The Beef I Have With Pinterest

I have a little confession. Sometimes I see the picture below and think, "Dang I wish my abs looked like that. Maybe if I do more crunches I can have that body too."

How terrible is that? I think it's terrible that I've thought that. 

I really do love Pinterest. I think it's so fun to get new ideas and expand my horizons. But when I see stuff like the pictures below I feel a little sick...

There is a fallacy associated with these two pictures, and a million more that look just as awful. The pin says: Do this routine before every shower: 50 jumping jacks, 5 pushups, 20 crunches and a 30 second plank. So worth it. The fallacy is that if you do this ridiculous routine, you will look like these women with these skinny, less than 10% fat bodies and their photoshopped abs. I think it's SO DUMB. That routine is practically nothing in terms of exercise. The only way that would make your body look like that is if you also starved yourself. 

This is another Pinterest thing that drives me crazy. "What kind of belly fat do you have? Crunches may be making the problem worse! Do this, this and that and you will have a flat belly and get rid of that pooch!"

Here's the thing. I got caught up in this for a while. I have a pooch. It's genetic. When I eat, my gut pokes out. I hated it. It made me so frustrated. "But these women on Pinterest have flat bellies and they just had to do this, this and that. What am I doing wrong??"

How pathetic is that?

Thankfully I came to myself and I realized that instead of trying to change my body, how about I just ACCEPT my body the way that it is? 

Here's how my body really is. My stomach is flat in the morning, when there is absolutely no food in my belly. The second I eat anything, there's a pooch. And I accept that about myself. It's genetics. It's how my mom is, it's how her sisters are, it's how my sisters are. 

IT'S OKAY.

Look at this picture. Look at that anorexic looking person. There's this obsession with the "thigh gap" these days. That when you stand with your legs together, they shouldn't touch. I think it's stupid. People with "thigh gaps" have a ridiculously low body fat percentage. It's not healthy for girls and women to get below 18% body fat. And again, with the fallacy of this picture. "If you do this routine, you will have skinny thighs, which apparently is the most socially desirable way for your thighs to be."

Instead of trying to change our bodies, let's love our bodies. I'm not saying that we shouldn't eat healthy or work out, I already talked about how much I love to eat healthy and work out. But I don't work out to look like these women all over Pinterest. I have a healthy lifestyle because I love my body, belly pooch and all. 

The next time you see something like this on Pinterest, think to yourself "how realistic is this for my body type? Not very. Okay, moving on."

Let's move on.