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Many people will watch this year’s Olympics from the comfort of their couches — and some may think, “Why don’t I look like that?” or “Am I so much worse because I’m not that athletic?”
People are prone to comparing themselves with others, said Jennifer Rollin, founder of The Eating Disorder Center in Rockville, Maryland.
So what better time to shame yourself about your fitness and body image than during a gathering of the world’s top athletes?
But doing so is a losing game. Most of the competitors spend their entire lives training for this one moment, said Dr. Amadeus Mason, an assistant professor in orthopedics and family medicine at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta and medical director for USA Track and Field.
It is unrealistic to expect to look like an Olympian, but you can enjoy the Games and get inspired by them, said Mason, who will also be a team physician for USA Track and Field at this year’s Olympics.
Your body is not your full-time job
Would you expect someone who only practiced three hours a week to be as good as you are at your full-time job?
Comparing yourself with an Olympic athlete is just as frivolous, said CNN fitness contributor Dana Santas, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and mind-body coach in professional sports.
Optimizing their bodies for performance is a full-time job for Olympians, she said. Every moment of the day is dedicated to having the right training, nutrition, recovery and sleep.
“From a track and field standpoint, there are 120 athletes from the entire United States that have the level of fitness at the time to make this team,” Mason said. “That says that, yeah, not everybody can do that.”
And it isn’t always sustainable to stay at an Olympian level, he added. About 40% of the athletes who were on the last Olympic track and field team three years ago didn’t make it this year, he said.
When you are watching the Olympics this year and feeling shame because you can’t perform at a similar level, look around at your home, hobbies, family, friends and pets.
Chances are, if you spent the time required to train like an Olympian, you wouldn’t have any of those, Santas said.
You can be inspired to set healthy physical goals
There are positive ways you can be inspired by Olympians, however, and these can help you approach your goals, Mason said.
“They push themselves and did things that were within their limits,” he said. “And I think that is where we can draw inspiration and parallels to the average person.”
These athletes didn’t get to the Olympics by accident — they identified a goal, assessed what it would require of them mentally and physically, and then addressed their obstacles and limitations, Mason said.
People should be inspired to do the same with personal goals while recognizing that the destinations will be different, he added.
“Having a lofty goal as a working mom is to be able to work out consistently for half an hour five days a week,” Mason said. “That’s an Olympic-sized goal for somebody who has your lifestyle.”
It is also important to approach goals with determination but not perfectionism, with too much a focus on the latter becoming unhealthy, Rollin said.
When it comes to exercise-based goals, assessing if you are being motivated by your values or your appearance is important, she said.
“Is this related to how I want to feel, or how I want to look?” she said. “If it’s limited to how I want to look, then that’s probably an aesthetic-based goal that is not going to be helpful, particularly because we’re all going to age, right? Our bodies are going to change.”
Some warning signs that your exercise goals have gone too far include feeling guilt or shame when taking a rest day, thinking you must maintain a rigid schedule and restricting what you are eating, Rollin said.
Watching without shame
Olympians work hard to put on an amazing event and entertain everyone with incredible physical feats, Santas said. So, how do you drop the comparisons and just enjoy these events?
One step is to recognize that, much like on social media, you are seeing someone’s highlights without witnessing all the trials and tribulations that come with them, Rollin said.
“It’s easy to put Olympians, for instance, on a pedestal and not recognize that many might be struggling with their own mental health or their own disordered eating,” she added.
Rollin also encourages being compassionate with yourself if you notice comparisons playing out in your mind — watch the Games and gently redirect yourself back to enjoying them.
“I would start to practice mindfulness,” she said. “Noticing the thoughts, letting them be there, mindfully observing them and kind of letting them float by you, like a cloud in the sky, instead of engaging with those thoughts can be one strategy.”
Some of Rollin’s clients even find it helpful to come up with a coping statement ahead of a possibly stressful event that they can say back to themselves, she said.
For example: “’My body is OK as it is, I don’t need to compare,’ and then redirecting your energy and attention back to the reason why you’re watching the Olympics,” Rollin said.