Can Social Media Make You Skinny?

April 21, 2018 Ashley 0 Comments

You know that one friend you’ve got on Insta?

The one who lost a lot’ve weight and constantly posts about it now?

Selfie after selfie after selfie…

And part of you wants to throw shade, while the other wants to… also throw shade…so you STFU?

Yeah, I know her too. Every Tuesday’s a “Transformation Tuesday”. And every other day’s a selfie that could pass for a carbon copy of the one from two days ago. Initially, everyone was super impressed. She prized likes from us like an inspiration stripper with a garter full’ve our digital singles. It was well warranted. But, then, it began to be overkill. I had to unfollow the chick. I couldn’t help but wonder: was her weight loss not enough? Did she feel like she needed more validation for staying where she was, or else it wouldn’t be worth keeping up? (I know. Super judgey of me.)

But then another thought dawned on me.

See, about a year ago, I did something called the “30 days of new things”. It’s this challenge where, every day for a month, you do something you’ve never done before. It could be something as big as sky diving. It could be something as small as taking a different route home from work. But, every day, you do something new. It sounds cool, right? It totally was. It blasted open the casket on my deadened soul and forced it back to life. But you know what else it was? It was tough to make myself keep up with. See, I’m one’ve those types who needs accountability to keep me on task with the habits that don’t come naturally to me. So, to make that happen, I started posting most of it on Facebook. And you wanna know the cool thing? While I was afraid I’d end up using it as a validation tool, I truly didn’t. Some of the stuff got a ton’ve likes. Some got nada. But you know what it did do? Inspire a handful of friends to do the same – and strike up a month of novelty themselves. That made me definitely wanna keep doing it. (Not to mention the awesome feeling that accompanies deviating from monotony.) Relating it back to fitness, half of the “new stuff” I did ended up being those spin or “Insanity” or eccentric yoga classes you always say you’re gonna try but never do. And I might not have had I not felt accountable. It was like I had to have something to post. I didn’t wanna break my streak. So I made it happen.

(And as a result, I ended up getting into awesome and odd fitness hobbies like this…)

But the real takeaway is this:

I made an assumption about my online buddy. But maybe said transformache friend was never looking for wow emoji’s or cardiac icons of validation in the first place. Maybe it was never about showing off. Maybe she was just try’na inspire others – or hold herself accountable. I hate a lot on over-posting when it’s done for the sake of validation. Our diet and exercise regimens should be a lifestyle that fulfills us. One with a healthy and unique physique being an awesome side effect of it. That part shouldn’t be up for approval. But, much like my article about health-selfies, your whole lifestyle might be inspiring someone else. And maybe you feel the need to be seen by your digital clique to keep your fitness on fleek. That connection might even open you up to a whole new health tribe. One with meetups, dietary tips, and other shiz that keeps you weight loss and wellness minded. So, if putting up posts and photos about your path like you’re your own personal paparazzi helps you stay in that space (especially in the face of temptation toward recidivism), then don’t let anyone stop you.

Even judgmental d-bags like me.