Thinspiration - aka Thinspo

Jettica

Shoot to thrill
I was looking on Tumblr the other day for before and after weight loss pics. Lots of what I found was really motivational, even thought they were mainly of healthy girls getting more toned through stuff like the 30 day shred.

I kept coming across a tag... 'Thinspo'.

Essentially, a lot of girls on Tumblr (and, no doubt, elsewhere on the interbloobs) post pictures of really skinny girls to spur them on their their weight loss endeavours.

I often look at pictures of skinny/thin/healthy girls and think that I could look like that, or wear clothes like that. It's great motivation. But as I looked further into these blogs I saw that these girls were already 125lbs (and young and short) and eating no more than 300 calories per day. Their ultimate goal weights were shocking.

I'm sure it's just a handful of girls because some of the blogs I came across were by girls who were eating healthy and didn't have ridiculous goals.

There's talk of purging, the chew and spit technique and lots of 'pro-ana' chat. It's disturbing and I feel sorry for these women who can't see themselves for what they are... Bloody gorgeous.

It made me sad.

I suppose the point of this thread is:

  • Have you ever come across these blogs, what do you think?
  • And do you ever look a pics of hot, fit, thin women to help you focus on your weight loss journey?
And this can go out to the gents too. Do you look at pics of slim/ripped/buff(/hot) men? And long for a similar body?
 
I always associate 'thinspiration' with pro-ana websites. I find going to those kind of places is extremely dangerous for me as I have a tendency towards ED (in the past and at times, now) and feel I want to make a concerted effort to do things healthily and realistically. Of course I see girls all the time and think what gorgeous figures they have but I am not obsessive about trying to attain someone else's figure. It doesn't matter how much I love some tall model with a size 6 figure, long legs and a smaller bust - that will never be me. Part of the process is learning to feel comfortable in my own skin I think.
 
Theres some really unhealthy looking girls on there :/ . I know 'how thin' I want to go I dont want to end up with stick arms and legs and my head looking huge (i have a pretty big head already)
 
My friends daughter is battling anorexia at the moment and really can't see how unhealthy she is :(

I'm pretty sure that thinspiration is the sort of site she visits.. Her parents are paying for her to have private treatment to try and help her!! Up hill battle :/
 
Agreed. There's also 'fitspo' which seems a bit healthier. Slim and toned is lovely.

There are some before and after pics on Tumblr and I find myself thinking, 'you looked better before'.
 
I do sometimes look at celebrities who I think are fit and healthy looking to motivate me if I'm wavering although I'm always aware that they probably spend hours every day working out and have their daily food intake monitored and cooked for them.

I didn't know pro-ana sites existed until I started teacher training. Some of the thinspiration pics I've seen are truly terrifying... spines and ribs poking out and pics that are clearly photoshopped and entirely unrealistic.
 
Again, I associate 'thinspiration' with pro-anorexia sites. I'm a high school teacher and one of my form (age 14) has just been diagnosed with anorexia. Her parents had seen her looking at pro-a sites and within a few months she has lost stones and is looking awful. She is now in therapy several times a week so will hopefully improve. But her education will suffer as a result even if she recovers from the anorexia.
 
I'm a high school teacher (English) too moo64. I've only taught one girl with a severe ed and I found it so difficult watching her get thinner and thinner every day. She was getting help but she just looked so desperately unhappy all the time and so anxious and worried well beyond her years.
 
It's a shame there isn't more being done to keep these sites in check. A lot of the people on Tumblr are definitely bordering on having an ED, if they don't currently.
 
i havent seen any of these sites, nor would i want to.

i admit ive looked at pictures of other women as inspiration but athletic build women, with muscle tone, slim healthy figures not bones sticking out with lollipop heads


googled it.amd some of the images are shocking.
this one knocks me sick...
http://media.photobucket.com/image/thinspiration/anas_slave/thinspiration.jpg?o=19
how can anyone think this looks good? she looks very ill!
its sad how girls find this boney look attractive, they wont relaise how unhealthy they are as they wont see their true size in the mirror, instead they will see a fat girl staring back at them. its sad, some have lovely figures

bones dont look good,
 
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That's worse than a lot of the pictures I've seen. She looks dead.

I definitely like to look at fit, athletic women for inspiration. It keeps me going but I don't want to see any spines or ribs, thanks.
 
thats what i thiguht at first, i just saw the thumbnail pic at first and actually thought she was dead. its discusting.

i feel the girl in the picture, shes very very ill, she needs some serious help or she will end up dead soon. it makes me sad looking at it, what made her think she was fat to go that extreme? i hope she gets the help she needs

this is what i call inspiration....
http://i56.tinypic.com/2qx1gcm.jpg

athletic, toned, shes slim yet you dont see bone sticking out
 
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That picture is so upsetting. I work in mental heath, the eating disorders unit is on the floor above me. Its so upsetting seeing young girls looking so old and frail sometimes with feeding tubes.

My inspirational pic is one I cut out of the simply be catalogue. I want to keep my curves but scale it down a bit more. 5 stone gone so far but still a couple to go :)
 
Healthy thinspiration is good!

My inspiration is girls with curves. Particularly pin up/retro models. Or girls who are my height and at my goal weight!
 
Yep I have seen the thinspiration..it just made me feel really fat and depressed. I don't see the point comparing yourself with models etc. You have to make the best of what you yourself have.

I did see a lot of people on tumblr who are really sporty or others who give out diet tips and that motivated me a lot. I felt it was more constructive. I like some of the fitspo as I like that kind of yoga/pilates honed body-lean but not like a bag of bones either.

There was this guy who was really overweight so start running all these races to lose it and now he looks amazing-definitely inspirational to me! :)
 
I track the fitspo tag on Tumblr. I love it. I like seeing all the lean, toned people. Definite motivation for me to keep running and doing all that ab work!
 
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