Progress Photo Problems

While there is nothing wrong with sharing your progress in the gym, consider these points when posting or viewing transformation photos:

- The fitness industry is predatory and preys on our insecurities. Gyms and coaches use transformation photos to sell you their memberships and programs because it’s easy and demonstrates that they get results, but at what cost? Do those results last? Does everyone get results? 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. If two people followed the exact same diet and training regime, they’d still look different. We also don’t know their training history, diet, or whether or not they use performance enhancing drugs.

- We don’t know what kind of approach 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 90% of 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. In general, we tend to feel pretty lousy about our own bodies when we see other people’s transformation photos.

- Progress is not always visible on the exterior, but if you consistently show up to the gym I guarantee you are more muscular, stronger, and resilient. Rather than focusing on if your aesthetics have changed, celebrate your performance gains!