What is Fitspiration?

You may have seen #fitsipration and #fitspo on social media posts by peers or influencers, but what is fitspiration?

Fitspiration is a term that combines the words “fitness” and “inspiration,” used to describe photos and videos on social media intended to inspire individuals to exercise and be healthy with the goal of attaining a healthy, attractive, and ideal body ("Exercise to be fit, not skinny"). Most posts include images of bodies in motion or exercising, before and after weight loss photos, posed images of individuals flexing and showing off toned body parts, and even food images (Stamoulis). Many photos include captions intended to motivate and encourage; some examples are “be stronger than your excuse,” “healthy is sexy,” “fit is the new skinny,” “train insane or remain the same,” “no pain, no gain,” and more (Liu). Hashtags have been established to organize and signify content that intends to inspire individuals to achieve their fitness goals. Currently, there are 73.4 million posts under #fitspo and 19.2 million posts under #fitspiration on Instagram alone. This fitness movement has blown up on social media, attracting millions of users and creators. Gone are the days of getting exercises from health and fitness magazines, all the content is now at our fingertips.

Example of #fitspo images

The fitspiration hashtag was established on Instagram in 2013 in response to the hashtag “thinspiration,”(Liu). Thinspiration was a movement dedicated to thinness, weight loss, and disordered eating. In 2012, Instagram banned #thinspiration due to its promotion of pro-anorexia and eating disorders. In their statement released with the ban, Instagram said, “…any account found encouraging or urging users to embrace anorexia, bulimia, or other eating disorders; or to cut, harm themselves, or commit suicide will result in a disabled account without warning…” (Duca). Today, if you attempt to search #thispiration, it does not exist, and a resource page appears (see below).

Attempted search result for #thinspo

The goal of fitspiration was to shift the focus from achieving thinness to achieving fitness. Early on, fitspiration was deemed a healthy and positive alternative to thinspiration. The goal was to inspire people to achieve an empowered body image and healthy lifestyle through exercise and healthy eating, as opposed to disordered eating and compulsive exercise ("Exercise to be fit, not skinny"). As more individuals began posting fitspiration content, it became evident that fitspiration was merely a disguised and rebranded version of thinspiration (Liu).

But it’s a positive and inspiring movement, what could be so negative? Posts include before and after photos, eating tips, workout routines, motivation, and more which all seem very positive; however, when viewing these posts individuals feel bad or guilty for not working out or for eating unhealthily, feel like failures if they aren’t losing weight or don’t have good before and after photos, and wish they looked like the people in the posts (Easton, et al). The fitspiration movement is focused on appearance, weight loss, and disordered eating just like thinspiration ("Exercise to be fit, not skinny). The problem with many of these posts is they make many people feel worse about themselves rather than inspired. In a content analysis of thinspiration, fitspiration, and bonespiration (a movement and hashtag that promotes being so thin bones are visible), researchers from the University of Bath found that although fitspiration contained healthier looking bodies than bonespiration and thinspiration, and was a healthier alternative to the two, fitspiration images still idealized extremely thin bodies (Talbot, et al). Various content analyses, including one done by Marika Tiggemann and Mia Zaccardo at Flinders University School of Psychology, have found that fitspiration overwhelmingly includes one body type, thin and toned. The thin ideal and focus are still there. Tiggemann and Zaccardo also analyzed the food images in the fitspiration category, and they found that they emphasize dietary restrictions and contained harmful messages about eating habits ("Strong is the new skinny"). Messaging and imagery that promotes disordered eating is still there.

Despite claiming to be focused on health and exercise, fitspiration imagery promotes exercise that is motivated by and focused on appearance. The inspiration is not for being healthy but for looking good. In a content analysis done by researchers at Leeds Beckett University, they found that posts do not send a healthy message and that sex appeal is the goal of exercise rather than health and athleticism (Deighton-Smith & Bell). The main concern of fitspiration is that many of the women in the images are thin and toned which is unrealistic for many women; and rather than health-based benefits, they promote-appearance related benefits ("Strong is the new skinny"). When women exercise for appearance reasons, almost every time they will fall short of their goals. But who are they comparing themselves to? Women are comparing themselves to the best, most edited, and filtered images. I know I post only the best photos of myself, so why would fitness content creators be any different? Thus, women are faced with even more unrealistic standards and goals to attempt to achieve.

