Fitspiration Instead of Thinspiration: Let’s Make The Change, Ladies!
I have a challenge for all you ladies out there: let’s make a change. Instead of using the word ‘thinspiration’, let’s start using the word ‘fitspiration’ and change our focus to be healthier, body and mind.
For example: Alex Morgan is my fitspiration. Seriously, check out her work out in the video below, it’s intense. (I know, Olympic Gold medalist, very different from me, but she’s FIT and strong and healthy, not just THIN.)
With the New Year having recently passed, there are countless postings on Pinterest highlighting new diets, pictures of super thin girls and inspirational quotes – all aimed at motivating us to lose weight and focus on ourselves. But, most of these posts may not necessarily be the picture of health (those ‘nothing tastes as good as skinny feels’ posts can be both motivating and hurtful depending on who reads them). In our weight obsessed culture, tools like Pinterest can be useful, alerting us to new, healthy, easy to make foods we might not know or new workout routines to challenge us. But it can also be hurtful, changing the focus from being healthy to being THIN.
Being thin should never be the goal. Being healthy and fit, that’s what we should all be aspiring to. Everybody suffers from some unhappiness with their body; it’s just how the world works. We all have that one thing we’d like to change (or maybe a few things), yes, even those skinny girls with fast metabolisms that everyone loves to hate (but they have their own burdens, too). Our culture is so wrapped up in body image it’s hurting us. So many women find themselves wrapped up in eating disorders, anorexia, bulimia, and just general disordered eating that doesn’t necessarily fall into a strict category. We all know women (and some men perhaps) that have suffered from an eating disorder. It’s not something you can ever really get over. It’s like alcoholism – you’ll always be recovering, but you can learn to live a healthy life.
I feel like we’re doing a disservice to ourselves by not respecting ourselves enough to change the discourse. Which is why I think it’s important for us, as girls and women, to change the focus. We should be focusing on what we can do to make our bodies healthy, not what we can do to make ourselves thin. Everyone’s body is different, we’re not all going to look like supermodels, we’re not all going to be size fours, but we can all do what’s right by our bodies. I know that I will never look like the women on TV- yeah it hurts, but I’m starting to be okay with it because I realized how strong my body is. I love my muscles, I love going to the gym because it makes me feel good, lowers my stress/anxiety and allows me to feel just how strong I am.
It’s important that we all find that one thing that we can really be proud of when we look at ourselves in the mirror. Find one thing that you love every day, instead of the one thing you don’t. Change the focus, change your thoughts, change your attitude. If that means going on a diet, by all means do it. If that means starting a new running plan, or hitting up some yoga sessions, hop on it. Just make sure you’re doing everything for the right reasons, otherwise even the changes you see in the mirror won’t make you happy.
Be proud of who you are. Be proud of your body type. DO YOU!
Featured image via AliceMorganSoccer.com