Take your body back with me

A new group project in Body Type.

Here’s the most-read post on Body Type (63,000+ views), and here’s the highest-earning (most conversions from free to paid). These best illustrate what I do: write essays that help tens of thousands of people think and talk meaningfully about modern body culture, and offer specific, actionable guides to feeling better in and about your body. You can get full access to everything for less than $1/week, which helps me keep at it. Thank you for being one of the 12,000 smart and fabulous readers interested in the tricky business of the physical self.

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I’m so excited to introduce a new series for paid subscribers: The Take Your Body Back Initiative (TYBBI)! This is a primer on what you’ll get and how it’ll work. Read through and gear up for the first installment on Thurs., 4/17, about SLEEP:

If you stay up too late, don’t sleep enough, have your phone in bed (guilty, so guilty), don’t feel tired at bedtime, etc., it’s probably screwing up all your bodily routines. That’s the case for me, and I’m ready to fix it. If you’re with me, hop on the TYBBI train. We’re going to work on other things, too. Read on.

What is TYBBI?

It’s a collaborative effort between me + Body Type readers to make positive changes in the areas of sleep, eating, exercise, sex, and body image. Each post is a specific, actionable guide to habit change, and the comments section (paid readers only) will be an information-sharing + support space.

One month after each post, I’ll open the Body Type chat to paid readers to discuss what we tried, progress, successes, struggles, more goal-setting, etc. Basically, each post kicks off a one-month, mini habit-change challenge.

If you join TYBBI, you’ll get guidance + community + accountability + follow-up. Those are the things that make habits stick.

Why now? What are we taking our bodies back from?

It’s incredibly difficult for most people in America to feel good in and about their bodies. That’s not because they’re inherently self-hating, lazy, or stupid about their bodily habits. It’s because so many people are overworked at sedentary jobs, live in un-walkable areas, haven’t been given good information about exercise and nutrition, live in food deserts, visit doctors that only have six minutes to talk, use algorithm-based technology and therefore are almost necessarily addicted to it, and on and on.

I consider good nutrition and regular exercise extremely important and used them to change my body and life a decade ago, but I admit (unlike many so-called wellness influencers) that I could do that because my life was so easy then. It’s gotten harder as my life has gotten harder in some ways. Read more about that here:

💬Discussion post: Your fitness difficulty setting

So I’ll be the first to say that if you have a hard time with habits that affect how you feel in and about your body, that’s not without good reason. Yes, we need self-discipline, yes, most of us can make little changes if we really try, and yes, sometimes we’re being lazy. But I truly believe that the main reason most people struggle to thrive in their bodies is because so many systems and realities of modern life rob us of true wellness. It takes focus, intention, know-how, and support to take it back, little by little. That’s what TYBBI is for.

As I wrote in that discussion post, I lost my grip a bit on some of my positive habits as my life switched into Hard(er) Mode. Several things have been tugging them away from me, including work, stress, and endless distractions. I’m ready to take them back into my own hands by recalibrating where and how they fit into my life.

I don’t want to do it alone, though. I know from writing Body Type for more than three years that I have thousands of accountability partners, cheerleaders, advisors, experts, and friends here, so I don’t have to. I want to help you, but I hope you’ll help me (and your fellow readers), too.

How does TYBBI work?

Each post will offer sane, safe, sustainable, and science-based guidance to specific things you can do right now to make improvements. I’ll offer insights into my previous experience/success, what the research and other experts say, and what I’m trying as an active participant myself. My protein post is a good example of the kinds of actionable takeaways you’ll get:

🥩Protein: All you need to know to grow

The comments are a big part of TYBBI, too. I’ll encourage you to offer your goals, concerns, tips and tricks, and questions we can tackle together. Ultimately, the posts will give you the knowledge you need to make changes and ongoing motivation and support. I’ll always be in the comments to answer questions, make recommendations, and help however I can.

Then, a month later, the chat for each topic will launch so we can talk about how it’s been going, share successes, troubleshoot, set new goals, etc. (If you don’t get how chat works on Substack, don’t worry. I’ll explain when the time comes.)

Here’s the schedule breakdown:

• SLEEP (we can’t do any of the rest without it)

  • Post + comments section launches 4/17

  • Follow-up chat opens 5/19

• NOURISHMENT (all things eating/food)

  • Post + comments section launches 5/20

  • Follow-up chat opens 6/23

• MOVEMENT (exercise, baby)

  • Post + comments section launches 6/24

  • Follow-up chat opens 7/24

• PLEASURE (self or partnered, because sex does the body good)

  • Post + comments opens 7/28

  • Follow-up chat opens 8/28

• BODY IMAGE (how to feel more OK about yourself, even if you don’t always love yourself)

  • Post + comments opens 9/1

  • Follow-up chat opens 10/1

You can join the TYBBI crew for any and as many installments as you like.

Why will TYBBI be good for me?

If you’re like me, you find community, accountability, and deadlines motivating. That’s what TYBBI is about: Not changing your whole life overnight, but working alongside other people to set realistic goals for realistic progress.

If you work with us on sleep, I don’t expect you to check in a month later with an unassailable routine involving blackout shades, mouth tape, and locking your phone in a safe at 7 p.m. I only hope you’ll consider your habits and values, make an adjustment or two, and follow through because you get to check in with your fellow triers a month later. I think you’ll feel urged along by the reminder that you’re doing something good for your physical and mental health just by giving it a go.

I’m ready to show up in a renewed way for myself, and for you, as part of this group project. I hope you’ll join me. Let’s feel better in and about our bodies together.