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TW: Body shaming, fitspo (yes, it can definitely be a trigger!), anxiety, and weight loss-related discussion.
When I read this article (“Why Fit is the New Thin”) and reblogged it the other week, the damaging possibility of fitspo made…
I’m going to be honest, here. This really infuriates me. Since when does being healthy and wanting to be better in the fitness world link directly to hating your body? If anything, for me, it’s the COMPLETE OPPOSITE. I want to strengthen my body and see what it is capable of in this life, BECAUSE WE ONLY HAVE ONE. Why not see what amazing measures my body can go to? It’s ludicrous to me that losing weight or toning up means you ‘hate’ your body. I love my body, every single transformation it’s undergone. Yes, you can get healthier without losing a pound but GUESS WHAT: Usually, getting healthier also means you are going to lose weight. Eat healthy, train healthy, your weight is going to drop if you are over-weight. It’s just how it is. It makes me really upset that “curvy” and “overweight” girls feel the need to bash on everyone else in order to get the point across that they ‘accept’ themselves and ‘love’ themselves. Most of the fitspo community on Tumblr have been overweight girls—and so there’s not bashing going on here. We’re not talking down to girls who are over weight or saying how much better we are than them. In fact, more often than anything: the fitspo community is defending over weight people and their health/choices. So I have no clue why in the world the curvy/body acceptance girls of tumblr would find it necessary to hate on the girls who have taken an active stance on their bodies and in their own fitness. I work damn hard every single day to keep my body strong and capable of out running a herd of elephants. Why do I need to see the BODY ACCEPTANCE (key word ) blogs that I follow bashing on girls like me who work hard? I submitted to those blogs when I Was even curvier than I am now, because, I was happy with my body and loved the skin I was in. I decided to lose weight and start getting into shape because I wanted to, because I loved my body and guess what…I still love my body. To this day, I love it. I was almost sure that the point of these body positive blogs was to uplift, not tear down. I’m really disappointed that this is the direction we’re going. Just an FYI, tearing others down does not show that you’re happy or content in your skin. In fact, it shows quite the opposite.
What I’m really asking (and failed to include in my OP) is that maybe those who discuss fitness-related content that involves losing weight should consider prefacing it with a trigger warning so that those who find that kind of content damaging can easily skim over it.
All I’m asking anyone to acknowledge is that fitness and health is different for everyone. I’m not tearing anyone down. I am not bashing anyone. I am suggesting that what is right for you is not right for everyone and asking you to recognize it. That is all.