Examples of fitspiration images and captions that promote the thin ideal, appearance related benefits, and extreme attitudes.

Fitspiration images tend to place emphasis on certain body parts and promote changing certain areas such as the stomach, legs, or arms ("Exercise to be fit, not skinny"). If the movement is truly about health, it would promote exercising the entire body and not just certain parts. Similar to thinspiration, fitspiration is focused on how individuals look and promotes doing whatever it takes to achieve the thin beauty ideal. Many women will lose sight of their health goals and begin to do anything just to look good (Talbot, et al). In an interview with my 20-year-old sister and 16-year-old cousin, they both said they exercise for both health and appearance-related reasons (Armour, J.) (Olney). This raises the question of “would you still exercise the way you do if it meant no appearance changes?” I would exercise much differently, and my goals would change because I exercise for many appearance-related reasons.

Influencer Kayla Itsines only emphasizing ab muscles

In her article “The Female Body on Instagram: Is Fit the New it?”, Dr. Josie Anne Reade says, “Representation of the female body in fitspiration images thus appear to ‘inspire’ on the basis of specific aesthetic ideals that both replicate and to a degree extend contemporary notions of the ideal female body” (Reade). When fitness media is appearance focused and imagery based, the possibility for body image issues and increased comparisons arise.

"Representation of the female body in fitspiration images thus appear to 'inspire' on the basis of specific aesthetics ideals that both replicate and to a degree extend contemporary notion of the ideal female body."

If you or a loved one is struggling with an eating disorder; you can call the toll-free, confidential NEDA Helpline, Monday-Thursday from 9:00 a.m.- 9:00 p.m. and Friday from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. at 1-800-931-2237.

Deighton-Smith, N., & Bell, B. T. "Objectifying fitness: A content and thematic analysis of

#fitspiration images on social media." Psychology of Popular Media Culture, vol. 7, no.4, pp, 467–483. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000143

Duca, Lauren. “Can thinspiration really #banned from Instagram?” Huffington Post,

December 6, 2017, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/thinspiration-banned-from-instagram_b_3829155?ir=Australia.

Easton, Stephanie, et al. “Young People’s Experiences of Viewing the Fitspiration Social

Media Trend: Qualitative Study.” Journal of Medical Internet Research, vol. 20, no. 6, 2018, DOI: 10.2196/jmir.9156, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6028764/

Liu, Jean. “What does Fitspo Actually Mean? Everything you need to know about

Fitspiration.” Kara Lydon Nutrition. February 12, 2021, https://karalydon.com/health-wellness/what-is-fitspiration/#:~:text=The%20word%20“fitspo”%20is%20a,created%20to%20motivate%20weight%20loss.

Reade, Josie Anne. “The Female Body on Instagram: Is Fit the New It?” Reinvention:An

International Journal of Undergraduate Research, vol. 9, no.1, 2016, https://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=a4acd934-5928-4235-b95d-5270630390d4%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#bib1up.

Stamoulis, Kathryn. “#Fitspiration: What are the hidden messages in #fitspiration Instagram posts?” Psychology Today, 15 Nov. 2018, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-new-teen-age/201811/fitspiration.

Talbot, Catherine Victoria, et al. “A content analysis of thinspiration, fitspiration, and

bonespiration imagery on social media.” Journal of Eating Disorders, vol. 5, no. 40, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-017-0170-2.

Tiggemann, Marika and Mia Zaccardo. ‘“Exercise to be fit, not skinny’: The Effect of

fitspiration imagery on women’s body image.” Body Image, vol. 15, September 2015, pp. 61-67, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2015.06.003.

Tiggemann, Marika and Mia Zaccardo. ‘“Strong is the new skinny’: A content analysis of

#fitspiration images on Instagram.” Journal of Health Psychology, vol.23, no.8, 2016, https://ntserver1.wsulibs.wsu.edu:2333/doi/pdf/10.1177/1359105316639436.