Tiffiny Hall: Why we keep falling into the bikini body trap

We all want to look good in our swimmers, but former Biggest Loser coach Tiffiny Hall wants us to watch out we don’t make this bikini mistake.

How to get a bikini body:

Step 1) Take a bikini.

Step 2) Put it on a body.

But is it really that easy? For most women, hell no!

Late November last year, I was scrolling through the usual uplifting comments, progress pics, food snaps and workout selfies in my TIFFXO Facebook community. But with summer nearing, there was another conversation brewing …

“I’m so anxious about wearing bathers this summer.”

“I did the dreaded bikini shop today … it was so embarrassing.”

“I want my bikini body back!”

I can’t say I was surprised to be reading this. We were after all on the cusp of summer and like clockwork, imagery of bronze, unmarked skin and “bikini body” propaganda had hijacked our sensory world. Feeling at a loss, the million-dollar question crossed my mind: Where are all the real women?

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‘Bikini trap’ women are tricked into. Picture: Supplied

Truth be told, I’ve been there – bogged down by body image standards and pressured to fit a certain “look”.

My body has transformed tenfold in the media spotlight over the years, and trust me when I say I’ve heard it all (even at my peak physical fitness)! Too muscley, too bulky, too flat-chested, needs retouching. As for gaining 30kg during pregnancy …

One week after giving birth I shared a photo on social media – milk-stained, 88kg, sleep-deprived and injured, but on cloud nine with my beautiful baby boy tucked in my arms.

My inbox quickly filled with messages of, “Congrats!” But also: “How are you going to lose the weight?” and “What are you doing to get your pre-baby body back?”

Publicity requests flooded in. If it wasn’t before and after shots they were after (already?) it was my “pre-baby body bounce back plan” or my “bikini body transformation”.

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When Tiff shared a photo of her one week after giving birth, left, she was inundated with messages asking ‘How are you going to lose the weight?’ Picture: Supplied

Maybe it was the hormones or the five minutes of sleep I’d had in nine months, but if I wasn’t feeling overwhelmed before, I certainly was now. New mumhood is terrifying enough, and as for being a personal trainer, my livelihood depends on my physicality. How am I ever going to train again? Is this going to ruin my business? I couldn’t even recognise my body in the mirror.

It was my husband Ed Kavalee who helped me see the wood from the trees: “Tiff, I don’t think you’ve ever looked so beautiful.” You see, even among the aerial acrobatics, bodybuilding competitions and the breaking wooden boards with my hands to obtain my 6th dan black belt in taekwondo, giving birth was still the strongest thing my body had ever done. Thank you, Ed.

At that moment, I decided not to bounce back, but to bounce forward. No chasing a pre-baby body, no goal to fit an XS, no timeline to fit a bikini – I’ll wear a bikini when I darn well feel like it!

Back to November 2020. Frustrated and hellbent on speaking up, I trawled through my photo archives and dusted off a collection of midriff-baring shots – pre-baby, post-baby, bloated, stretch mark-y, six pack-y, cellulite-y. Then I took to Instagram, as you do, in the hope of cutting through the clarendon filters, #bikinibodies, and ‘summer shred’ challenges.

PSA: “There’s no such thing as a bikini body!”

As it turns out, this is exactly what so many women needed to hear:

“Cannot tell you how much this resonates right now.”

“I definitely needed this.”

“Thank you for this message. I was just starting to fall into this trap trying to get ‘bikini ready’ for summer … and I have two girls!”

Tiff Hall says there’s no such thing as a bikini body. Picture: Supplied

And there is no such thing as ‘normal’. Picture: Supplied

So why do we fall into the same old trap? Body positivity is complicated, and many of us are contributing to the issue as much as we are suffering from it without even knowing.

It took some time early on in my career to navigate the health and fitness world, as most of the messaging didn’t align with my own values. I wasn’t in this for the fads or the fashionable; I was in this to help people become fit and capable, healthy and happy. My goal now is to bring that message to the fitness frontlines. To change the “norm”, because there is no “normal”.

The health and fitness industry has come a long way since I started out. I now have women coming to me wanting to put on muscle, to fight like a boxer, take on weight training and get their hands dirty with bootcamps. But I also see a lot of women setting out on mission impossible i.e. striving to fit someone else’s idea of what is beautiful, obsessing over shape, chasing a pre-baby figure, or letting social media determine if their body is bikini worthy or not.

‘You can’t hate yourself healthy and happy.’ Picture: Instagram/TiffHall

Body confidence doesn’t happen overnight, but here’s my advice: You can’t hate yourself healthy and happy. Self love is the answer. Set goals to be stronger and fitter over skinnier and lighter; don’t punish or deprive your body, but nourish it with delicious nutritional foods; use gratitude, affirmations and other mindfulness techniques to change your thought patterns; avoid language like ‘fat’, ‘ugly’, ‘diet’, and ‘bikini body’; and unfollow social media accounts that make you feel less than beautiful.

I’m lucky enough to have had many positive and empowering voices in my life who have taught me how to be proud in my own skin. I hope that I can be that voice for others.

Tiffiny Hall is personal trainer with over 20 years experience, a black belt in taekwondo and published author and journalist. She has helped over 50,000 TIFFXO members achieve their health and fitness goals. Find out more here.