When I started recovery one of the first things I did was delete my social media apps. Why? Because I spent far too long looking at skinny fitness models on instagram, scrolling through the facebook profiles of people I wished I looked like and stressing over the fact I couldn't get my stomach flat and showing abs 24/7 like the people I saw online. When I felt ready, I reinstalled all my social accounts but made sure to immediately unfollow the pages and articles that were causing me to judge myself and feel bad about my body. In doing so, I came across people and pages who instead praised all body types and called out the photoshopping, flexing and perfect lighting that surrounds the seemingly perfect images we are shown. Beauty and fitness industries thrive on selling us the next big diet miracle, youth cream or ab exercises that are sure to flatten our stomachs and give us that 6-pack. They show us perfect-looking models, with bulging muscles or thigh gaps fuelling the notion that you need to look like these people to be considered beautiful in our society. But, these images are almost always edited, taken at angles with correct lighting and tensed muscles. In reality very few of us actually look like this on a daily basis. And yes even those celebrities with flawless skin have a pimple and scar or two. Perfection does not equal beauty and beauty is definitely more than one standard body type. We can be beautiful in so many other ways and without relying on our physical appearance.
To prove to you how easy it can be to change our appearance with lighting and poses I did a little experiment myself. Here I give you three pictures! All of me, taken only seconds apart. The first is posed, edited and with a filter. The second is me still posing but without further editing and the third is simply me, the way I look the majority of the day. Are any of these pictures more or less deserving of body love and appreciation. Absolutely not.
This is why I personally find it so much more motivational and reassuring to have a varied social media account. My social media is now made up of dieticians, chefs, fitness gurus and other lifestyle bloggers - all of different body shapes, from different backgrounds and most importantly who aren't afraid to show themselves day to day, the way they truly are. People want to show their best pictures and angles online, I am certainly still guilty of that. However, we need to start understanding that's all those images are. A snapshot of a single moment, not a constant reflection of someone's life. The more we begin to realise this and normalise images of men and women that are not photoshopped, the happier we can start to become in our own bodies and stop comparing ourselves to media and advertising.
I now speak to my fellow girls! As women, we have cellulite, we bloat, we get stretch marks, our weight can drastically fluctuate during our menstrual cycle, we get cravings and all of this is ok. In fact it's better than ok, it's entirely normal. The greatest lesson I learnt and am still trying to practice today is to stop trying to live up to an ideal image and instead love yourself in the present. There is nothing wrong with wanting to get fit, to workout or to have nutrition goals. However, these goals should not define who you are, lead to dangerous behaviours or come from a place of self-hate. They should come through a properly informed, evidence-based understanding of what and how you are trying to achieve your goals. Most importantly, don't feel you have to change your body to fit into a certain group or please someone else. You can try 100 diets and workout everyday - believe me I've tried. But, if you cannot learn to love yourself and accept the strengths you have, no exercise or 'carb cut' will ever repair that. Focus on elements of yourself removed from physical appearance. Respect your body and your mind, find strength and positivity in what you have achieved and the life you have built.
Here are just a few of the wonderful instagram accounts that I follow. These individuals speak openly about body image struggles and try to normalise all body types.
@hayleymadiganfitness
@_kellyu
@saggysara
@selfloveandstrength
@powertoprevail
@chessieisking
@charlottequeen
@justget.fit
@charlotteemilyprice
@justkimbrly
Keep smiling and most importantly love yourself and your body!
Natasha x
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