Neutral vs. Positive Body Image: What’s the Difference & Why It Matters

The term “body positivity” has swept the globe. With over 10 million mentions on Instagram alone, there’s no doubt that celebrating a positive body image has become a movement. What you may not be as familiar with is the term “body neutral”. Body neutrality is all about learning to fuel self-confidence embracing your body every day and accepting that some days you’ll love it and some days you won’t, but you can always respect it. I’m so excited that I got to team up with Beyond Yoga to wear some of their pieces as I tried out an incredible fitness app, the be.come project.  Beyond Yoga is all about encouraging a positive body image and I am so here for that. What I love about the be.come project and inspiring founder, Bethany C. Meyers, is that they take that message a step further by introducing body neutrality. That concept brought me a lot of peace—and I hadn’t even started the workouts yet!

Beyond Yoga

With incredibly soft workout pieces and core values revolving around a positive body image, you’ll feel good on the inside and outside when you wear Beyond Yoga. Not to mention, they’re a female-founded company (yes, queens). They seemed like the perfect choice when going through my journey with the be.come project.

the be.come project

Their website poses the question: “Why body-neutrality vs. body-positivity?” It’s a topic that founder, Bethany, talks about frequently: “Body-positivity implies that we need to feel positive about our bodies all the time. Since that’s a pretty hard thing to do, we can end up feeling like we failed when we don’t feel happy-peppy-positive about our bodies every-single-freakin-day. We prefer the use of body-neutrality because that means some days we feel good about our bodies, some days we feel bad about our bodies, but all days we respect our bodies.”

The workouts are 25-minute guided pilates/dance/yoga routines. There’s a new routine each week and it’s up to you to decide how many times you want to go through the workout each week. They believe that repetition is really important and site things like “by the end of the week it will feel like moving meditation.” Before you start, you set a goal for the number of times you want to do the workout. I decided to set mine to 3. I love working out and it’s a huge part of my life, but I never formally check-in with how I am feeling mentally before and after. I decided to jot down some notes while going through this series to see if I saw any real benefits.

Day 1

It’s summer and I work from home with my two kids. I so need a little break. I do the workout upstairs somewhat alone (the kids are downstairs) and start off feeling sluggish and hoping this goes by quickly. Afterward, my mood is lifted and I’m not feeling as exhausted or cranky. It gave me the break I needed and I go back to parenting with more patience than when I started.

Day 2

I’m not looking forward to this today because I’m tired from mom life and have already run 4 miles—whew! I have to admit, this feels really good post-run. Before I began the workout, I felt tight from squats and stretches and being on my feet. I’m happy to report that I feel loose and light now!

Day 3

Something crazy happens, and I wake up early and do the workout shortly after downing my hot water and lemon. I feel so proud of myself for waking up to do something healthy for me and me alone. It feels incredibly empowering and the vibe lasts most of the day. After day 3, I officially decided to keep going with this and—wait for it—I surpassed my goal! *cue the jumping for joy*

Day 4

It really has started to become meditation with movement. I feel clear and more creative after this workout. I feel ready to write and organize, and best of all, I am super grateful for my body’s ability to get through this and all the benefits it has given my mind.

If you want to be part of the be.come project, you can find out more information on their site. You can try it free for 10 days and after that, it’s $35 per month.