Sweat is fat crying. Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels. You are so much stronger than you think.
I mentioned Fitspo in my last post. For those unfamiliar, Fitspo and its depressed and kind of disturbing sister Thinspo are recent internet trends that are intended to provide motivation to lose weight and attain a perfect body. Fitspo is a shortened version of Fit Inspiration (duh, right?) and if you do a Google image search you will find page after page of smoking hot bodies. I mean, this shit is off the charts, pinnacle of human awesomeness, makes your head explode with jealousy hot. These photos are often paired with motivating one-liners like the ones I mentioned above. They are either intended to light a fire under the fatties or make women with any percentage of body fat over 3% feel like epic failures. Or possibly both.
Thing thing about these photos of incredibly thin women is that people criticize them. A lot! They're not "real women". They don't encourage a positive self image. They set unrealistic standards. They make people feel bad about themselves. I could go on and on... and on. Then there are the activist types who blast messages like, "real women have curves!" and "big is beautiful!" OK, fine. If you're packing some extra pounds and these mantras help you to not have a panic attack every time you look at yourself in your underwear, cool. Also, I can completely get behind all the hate for the previously mentioned horrific world of Thinspo. 
Thinspo is not motivating women to be healthy and fit; quite the alarming opposite. These sites promote anorexia, body hatred and protruding bones. As you can see in this picture, these poor girls are in desperate need of a hug and a bacon cheeseburger, not necessarily in that order. Thinspo is just sad.HOWEVER, this is not the same as portraying women that are the picture of female health and fitness. Curvy women cheerleaders that are hating on Fitspo are the ones with which I happen to have a rather intense problem. So allow me to get to my ultimate point. What is so wrong with promoting virtually zero body fat, flatter than a freakin' wall stomachs and lean cellulite-free thighs? How is this really promoting a negative self image or something that is "unrealistic"? Those bodies are not unrealistic at all, they are just really hard to achieve.
Hey, guess what... exercising is really damn hard. Counting calories and eating clean is also really damn hard. Limiting your food to natural, unprocessed and low-cal takes almost super human will power. You don't find yourself craving kale salads when you've had a crappy day; at least I sure don't. If people have been pissing me off all day, it's raining and I've got a mean case of PMS I want a chocolate cake. Not a piece, I want to sit a whole cake in front of me whilst sitting on the couch and just take a fucking fork to it. I don't care how much you like your curves, ladies, that is a really bad idea.
If all these "curvy" women are saying they would rather be a size 14 than a size 4, they are LYING! DO you really like the idea of having to defend your size because "this is what the average woman looks like nowadays"? Do you enjoy getting winded when you walk up three flights of stairs? Are you comfortable with your increased risk of dying from a stroke or kidney failure?
It is not OK that the average woman is a size 14. So many women are justifying being just plain fat. These chicks need to cut the shit and raise their standards of health. No one wants you to hate yourself; I'm so not suggesting self-depracation as motivation. Be OK with where you are but don't hold it up as the new face of beauty. Extra fat is unhealthy, not beautiful! I'm not saying that overweight women are not beautiful women. I am saying that praising yourself for being plus size because you think that is the same thing as curvy is not a respectable way to live. Literally working your ass off to get as healthy and fit as humanly possible warrants respect and not criticism.
Ladies, this Fitspo stuff is not impossible or unrealistic or harmful to society. Yeah, a lot of it is touched up and airbrushed but not all of it. This chick is not photoshopped. This girl worked fucking hard to get that body. This is a healthy woman with healthy curves that should be admired. This should be the new normal. This should be the goal. This should not make you depressed or feel like a failure. This should get you ass of the damn couch and start finding out all the great things your body is capable of.
My goodness, look at your gorgeous flat tummy! May I know how you did it? I'm pretty ok exercise-wise, but still have a tiny little pooch.
ReplyDeleteSeems to be a lot of overlap between thinspo and fitspo. I find the pics of fit men, women, boys, girls very motivating in my quest to lose what I've gained over the last 30 years. I like the pix of people with visible but not bulky muscles, who look like they are equally ready to run a half marathon, or join the resistance movement against alien invaders.
ReplyDeleteThen there are some that look like they walked out of Auschwitz. These are the ones I feel sorry for, the ones that need a gentle hug and a big steak.
On the flip side if I search for pictures of anorexia, I get a lot of the same thinspo pics. Guys and gals with more than pipecleaner limbs, ribs showing, but still looking healthy. Most boys go through about 2 years somewhere in their mid teens looking like this.
If Pro-ana was promoting the teen in bottomless pit years -- say for a boy 5'8" and 120 pounds. BMI of 18, ok. I don't see a problem with that.
But some of these Pinterest collections are of kids who look like they are training to be Ring Wraiths.