Lori Harvey’s Body Should Not Be the Goal
Amongst the Lizzos and iconic images of the Precious Lees of the world, it is easy to say that body acceptance and positivity are here to stay. We are beyond trying to fit our bodies into the tight squeezes of size 2s and unreachable standards of western beauty ideals. But in 2022 we are still dealing with the same harmful effects of “celebrity body praise” and unattainable body standards. The latest image: Lori Harvey, beloved daughter of comedian and daytime TV host Steve Harvey.
It never takes long for celebrity news to spread across the powerful force that is Black Twitter. In a viral before-and-after post, Harvey is pictured with a heavier weight, having natural curves and a slightly chunky build, beside her Met Gala 2022 picture featuring her now slim frame, toned features, and chiseled abs. In a red carpet interview, when praised for her new weight loss and asked for her secret to her new abs, Harvey said “it’s Pilates, it changed my life.” With fans now curious about her weight loss journey, Harvey opened up on TikTok sharing all the details of her story, including her workout regimen. “When Mike (Michael B Jordan) and I got together, I gained like 15 pounds of relationship weight and it was horrible. None of my clothes fit, it was just not okay” said Harvey. Continuing “I’ve been consistently doing Pilates for like the last year…and when I was trying to drop weight I was working out five, six times a week,” shared Harvey.
Beyond working out and remaining consistent, Harvey shared that she also counted her calories. “I was in a calorie deficit, I think I maybe was consuming 1,200 calories in a day, max. I wasn’t on a specific eating regimen, I just was trying to do meat and veggies and minimal carbs,” said Harvey. Now, there’s nothing wrong with working out more consistently and trying new workouts such as Pilates, but many fans, myself included, took issue with the seemingly extreme calorie deficit. While it is no secret that celebrities at times have used atypical means to reach desired weights for upcoming red carpets or roles, the peculiar dietary restriction contributes to a larger conversation about how celebrity workout culture affects the general public.
From Zac Efron’s extreme workout, as reported by Insider, of “stabilization training, balancing training, muscle gaining and high endurance training” three hours a day to prepare for his previous Baywatch role, to Kate Hudson’s six hours a day workout after her 2011 pregnancy, celebrities have been known to use extreme means to see immediate gains. Even the Queen Bey herself, Beyoncé, has had a peculiar workout or two as featured in her Netflix documentary “Homecoming,” where she states not eating bread, carbs, sugar, dairy, meat, fish, or alcohol to meet her performance weight goal. These strict diets, while attainable to celebrities with all the time and medical backing their money can buy, remain unattainable to the average American.
Between hectic work schedules, taking care of family and home, and squeezing in the occasional moments of self-care, working out can often become the least of one’s worries. Trying to engage in an extreme workout to fit a celebrity standard is not only implausible but unreachable because simply put; those are not ours.
We all hold weight differently, have different proportions, and have different genetic histories that contribute to our body’s story. What weight looks like on a shorter person looks completely different on a taller person. One person can come from a long line of naturally lean people while another might come from a family of naturally bigger people. It is important to understand not only these differences but value them. Value what our bodies are, how they’re made, and their predisposition in order to create healthy relationships with them.
Creating healthy relationships with our bodies means having not only realistic body goals, but also disengaging from the constant desire to compare. I naturally have broader shoulders and a wider torso and while I might have the goal of being lean and use slender celebrities as an image of motivation, I know, through years of sweaty workouts, that my body will look slim in its own way. No amount of starving myself or extreme workout or even proper calorie intake and Pilates can get my body to not look like my body. This is something we all must learn to successfully engage with our bodies in ways that not only yield results but also foster self-love and a new image of beauty.
So how do we get there? How do we cross the divide that celebrity beauty standards can make, after self-love and filtering out comparison? It’s through practice. Through holding ourselves to pillars of positive thought when thinking of our bodies. Gentleness goes a long way when engaging with self. Understanding no amount of tough love or harsh attitude can make a positive weight loss experience, but rather gentle assurance during moments of successful workouts, and even lazy days, goes a long way in creating loving relationships with self.
Discipline with moderation also serves as a great tool to develop positive body relations. Discipline creates room to work out and stick to a set schedule while moderation allows room for rest and balance. Reaching one’s goal is inevitable with hard work, but we must always consider how we get there to be a valued part of the story. It is possible to achieve a lean body and rock-hard abs while still getting enough rest and having the occasional slice of pizza.
Lastly, trusting yourself and knowing that you will reach your goal is the final tool to any successful weight loss journey. While you might not see results today or even a week from now, results will come. Trusting that you’re putting in the work and are capable of a transformation creates not only longevity in maintaining a workout schedule but also in fostering joy and a can-do attitude along the way.
So Lori Harvey, rock-hard abs and all, should not be the goal. No workout out or celebrity image should be held above our health because, in order to truly foster body positivity and love the skin we’re in, we have to accept our bodies for what they are, what they can be, and even what they are perfectly incapable of being.
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