Before and After Photos Are Hurting Your Health

​Social media has become a great platform for spreading health knowledge and services. But it has also become a never-ending feed of side-by-side photos of “transformations” and before and afters. 

​Now, I don’t want to discredit anyone’s hard work or take away from any major milestones. I just want to create a space to reveal how this transformation obsession can fuel the very unhealthy, dishonest, and down-right nasty parts of the fitness industry.
To judge a person solely on the dramatic change that can be captured in only two points in time is unfair and unrealistic. No one on earth is just a set of before and afters. We are ever changing, evolving, learning, growing, and morphing into something else. 

​Where is the after-after-after-after photo?!

When did health become an end goal?

Who is truly benefiting from these photos?

How can we tell if they are actual or have been digitally modified?
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What purpose are they truly serving?

Edited "Before" to show dramatization.

My initial reaction to seeing a Before and After post is congratulatory. I know what type of work and dedication that can go on behind the scenes for some of these transformations. My second reaction is somewhat sadness. A slight bitter aftertaste. So many of the comparison photos I see are to sell products or services. Someone else’s hard work is being capitalized on. This is one reason I will NEVER use these kinds of photos as an advertisement campaign. For one, I’m not a weight loss coach. I am a board-certified health and wellness coach. No where in that name does it say, “weight loss”. I purely view weight loss as a side effect to balanced living and is not to be used as the tape measure of wellness.

I also struggle because of how it instills a quick fix persona. Many of those who monetize before and after photos are selling a band-aide, not a long-term, higher-quality-of-life solution. And what is worse, we are further perpetuating the thin ideal which is truly not a marker of health.
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If you are looking into purchasing a product or service that utilizes other people’s Before and After photos, I urge you to ask yourself the following questions first:

• How else can success be measured?
• What do the results look like for the majority or their clients?
• Can the changes that I want be sustained?
• Would my physician back the claims of the produce/service?
• How will I feel if I don’t obtain the expected results?
• Does my self-esteem revolve around my weight?
• Does my health and wellness rely on weight loss?

There is nothing wrong with being proud of the results you have worked hard for. But just remember, it’s not the only or even best way to measure success, health, or happiness.