With Eating Disorder Awareness Week being this week (Feb 26 to March 3), heavy topics involving diet culture, eating disorders (EDs), beauty standards, and the like, are brought to light. While eating disorders are more frequently discussed now than in previous years, this week brings awareness to unheard stories and gives an outlet to those in need.
Gratefully, our generation has taken steps to normalize the frequency of eating disorders and not shun the side effects that come with them. However, it seems no one is trying to get to the root of the problem. There are many causes of eating disorders, but one big one that stands out to me is fitness influencers.
Fitness has been on the rise for the past decade. But where does this growth come from? Well, like any trend, it comes from social media. Social media gives everyone an outlet to share their fitness journeys with the world and give helpful tips to new lifters. While this can be an extremely positive thing, I’ve seen more toxicity stem from it than anything.
I see a lot of fitness influencers create incorrect or unrealistic content for their wide viewership and make thousands of dollars off it. Sometimes, fitness influencers will begin deals with popular brands and promote them to consumers. They can sell clothes, supplements, and even personal training packs to tons of people.
As a brand ambassador for supplement company Redcon1, it is not all bad. There are good influencers who promote great supplements and helpful tools to help people with their fitness goals. But more often than not, influencers will take a large cut of these deals, even if they have to give false information.
A study from the Mayo Clinic has proven, “Most eating disorders involve focusing too much on weight, body shape and food. This can lead to dangerous eating behaviors. These behaviors can seriously affect your ability to get the nutrition your body needs.”
Influencers will feed off client’s need for the “perfect body” and make empty promises of perfection. The most misleading factor in all of this is that influencers usually fit the beauty standard when most of the time it’s all genetics. Yes, the influencer did go to the gym but they didn’t become “perfect” with junk volume and hours of cardio.
A huge global phenomenon occurred during COVID-19 revolving around this very topic. Youtuber Chloe Ting released a “Get Abs in 2 WEEKS” workout challenge that garnered 533 million views. With fitness influence being fairly new, most people saw the abs she had and automatically believed it. When this method did not work on anyone, people were outraged. Ting chalked up the very difficult task of getting abs to be as simple as body weight exercises from home. While I won’t go into personal trainer mode on how to achieve a goal like that, I will tell you that is not how.
“I felt the need to do the Chloe Ting workout because I wanted to have the social media body,” OH senior Lili Torres said. “This negativity affected me mentally because at such a young age I was already comparing myself to society’s standards.”
While I can’t think of any specific video that got as much attention as that one, there are still countless videos that have gained more than 10 million views with a similar premise.
A big misconception about fitness is the importance of your diet over your training. While training is important, nutrition plays an even bigger role. And even then, people realize this and put out “delicious” recipes that supposedly contain 1 gram of sugar and 80 grams of protein.
Another factor to this is simply lack of knowledge. Nowadays, it is way too easy to become a personal trainer. You can pay 700 dollars online to take an online course to be considered knowledgeable and credible.
According to the National Association of Anorexia and Nervosa and Associated Disorders, “At age 6 to 10, girls start to worry about their weight, and by 14, 60 to 70% are trying to lose weight,” and “a survey found that 77% of children and adolescents as young as 12 dislike their bodies, and 45% say they are regularly bullied about how they look.”
In many eyes, the solution to body dysmorphia is diet and exercise. But the most important thing is self-love. It’s okay to not be happy with your appearance, that can be changed. There is nothing wrong with losing weight, gaining weight, maintaining and appreciating your natural state, etc.
Unfortunately, bullies are not going anywhere. I was bullied for being too small, and now I am sometimes bullied for being too big! You can’t please everyone, but you can please yourself. If anything, know that they have some internal issues with themselves and are projecting it on you. You are not the problem!
Never compare yourself to another or expect to look exactly like them. Every body type is different and beautiful in its own way. Do not believe everything you see on the internet, and always search for credibility.
If you or a loved one is struggling with an eating disorder, please reach out to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa & Associated Disorders helpline at 888-375-7767. Open Monday to Friday. 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Central Time; or email: hello@anad.org.
My name is Raelyn Alvarez, and I am a Senior at OHS. This is my third year doing Digital Journalism, and I am beyond grateful to have been voted Editor-In-Chief for my last year.
