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Are Before and After Photos That Helpful?

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Before and after photos seem to be everywhere. Can you think of the last time you saw one? Maybe from a family member or old friend that has recently lost some weight and they want to show off the difference. Or from gyms who use them to show how effective their programs are. Or even supplement companies that use them to show the difference their product can make in your life. There has been discourse on if before and after photos should be used at all. Today I am going to dip my toe into the arguments and give you a look at each side.

Let’s start with the pros. For one they have become a normalized way to celebrate and show progress, they can be a great way to build confidence and momentum in people to keep up the hard work if there has been some visible change. These type of photos do a good job of getting all different body types out there and seen. On the business side of things, they work well for marketing purposes, and paired with client stories and statistics they can really inspire people to change and to maybe even buy the product.

As photos have become very popular they have gained some critiques, not of the photos themselves, but the perhaps dangerous ideals that they insinuate. Let’s start with the legitimacy of photos. In this day and age we have seen videos of people showing just how easy it is to fake these photos with lighting, posing, angles and photoshop. There is an argument for how we can know for sure what contributed to the change between the two photos. We don’t see the behind the scenes of it all. Oftentimes people are doing several things at once and there’s no way to know if they are healthy or not.

Photos can easily invite comparison not only from other people but the person in the photo towards others. It puts the focus entirely on how the person looks instead of how they feel. They insinuate that the after is better than the before, which leads into the notion that size equals health. It can often trigger disordered eating or patterns. For example, when I was using photos as a way to track progress I found myself almost constantly body checking myself.

With anything there are pros and cons with using photos as a basis of measurement. The importance lies in determining if it is the best way for you to track your progress, not the most popular.


Here are a few alternate ways to measure progress

  • Circumference measurements

  • Progression of the weight you are lifting

  • How long you can run/walk for

  • How long have you been consistent with your choice of exercise

  • How is your body feeling

  • How is your mind feeling








 
 
 

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