When on Instagram, Pinterest, or what have you, it seems almost impossible not to encounter a health or fitness account on your feed. Maybe you like the motivation and want to see healthy people doing healthy things. Maybe you like looking at how beautiful their photos are. Maybe it’s how the media has tricked us into believing that these bodies are normal and achievable. We are manipulated into thinking these people aren’t genetically privileged when indeed; it’s exactly the opposite. But you have to ask yourself, where is the line drawn.
Seeing the toned and tan bodies in tight clothing is completely fetishizing a certain body type that in actuality, few people are even capable of having. The long lean legs and flat stomach with the abdominal line tracing the middle seems to be what everyone wants. It’s hard to find anyone that doesn’t have a goal for their body and is completely satisfied with what they currently look like. Too many strive for this idea of "perfect", to be the pinnacle of health and fitness; going weeks limiting calories and ultimately crashing back into more indulgent habits.
Just look at what’s hot right now; "athleisure,” the cute leggings and bras that scream, "get off the couch and do what the models are doing in the ads for these clothes!". As consumers, we are drawn into this lifestyle, where the tangible clothes are in front of us and we are convinced that purchasing them will in turn make us healthy. We automatically assume we’ll become more active and start choosing the apple over the candy bar. Though this might work for a little, the simple act of wearing athleisure clothing isn’t going to change who we are and the way we live our lives. It ultimately just makes the people who wear it look fit and like they know their way around the bench-press. It spirals the person next to them back into the constant reminder of how badly they need to work out too.It seems like we end up shaming ourselves for indulging in fast food and promise ourselves we will jog it off at the gym later in our matching Lululemon outfits. When we don’t follow through on this promise, it only makes us feel worse about that binge.
Ladies and gentlemen, the time is high for purging that out of your feeds and lives. The destructive mental cycle is vicious and we are all victims of its wrath. Mental health and body positivity are infinitely more important than if you have a roll over the top of your pants. Feeling good is not about looking good. There may be a connection between the two in some people’s minds, however if you can’t get through the day without having guilt for not going to work out or going on an ice cream date, something is wrong.
Our media makes it seem like being average is a bad thing, where the genetic outliers are shown over and over and have become the norm. This is a problem because the majority of society does not resemble the idealized image. So each day as you’re bombarded with media messages, remember to filter out these unrealistic icons and see what’s real, rather than falling for the fabricated lifestyles our society creates for us.
