"Fitspo" on Tumblr...not so much (rant warning)

sarahkittymeow
sarahkittymeow Posts: 146
in Motivation and Support
I'm just a little frustrated at the moment at this particular subject and just felt like having a little rant about it, so yeah

I have a Tumblr and it is for the most part a great place to find good diet and weight loss tips and motivation but on the other hand, there's a lot of other stuff mixed in that can get agitating, although it is certainly to be expected.

I guess I just get mad that I can't really follow "fitspo" or "fit" tags to look at inspiring photos because only a portion of them are, while the rest are just really skinny anorexic girls (and that is not me being judgmental...it is LITERALLY pro-ana blogs who post in fitspo) or just people who are small but clearly not in shape.

Sorry and I mean no harm because I don't believe there's anything wrong with any body type; BUT on the other hand, when I am in need of SPECIFIC inspiration since I used to be on the verge of eating disorder, always wanting to look 90 pounds, etc...I just don't like having a ton of photos of undernourished 16 year olds thrown in there. I mean, I am patient enough to sort through but it just gets old and I really hate having to look at the pictures that I try and stay away from in order to find the ones I would like to see.

Long story short, I just wish that people (on Tumblr and elsewhere) would stop recognizing tiny girls as fit, because that's just not the case, unless they are actually fit. You can weigh a hundred pounds and have almost no muscle and that is not exactly "fitspiration", although there's nothing wrong with simply being tiny. It's really, plain and simple, about that labeling that is getting on my nerves lately. Especially since a lot of fitspo photos I look at are of girls with defined muscles who look amazing, but probably weigh 150 pounds, and then some pro-ana person will call that being too big to be healthy. It's about muscle definition, dude, not how itty bitty you are! Just saying.

So I'm done ranting, and I don't know how many of you MFP folks use Tumblr but if so...have you felt the same about this issue? Just wondering if I'm the only one bothered by it sometimes

Replies

  • AbbeyRysMom
    AbbeyRysMom Posts: 101 Member
    I don't use tumblr, but I did notice the other day when clicking "fitspo" that its not REALLY "fitspo" but "thinspo" so I closed it. So yes, I agree.
  • IndigoFlowers
    IndigoFlowers Posts: 221 Member
    It's quite hard to find proper fitspo on tumblr, I am following a couple great ones that don't ever post pictures like that.

    But I definitely agree with you, although I rarely find looking through tags to be beneficial because post of them come up x-rated!
  • Ariberri9
    Ariberri9 Posts: 206 Member
    I feel the same way. I have a Tumblr, and I follow quite a few queer women. All they post are skinny, white women. I'm friends with them on Facebook as well, and they constantly talk about how "fat women are ugly and unhealthy and not fit." It's irritating.

    We are trained, from an extremely young age, that fat is unhealthy and skinny is healthy. This isn't true. Healthy is healthy and unhealthy is unhealthy...the size of a person does not tell us if the person is unhealthy or not.

    Here's a video that talks about fat-shaming. The woman is a saint.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XhTA4xOxCc&list=UUJm5yR1KFcysl_0I3x-iReg&index=1&feature=plcp

    At the same time, it's not right to shame a skinny person by saying, "Look at her! She's so unhealthy!" It's two sides of the same coin. Like Miss Laci Green says, "We can't tell people to better themselves by telling them to hate themselves first."

    It's frustrating yes; and it's all caused by a common misconception taught to us by society and the media. So many commercials are shown that tell us that "skinny is beautiful" for both men AND women. In our heads -- at the base of our brains -- we link that to, "Beautiful people get more partners. Therefore, they must be more healthy." (In our primitive days, we sought the most healthy partners so that our genes would live on). But as a higher society, we focus mainly on, "Skinny is beautiful." Innately, we have linked skinny to healthy by means of beauty.

    People these days work out to be skinny, which is a complete disregard for what diet and fitness are all about. What makes me upset is when women on MFP are afraid of "bulking up" as if muscles will make them look fat. It's not all about being skinny...it's about being HEALTHY, whether that be "big and muscular" or "skinny and lean."

