Inspiration and Thinspiration

Inspiration and Thinspiration

Inspiration is a very important concept in anything one wants to achieve. If we look at what individuals have achieved over their lifetime, especially those with very prominent accomplishments, they usually have been inspired by someone or something to go that far. Because, let’s face it, life is not always easy. Almost no matter what task you undertake, there may be obstacles, challenges and difficulties you might have confront to get to where you want to be.

Thus, exercise and dieting are no exceptions to this rule. One of the most important parts is to not give up, and also diet and exercise may be introduced into one’s life incrementally. Incremental changes may be better than drastic ones, as for smoking. But the situation depends on the person, some people find quitting smoking cold turkey works best for them, while others prefer to gradually reduce tobacco intake. However, there seems to be a consensus that crash diets do not work in the long run.

Is fishing a sport? Image: Elena

Thinspiration is a related, but at the same type completely different concept. The related part has to do that thinspiration represents images, photos or pictures of the ideal thin body young women want to attain (thinspiration is less associated with body building), thus diet and exercise might be at the rendez-vous; but, at the same time thinspiration is closely linked to eating disorders, such as bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa. The two eating disorders are referred as mia and ana in the pro-ana community, which is an Internet based community advocating the dangerous and very unhealthy lifestyle (what they call the disorders).

So, why is exercise and diet good, while anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa remain part of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) published by the APA (American Psychiatric Association). The answer, aside from the obvious, such as that disordered eating may be classified as mental illnesses, lays in the balance and the moderation of efforts to stay thin, or to stay in shape. Also, many professional body builders who are also coaches, know that many young women have as a goal to be as thin as possible, which often goes against body building paradigms, since one is supposed to gain at least some muscular mass when training.