5 Reasons Why Fitspo Is Unhealthy

Last Updated on April 15, 2025 by Giorgia Guazzarotti

I spend way too much time on Pinterest.

It’s a great resource for inspiration about.. everything. Whether you want to redecorate your bedroom, style that new yellow crop sweater, or discover new workouts, Pinterest has got you covered.

Talking about workouts, you can’t scroll through Pinterest without coming across Fitspo (fitness inspiration). You know what I’m talking about. Images of beautiful, super fit women accompanied with motivating phrases like “the voice in your head that says you can’t do this is a liar”, and “never give up”.

Innocuous, right? Not so much…

Instead of inspiring you to get healthier, these images make you hate your body. Its crime? Not conforming to the images you see online…

Here’s everything that’s wrong with Fitspo:

1. Fitspo Promotes A Body Ideal Impossible To Achieve

Just like women’s magazines, Fitspo encourages you to compare yourself to other women. Slender women. Taller women. Younger women. Photoshopped women.

You get the idea. Fitspo deems only one body type acceptable. A body type that very few people naturally have.

Have you noticed all the women in these photos are usually very young? Even then, a few days before the photoshoot, they undergo strict diets and strenuous exercise regimes.

On set, a makeup artist and stylist use their skills to hide their flaws (that’s if they get to show their faces at all). Only then their photos are taken by professional photographers using short-term “peaking” techniques.

What can’t be hidden, can be deleted with photoshop. Their waists are made smaller, their breasts bigger, and every inch of their body altered to make them look fitter and slimmer.

You can’t compare yourself to that. If you’re a short, pear-shaped girl, you’ll never become tall with a tiny waist, no matter how much you exercise or how little you eat. Any attempt to change your body type will only harm your body and your health.

Everyone has a different body type, and they are all beautiful. But Fitspo ignores that. Just like it ignores that our bodies have different limitations, and different fat storage systems.

It also ignores that fitness isn’t even the point anymore. Half of these bodies weren’t built with performance in mind – they’re sculpted for aesthetics. For Instagram. You can be able to squat your body weight, hike five miles, or have killer endurance, and still not look like someone who fits that narrow, hyper-posed, hyper-lean ideal. Because actual strength doesn’t always photograph well. And Fitspo doesn’t care what your body can do. It only cares what it looks like when it’s flexing in front of a ring light.

Most importantly, it ignores the fact that women are more than their bodies, and that we should be valued for our goodness, intelligence, and achievements, not the way we look. But that kind of value (intelligence, resilience, creativity) doesn’t sell waist trainers or protein shakes. So Fitspo edits it out.

Related: 5 Ways To Learn To Love Your Body

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2. Fitspo Perpetuates Fitness Myths

I know you’re smart enough to realise you can’t look like a Photoshopped 15 year old model. But you may still believe other myths that are masked as common sense. Like, losing weight is simply a matter of eating less and exercising more. If that doesn’t work, it’s because I’m weak and lazy. If only I had more willpower, I’d achieve my body goal.

That’s a lie. Weight loss is more complicated than that. Socio-economic factors, stress, bad habits, hormones, and genetics can all affect your weight. You need to tackle all of them if you want to shed the pounds. Eating less and less and exercising more and more will just make you ill.

And here’s the kicker: Fitspo doesn’t just oversimplify. It actively gaslights. It tells you that if you’re not seeing results, it’s your fault. Never mind that your cortisol is through the roof from chronic stress. Or that your metabolism slowed down after years of under-eating. Or that you’re dealing with PCOS, thyroid issues, or just a full-time job and two kids. Fitspo acts like your body is a math equation, and if you don’t get the “right” result, you clearly didn’t try hard enough.

It also pushes the idea that looking “fit” and being “healthy” are the same thing. They’re not. You can be thin and miserable. You can have abs and zero energy. You can live off protein bars and caffeine and still be applauded for your “discipline”… even while your body is screaming for rest.

So no, you’re not lazy. You’re not broken. You’re not lacking willpower. You’re just living in a world that equates thinness with success, and then hands you a fake, filtered roadmap for getting there.

3. Fitspo Encourages Exercise For The Wrong Reasons

Working out is one of the best things you can do for yourself. No doubt abut that. But Fitspo doesn’t care about health. It doesn’t tell you to exercise so you can be free from disease, boost your feel-good endorphins, or improve your productivity.

Nope. Fitspo images encourage you to work out to “make your supporters proud and your enemies jealous.” As if a tight arse or a flat tummy are more important than a kind heart or a smart brain.

Worse, Fitspo often reduces women to sexy eye candy for leering men. Images rarely show the whole body. Heads and legs are usually cut off, like these body parts don’t matter. Often, women in Fitspo images don’t wear gym clothes. Heck, most of the time, they don’t wear any clothes at all. If they do, it’s likely a skimpy bikini or sexy lingerie.

The message is clear: we should exercise to be sexually attractive to men, not to be healthy. I say thats’ BS.

And let’s be honest, this doesn’t just mess with how we view ourselves. It rewires our relationship with movement altogether. You start associating exercise with punishment, not joy. With guilt, not strength. It turns something that could be grounding and empowering into a never-ending performance. You’re no longer working out to feel better, you’re working out to be seen looking better.

