I wrote an article a few weeks back discussing the difference between settling and accepting in terms of what we can accomplish so that we don’t push ourselves over the edge. It made me think about the differences between settling and accepting in terms of body weight and healthy living.

Historically, society has always had its accepted notion for what men and women should look like. Those who didn’t conform to the standard were rejected and looked down upon. Today, we see instagram models, Victoria’s Secret commercials, and Calvin Klein ads reinforcing body types we’ve learned to consider as beautiful, sexy, and desirable.

We see what they have, we see people liking what they have; and not only do we want to like what everyone else likes, we want to be what everyone else likes. We want to resemble the models that sell and we want to be accepted by those around us. It’s in our nature.

But how accurate are these models in their representations of what our bodies “should” look like?

It’s no secret that modeling is one of the most psychologically demanding careers in our society today. With such high expectations and narrow standards, it can generate a brutal, competitive, and unhealthy environment. It always has.

In 2006, twenty-one year old model, Ana Carolina Reston, died of complications from anorexia nervosa. She had been told that she was too fat at a recent casting call. She was 5’ 8” and weighed 88 pounds when she died. Her calculated BMI was 13.4.

Reston isn’t the only model to die from an eating disorder, and she certainly wasn't the last.

A 2017 study published by the International Journal of Eating Disorders found that 62.4% of models are asked to lose weight, 56.5% have skipped meals to lose weight, 70.5% have dieted to lose weight, 8.2% have made themselves throw up, and 13% have used other compensatory methods as a means to lose weight (laxatives, diuretics, pills).

Furthermore, one study found that 94% of the 3,000 models they tested fell below a BMI of 18.The Center for Disease Control, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, and the World Health Organization all consider a BMI of 18.5 to 25 to be in the healthy range for adult women.

While a healthy BMI can differ from person to person depending on what’s making up the weight and where the weight primarily lies on the body, it doesn’t excuse society from promoting a body type that is typically unhealthy.

Physical health issues associated with severely underweight individuals, specifically those with an eating disorder, include heart failure, low metabolic rate, irregular heartbeat, malnourishment, poor digestion, constipation, stomach rupture, esophagus rupture, poor circulation, multi-organ failure, and amenorrhea (absence of a menstrual cycle) just to name a few reported by the National Eating Disorders Association.

These statistics should be terrifying for anyone concerned about the way society pushes the ‘ideal’ body images of our time. Eating disorders are dangerous and in no means should be promoted.

So why does society continue to feed on models that are typically unhealthy in these ways?

Thankfully, we’ve seen more movements to help create a more realistic idea of what healthy bodies look like. More and more companies have been working to promote body diversity by using both thin models and models that represent what the average healthy body looks like.

The fitspo movement has also worked to promote fitness and healthy living. This can create a more positive movement that focuses less on weight and more on physical health. Many encourage people to find where their body works best and how to achieve the health that allows us to look good and feel good.

Initially, these new ideals seem great. We have body diversity promoting the actuality of what most healthy people look like and fitspo movements inspiring people to work towards their best physical bodies. However, when taken too far, these mindsets can also be dangerous.

I was scrolling through instagram the other day and I found this body acceptance profile. There were pictures of people of all sizes that had found happiness in their own bodies. It seemed like a great concept until I started seeing some images of individuals who were severely overweight.

Now I think it’s important that I emphasize that I am in no way body shaming or judging or discriminating in anyway. This isn’t hate against people that are overweight or anger because they don’t fit the “norms”.

The issue is that some of those individuals were actually severely overweight. I understand that accepting our body shape instead of obsessing over it and hating ourselves for it can be beneficial. However, there is a point where we need to stop ‘accepting’ our bodies and start realizing that we should be aiming for actual health.

There needs to be a balance between promoting mental health in terms of our bodies and promoting the physical health of our bodies.

Those who simply create a mindset that they shouldn’t focus on their weight or their body and therefore end up severely overweight may not be more likely to suffer from a mental disorder, but they are more likely to suffer from heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, and some forms of cancer (according to the CDC and Mayo Clinic).

Overweight individuals and obese individuals are more at risk for these health ailments just as underweight individuals are at risk for the health ailments listed before.

The World Health Organization notes that 39% of adults in 2016 were overweight and 13% were obese. BMI is used to determine if an individual is overweight (BMI > 25) or obese (BMI > 30) just as it is used to determine if an individual is underweight (BMI < 18).

Recall my statement from before:

While a healthy BMI can differ from person to person depending on what’s making up the weight and where the weight primarily lies on the body, it doesn't excuse society from promoting a body type that is typically unhealthy.

Why are so many people critical of promoting the severely underweight, but don’t have a problem with promoting the severely overweight?

Both groups are more at risk for various health issues, many of which are fatal.

