I'm genuinely curious; what makes people think that it's okay to critique another person's body?
Being half of the face of fitness blender, I hear a lot of kind things but I also frequently hear things about the shape of my body, my weight, and even really nasty things like people (who don't know a thing about me, my situation, or my lifestyle) calling me "anorexic", telling me I need to go "eat something", to stop starving myself, etc. I do my best to be healthy. I regularly eat over 3000 healthy calories a day. I workout roughly 40 minutes a session 3-5 times a week. I work a desk job. I'm not obsessed with calories eaten, I don't find my diet restrictive and I don't kill myself for hours working out. Aside from that, anorexia and other eating disorders are a real thing and they take and ruin a number of lives each year. They are dangerous and painful illnesses. They aren't kind terms to use lightly or throw around at strangers, particularly based on appearance (health comes in all different shapes and sizes).
I know that some will say that I "put myself out there" by being on the Internet, but what should I do? Give up what I am passionate about (helping others, trying to encourage people to take an interest in their own health) because I don't like the verbal abuse of cowardly keyboard warriors? I know what my decision is but some days are harder than others, particularly coming from a long history of a battle with body image and disordered thinking when it comes to diet and exercise.
No matter who you might be talking about or to - online or in real life - I encourage you to think before you speak or type. There's always a real person on the other end, you never know how a person feels about their own body, and no one deserves to be picked apart. Aside from that, when you talk negatively about another person's body, you also increase the negative thinking within yourself, as well as the people around you. Do you know what it does to a child to hear a person they respect talk negatively about their body, or another person's body? The same goes of your friends and your peers; no one is really immune to this kind of negativity.
Bottom line, no matter how a person looks on the outside, you don't know what's going on on the inside. Try to be kind to yourself and others and the benefits might surprise you. �� Kelli