Did the above headline fill you with dread? The good news is, you are not alone. According to new research, more than half of us will avoid going to the pool this summer, because of body image issues. How depressing is that?

It’s a sad sign of our times that four out of five women admit to putting their bodies down through ‘fat talk’. A third of us have only negative things to say about their bodies, and another third badmouth themselves on a daily basis.

In a bid to change how we feel about our bodies and encourage more women to take the plunge this summer, Speedo have appointed sports TV presenter Gabby Logan as Speedo Sculpture ambassador. On the 4^th of June, Gabby led a group of 40 women in the ‘Parade to the Pool’. The walk (in bathing suits!) from the Covent Garden store through the streets of London to a local pool had been completed by a marching band, ticker tape and full fanfare.

A psychologist had coached the women taking part before they donned their Speedo Sculptures to strut their stuff.

Top psychologist Anjula Mutanda comments: “Negative talk amongst women about our bodies and looks is so common and well practiced it seems to happen almost without thinking. It can be contagious and its easy to spread and reinforce negative messages amongst ourselves; resulting in avoidance behaviour around exposing our bodies. The good news is that we can take control and shift our mindset from negative to positive thinking. When you change how you think it will change the way you feel, and the way you behave.”

Top tips to fight ‘fat talk’ and get you parading to the pool:

• Stay fit with exercise like swimming.  You’ll stop seeing your body as purely aesthetic and more about performance and movement
• Don’t overthink things! When you overthink you’re more likely to stop yourself doing something. Throw off your towel and parade to the pool instead!
• Fake it until you make it. Focus on confident body language; keep your shoulders back, make eye contact, that’s what people will remember
• Surround yourself with positive friends and people with good self-image. Make each other feel good
• Enhance what’s great about you. Stop looking at what you hate and start focusing on what you like
• Don’t see your body as separate from you, it’s part of you and not your enemy
• Manage your expectations of being judged. Most people aren’t looking anyway!
• Build self-esteem around what you’re good at, rather than what you look like
• Talk positively about your body in front of your children. Just as they can learn your positive habits they can learn your bad habits if you don’t
• Keep a diary as a way to spot your negative talk

More tips on how to stop ‘fat-talk’ from Anjula Mutanda will be available on the Speedo Sculpture Facebook page.

As a special treat, I am giving away one Speedo Sculpture bathing suit. You don’t have to take part in a parade to win it – just let me know where you are going to wear it this summer. The winner will be drawn at random; draw closes on 14^th of June, 2PM. 

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And the winner is: Margarita from Hazel Daydreams. Congratulations, lovely! Comments are now closed.