense exercise, they just need to get up and be used. We often forget that because we're moving from one chair to another, from your desk chair to your car, to your couch, to your kitchen table. We're all like this some variation of the same seated position. There's just not a lot of variety there. We need more variety and more frequency over bigger periods of time.
09:50
When I talked about this and I used to talk about this when I taught movement, and in that episode, which I haven't listened to, it'll be interesting, maybe, to listen to these two side by side and see what, if anything, has changed in the way I talk about this. I know this piece will be different. When I talked about it then, it was definitely about movement and mobility and your physical health. Now I also definitely see it through the lens of body image, because a really big part of body image work and you guys have heard me talk about this before is starting to not only perceive your body as something to be looked at and seen, but the home in which you live your life, the body that allows you and enables you to do all of the things that you do. When I say the things that you do, I literally mean every thing that you do as part of your day. Your body lets you do that. I know that might seem like well okay, yeah, I get it. Brushing my teeth isn't that big of a deal.
10:47
We take those things for granted. Things like spending time with your kids, things like going on vacation with your family, going swimming, going for a walk, going to a dance class, cooking dinner, reading your favorite book, listening to your favorite music. Your body lets you do all of that. If you didn't have a body, you couldn't do any of that. I know that might sound kind of weird and meta, but it's true. We kind of totally take that for granted and really don't even consider it to the point where, now that I'm bringing it up, you're probably like this sounds weird. That's how kind of disconnected we are from that. We just kind of think like, oh, I exist, I'm a human, I have a body. It just is. But there's a lot to kind of really think about and be grateful for around your body the way it keeps you safe, the way it protects you, the way it wants you to survive, the adaptations it will make to keep you going in the face of injury and stress and fear and all of these things. What your body can do is mind blowing. Evolution is the most fucking amazing thing.
11:58
Anyway, I'm getting off on a tangent, as I normally do, but I wanted to talk about this because Movement throughout the day, right using your body to live your life, is a way to kind of continually be reconnecting to your body as your home and as the vehicle that lets you do these things. Right. It just it starts to keep pulling your awareness away from, oh my God, what do I look like? Like, look at the fat rolling over my pants and my teeth look so yellow. And look at these wrinkles as I'm looking at myself on Zoom and my forehead. And like all of this stuff, all these constant like thoughts of like what we look like on the outside. And when you use your body to move throughout the day in different ways to live your life, it's a little way to pull you away from that and back into, like, being in your body and remembering what your body is capable of, and that is a huge part of body image. Work is remembering that and understanding and identifying those very specific things that your body does for you. Your body is the home in which you live your life. It just is, and remembering that and consciously noticing that and paying attention to it is super, super important, and movement throughout the day is a way, a tangible way, to do that.
13:26
And so I really just the point of this episode is really to just get you to start thinking about this, noticing it, noticing what kind of feelings it brings up. What kind of resistance or defensiveness do you notice kind of coming up. I can't do that. I don't have time, it's too far away, there's no opportunities. Walking the parking lot is stupid, I get it. I'm not like saying that to like mimic you or make fun, I get it. I want you to notice those thoughts and kind of question them and say why am I responding that way, if you are, and if you're not? If you're like, oh, this is kind of interesting. Where could I add in one or two things? Great, I'd love to hear it. Send me an email, dm me on Instagram. I'll be happy to like, chat about this video and even help you brainstorm some ideas. It really is a game changer and it's something that, because I've made it a priority over the years that I've really tried to instill in Ben. Does he always want to do it? No, definitely not Like real life.
14:18
I just dropped him off at this afternoon thing. It's around the corner from my house. I'm like oh, I'll walk to pick you up, I'll walk on. He's like ugh, so we'll see, I may walk anyway and he's got no choice. But there are also many times where he's like oh, like, let's walk to town for dinner. Or he'll say, let's go for a walk after dinner and it's a way to spend time together. Right, that's kind of a little bit of a hybrid, like, yes, it's not really exercise because we're moving pretty slowly, my heart rate's not getting up, but it's still movement, it's still walking and it's a way to spend time together, whereas if we were in the house, we might all be doing different things, right. So that is, we're spending time together and we're moving while doing it. Those evening walks are one of my most favorite things, and Ben and I walked to school together for eight years, and now that's over and I may start to cry if I think about it too hard right now.
15:05
That was movement. We had to get to school. We didn't drive, we walked. So, anyway, I think that's pretty much everything I wanted to share today. I feel like I say that at the end of every episode. Now, just start thinking. I'm just trying to kind of bring some awareness to this so you can start noticing. Where could I incorporate a little bit of movement in my life? Where could I use my body to do something that I'm already doing? Where can I use my body to get shit done? That kind of thing is like a fun way of thinking about it and see what happens, and that's it. So thanks for listening and I will be back.
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