Your Body Was Meant To Change
Change is hard but it is inevitable. This is a difficult concept to come to terms with when we think about our bodies because the quest for the “ideal” body is something we are programmed to strive for from an early age. There is a belief that our worth is tied to our size and therefore all our waking hours, and maybe some of our sleeping hours, should be devoted to the pursuit of this ideal. There are a few big problems with this thinking, which is often times automatic because it is fed to us from every angle. The first being there is NO PERFECT BODY. I’m afraid this bears repeating. THERE IS NO PERFECT BODY.
Scientific literature shows that behaviors like adequate sleep, balanced nutrition, and regular exercise are greater predictors of health than weight[1]. Measurements like BMI are now recognized as imperfect measures that don’t capture the true picture of a person’s health and oversimplify the dynamic nature of the human body[2]. Many people’s understanding of a perfect body comes from images in magazines, actors in movies, and the growing celebrity worship in the social media context. This understood ideal is then conflated with a manufactured picture of optimal health and ignores the image altering of the entertainment industry along with commonly accepted disordered eating and exercise behaviors that exist to achieve this ‘look”.
The other challenge with the notion of a perfect body is the assumption that bodies were meant to stay the same. Have you or someone you care about ever said something like, “I just want to get back to “x” number of pounds like when I was in high school.” or something to that effect? Societally, we cling so desperately to the scale, inextricably linking our happiness to a number that is destined to change. If you can relate, you are not alone. And it is not your fault. Let’s take a closer look at the human body and how it changes at various stages in life so we can better understand why we should expect change as a natural part of our bodies’ function and give ourselves permission to love and accept ourselves regardless of size.
Homeostasis, Allostasis and the body’s Hunt for a Set Point
Our physical body, perhaps much like our psychological selves, is looking for steadiness. Homeostasis is the ongoing process of our body regulating its own physiological processes, meaning our body is always adapting and making adjustments like changes in heart rate, blood pressure and blood sugar to get us to our “optimal” setting[3]. Our body is constantly seeking stability in an unstable world. That’s where the concept of allostasis comes in, or the idea that our body regulates its physiological processes in relation to our environment and the world around us. This term considers the impact of stress from our day to day lives in how our body reorganizes and functions. Allostatic load is a term used to describe all the chronic stressors that can cause our body to respond and adapt[4].
All this is to say, our bodies are constantly changing and responding. Homeostasis is a bit like an ever-moving target that is impacted by a wide variety of internal and external forces. Your body is ready for change and in many cases wants to change when it is necessary. This is why it takes so much painstaking work to force our bodies to stay the same as you age and move through different stages of your life.
Childhood: A Time of Exponential Change
When you are born, you are so small! You innately know how to breathe, and you learn quickly how to eat and get the attention of your caretaker. You don’t walk or speak. Then in what seems like an instant you begin to grow into a human being who is able to interact with the world around you. Change is happening at an alarming rate. Weight gain is lauded as it means everything in your body is growing. While change won’t happen at this speed forever, we can appreciate the sheer efficiency of human development as our bodies build the foundation for the people we are going to be.
Puberty: The Epitome of Changing Bodies
There are countless books and articles written to help young men and women prepare for puberty because of the sheer amount of change they will experience at that time. As early as 8 years old and extending until many are 16 or 17 (these may vary from person to person), young men and women experience change in height, the growth of new hair, and the evolution of their reproductive organs[5]. These physical changes can feel both frightening and exciting for a young person navigating their move to adulthood. This is also the time that young men and women begin to compare themselves physically to their peers, an early sign for so many of what is to come.
Pregnancy and Postpartum: Growing New Life
The body’s incredible penchant for change is never more miraculous than its ability to create, grow, and deliver new life. A childbearing woman experiences tremendous hormonal adaptations as their body provides life building support for a growing baby. Women’s soft tissue and skin stretch to make room for the growing baby, they produce milk for the baby to eat, they share their nutrients with the baby as they develop, and the list goes on and on[6]. Hormonal changes in pregnancy often affect hair and nail growth as well as impact energy levels. During labor, the anterior width of the pelvis expands and the cervix thins and opens to allow for delivery.
The postpartum period, or the period of time after the baby is born, is full of equally monumental changes. While some hormonal changes are effectively returning to a pre-pregnancy baseline, the body is still working to care for the baby if the mother chooses to nurse. The uterus shrinks rapidly, but additional weight gained during pregnancy to support the added load of the baby can remain. Changes in the pelvic floor and the muscles of the trunk, i.e., the abdominals, can cause pain, incontinence, or changes in functionality.
