Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be skinny to be considered beautiful. Social media is constantly pushing the idea that being skinny is related to beauty when in reality, yes skinny people can be beautiful but that is not the reason they are attractive. Everyone has an ideal weight for themselves, and that’s perfectly fine except when these goals for yourself begin to be forced on to other people, which social media is often found guilty of.
By now I’m sure you’ve seen the excessive amount of “glo up” pictures floating around the internet for a while now. Glo up pictures are when a before and after pictures are posted and the before usually depicting an overweight person, and the after shows a skinnier version of the same person. The second one is the “glo up” which means that person has improved their looks from the time they took the first picture. After quite some time of viewing these posts, l came to the realization that all these posts show a weight loss which is often the reason the person in the picture is said to have a glo up. Why is a weight loss necessary for someone to have a glo up? These post can lead to the belief that if your body looks like the before picture, that you’re not nearly as beautiful as someone as the same body type as the after picture, which is pushing false, negative beliefs onto many people who view these posts.
Body positivity is not simply appreciating one body type, it’s appreciating every body type. Body positivity is acknowledging that both the before and after pictures are beautiful, rather than claiming you’re body positive when only praising the end result. I have never come across a glo up post that showed a weight gain instead of a weight loss. Although, it’s okay to love yourself and post about it, you shouldn’t be comparing body types. Be proud if you’ve reached a goal of yours but it’s important to recognize that other people are where you were before.
Everyone should feel comfortable to post a glo up picture whether it shows weight loss or gain. Don’t post a picture because you lost weight, post the picture because you’re confident in who you are, glo ups are for everyone, just as beauty comes with everyone.
