For many, the infamous “Freshman 15” is unavoidable. Between the high stress, lack of sleep, limited food options, and abundance of cheap pizza- it’s unsurprising why many college students gain some amount of weight during their first year. It’s also unsurprising why there’s a sixty billion dollar weight loss industry ready to pounce on them. If my anatomy class has taught me anything, it’s that our bodies are beautiful, amazingly powerful systems and that we should treat them well. There’s nothing wrong with a desire to eat better and become more active, but social media has created a new culture that portrays mindful living as highly polished and stylized in a way that makes being healthy appear unattainable for most of us.
My healthy isn’t “pretty”. I don’t have color coordinated workout clothes that match from my headband to my sneakers. I can’t get my groceries from Whole Foods or buy everything from a local farmer’s market. I don’t have a membership to a fancy gym and I can’t start every morning with an organic, homemade green smoothie. And that’s okay.
I believe that, with social media usage rising more every year, the online fitness community has become fixated on aesthetics, on the perception of health- rather than the practice of it. My feeds are full of perfectly painted girls who totally just got back from a run, and meals that you totally didn’t spend twenty minutes plating. Youtube thumbnails with bright, vibrant colors convince us that all that separates us from eternal health and happiness is one mason jar filled with overnight oats. Like this one, for instance:
Now, let me be perfectly clear: these images are not inherently bad. The image above is a video from youtuber Cassey Ho, otherwise known as Blogilates. I love Cassey’s channel and watch her videos frequently. She aims to educate and inspire others in healthy eating, exercising, debunks diet frauds, and calls attention to the hypocrisy of trying to achieve the “perfect body”. She does this through her online classes and her events around the world, often in designer workout clothes with a colorful water bottle by her side.
But that’s her job.
As a fitness instructor, as a nutrition adviser, as someone who’s career is dependent on social media, she needs to present the best image possible. If in one of her videos, she looked like she had just rolled out of bed- her business would suffer. It makes sense for these individuals to be perceived as more polished and "healthy" because their bottom line depends on gaining the attention of an audience. But for the average human, whose job isn’t to look like a superhero, these images should not be a ruler for us to measure against. Inspiration? Sure. Motivation? Absolutely. But we shouldn’t be disheartened when we can’t reach that arbitrary standard. My health should be a lifestyle, not an Instagram filter.
“Healthy” looks and feels different for everyone. It is less of a point and more of a range, and there’s no one perfect way to get there. Someone’s healthy looks like cutting coupons and working out by running after kids. Someone’s healthy looks like protein shakes and Crossfit competitions. Someone’s healthy looks like getting a smaller size Starbucks, but that’s a start and they should be proud.
There is no perfect way to be healthy, and no perfect way to look while you’re getting there. It doesn’t matter if you run in an expensive tank top or an old t-shirt from high school, you're still running. There are a million ways to look and feel healthy, and I think we need more of that on social media. So in the next week, share a picture of what your healthy looks like. Is it walking around campus? Trying Zumba at the gym? Yoga in your dorm room? No matter what your healthy looks like, share it and be proud. If all else fails, you could always use this to get inspired:
