Transformation Photos

 

With the approach of January comes New Year Resolutions, and you might start to see more and more body transformation photos online to promote change. On the surface transformation photos may seem harmless; what’s there to hate about celebrating another person’s accomplishments? 

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with sharing your victory, consider these points as well when posting or viewing transformation photos:

• Businesses use transformation photos to sell you their memberships and programs (yes, even personal training and nutrition coaching!). Sometimes these photos don’t even reflect an actual change, but instead the pictures may have been altered and/or staged with better lighting and posing.
• Some people are blessed with amazing genetics, and their three month transformation does not necessarily mean you will get the same results.
• We don’t know what kind of methods the person used to get their results. Was it slow, consistent weight loss or was it a crash diet that ruined their physical, social, and mental health; were the means worth the result?
• Transformation photos idolize thinness/weight loss and muscularity which promotes weight stigma by suggesting your body only has worth and value if it meets the ideal beauty standard: your fat body was “bad”, your new thinner body is “good”, but then what happens if you regain the weight as most dieters do?
• Viewers of the photo may feel inferior, shame about their own body, play the comparison game, or trigger relapse in those with eating disorders.

So if you do want to post a transformation photo to celebrate your accomplishments, perhaps consider sharing a photo of you setting a PR instead, or at least talk about what you had to sacrifice in order to get results (no one ever seems to mention the missed social events, mood swings, lethargy, and restriction that come with dieting). 

At the very least, do not disassociate yourself from the old photo and speak compassionately about that body. You may have changed but that “before body” is still you, and one day, for whatever reason, you might find yourself back in it. Should that happen, you haven’t failed, you don’t lack willpower or motivation, and you still have self-worth. It’s just normal for bodies to fluctuate and change.