With prom coming up, there is a lot more than just finals on people’s mind, especially for girls.  A lot of planning goes into prom as a whole and for each individual person. You have to find a date, a dress or tux, shoes, corsage and boutonniere, jewelry, and possibly a hair stylist, makeup artist, and even manicurist. Of the aforementioned items, the dress is probably the most crucial. Everything revolves around it. What corsage and boutonnieres should you buy? What color does your prom date wear? What type of shoe do you wear? What style of jewelry will match best? What do you do with your hair? The list goes on and on, but there is one dreaded question on a majority of the girl’s minds: What should my body look like?

Every year when prom rolls around, the notorious prom diet makes its way through the halls. Girls start avoiding carbs, sugar, and any junk food. Although there are safe ways to diet, sometimes people take the prom diet to an extreme in hopes of losing a lot of weight in very little time. In the U.S. alone, approximately eight million people suffer from an eating disorder and an exciting event, such as prom, should not add you to the unfortunately large group of people already affected.

While it’s understandable to want to look great on this much anticipated night, it is important to embrace and honor your body and yourself every day. Further, it is important to avoid crash diets and fad diets in response to body image concerns that may be persistent or triggered by the upcoming event.  Dieting behavior can trigger patterns of disordered eating, preoccupation with body weight, size and/or shape, and in some instances, eating disorders.

Tips & Mindfulness

Ms. Morris, a counselor on the Boca campus, said, “Due to the risks associated with dieting, experts recommend avoiding fasting, liquid diets, and diets that significantly restrict macronutrients (fat, carbohydrates, and protein). Your body needs healthy, balanced, and consistent nutrition, including protein, carbohydrates, healthy fat, water, vitamins, minerals, and fiber to function optimally. Dieting can be idealized as a means to meet the expectations one sets for prom night. But, I encourage you to consider how the pursuit of a particular size, shape, or weight can impose unnecessary stress and ruin the fun associated with this memorable event.”  To improve health and prepare for the big night, she suggests following these tips:

• Focus on honoring your body’s hunger and fullness cues
• Engage in regular movement that you enjoy
• Prioritize sleep
• Give yourself permission to honor your body’s needs by eating consistently throughout the day (3-6 meals per day)
• Practice mindful eating
• Carry snacks that include a combination of carbohydrate, fat, and protein
• Hydrate throughout the day
• Focus on how you want to feel on prom night rather than purely aesthetic (and arbitrary) goals of how you want to look

One way to work towards re-establishing a healthy relationship with food and your body is to practice Intuitive Eating.  The principles are outlined below and the book outlines these principles in full:

10 Principles of Intuitive Eating

Adapted from Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole & Elyse Resch

1. Reject the Diet Mentality
2. Honor Your Hunger- Keep your body biologically fed with adequate energy and carbohydrates. Otherwise, you can trigger a drive to overeat.
3. Make Peace with Food-  Give yourself unconditional permission to eat. If you tell yourself that you can’t or shouldn’t have a particular food, it can lead to intense feelings of deprivation that build into cravings and, often, bingeing.
4. Challenge the Food Police- Challenge the thoughts in your head that declare you’re “good” for eating minimal calories or “bad” because you ate a piece of chocolate cake.
5. Respect Your Fullness- Listen for the body signals that tell you that you are no longer hungry.
6. Discover the Satisfaction Factor-  When you eat what you really want, in an environment that is inviting and conducive, the pleasure you derive will be a powerful force in helping you feel satisfied and content.
7. Honor Your Feelings Without Using Food- Find ways to comfort, nurture, distract, and resolve your emotions without using food.  While food may provide comfort for the short term, it will not solve the problem.
8. Respect Your Body- Respect your body, so you can feel better about who you are. It’s hard to reject the diet mentality if you are unrealistic and overly critical about your body shape.
9. Exercise–Feel the Difference- Shift your focus to how it feels to move your body, rather than the calorie burning effect of exercise.
10. Honor Your Health–Remember that you don’t have to eat a perfect diet to be healthy. You will not suddenly get a nutrient deficiency or gain weight from one snack, one meal, or one day of eating. It’s what you eat consistently over time that matters, progress not perfection is what counts.

Coach Hibbs shared some websites he thinks are credible and helpful if you are lost on how to diet healthily and what regimen to follow:

• Diet App
• GirlsHealth.gov
• Gatorade Sports Science Institute
• Supertracker App

Although eating healthy is a key ingredient in losing weight, working out is essential too. It has been proven time and time again that cardio, weight training, and even resistance training can be very beneficial in losing fat, especially in the stomach region.  By adding cardio, weight training, or resistance training session to your daily routine– or a few times a week if you are not a gym junkie–, you can lose weight without having to lose your appetite.

 Here are some fast and easy to do workouts that some celebrities live by:

Kendall Jenner’s 11 Minute Workout

Forearm plank, 30 seconds: Don’t forget to keep your hips in a straight line.

High plank, 30 seconds: Keep your fingers spread wide, with your shoulders above wrists.

Side plank, 15 seconds: Rest on your forearm with the other arm in the air. Keep your body as straight as possible.

Side plank with crunch, 5 reps each side: Holding a side plank, bring your top elbow to meet your top knee.

Single arm/leg plank, 15 seconds: Hold a plank and alternate lifting one limb at a time.

Rocking plank, 15 seconds: Hold a plank while shifting your weight forward and backward. Move slowly and precisely.

Knee-to-elbow plank, 5 reps on each side: Hold a forearm plank, and alternate bringing each knee up to your elbow.

Standard crunch, 20 reps: Place your hands by your ears — not behind your head. Keep your chin tucked for neck safety.

Bicycle crunch, 30 seconds: Ramp speed up and down for an extra challenge.

Vertical crunch, 20 seconds: Lie on your back with your legs up at 90-degree angle and pulse your arms up towards your legs.

Frog crunch, 15 reps: Balance on your butt with arms by your ears and legs hovering as you crunch.

Twisted crunch, 15 reps: Keep feet off the ground in tabletop as you twist torso from side to side, tapping the elbow on the floor.

Leg lifts, 15 on each leg: Start on all fours, and pulse leg straight up while focusing on the glute.

Lindsey Vonn’s Workout

Single Leg Box Squat: Place one leg on a box (or elevated surface) and the other on the ground. Do 10-12 reps on each leg.

Single Leg Lift: Start on your hands and knees with a tight core. Lift one leg to form a ninety-degree angle. Do twelve reps on each leg.

Single Leg Hamstring Curl: Lie face up with your hands by your sides. Put one leg on a yoga ball and on leg straight up. Lift your hips up as you press your foot and bring the ball towards you then roll back out. Do twelve reps on each leg.

Squats: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, chest up, and arms in front of you. Bend to a sitting position then up. Do 10-12 reps.

Single Leg Romanian Deadlift: Stand with one foot in front of the other and with a dumbbell in each hand. Lower your torso until it is parallel to the floor and then come back up. Do 10-12 reps.

Single Leg Hip-Ups: Rest your back on a yoga ball. Place one foot on the floor and the other straighten out with your foot flexed. Lift hips, so your body can form a straight line with your leg, and then go back down. Do 10-12 reps and switch legs.

Single Leg Step-Ups: Stand facing some sort of elevated surface with a dumbbell in each hand. Use one leg to step onto the surface and bring the other leg up to form a ninety-degree angle. Step down. Do 10-12 reps with each leg.

Sources: Pop Workouts, People, Greatist, Supertracker, Girls Health, Gatorade Sports Science Institute, CDC, ANDRED, Intuitive Eating

Photo Source: Snehalkanodia via Wikimedia Commons