- Can somebody please tell me
what the (bleep) is a beach body?
What's up, y'all?
Summer is finally here, and of course,
with every approaching summer, there's always
these horrible, horrendous magazine headlines
that follow women wherever they go,
talking about how to achieve the perfect beach body.
Last time I checked, if you had a body
and it was at the beach, preferably under an umbrella
and with a margarita, that's a beach body.
But of course, according to our messed up society,
it has to mean something more than that.
- Hi, I'm Nyla, and I don't think I have a beach body.
Even though I was always taught in my household
to love my body, the way media Photoshops women's bodies
has had an impact on the way that I look at my body.
- I'm Kane, and I don't think I have a beach body.
Especially in the gay community, like,
images of fit men with, like, abs and torsos
and like shoulders and arms, and you look at yourself
and it's like very average and it feels very un-sexy.
- If I had to write my view towards my body,
it would be a five.
When I'm sitting down, I can feel a tummy
and I'm like (groans).
I have to have a flat stomach,
and I'm probably never gonna have that,
and I don't know how to accept that.
- When I was in my teens, I struggled a lot
with my weight and self worth.
My sources of motivation to lose weight
were always in the wrong places,
and usually stemmed from a desire
to look good for other people instead of
looking good for my damn self.
I remember having a skinny list,
which was basically a list of things
I've told myself I couldn't do unless I lost weight.
Looking back on this time in my life,
it really makes me sad that I couldn't be comfortable
with who I was and that I felt mentally restricted
from things due to my size.
So I wanted to take a fellow lady and a fellow man
because let's be real, men also deal with their fair share
of body insecurities too, and I wanted to challenge them
to believe in their beach body.
I decided to bring in my lovely, fabulous,
fantastic photographer friend, Christophe,
who helped me through my boudoir photography shoot,
and I wanted to set up some type of
a photo therapy session for them at the beach.
- I finally have a bathing suit.
I'm super excited, so nervous.
- Our photo shoot is today and it's also our boss's birthday
so we went out for tacos and birthday cake.
Oh, no.
- I am challenging myself to wear a two piece
that doesn't have a high-waisted bottom,
because I feel like that's a part of my comfort zone
and I'm really taking this opportunity
to not be in my comfort zone.
- Last night, I also looked up guys posing on the beach.
- Wait, really?
- I did, and that's a bad idea because everyone is ripped.
I was nervous at first, because I was shirtless
for the first time at the beach in a long time,
and like, the poses were like...
Felt weird, at the time.
- When Kane was going, he was just slaying,
and that kinda boosted my confidence a little bit,
and then when it was over, it was like okay, your turn,
and that's when the nerves started to hit.
I'm kinda nervous.
I'm fine with wearing the bikini.
It's taking the pictures and looking at them afterwards
and getting in my head and critiquing myself.
- Do you like how you're looking?
- Yeah, I just feel like I look mean.
Though, like the whole blanket thing,
that's when I started to get in my head a lot more
because there was a prop and I started to feel like
I was covering myself up and I wasn't feeling challenged.
- And then, eventually, like I got
in touch with the element.
Like, the waves came and the wind blew
and like, I started rolling in the sand.
- People were saying like, "Go, Nyla, you've got this.
"You're slaying," so that was like really encouraging.
- Who came to slay?
- I came to slay.
I feel like more connected with my body, I guess,
and that's kind of nice.
We did it.
- How you feeling?
- Good, good, I'm excited and nervous.
- Are you ready to see them?
- Yeah. (yelps)
- You even got the water dribbling down you, all sexy.
- You know it's real.
- [Voiceover] I love the wave action.
- The wave is hilarious, but kinda cool.
- I, like, exude confidence, like, the eyes, the body.
I'm really insecure about my stomach.
I realized how beautiful my tummy is.
- [Kane] In this photo, I'm like confident,
and I look like I'm enjoying the beach.
- Hell, yeah, you're just like, "I don't care.
"I got a beach body, let me show y'all my beach body."
Do you feel like you have a beach body now?
- According to these photos, I definitely think
I have a beach body.
- Yeah, I would second that.
- I go to the beach and I am in my body.
So yeah, I have a beach body.
- So are six pack abs and really toned legs
really awesome to look at at the beach?
Of course, I'm not gonna lie about that.
But just because someone doesn't have them
doesn't mean that they should be restricted
from being comfortable in who they are.
If you're feeling yourself, that should always be enough.