    Ignore society, and ignore the media. Be HEALTHY and HAPPY, whether that be skinny or not.
  • healthyamberB
    healthyamberB Posts: 47 Member
    I don't have a tumblr. i usually watch fitspo on youtube ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYVUuXM6wp4 this ones my fave cause of all the great quotes and it has a lot of pictures of healthy fit girls!) but i completely understand what your saying about the pro-ana thing. it saddens me because those girls are hurting themselves and don't even realize it :frown:
  • sarahkittymeow
    sarahkittymeow Posts: 146

    People these days work out to be skinny, which is a complete disregard for what diet and fitness are all about. What makes me upset is when women on MFP are afraid of "bulking up" as if muscles will make them look fat. It's not all about being skinny...it's about being HEALTHY, whether that be "big and muscular" or "skinny and lean."

    Ignore society, and ignore the media. Be HEALTHY and HAPPY, whether that be skinny or not.

    That video was very interesting, thanks for posting. And I know, in fact I was even guilty of that as well - being afraid to start building muscle because I wasn't sure how much "bigger" I would look, but I do blame that on the fact that everyone seems to hold thin women to the highest standard of beauty. Recently though I am beginning to just have different tastes of what I would like for myself, IN MY OWN EYES/OPINION which I think is the most important change I could have made. I think that all body types are beautiful, I'm just one of those people-watcher types. However, once I decided that for myself I think I would love to look defined and strong over just as thin as possible, I started to feel much better about being fit and looking like a gym gal. However, old habits die hard and that's why, personally, it is not good for me to look at "thinspo" and so I think that's why I get so offended when people pretend it's fit and therefore, I have to see that thrown back into my face all the time. But I don't know, that's just me.
  • Ariberri9
    Ariberri9 Posts: 206 Member

    People these days work out to be skinny, which is a complete disregard for what diet and fitness are all about. What makes me upset is when women on MFP are afraid of "bulking up" as if muscles will make them look fat. It's not all about being skinny...it's about being HEALTHY, whether that be "big and muscular" or "skinny and lean."

    Ignore society, and ignore the media. Be HEALTHY and HAPPY, whether that be skinny or not.

    That video was very interesting, thanks for posting. And I know, in fact I was even guilty of that as well - being afraid to start building muscle because I wasn't sure how much "bigger" I would look, but I do blame that on the fact that everyone seems to hold thin women to the highest standard of beauty. Recently though I am beginning to just have different tastes of what I would like for myself, IN MY OWN EYES/OPINION which I think is the most important change I could have made. I think that all body types are beautiful, I'm just one of those people-watcher types. However, once I decided that for myself I think I would love to look defined and strong over just as thin as possible, I started to feel much better about being fit and looking like a gym gal. However, old habits die hard and that's why, personally, it is not good for me to look at "thinspo" and so I think that's why I get so offended when people pretend it's fit and therefore, I have to see that thrown back into my face all the time. But I don't know, that's just me.

    As long as you're happy with yourself (within healthy boundaries), that's all you need. Don't go to places that are "triggers" for you. And always remember that what you're doing is healthy. Society and the media are wrong.
  • sarahkittymeow
    sarahkittymeow Posts: 146

    People these days work out to be skinny, which is a complete disregard for what diet and fitness are all about. What makes me upset is when women on MFP are afraid of "bulking up" as if muscles will make them look fat. It's not all about being skinny...it's about being HEALTHY, whether that be "big and muscular" or "skinny and lean."

    Ignore society, and ignore the media. Be HEALTHY and HAPPY, whether that be skinny or not.

    That video was very interesting, thanks for posting. And I know, in fact I was even guilty of that as well - being afraid to start building muscle because I wasn't sure how much "bigger" I would look, but I do blame that on the fact that everyone seems to hold thin women to the highest standard of beauty. Recently though I am beginning to just have different tastes of what I would like for myself, IN MY OWN EYES/OPINION which I think is the most important change I could have made. I think that all body types are beautiful, I'm just one of those people-watcher types. However, once I decided that for myself I think I would love to look defined and strong over just as thin as possible, I started to feel much better about being fit and looking like a gym gal. However, old habits die hard and that's why, personally, it is not good for me to look at "thinspo" and so I think that's why I get so offended when people pretend it's fit and therefore, I have to see that thrown back into my face all the time. But I don't know, that's just me.

    As long as you're happy with yourself (within healthy boundaries), that's all you need. Don't go to places that are "triggers" for you. And always remember that what you're doing is healthy. Society and the media are wrong.

    Thanks, I agree :)

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