With thousands of fitspo pages surfacing every other day, it’s no question that #Fitness is here to stay. From #Fitspiration to gaining respect from the #FitFam, it’s questionable how anyone could keep up. It was a hashtag that changed the world, with powerful platforms such as Instagram; millions of people changed the way they looked at health and fitness. Though things look perfect from the outside, the inside world of #Fitness can be a dark and surprisingly unhealthy new trend.
Scrolling through your feed, exploring the discover tab, and there it is – the good old #swolfie. Or maybe even #BootyGains if you’re lucky. Filtered, perfect lighting and just the right angle — you can't help but envy them just a little. Magazines and the media have done a great job of photoshopping and putting out unrealistic material of models for years. Young girls look up to these perfectly altered women. Their long skinny legs, perfectly toned waist and flawless skin. Watch our Vogue, the healthiest hashtag soon became the number one contributor to unrealistic expectations, body image disorders and seller of self-worth. There is a fine line between how social media can help or hurt a person. Though there are millions of accountable, positive, and inspiring young ladies on Instagram — there are twice as many frauds. Girls have found that posting half naked selfies was not only acceptable but also encouraged by the #FitFam. In order to get likes, in order to be popular, and in order to be idolized — you’ve got to show some skin.
This is supposed to be health and fitness, not subtle porn. There is no actual information that is helping anyone here. Does it attract the gaze of men and the envy of women? Sure, but as far as helping millions of people get in shape and live a healthier lifestyle, not so much. There's a big difference between being proud of our (ass)ets because we worked extremely hard to either lose weight or hit another squat PR, and being proud because we can break our backs and buy light gray yogas. Empowering other women through fitness has nothing to do with posting half naked selfies or thigh to waist ratios. Comparison is truly the thief of joy and the world of #fitness has taken this to a new low.
The problem is – this healthy lifestyle is anything but healthy. We now have a giant popularity contest with viscous women and testosterone filled men. And for some people, that pressure is too much to handle. What went from being ‘cute and fun’ turned into bullying, loss of self-worth and life-threatening disorders. That is the complete opposite of what health and fitness is all about. What happened to working hard to break a sweat, not take a selfie? Getting stronger and losing weight because you will run faster, feel better, and look better, not because @fithunnybooboo (ex-Playboy bunny) looks toned. What about eating real, healthy, nutritious foods, and not obsessing over counting macros? We took a great foundation, a great concept and an even better idea and as a society, we’ve once again made it solely about sexual acceptability.
The power of #fitness should be encouraging, it should be a movement, and it should affect women positively. Instead, it fools the uneducated and promotes the frauds. Fitness and the promotion of a healthier life has nothing to do with how you look to millions of other women, it has nothing to do with how tight and toned you look in that perfect lighting, and it has nothing to do with how big your butt looks in those yogas. Your meals should be measured by conversation and company, not on whether or not it fits your macros, food is supposed to taste good, not chemically induced to read 0g of carbs, and your ‘diet’ should make you feel good and happy, not obsessive and remorseful. #Fitness has set a false standard, competition and comparison should have never become normal, and it is far from the reality of true health.
