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Rant: Fitspiration, Body Shaming, Photoshop & Body Image

Read Time • 3 Min
  • Category Health
  • Membership Free

Overview

Be warned, the content of this video is as random as the title of this article. 



Usually we tackle your questions in our vlogs, but today we just decided to run with it. We started off with the intention of talking about why we generally dislike a lot of the "fitspo" or "fitspiration" memes that get passed around the internet, but we digressed into about ten different and random things in the fitness/health world that make us angry.

There are a lot of things that bother us about the fitness industry, and surprisingly we're not talking about florescent leg warmers, unitards or bad workout music.

There is a lot of misleading, misinformed information relating to health, fitness, and body image pushed by some of the less-than-trustworthy media outlets, fitness industry players, and fitness personalities. From now on, part of our mission is calling it like we see it in an attempt to arm people with what they need to live long lives with healthy bodies and minds.

Here's the rundown of topics and a summary of what we want you to take away from this video.

  • Fitspiration too often operates under the guise of "health", empowerment, and strength but most often reenforce an unhealthy body image and the concept that all healthy bodies look the same (they don't). It uses light tricks, Photoshop, and people who have worked very hard for months (or years) and/or who have altered their bodies with plastic surgery, filters, etc. More often than not the abs you see in those pictures would disappear after a person drinks a glass or two of water or finally eats a good meal.
  • Body shaming needs to quit. Some of us have soft tummies, some of us have short legs, some of us are tall, some of us have six packs, some of us are petite, some of us have broad shoulders, some of us have freckles.....It quickly starts to sound like a Dr Suess book and yet somehow no one in the fitness or fashion industry can wrap their minds around the concept and unfortunately very few body shapes are represented at all.
  • People who speak freely about other people's bodies; think before you speak, or type. When you find yourself working up something nasty or critical to say about another person's body, take a pause and ask yourself what's compelling you to need to bring another person down for something that is none of your business? 
  • Photoshop messes with a person's reality and expectations of their body. It's obviously up to each individual company as to whether or not they choose to warp a picture into whatever they think resembles perfection at the moment, but as for our company, we commit to continuing not to alter our images & we hope that others will pick up on the trend.

The bottom line and the biggest takeaway message is that healthy comes in all different shapes and sizes.

What did you guys think about our tirade? Want more?