Drew Barrymore’s Attitude About Body Image Is So Refreshing
"I never beat myself up or forced myself to look a certain way, and my goals have not been vanity-oriented."
Drew Barrymore’s has always been a favorite example of what it means to be a ‘wild child’ of Hollywood. Which is why it should come as no surprise that the actress and producer refuses to cave into Hollywood’s weight obsession.
“Never have, never will,” the “Never Been Kissed” star recently told People magazine. “I think it’s bulls—.”
If you’re struggling with body image, Barrymore’s insights might be the pick-me-up you need to help you feel good about your beautiful bod.
She Accepts Her Genetic Make-Up
“I’ve always been a big champion of embracing your own genetics because I was never naturally that thin,” she said. “My goal weight does not come easily to me — it is a total Sisyphus fight.”
Earlier this year, Barrymore admitted that losing 25 lbs. was “hard AF.”
She wrote on Instagram, “This takes me so much work. Diet and exercise and fighting like a lion for it! Damn you genetics!”
The star has a point. In a study published in January by the University of Cambridge, researchers found that slim people have a genetic advantage when it comes to maintaining their weight.
“As anticipated, we found that obese people had a higher genetic risk score than normal weight people, which contributes to their risk of being overweight. The genetic dice are loaded against them,” Dr. Inês Barroso, one of the professors involved with the study, said in a press release.
While diet and lifestyle certainly affect one’s weight, your genetics might explain why it’s hard for you to achieve that lean Gwyneth Paltrow look. So do like Barrymore, and give yourself a break.
“I just knew that genetically it would take starving myself and 24 hours of working out to have that type of body, and that was just not my priority,” she told People. “I want to run companies and have children and enjoy food and wine.”
She Likes to Enjoy Her Workouts
Let’s be honest: if you hate running on the treadmill or struggle to love your HIIT class, then the chances of you sticking with your exercise program are pretty slim. Which is why it’s important to find an activity that you love like Barrymore.
“I love going to the clubs and dancing it off, but now that I’m a mom, that’s not my life, but I still have that person inside of me — she didn’t die!” she joked to the magazine. “So if I get to go to a workout class and exercise the demons and dance it out to good music, oh my god that’s all I want.”
Back in January, Barrymore credited her barre classes at Barre Belle with helping her lose weight. The benefits of barre are well-known. Because barre classes focus on intrinsic muscles, rather than superficial ones, you will find that your body will tone up faster than previous exercises. You’ll find that the lean muscle you develop and build in class not only looks good but will also help you burn more calories throughout the day.
She’s More Concerned About Her Health and Wellness
“You do get to a point where you realize how important your health and wellness are. It’s a must,” she told the magazine. “I want to be able to chase my kids around and be a full-time mom, and as a single mom, it’s double the workload sometimes. To maintain this at 44 years old I have to really take care of myself.”
Taking care of oneself varies for different people but when we stop focusing on losing weight and instead focus on creating and maintaining healthy habits for well-being, then not only will we be happier but we’ll likely stick to those habits, which leads to weight loss.
Professor Gary Wittert, an endocrinologist at the University of Adelaide who leads a long-term research program into appetite, diet and other lifestyle factors in men, told an Australian news outlet last year: “People should not focus on weight, people should focus on health. Then you don’t engage in these diets where you restrict your nutrients, and where people get depressed because they regain weight, which is almost an inevitability.”
Because life should be lived as inspiring and fulfilling as possible without the added stress of looking a certain way.
Said Barrymore, “I never beat myself up or forced myself to look a certain way, and my goals have not been vanity-oriented, so I’ll be able to talk to my kids in a very real way about having to work with ourselves the way that we are. We’ve got to embrace it. We were all made a certain way.”
Related on Organic Authority
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