Let’s start with something the research confirmed that most of us already felt but couldn’t name.
A study of NCAA Division I female distance runners found that there is an unspoken culture in sport — one that quietly glorifies thinness, rewards restriction, and pushes women to pursue a “perfect body” at the expense of their health. These weren’t women who stumbled into disordered eating. These were elite athletes, trained and disciplined, who found themselves trapped in an environment that valued how they looked over what their bodies could do.
And it’s not just runners. A study on professional female dancers found that several participants linked their desire for a slim figure directly to the demands of their industry — with one woman admitting that when she felt she’d eaten too much, she resorted to self-induced vomiting to compensate. Another study found that women described fear of fatness being triggered by something as ordinary as getting dressed in the morning, looking in a mirror, or eating a meal with family.
This is the world female athletes are navigating. And it has to be called out — because the enemy is using it, and a lot of us don’t even realize we’ve agreed with it.
1. Your Body Should Be Fit for Purpose, Not Popularity
God’s intention for the female body goes deeper than how fast you run, how you look in a uniform, or how many likes your gym selfie gets.
Scripture is clear in Hebrews 12:1 — we are called to “run with endurance the race that is set before us” (NKJV). Not someone else’s race. Not the race the culture designed for you. Your race. The one God authored before you were formed.
And here’s what that means practically: God is not hyperfocused on you becoming the fastest, the leanest, or even a mother — unless that is specifically His will for you. His intention is that you are equipped to run whatever race He has set before you, free from the frustrations of external manipulation and the exhaustion of chasing standards that were never His.
The research showed that women across cultures — from Egyptian housewives to Pakistani college students to American distance runners — were making dietary decisions based on what they wanted to look like, not what their bodies needed to function. Beauty over fuel. Appearance over purpose. And the result, in every study, was some version of harm.
Healthy eating and proper stewardship of your body will outlast every trend, every season, and every beauty standard currently competing for your attention. The goal was never to look a certain way. The goal was always to be ready — physically, spiritually, mentally — for the race in front of you.
2. Don’t Be Your Own Worst Enemy
Sometimes the noise isn’t coming from the outside. Sometimes it’s not even the enemy’s lies — though those are real. Sometimes it’s the “inner me” that creates the most chaos about how we look.
I want to be transparent with you for a second.
I am a graduate student studying Exercise Science. The athletes I currently work with are fitter than I am and probably in better shape. And I want you to know that I see it. I’m human. But here’s what I also know: for the last six years, I have stewarded my body well. I have eaten healthy. I have shown up for my workouts. I have been faithful to the temple God gave me — not perfectly, but consistently.
And I am not about to stress about how I look next to a Division I athlete and disqualify myself from this calling. Neither should you.
“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” — 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NKJV)
The research found that one of the biggest triggers for body image distress was comparison — women looking at other women on social media and measuring themselves against what they saw. Sound familiar? It should, because it’s one of the oldest tricks in the book. The enemy has always used comparison to make God’s daughters feel like they are not enough.
Stand firm in your identity. Know what you have been faithful to. And trust God with the rest — including any supernatural work He wants to do in your body in His timing, not yours.
Psalm 139:13-14 says He formed your inner parts and that you are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (NKJV). Not conditionally. Wonderfully made. Not wonderfully made once you hit your goal weight. Right now. As you are. Wonderfully made.
Let that be the voice that wins.
3. Enjoy the Journey
One of the things I look forward to most when I become a mother is sitting down with my daughter and showing her how I worked — consistently, faithfully, over years — to be fit and healthy. Not to be perfect. Not to look like anyone else. But to steward what God gave me well.
I want her to understand the different stages a woman’s body goes through — especially as a Black woman — and not fear them. I want her to look at another girl and feel zero envy, because she knows her journey is her own. I want her to understand from a young age that the race set before her is uniquely hers, and that her body is the vehicle for that race — not a trophy to be displayed.
It is okay to work on yourself. It is okay to be unhappy with where you are and want to grow. That’s not vanity — that’s stewardship. But we have to remember the goal. And the goal is not a body that impresses people. The goal is a body that can endure, sustain, and carry you through everything God has written for your life.
Matthew 6:33 reminds us to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (NKJV). When we get the order right — purpose first, appearance second — something shifts. The obsession loses its grip. The comparison quiets down. And we start to actually enjoy the process of becoming who God designed us to be.
Enjoy the journey. All of it. Even the seasons where you don’t look the way you want to. Even the seasons where the athletes around you seem further along. Even the stages your body goes through that nobody warned you about. It is all part of the race — and you were built for every mile of it.
A Word for Every Woman
You don’t have to be an athlete for any of this to apply to you.
Whether you have never stepped foot in a gym or you train six days a week, the relationship between your body, your nutrition, and how you see yourself is one of the most spiritually contested spaces in your life. The enemy knows it. That is why the research shows women across every culture, every background, and every age group wrestling with the same lies about not being enough.
Romans 12:2 tells us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (NKJV). The beauty standards of this world are loud, they are constant, and they are designed to make you forget what God already said about you. The antidote is not a better diet plan. It is a renewed mind — one that returns, again and again, to what the Word says over what the world shows.
1 Peter 3:3-4 reminds us that true beauty is not about what is on the outside, but about “the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God” (NKJV). That does not mean you cannot care about your appearance. It means you cannot let your appearance be the throne room of your worth.
Take care of your body. Feed it well. Move it. Rest it. But build your identity on something that does not change with the seasons, the trends, or the number on the scale.
You are fearfully and wonderfully made — and your soul needs to know it well.
Based on original research by Mya K. Douglas, Liberty University 2025. Adapted for editorial use by Girls Anthem Magazine.