![\"NINTCHDBPICT001011441100\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/\/4825941f-312f-4acd-91e5-2118ff344488.jpg\")
<\/p>\nI recently posted a picture of myself on social media, with one intention, but the outcome was unexpected. I put up a video on my Instagram of myself in the gym, wearing a sports bra and leggings and doing some physio exercises I\u2019d been set in order to recover from a painful back injury. The caption read something like, \u201cLook, I can touch my toes again!\u201d, as I slowly bent forward with my arms outstretched towards the ground. I felt a sense of achievement, so why did the response send me into a complete spiral?<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look incredible!\u201d, \u201cSkinny minny!\u201d, \u201cABS!\u201d. A flurry of messages about how good I was looking filled up my DMs. Messages that would have usually made me feel so happy, just made me cry. I couldn\u2019t understand why everyone thought I looked so good on the outside, when actually I was in the worst state I\u2019d ever been in, physically and emotionally. <\/p>\n
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It\u2019s true, I\u2019d lost weight rapidly \u2014 5kg in under two weeks, to be precise \u2014 thanks to a concoction of strong pain meds and an adverse gut reaction to them, meaning I hadn\u2019t been able to eat properly in weeks. Added to this I hadn\u2019t been able to work out for months and I was signed off work for a little while to try to get over the \u201cacute\u201d phase of my injury. I\u2019m someone who loves sport and fitness \u2014 I play netball, cycle long distances, play tennis and squash \u2014 as well as train in the gym. It keeps me in shape mentally as well as physically, so it was devastating to have to stop. I was in a dark place, temporarily stripped of my freedom, ability to do normal things \u2014 and my muscles were disappearing. I was miserable. And yet everyone was telling me how good I looked. <\/p>\n
\u2022 Is this new diet the secret to weight loss?<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n I made light of it, joking that I\u2019d gained bingo wings, waving my flabby underarms where toned triceps used to be. What people were calling \u201cabs\u201d wasn\u2019t in fact the core I\u2019d spent years building up, but rather a lack of muscles and the optical illusion of just a bit less fat around my waist. Granted, my legs looked slim for the first time ever and my cheekbones \u201cpopped\u201d, but if you looked closely I was gaunt, grey, glassy-eyed and frankly quite sad. I might\u2019ve looked good to outsiders, but I was the least healthy and happy I\u2019d ever been. <\/p>\n This reaction isn\u2019t a one-off. I\u2019ve had similar comments over the past few months around how \u201ctrim I\u2019m looking these days\u201d. A colleague at work asked me last month if I\u2019d lost weight and most friends I see have been saying the same. One friend I went for a walk with recently even said I had \u201cOzempic face \u2026 but in a good way\u201d. These are the sorts of compliments some people dream of receiving, but I just brushed them off. I hadn\u2019t been trying to get a slimmer frame, I\u2019d been spending most of my time lying flat on the floor, in pain and in a dark place.<\/p>\n Is skinny back to being the new indicator of happiness? Whatever happened to \u201cstrong is the new skinny\u201d \u2014 a slogan that came about in the early 2010s and flooded through the fitness industry promoting body positivity? Now, seemingly, we\u2019re in a skinny jab-filled world where embracing all body types seems to have gone as quickly as any other wellness fad. <\/p>\n