This is NPR's Life Kit, I'm Andrew Limbaugh.

Like a lot of folks, I started working out a bunch during the pandemic.

I'm talking like real jock stuff, you know, like swinging and cleaning and pressing

hunk's a metal. And I started noticing my body change, which was kind of cool.

I'd never lifted weights before, so this was new to me.

But then I started noticing, myself noticing, my body more often.

You know, suddenly the ever-changing glob of skin and bones that I was seeing in the mirror

wasn't changing enough to my liking, you know, my traps weren't big enough, my core not

toned enough. Turns out a lot of people were also feeling the same way.

According to Ornela Karaza, professor of addictive behavior at the University of

Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom.

There was indeed a greater anxiety about body image during the lockdown.

Karaza's been part of a growing body of research showing a serious growth,

not just in body imaging's IAD, but also exercise addiction and also the use of

female performance in Nance and Dras.

Of course, exercise is important, but balancing exercise with mental health and your own body

confidence can be a tricky thing to pull off, which is exactly what we'll be covering on this

episode of LifeKit, how to keep comfortable with your body even as it changes.

Before opening up a CrossFit gym and becoming the head of fitness at Rebach,

Maylard Howell had another life.

He sold insulin, saw patients with N-stage renal failure as a result of diabetes and thought

something is wrong.

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