Even the way workouts are marketed now – “shred,” “torch,” “burn,” “sculpt” – sounds more like violence than wellness. It’s not about how you feel when you move. It’s about shrinking. Erasing. Editing. Like the end goal of every squat or push-up is to take up less space.

But here’s the truth no Fitspo will ever post: You’re allowed to move your body for joy. For mobility. For fun. For strength. For mental health. And yes, even for rest. You don’t need to earn your food. You don’t need to justify your body. You get to exist exactly as you are — no transformation photo required.

Related: Are You Exercising The Right Way?

4. Fitspo Can Trigger Eating Disorders

Charlotte Hilton Andersen, author of The Great Fitness Experiment, believes that “fitspo may be thinspo in a sports bra.” I agree.

Thinspo (thin inspiration) refers to pictures of very thin women used as willpower motivation for eating disorders like anorexia. Fitspo is supposed to be healthier. Isn’t exercise good for you, after all? Yep, but only in moderation. If you keep going even when your body is too tired, you’re going to seriously injure yourself.

Demonizing food can lead to eating disorders. Eating a pizza every now and then won’t hurt you, but Fitspo makes you think otherwise. It tells you that if you want to be fit, you can’t eat anything tasty and, if you’re still not losing weight, it is because you’re still eating too much. For some people, these messages can trigger eating disorders, such as anorexia and orthorexia.

Lesser known than other eating disorders, orthorexia starts with a genuine desire to eat healthy. Sufferers may start by becoming vegetarians or vegans (nothing wrong with that), but soon the amount of foods on their blacklists becomes so long that they can’t eat anything that’s not “pure”.

Before you know, important nutrients are left out of their diets. That can trigger all kinds of diseases. Your body needs everything – yes, even fats and carbs – in moderation.

But here’s the scariest part: Fitspo has figured out how to disguise disordered behaviour as “wellness.” It’s not saying don’t eat. It’s saying only eat “clean.” It’s not saying starve yourself. It’s saying track your macros, weigh your food, earn your treats. It turns obsession into a lifestyle and makes it look aspirational.

It doesn’t show you the woman who’s crying in her kitchen because she accidentally went over 1,200 calories. Or the one dragging herself to the gym with an injury because she’s terrified of losing progress. Or the teenage girl Googling if sugar-free jelly counts as a snack. It hides the consequences and packages the sickness as discipline.

And because it’s dressed up in activewear and tagged #selfcare, people praise it. That’s what makes it dangerous. It doesn’t just mess with your body. It warps your sense of reality.

5. Fitspo Undermines Your Self-Esteem To Sell You Stuff You Don’t Need

So what’s the point of Fitspo (cos it certainly ain’t health)? And who creates these images, anyway? Sports brands like Nike. Gyms. Work out DVDs. Pretty much anyone in the fitness industry profits by these images. Images that, at first glance, seem empowering. But in reality, they’re anything but.

Fitspo images are designed to make you feel bad about yourself. To lower your self esteem and make you feel worthless unless you look a certain way. And how can you look like that? By buying Nike shoes. And fitness DVDs. And enrolling atea gym. And whatever else they try to sell you.

That’s why women’s waists and thighs are getting smaller and smaller every year. The goals must be unachievable because if you ever become comfortable in your own body, you won’t buy their shit.

It’s the oldest trick in the book: create the insecurity, then sell the cure. But what’s wild is how slick it’s become. They don’t just market products anymore. They market identities. Want to be “that girl”? She drinks collagen at 6am, does a 45-minute workout in matching gym sets, and posts green smoothies like it’s a personality trait. The look is aspirational. The lifestyle is a trap.

And the wellness industry knows it. They know that if they convince you your body is a never-ending project, you’ll keep buying. More supplements, more guides, more miracle leggings with built-in butt lift tech. Because once “healthy” becomes aesthetic, there’s always something to fix.

So no, it’s not motivation. It’s marketing in disguise. And it’s banking on you staying just dissatisfied enough to keep spending.

Related: How Going On A Media Fast Helped My Self-Esteem

Is All Fitspo Bad?

Of course not all Fitspo is bad. Some photos can really inspire you to stop spending so much time on your sofa watching TV and start being more active and healthier. How do you know when fitness motivation is healthy?

When it focuses on health, fun, and a balanced lifestyle rather than looks, sex, and dangerous extremes.

When it makes you feel excited about working out rather than miserable for not looking hot enough.

When the goal is to be healthy, not skinny with muscles.

Only when you take good care of your body, rather than trying to change it, you can truly be healthy and happy.

There are creators out there who show the full picture… the bloating, the mental health dips, the rest days, the reality of training with a job or a disability or a toddler climbing on your back mid-plank. That’s the stuff that deserves a platform. Because it’s real. Because it helps.

The problem isn’t motivation. It’s manipulation. And once you know the difference, you start to see it everywhere.

So if you’re scrolling and suddenly feel like your body is a problem to fix, or like you need to “earn” the right to eat lunch – that’s your cue. Mute. Unfollow. Walk away. Your health isn’t up for branding.