Postpartum depression can be very serious and affect a women’s ability to relate to others or care for her new child[7]. While the postpartum period is very similar to pregnancy in terms of the changes the body undergoes, it is rarely given the same careful attention. It is often thought of by many as a much shorter period than it truly is and is usually reduced to a woman’s quest to lose her baby weight and “get her body back”. As we have seen through so many of these examples, there is no body to get back. Instead, the changing human body that has brought new life into the world will adapt and work to reach a new homeostasis, which may or may not mean returning to the same weight as before becoming pregnant.
Training: Exercise and Physical Adaptation
One of the most phenomenal examples of human change is the body’s adaptation to exercise. While often widely seen as a tool for weight loss, exercise has so much more to offer. Simply put, exercise in all its forms contributes to the constant regeneration of energy and operation of metabolic processes in the body. Aerobic exercise lowers blood pressure, increases LDLs or “good” cholesterol, increases insulin sensitivity, improves lung function, and decreases resting heart rate[8]. Resistance training increases muscle size, increases intramuscular coordination, increases bone and connective tissue integrity, increases metabolism, reduces chronic pain due to muscle weakness, slows age related declines in strength loss and bone deterioration, and protects against osteoporosis and osteoarthritis[9]. Maybe the best part is exercise’s role in changing the brain! Exercise can elicit neurogenesis, or cell growth in the brain, which helps improve memory and your ability to learn[10]. Let’s not forget exercise’s power to increase mood, self-confidence, self-efficacy, and outlook. This is a wonderful reminder that while aesthetic changes can be a big part of exercise motivation and goals (and a totally valid one!), exercise is responsible for so many cognitive, physiological, and psychological changes that we may take for granted every time we sweat.
Aging: The Body’s Protective Changing Process
As we age, physiological changes keep pace with our life cycle. These changes, while intellectually scary at first, are natural and begin very slowly, increasing in speed toward the end of life. Some of these changes include a decrease in exercise/activity induced heart rate elevation, increase in blood pressure, decrease in skeletal muscle mass, changes in proprioception and balance, changes in reproductive systems (i.e. menopause), decreased bowel and bladder functions, and cognitive decline[11]. Again, these changes don’t happen overnight and are an inevitable side effect of the impermanence of human life. The good news is that regular physical activity, adequate sleep, and nutrient dense nutrition can slow many of these processes and allow individuals to enjoy their quality of life as they age.
And All the Times In Between…
Our bodies are changing in both the long term and the short term. It is a natural part of human existence and something that can have dangerous consequences when we try to fight it with dietary restriction or exercise in excess. Part of learning to accept your body is making peace with change. Some days, some months, some years, you may be smaller. Some days, some months, some years, you will be bigger. You will be slower, faster, more hungry, less hungry, more tired, less tired. You will never again be the exact same person you are reading this right now and that is good! This doesn’t mean you won’t have days where you don’t like how your body looks or what it does, but it does mean you will understand it is bound to change.
[1] Dollar E, Berman M, Adachi-Mejia AM. Do No Harm: Moving Beyond Weight Loss to Emphasize Physical Activity at Every Size. Prev Chronic Dis 2017;14:170006. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd14.170006external icon
[2] Brodwin, E. (2018). One of the most popular ways of telling if you’re a healthy weight is bogus: Here’s what you should do instead. Business Insider. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/bmi-is-bogus-best-way-to-tell-if-youre-a-healthy-weight-2016-9
[3] Ramsay, D. S., & Woods, S. C. (2014). Clarifying the roles of homeostasis and allostasis in physiological regulation. Psychological review, 121(2), 225–247. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035942
[4] McEwen B. S. (2005). Stressed or stressed out: what is the difference?. Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience: JPN, 30(5), 315–318.
[5] Stanford Children’s Health. (n.d.). The growing child: Teenager (13 to 18 years). Stanford Children’s Health. Retrieved from https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=the-growing-child-adolescent-13-to-18-years-90-P02175
[6] Leggitt, K. (n.d.). How does my body work during childbirth? Take Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing. Retrieved from https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/how-does-my-body-work-during-childbirth
[7] Office of Women’s Health. (2018). Recovering from birth. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Retrieved from https://www.womenshealth.gov/pregnancy/childbirth-and-beyond/recovering-birth
[8] Cleveland Clinic. (2019). Aerobic exercise. Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/7050-aerobic-exercise [9]
Comas, J. (n.d.) Top 12 things ever woman should know about strength training. Girls Gone Strong. Retrieved from https://www.girlsgonestrong.com/blog/strength-training/every-woman-should-know-about-strength-training/
[10] DiSalvo, D. (2013). How exercise makes your brain grow. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2013/10/13/how-exercise-makes-your-brain-grow/#7aa65ba2d1f9
[11] Boss, G. R., & Seegmiller, J. E. (1981). Age-related physiological changes and their clinical significance. The Western journal of medicine, 135(6), 434–440.
