Before and After photos. We see them all the time on social media. Many fitness accounts are chock full of them. The fitness and diet industry have built dynasties upon the millions of these comparisons. And they are fun. They can be a great way to really see the hard work someone has been putting in. They can be a great reminder of how far we have come.
But you will never see us post a before and after. Here is why.
These photos celebrate thinness without question. In our society we often equate thinness with health and beauty. However, research tells us that a wide range of body shapes and sizes can be healthy. Also, as a trainer for almost 20 years, I can’t tell you how many times I have seen someone lose weight in unhealthy ways. Before and after photos tell us very little about what is going on on the inside. Perhaps the woman throws up half her meals. Maybe she restricts her food so much she stops enjoying life. Maybe she has pushed past pain and has developed an injury or damaged her pelvic floor and has painful sex. These things can be very damaging.
It teaches our children that we are more worthy of love when we are thinner. Most of us moms would never dream of telling our children that we are only willing to love them if they are well behaved. Yet we treat ourselves like that everyday and our children pick up on that.
We double down on lies we have been told by the diet and fitness industry. Behind many weight loss stories is the belief that fat people are lazy and if they would just try hard enough that they could, too, be thin. One Canadian research study found that only 15% of managers reported that they would hire an overweight woman. Research tells us that 70% of our size is genetically determined. That means that for many of us, losing weight, and especially keeping it off, is an uphill battle that we are probably not going to win. Research has also shown that 95% of diets fail. So, as we celebrate before and after photos, we are quite possibly inadvertently setting someone up to feel shame and guilt later on if they gain the weight back. Which leads me to my last point…
The support we get from our weight loss journeys can actually cause a lot of underlying feelings of anxiety around food, exercise and contribute to disordered eating. Because it reinforces that we are more worthy of love and attention when we are thin. But, chances are we might not be able to sustain a weight loss. So, we learn to fear weight gain, certain foods and are more likely to behave in ways that are destructive to our mental health and sense of wellbeing.
I don’t believe that any of us are out to knowingly hurt ourselves or each other. But, I do believe that women, in general, deserve more. We are more than our bodies. Our worth should not be measured by the number on the scale. Think of all the things that we could accomplish if we spent all the energy we currently do worrying about the size of our thighs and put that towards the things we are passionate about.
