Why things like 'Strong Is The New Skinny' hurts more than helps.

This post stems from thoughts I had after reading Skye's post 'Why "Strong is the New Skinny" needs to die.' Which I suggest reading, even perhaps, before my post.

Skye points out that the slogan is worthless now. If you were to google it, you'll see that indeed, you still need to be skinny. Along with all these pictures of women posing. Not ACTUALLY being 'strong'. This isn't empowering at all!

When I was overweight and doing nothing about it, all the ads about how women were only attractive or worth anything if they came in sizes 10 and under, fuelled my self worth.

However, all of these ideals confused healthy for me. I was convinced that people only ate right and exercised if they wanted to get skinny.
Take a minute to think on that one, because it was a BIG realization for me.

I ended up equating Healthy to Skinny.

Convinced that I was not genetically made to be 'skinny', I was on a mission to show that you could be overweight and still be happy with yourself. I wanted people to accept themselves for who they were. My energy was misdirected from all the misinformation. THIS is the problem with these types of ads.

You know what can also be so scary about 'Healthy = Skinny'? Some thin people don't realize the damage they are doing by living an unhealthy lifestyle. The damage that they are doing to their bodies doesn't necessarily show on the outside.

I still advocate for accepting yourself for who you are. HOWEVER, I'm a bigger advocate for also treating yourself right. You can be overweight and love yourself. You can be skinny and love yourself. The best way to love yourself? BE HEALTHY.