Negative effects of Fitspiration on Guilt & Frustration

How fitness media emotes guilt and frustration and the effects of these emotions on women.

Have you ever felt guilty about how productive you were in a day, for not working out, or for what foods you ate? I’m almost certain we have all been there, and it doesn’t feel good.

It could be because you had a busy day at work, were feeling down, needed a break, or just craved a cookie. So why do we feel such intensive feelings of guilt when our “excuses” are valid? What do you feel you’ve done wrong when you don’t exercise?

To understand why exercise is infused with feelings of guilt we must understand guilt itself and its role in the lives of women. Anita Harman evaluates guilt in fitness in her research article, “Exercising Moral Authority: The Power of Guilt in Health and Fitness Discourses.” Guilt is a self-conscious emotion that is produced when an individual perceives themself to have done the wrong thing or failed to do the right thing. Guilt plays an important role in shaping people's identities, relationships, actions, and experiences. When the emotion of guilt is felt, it is because situations elicit an accumulation of memories and experiences that make people feel guilty and play a role in the decisions they make in the future (Harman). Say a woman has a history of guilt related to food or exercise, when either is brought up those memories of guilt arise creating more feelings of guilt. Adding up recurring feelings of guilt or feelings of failure can emotionally drain many individuals. Society has decided what people should be doing which makes people feel guilty when they aren’t doing what they “should be.” Exercise is one of those things that society has decided people should be doing (Harman). Don’t get me wrong, fitness can have great health benefits and people should engage in some sort of physical movement, but there is immense pressure placed on exercising, especially for women.

In modern western societies, the messaging has been sent that fitness is good and an “unavoidable obligation” (Harman). This is especially prevalent in media directed toward women. The obligation of fitness perpetuates western standards of beauty and thinness, and the various social expectations of women. Women are bombarded with images of the ideal female body and media that claims goals of eating healthier, attaining the ideal body, and being a better mother and employee are easily reached with “simple” dedication and prioritization. These feelings of obligation open the door for women to fall short of what is good and right leading to feelings of guilt and frustration. Society promotes the idea that women are responsible for doing the right thing by fulfilling the expectations of being thin, beautiful, and fit. Along with being fit, thin, and beautiful, women also must be feminine and display the feminine aesthetic. Society claims that you will be a “healthy citizen” by taking responsibility for your own health (Harman). But this sense of responsibility and obligation is just another thing for women to focus on and for women to fall short of. Women are expected to work, provide for families, have an active social life, be hard workers, and fit into the ideal aesthetic of a woman. When women feel obligated to do the impossible and she falls shorts, guilt arises. Exercise itself doesn’t make women feel guilty but when paired with relentless moralized standards of body shaping, health, and moral responsibility, elicits the emotion of guilt (Harman).

"The object of worship is the 'perfect body' and exercising is one of the 'primary rituals'..." (Harman)

Exercise is seen as the right thing to do, but the reality of fitting fitness into daily life is not as easy as it seems, and the decision to exercise for many women is based on the guilt they feel if they don’t exercise (Harman). These messages are prevalent in fitspiration posts that say things such as, “You need to get off the couch because exercise improves health; you need to be responsible”, “take charge of your body”, “be responsible for your health.” This perpetuates the idea that exercise is up to the individual, you are in complete control. But when women aren’t in control, they feel guilty and like failures. The other day I saw a post that said, “One day? Or day one. You decide.” This can be seen as encouraging but this opens the door for women to feel guilty if they don’t start today. Women are encouraged to have complete control of their bodies and their lives so when women can’t control how many things they have to do in one day, or how their body is changing or failing to change, there is frustration and guilt that they couldn’t make the time or the change for themselves. The decision is in their hands, the sense of obligation is there, and when women fall short, they place the blame on themselves (Harman). When women are unable to achieve the same fitness goals as their peers or achieve the ideal body many emotions come with this. Women can experience feelings of sadness, frustration, and guilt. Through social expectations and beauty standards, women are pressured to constantly feel guilty. The emotions then lead to feelings of decrease self-esteem and body image.

The fitness industry is fueled with messaging that elicits feelings of guilt through the idea that you could make the time and you have the means, so why not? (Holland & Tiggemann). Frustration and guilt occur when it’s not as easy as society makes it seem. When women are constantly viewing fitspiration posts and engaging in social comparison, frustration can arise when they are not achieving the same results as other women or if they are struggling to stick to certain diet and see others make it seem so easy. Since woman feel they have complete control over this, their frustration turns to guilt because they feel they are in control of their progress and how easy it is to stick to a diet plan. Yet, most women only post their best photos on social media and its been discovered that fitspiration creators and influencers struggle with eating disorders and compulsive exercise (Holland & Tiggemann). Thus, these comparisons should not be made to begin with. Genetics, time, lifestyle, and more can all contribute to how bodies change due to exercise and dieting as well or how easy it is for someone to change habits. Women should not feel guilty for things they can’t control.

Personally, when I don’t exercise and see images of others exercising, I feel guilty for not moving my body. For my whole life, I have believed that I have full control over my body, and I have felt the obligation to be thin, fit, and beautiful. I get frustrated when I feel like I am not getting the results I want, and I place the blame entirely on myself. Even when I am shopping and something doesn’t fit or look right, instead of recognizing that the style may be different, my first thought is to blame myself for not exercising enough to fit into the style. This mindset is very draining and often leads to body dissatisfaction. Until I started researching, I never realized how much guilt played a role in my life and how I chose to exercise and eat. It has been so helpful to research this topic, and I have been better able to recognize my feelings and the role they play in my life. These same sentiments are displayed in the results of a study done by Stephanie Easton, et al., on young people’s experiences viewing fitspiration images. One participant said she feels guilty when she is not in the mood to exercise but feels like she must after viewing fitspiration images. She said the guilt makes her not enjoy fitness because she feels like she must be doing it. Another participant said, that when she is in the mood to exercise, viewing the images can be super motivating but when she is not in the mood it creates feelings of frustration and guilt (Easton, et al).

If these societal norms of fitness and beauty continue to perpetuate through fitness media, the emotional and physical effects could detrimental.

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.

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/

Harman, Anita. “Exercising Moral Authority: The Power of Guilt in Health and Fitness

Discourses.” International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, vol. 9, no. 2, See How She Runs: Feminists Rethink Fitness, 2016, pp. 12-45. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/90012237.

Holland, Grace and Marika Tiggemann. “Strong beats skinny every time’: disordered Eating

and compulsive exercise in women who post fitspiration on Instagram.” International Journal of Eating Disorders, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 76-79, 2017, https://ntserver1.wsulibs.wsu.edu:2118/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/eat.22559