Why You Shouldn’t Listen To What Celebrities Or Influencers Tell You Is Healthy

Perfectly sculpted and bronzed bodies splashed all over media and magazines, the world of celebrity is alluring and it sells. We get drawn in with the desire to look like they do and fall into the false belief that this is what health looks like.

But is any of it healthy at all?

To achieve the type of body that we see on celebrities or on the cover of women's/men's health, requires a heck of a lot of dedication, there is no denying that. But it’s part of their job to look that way, and in fact for many, it’s a job that requires full time hours.

Those hours can be spent severely restricting foods.

They exercise obsessively up to two, or even three times a day and this is without even getting into the mental health issues that this can bring up.

You only had to watch Will Smith’s journey on his weight loss to see the cracks in his mental state that this type of regime can bring about.

We see these glossy covers and think that this is the pinnacle of health and what we all should be striving for.

Whilst leaving out all of what it takes to look that way, the part that genetics also plays, how much of it really isn’t achievable for the ‘normal’ person and if all of that even healthy at all? All this is also without mentioning the performance-enhancing drugs that is also way more common than many would admit.

One fitness influencer that has clearly displayed the darker side of the industry is UK based personal trainer and fitness influencer Alice Liveing

In a post on her Instagram comparing her body to how it was as she was rising up as a fitness influencer she said

“Looking back, I feel some deep sadness for the person I became early on my in twenties. I’ve been able to work through a lot of what I experienced and whilst I regret so much of what I did, I am also able to understand that I was a product of the environment so many of us found ourselves in, and I’m able to offer myself compassion for being naive and not knowing better”

A product of the environment. An environment where she was led to believe that severe restriction and overexercising in order to look super lean and sculpted was normal, a part of the job. And the rewards that came with that as the way she looked is what surely supported her career.

She now talks a lot more on her page about the problem with overtraining and undereating in order to obtain that physique in the first picture.

Low energy, no strength, irregular periods.

Is that what the picture of health is!!!

“At my smallest, I wasn’t strong, nor was I healthy in the sense I know now to appreciate,” she said in another one of her Instagram posts.

And now in a slightly bigger body, she is stronger, happier and how much more energy she now has and feels a lot happier in her life. Though she still has to battle with negative self talk around her body, I think we can all agree she is still stunningly beautiful and looks amazing still.

So whilst we can all look to people for inspiration, it’s ok to want to improve our health and feel good in our skin. Know that what you see out there in the magazines and on social media should be taken with a pinch of salt.

• Stop comparing your body to anyone else.
• Be objective when you look at anyone's health and fitness advice and ask yourself if that feels right for you.
• Focus in on your own health journey, everyones is going to be different. Always ask is this helping me to feel good?
• Nourish and move your body because it helps you to feel better, instead of wanting to look a certain way.
• Health is way more than what your body looks like.

As a health coach, I have been writing more about my opinion and calling out celebrity weight loss tactics. You can read more of those below