I understand that overweight individuals haven’t been idolized the way underweight individuals have been, and that we should work to be more accepting of those who don’t fit the underweight ‘perfect body’ that the media pushes on us. But I don’t understand why we would try to counteract that harmful standard by pushing a new standard that is just as harmful.

Fat acceptance and body acceptance can be dangerous. I think we need to be aware of when we should appreciate ourselves to prevent ourselves from becoming mentally distressed, but I don’t think we should continue treating fat acceptance and body acceptance as a settlement.

That’s really what I’ve seen fat acceptance turn into, to be honest. It’s less about appreciation and caring for our bodies, but more about just settling with what we have. If what we have is putting us more at risk of having a heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and so on, why should we just accept that?

Again, there’s a line we each need to find so that we don’t fall on either end of the obsessive to settlement spectrum in terms of our body. We shouldn’t just settle if we aren’t healthy and we shouldn’t obsess so much that we become unhealthy that way too. There needs to be that middle.

Let’s bring it back to the fitspo trend.

The fitspo trend has collectively been more positive and beneficial than the thinspo trends and the fat acceptance trends in my opinion. It seems to focus on more hardcore physical health rather than just being thin and it in no way reflects a settlement mentally.

However, this isn’t to say that the fitspo trend is the resolution to all of our body-standard problems. Just like the other trends, it can be taken to a different level and it can be maladaptive in those forms.

I think many people tend to forget the forms of bulimia nervosa that can arise subtly. It isn’t always about making yourself throw up or taking laxatives. Bulimia nervosa involves any kind of compensatory behavior performed obsessively to out of fear of gaining weight or having a poor appearance.

There is such thing as working out too much and it can be classified as a form of bulimia, a form of anorexia, and as orthorexia. Typically, this form will show as a ‘I can only eat if I burn more of it off’ or a 'I have to eat this way and work out this much to achieve this exactly" mentality used to preserve or work towards a body goal.

Working towards our goals in terms of our dream bodies isn’t a bad thing, but when we use compulsory obsessive behaviors as a means to alleviate extreme distress or anxiety regarding our appearance, it becomes unhealthy.

Because many finspo accounts tend to promote a similar, more extreme, form of fitness and healthy body standards, many people see the movement as “just thinspo in sheep’s clothing”.

Many models spend their whole days exercising and building their bodies to a new level of health. While it’s great for them that they have the time and motivation to do that for themselves, it can breed the same kind of obsession and anxiety for everyday people who can’t obtain the same goal as easily.

There can commonly be a mentality of “the mind quits before the body” or “stop making excuses because it's all in your own control”. It might be nice coming from an hour long workout session with a personal trainer, but when there’s young kids at home scrolling through all of these accounts and images on instagram, it can become a mentality that follows them no matter where they are 24/7.

The truth is, achieving the bodies we want can be complicated in ways we don’t even think about. Each body is different and determining what’s healthy and what’s not should really be between the individual and their personal doctors / trained professionals. Not everyone can follow the same regime and end up with the same exact results.

There’s even a theory called the set point theory which explains why individuals with eating disorders especially can have a hard time losing weight and being physically healthy. The idea recognized by the US National Library of Medicine is that we each have a point where our body is most comfortable and most functional.

Determined by genetics and environment, our body will try to reach its optimal weight and will work against our conscious efforts to deviate from that specific weight. Many times, individuals with eating disorders will gain weight back more readily for a variety of reasons including metabolism changes and so on, but also because the body is trying to get back to it’s set point. You can read the more clinical and technical evidence here.

Overall, I think that there are positives and negatives to how our society is currently approaching body images and body standards. I think that we’ve made some progress in our methods, but there will always be consequences with that.

With social media so readily available at our fingertips whenever we want, our wants and wishes can haunt us and turn us into people we might not like. I think everyone experiences that from time to time regardless if it’s health related, political, or just societal.

When trying to find the motivation to make ourselves better, sometimes inspiration is needed. That's okay. We should just be more aware of when that inspiration turns into something we obsess over too much or even too little.

Finding that balance isn’t an easy thing. If it was, I wouldn’t be writing this article or going blank on what kind of solutions to provide. I can’t give any advise other than just talking with people that are certified and trained to handle any issues you might be facing with these things.

Lord knows I have my own ups and downs with my thoughts on my health and appearance, and I think a lot of that depends on my own priorities at the moment. I have regrets and I’ve gone down some dark places (fun fact: the cover image for this article was from a journal of mine from 2013). I hope that I can move forward like the people that do find their balance and can live a healthy, normal life.

And at the end of the day, people can do what they want and think how they'd like. I just hope that more of us in society will be able to find balance in our lives.

*As always, you can click on the hyperlinked words for more information and my sources.*