Progress vs Debasing Yourself
There is a phenomenon on social media among women striving for weight loss, sharing images of their body transformation by taking photos of them selves often wearing just their underwear and weeks or months later taking the same photo and putting the photos side by side to show their progress.
That is a trend I won't be participating in.
Why? There are so many reasons!
1. I think it is focused on outward appearance. which fails to account for so many aspects of being 'healthy'. To read a brief article about what 'healthy' means in America today click here:
https://www.spsp.org/news-center/blog/what-it-means-to-be-healthy
2. Another problem is photography can be deceptive; clothing chosen, angle & lighting can affect the image and your perception of the body shape.
3. I find trends/fads/viral themes on social media are generally boring to see in my feed they simply make people and their posts seem lacking in imagination or individuality. Variation is the spice of life!
4. Personalities change as your weight loss or health & fitness journey continues, a simple body size comparison doesn't show that dynamic.
5. I have concerns about what happens in the weeks or months when a persons body hits a natural plateau and their body changes slow to a crawl or stop. This happens! If your self worth and trust of your health and fitness regimen is tied up in how you look in these comparison shots then you risk a situation where you could begin to lose motivation and fall back on old habits.
Here is a great tool that can help you track the likely shape changes that occur in your body over time, without baselessly succumbing to societal expectations to bare skin in an effort to prove progress:
To make a body visualizer image of yourself click here:
I love that is has a question about exercise, that does affect your body shape!
That truly is a reasonably accurate image of what my body currently looks like!
You don't need to see me nearly naked to envision my body accurately.
If you love the side by side comparison, that's your choice. But think about bucking the trend and sharing your journey in ways that are relevant but not potentially debasing to women in general or yourself. You are more than your body shape!
