My Opinion on Extreme Diets | Snapshot

What’s up buttercup? So I know I’ve been attending a lot of fitness and physique competitions lately. What I’m about to say might be controversial to some. In fact, I’m sure I’m going to get some heat in my DMs. That’s okay. While I don’t consider myself in the fitness industry anymore, I was for decades. I watched it, lived it, influenced others, and I paid the price. I would never have guessed my own pursuits would so quickly slip into the danger zone, and that’s why I’m motivated to say what I need to say. It’s why I’ve chosen to be outspoken about the darker sides of diet culture and dangers of fitness addiction now that I have a much healthier relationship with food and exercise. (Click below for more). [image](=) It took years of taking things to extremes–severe calorie counting and 4-hour-a-day workouts to gain perspective and come out on the other side. It’s also why I believe I can spot someone with disordered tendencies from a mile away (even and especially when they don’t see it in themselves). So, you can imagine how triggering it is for me to attend my friends’ fitness competitions like I have the last few weekends. I know what it takes to step on a stage and to look as lean and fit as possible. It’s not pretty. Aside from the ridiculous spray tans and teeny tiny suits, it’s the extreme dieting and depletion that concerns me the most. Well, that and the mental and emotional torture of having a group of strangers rate your body like a horse at a state fair (only worse because you’re mentally and physically fatigued and practically naked). It’s just never made sense to me to pay a large entry fee to torture your body to get down to dangerously low and unsustainable body fat percentages just to say, “I did a hard thing.” I want to shake all the competitors–yes, even my friends Amanda and Shaun–to say, “You have nothing to prove…you’ve already won the race because you’re fit and healthy.” [image]( These two friends of mine have so much to be proud of. However, neither needed to step in front of a judge to know they’re winners. Look, I get wanting to have a goal to work towards. I understand goal-setting. But what I don’t see the value in is knowingly going into something that has the potential to become an unhealthy addiction, or far worse, something that could ruin your metabolism and hormones for life. Women weren’t designed to have so little body fat that their periods stop. At such low levels, sometimes their hair thins, their thyroids slow down, their bones weaken and they lose so much volume in their faces that they look straight out of a concentration camp. The depletion period of no water and limited nutrients, and then a candy bar and shot of wine to improve vascularity before posing, is straight-up nuts to me. Like, how can this be safe? Here we are celebrating the “healthy bodies” of ultra-lean and muscular competitors when there’s actually nothing healthy about what it took to get there. I love Shaun. I’ll support whatever he does. In fact, he swore he felt amazing throughout the process. In my opinion, that’s the exception, not the rule. Most competitors are in such a state of brain fog that after they leave the stage, they gorge themselves on burgers and tacos to feel better, and many gain 10 pounds overnight. #nothankyou So there… I said what others won’t. I’ll say it to you, online, and to my actual friends who want to compete, because here’s the great thing about friendship: it doesn’t require us to agree with each other’s choices or decisions, especially when it comes to our bodies. My love and support for my friends remain steadfast no matter what. Whether it’s achieving the physique expected to be a runway model, gymnast, fitness competitor, prima ballerina, figure skater, or professional athlete - there will always be a small group who can do so in a way that doesn’t jeopardize mental and physical health. Just remember - your worth comes from who you are, not your body 🥰 Love you, mean it, Chalene P.S. Hey- I’m hosting a free workshop and you’re invited! If you’re easily distracted and feel like you’re being pulled in a million directions, you need to come. It’s on 8/29/23 and we are taking action together to ditch the unneeded stress in your life. [Click here]( to sign up! 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