Fitsperation. Or How to Roll a Shit in Glitter.

Zoe. You read this blog and are always so enthusiastic and lovely and I'm really sorry that what I'm about to write might make you angry or sad. Hopefully you'll understand that me and you have very very different attitudes to food and exercise and that we are friends despite this but I will understand if you find what I think upsetting. 

Fitsperation is bullshit. 

There are people out there that have parts of themselves that are working against them. Little or big voices in their heads that tell them they are not worth enough on their own, that they have to work at being worth anything. This is wrong, we all know it is. You are always absolutely above and beyond whatever anyone could want you to be on your own. You should not have to try to be respected or valued, you should know that you are always enough. That voice though, if given too much power, will try and destroy you. It is addictive and poisonous to listen to that voice. 

I am scared of that voice. It lives inside of me, telling me disgusting things about love handles and double chins. But the best thing about being scared of that voice is that I do not listen to it. Because if you do, if you let it win that is when eating disorders happen. Anorexia has never been a good thing, no one is ever trying make it mainstream. Thinsporation or 'Thinspo', Pro-Ana websites are reportable to your internet provider and treated as 'dangerous to children' by all internet security software. There are girls who try and make it seem controllable or cool but as with any addiction, it rules you. If you let it in, you lose and it will take you. 

But now another threat has arisen and this time its very very well disguised. Fitspo, or Fitsporation is encouraging people to get 'fit'. That 'strong is the new sexy' and 'strong girls look better naked'. Now I know that this seems fine, that encouraging healthy diet and exercise is all doctors ever wanted but what it is doing is the same. Sneaky but the same. It is pushing an incredibly difficult and dangerous body image to strive for amongst (lets face it) young girls, claiming it to be sexy, beautiful and the most awful and infectious normal. When you give someone something like Fitspo, those voices in their head go fucking nuts. They can boast about their progress online without feeling like they are going to be judged and lead normal lives. Its a really high functioning mental illness. You can lead a normal life except for when someone asks you if you want to do something, you don't, you want to go to the gym. When someone asks you if you want to get some lunch or go out for a drink, you don't, You want to eat the food at home that you have calculated its calories and carbohydrate sugars. 

When you're giving a woman, because its always a woman, a body image to aim for you are feeding the voices. Your opinion of your body is a mental health issue, not a health issue. 99.9% of the time, you look fine, brilliant and beautiful. Go for a run, do some yoga, eat healthy thats all brilliant but eat a double cheeseburger and spend the day in bed once in a while. Get a bit of body fat because when the Apocalypse comes you will be the first to die and no one will want to eat you so you won't even be helpful. 

I get a bit ranty when I talk or think or even glance at something like this but its important. Strong may be sexy, can be sexy and is sexy but osteoporosis through bone shock fractures and over use of aspirin is not. Neither is a girl that can't lick chocolate off of you, or gets ill all the time from a low immune system. Anaemia isn't sexy. When you get to the unhealthy levels of calorie burning that come from an intense exercise regime, all the symptoms and side effects are the same as being anorexia. They're also about 80% the same as obesity, interestingly. 

K