I am ready for fit to stop being the new fad.

Jul 23

It is no secret that trends get repeated, and what was once a thing of the past will often resurface as the hot new style. Unfortunately, this also holds true with fad diets and the “wellness” industry. If you are like me, you are old enough to remember the early 2000s, when “thinspiration” dominated the internet. Everywhere you looked, someone was promoting a new “skinny tea” and social media was littered with before and after pictures, shouting that you just lacked the willpower necessary to have the right aesthetic. While Gen Z is busy bringing back New Balance shoes and wide leg pants, TikTok is taking a disturbing step backward with the rise of #SkinnyTok. Despite the decade, the messaging remains the same: your worth, happiness, and success are tied to your weight, which better be thin. And I have a lot of thoughts on this topic!

Allure and Alarm Bells

The appeal of #SkinnyTok is understandable. Even 16 year old me fell for a juice cleanse once upon a time. I remember seeing the before and after photos, hearing the “inspirational” messaging, and believing that if I could just stick with the plan for 7 days that I could finally get some abs and be the pinnacle of health. To nobody’s surprise, I didn’t. I didn’t even last a full 24 hours. I completed the prescribed workout in the morning, had my greens juice (that was surprisingly not that bad), and went on with my day. That was when it all started to fall apart. By lunch time I was feeling lethargic and lacking motivation to do pretty much anything. By mid afternoon all I wanted to do was take a nap and was struggling to stay warm. At dinner time I complained to my mom that I didn’t feel very well. She logically suggested that I eat something, but how could I do that when I was only one day in and KNEW I had the motivation it would take to complete this “health” journey?! I finally caved later that night and ate some chicken and rice. And wouldn’t you know, I immediately started feeling better.

The Real Results

So how is it that these extreme diets, cleanses, and fads can claim they are helping you achieve ultimate health when being on them for even a day can make you feel physically ill? Not only are these types of diets impacting your immediate well being, they also take a toll on your health in the long term.

Metabolism - partaking in crash diets and extreme restriction impacts the way your body stores and utilizes fuel. In periods of extreme restriction, your body will begin breaking down muscle tissue in addition to fat, so you will be actively reducing your metabolic rate. Not only are you losing strength, but you are also losing cardiovascular fitness. Neither of those things improve your health or fitness goals!
Body Image - Seeing a constant stream of “perfect” bodies can erode your self-esteem and foster deep dissatisfaction with your own appearance. That is how these diets get you to buy in, they tell you that you aren’t good enough and you need this diet to be worthy of whatever you are trying to achieve. It can take a lot of effort to bounce back from this type of negative talk and promotion to fixate on flaws. Even if you do stick out the 7 day juice cleanse, your body image will have much longer lasting impacts.
Mental health - The pressure to conform to these rigid standards can contribute to anxiety, depression, and self-doubt. The comparison culture fostered by this content can be incredibly damaging and have lingering effects that bleed into other aspects of your life.

How the Algorithm Hurts

#SkinnyTok is particularly concerning because of the power of social media algorithms. If you watch even one body-focused video, your “for you” page can quickly become inundated with similar content creating a rabbit hole effect that reinforces harmful messages.

While platforms like TikTok have community guidelines against promoting eating disorders, content creators often slip through the cracks when they promote these behaviors as “wellness.” Don’t be fooled, these ways of thinking and extreme diet behaviors are anything but healthy.

This trend isn’t just damaging to females either. There has been a rise with body dysmorphia among men who are being targeted to build more muscle, have a leaner physique, and look like Captain America. Similar to the extremely thin female aesthetic being pushed, the behaviors promoted to achieve this look can be extremely damaging to both your physical and mental health.

Breaking the Cycle

It starts with prioritizing health over aesthetics and viewing social media through a critical lens. It is important to remember that true health is holistic and encompasses physical, mental, and emotional well being. It isn’t just about achieving a specific body size or shape. Sustainable health involves balanced nutrition, regular enjoyable movement, and positive self talk. Even if a younger version of me fell for that 7 day juice cleanse, 24 hours was all I needed to see that what I was doing was not healthy. Sure, if I stuck with it I might have lost some weight, but at what cost? I would have been tired, grumpy, cold, and struggling mentally. None of those words fall under my definition of a person at the pinnacle of health.

Manage your feed: You don’t have to just accept everything that pops up on the “for you” page. You can take control back from the algorithm by actively seeking out and following accounts that promote body diversity and patterns of eating that include all food groups. Unfollow or block accounts that bring up feelings of negative body image or promote restrictive and unhealthy diet culture.

Question everything: Don’t take “health advice” from unqualified individuals as gospel. Consult with an actual professional (like me) and if you are going to turn to social media for nutrition advice, make sure it is from a reputable source. Just because someone is a doctor or claims to be an expert doesn’t necessarily mean they are an expert in the topic they are discussing. Someone might have a doctorate in physics, but that doesn’t mean you should trust them to perform heart surgery. If someone is giving nutrition advice, check out their credentials and make sure they actually have the education to back up their opinions.

Be kind to yourself: So many of these crash diets and detoxes rely on the your inner voice buying into the narrative that they are selling. That narrative is often that you aren’t good enough, you aren’t worthy of happiness, and you need to be thin to experience joy.. Don’t buy into this! You are good enough, you are worthy of happiness, and joy lives on a spectrum that can be experienced at any size. If you are constantly thinking and telling yourself negative things, that will start to become your reality. If you start to give yourself more grace and actively point out your positive attributes, your whole self image can change.

Go say something nice to yourself today!