a body kind story~ Mayver’s Fuel & Flow event
I was in high school from 2007 to 2012. I got my first iPhone when I was in year 10. I was 15. That is when my selfie game really lifted. Instagram was an app that was used to ‘filter’ photos so you could upload them to Facebook. The only people I followed were my friends. Influencer culture, as it exists today, wasn’t a thing.
Celebrity ‘weight loss journeys’ were plastered on the covers of magazines at the checkout of the supermarket and my view of the type of body was ‘accepted’ and ‘attractive’ was informed by movies in the naughties… let’s just say my distaste for my changing body in adolescence didn’t come from within me, it was based off direct and indirect messaging I received. While diet related messaging isn’t as overt as it once was, the message that being ‘thin’ equates to being ‘healthy’, ‘successful’, and ‘accepted’ continues to be prevalent. In fact, 3 in 4 Australian high schoolers want to be thinner or leaner (Body Kind Youth Survey 2024, Butterfly Foundation).
Like so many women born in the nineties, I’ve had my fair share of body image issues. I’ve criticised and pulled apart every part of my body. I’ve done the shakes, the HIIT workouts, the restriction, the deprivation, the 5am wake ups and watched far too many ‘what I eat in a day’ videos. I’ve doom scrolled and felt the weight of insecurity and inadequacy more times than I care to admit. Despite all this, over the weekend I realised that I have finally reached a place of contentment in my body at the ripe old age of 30.
On Saturday I attended a ‘Fuel & Flow’ influencer event for Mayver’s Food. Now I’ll be honest, while I was very excited for the opportunity, I was also very nervous. For starters, I wouldn’t consider myself an influencer. I work in the education space with teens to help them improve their relationship with food and their body. My Instagram presence is a marketing tool to get more schools involved. I also genuinely love sharing recipes, editing videos, and posting content that I wish existed when I was a teenager.
The other reason I was nervous, was because the event was going to be hot pilates and wearing a lot of clothing was not going to be an option. I had done hot pilates in the past because I got a really good deal at my local studio and, to my surprise, I really loved it. I loved that there was a lot of diversity of age, body shape and ethnicities in the class. I loved that it didn’t matter what we wore or how we did our hair. I loved the way the instructor made me feel and, most of all, I loved that I got to attend the majority of classes with my best friend. This weekend was different though. I was attending alone, and the class was going to be filled with Instagram and TikTok influencers. When I stepped into the studio it honestly felt like I’d entered a parallel universe. I was behind the camera of the wellness Instagram world and seeing just how the content that fills my feed is curated.
The lighting in the room was immaculate. There were forty mats perfectly laid out on the floor and each spot had a huge box of Mayvers goodies on it for us to take home. On top of each box was a pair of socks for each of us too. I was wrapped, who doesn’t love free stuff?
My plan was to find a place somewhere in the middle so I could blend in. I wanted to have someone on either side of me to make sure I always had someone to copy in the class. That plan was short-lived because I am very chatty. You see, I had befriended a lovely girl at reception before the class and she asked me to come sit next to her... in the front row right in front of the mirror. So, there I was on the end, in the front row, about half a metre away from the mirror. My friend and I were also in the perfect place to get a mirror selfie because there was a promotional sticker that Mayvers had stuck up right in front of us where everyone wanted to get their perfect shot to post.
As the time for the class to start approached, all the layers of clothing came off. I wore a pair of black bike shorts and a purple tank that covered most of my tummy. When I looked around the room, I could see that I was still fairly covered up. There were literally six and eight packs everywhere. It was like scrolling through my Instagram in real time. These people and these bodies actually exist. It was in that moment that I finally understood why so many high school students struggle with their body image. It isn’t just the bodies they see online that they compare themselves to it is actually, most often, the bodies of their friends and peers.
