Fitness blogger's 'after' photo is technically classed as 'obese', and it's all sorts of ridiculous

If you're a person with social media (i.e. if you are a living, breathing person with a smartphone), you've almost certainly come across a fitness blogger at some point or another. They're pretty recognizable folks, on account of the fact that they almost always have their abs out and everything they post comes accompanied with a million #fitness #lifestyle #instafit tags.

Jokes aside, though, fitness bloggers are great for people who want to find a routine or lifestyle that suits them without having to fork out on some extreme diet plan or gym membership. And, on occasion, they provide a great outlet for discussing the sorts of "body positive" issues that frequently get ignored in the mainstream media.

Lucy Mountain, a blogger who focuses a lot on diet and exercise as well as fashion and general wellness, took to Instagram this week to show the dangers of labeling bodies as "obese".

Credit: Instagram/thefashionfitnessfoodie

In a post showing side-by-side images, Mountain explained that the one on the left - her at her lowest weight - was technically classed as "normal", while the one on the right - her at her highest weight - was considered medically obese.

The issue, however, is that the two pictures show hardly any difference. More importantly, though, is that both pictures show an objectively healthy body.

Just take a look for yourself:

Credit: Instagram/thefashionfitnessfoodie

Along with the images, Mountain explained that she had weighed herself for the first time in a while, and was startled to find that she was now considered dangerously overweight.
⠀
"I don’t often weigh myself," she began. "Not because I find it ‘depressing’ (I detached my self-worth from my relationship with gravity a long time ago), it’s just not a marker which I use to determine success. I consider myself neutral to the number."

She then continued:
⠀
"However today I started my new 12-week training programme and I was curious to see where my muscle mass was at. Since July, the stats included an increase in body fat, maintenance with my muscle, and a waist-to-hip ratio defined as ‘obese’ which was previously considered ‘normal’.
⠀
"This label - combined with the fact I’ve gained 4kg - could have been a pretty wonderful recipe to feel v s**t about myself."

Credit: Instagram/thefashionfitnessfoodie

However, knowing what she knows about health and fitness, Mountain took the logical approach to the situation.

"I have the self-awareness to know I am in fact neither of those labels, I’m still an alright person and I’m actually doing okay," she said.

She finished up by saying that she was "kinda thankful" for the odd label, as it proved "that numbers can't always define our health, that numbers can't define our self worth, [and] that gaining weight isn't the end of the world."
⠀
"Bodies are fluid, and change all the time," she concluded. "Detach yourself from labels, detach yourself from numbers + don’t let bs define you thankyousomuch."

Once again, then, it's been proven that labels don't define us, and that common sense is often the best form of measurement when it comes to assessing our health.