Last week the findings of The Butterfly Foundation’s Body Kind Youth Survey were released. It found that nearly three quarters of teenagers (73.4%) frequently compare their body to other teenagers. This is not to say that they don’t compare themselves to people online, because they do, but it is to say that most of the time it is with other teenagers that they see and interact with daily. These are the people they play sports with, dance with, and go to school with.
It is not enough to tell our young people, “what you see online isn’t real”, because in some cases it is. I can tell you from personal experience that these people do exist, and it is very hard not to compare yourself when you are in the presence of others that society deems to be the most ‘beautiful’, ‘strong’, ‘attractive’ and ‘desirable’. That said, we know from the research that even if a person does look like the beauty ideal it doesn’t mean that they too don’t face their own insecurities (Kaziga et al, 2021).
So, how did I get through the class without picking apart every ounce of me in the mirror right in front of me? Well, I’ve come to realise that most people are just concerned about themselves. No one was looking at me, commenting on my body, or teasing me. No one cared that when I did a sit up there was a roll where my gym shorts dug into my tummy. No one cared that my hair wasn’t slicked back or that my ponytail got more and more lose as the class went on. No one cared that I didn’t have a manicure or a pedicure. No one laughed when I was getting the moves wrong. No one judged me when I chose the easier levels on exercises. Most importantly, I didn’t care about any of those things because I was just so proud of what my body was able to do in that 45 minutes. I am proud that I showed up and met new people. I am proud that I was chosen to be part of the event. I was proud that I was able to look at the body of another woman without thinking less about myself.
I want to be clear, these are not things I would have been proud of in the past. These are things that I’ve learnt to be proud of through people that inspire me, people that have shared their stories of self-acceptance, and a whole lot of counselling to help me accept who I am as a whole. I now have the privilege of sharing these lessons with thousands of young people and educators across the country every year.
Struggling with body image sucks, but the way we talk about our bodies and body image research doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. I think it’s really important that we create space for people to talk about stories of body acceptance and, in doing so, give others permission to accept their body just as it is too. The research tells us that teens (and adults) that learn to appreciate their bodies have higher self-esteem, are less likely to engage in harmful diet related behaviours, have lower rates of body dissatisfaction and have a reduced interest and willingness to modify their bodies to align with cultural norms of attractiveness (Merino et al, 2024).
I don’t leap out of bed every morning absolutely adoring every part of my body. There are days where I feel uncomfortable and insecure, but something I never lose sight of is just how incredible my body is. I care for my body too much to want to hurt it or harm it. The least I can do for a body that does so much is accept it just as it is today.
A student recently gave me a handwritten letter after a session I ran with her whole year level on body image and body acceptance. She wrote, “every word you said made me realise that my body is MY BODY, and no one else’s. You have helped me realise that my body is perfect no matter what others say. Thank you for showing me that my body is good enough.”
And, in case you need the reminder, your body is enough too.
Angelica Pupillo is a clinical nutritionist (BHSc) and the founder of This is Your Body. She is passionate about helping teens build a joyful relationship with food and their bodies. You can find Angelica on Instagram.
Reference list:
Butterfly Foundation. (2025). BodyKind Youth Survey Findings 2024.
Kaziga R, Muchunguzi C, Achen D, Kools S. Beauty Is Skin Deep; The Self-Perception of Adolescents and Young Women in Construction of Body Image within the Ankole Society. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jul 23;18(15):7840. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18157840. PMID: 34360132; PMCID: PMC8345530.
Merino M, Tornero-Aguilera JF, Rubio-Zarapuz A, Villanueva-Tobaldo CV, Martín-Rodríguez A, Clemente-Suárez VJ. Body Perceptions and Psychological Well-Being: A Review of the Impact of Social Media and Physical Measurements on Self-Esteem and Mental Health with a Focus on Body Image Satisfaction and Its Relationship with Cultural and Gender Factors. Healthcare (Basel). 2024 Jul 12;12(14):1396. doi: 10.3390/healthcare12141396. PMID: 39057539; PMCID: PMC11276240.
