People Are Sharing Photos Of Themselves Weighing The Same But Looking Completely Different, And It’s Inspirational (40 Pics)

Personal trainer and healthy living expert Paulius told Bored Panda that even though weight is an important factor in our health, it's not the entire story. The focus should be on overcoming harmful diet and movement-related habits and learning to find what types of movement we enjoy, all the while allowing our bodies to adapt. We shouldn't force ourselves to do something we're not comfortable with. "Our bodies can deal with everything by themselves under the right conditions. However, if you want a point of reference, you can get a body composition analysis done which is a cheap option (though it can have some issues with accuracy)."

According to Paulius, learning to love ourselves walks hand-in-hand with noticing what kind of flaws in our thinking dominate our lives. "I can tell you from my professional experience that one of the most common problems is having an 'all-or-nothing' mindset. These people tend to either exercise a lot without taking any breaks or they don't exercise at all," he told Bored Panda.

"This kind of mindset paves the way to letting yourself down and burning out because we think, 'What do you mean I couldn't do it?! Why could others? I obviously need to try harder.' Once you get rid of this point of view, your confidence in our abilities will slowly but surely grow, you'll feel less stress, and that will automatically lead to you loving your own body more."

The idea that not all pounds/kilograms are equal follows the same logic as nutrition: not all calories are made equal. After all, the nutrition you gain from eating lean meat, freshly caught fish, and an assortment of colorful veggies will be vastly different than if you munch on M&Ms while chugging soda and cups of syrupy coffee for breakfast. (Not judging anyone, by the way, a lot of us have been there.)

And with the Covid-19 lockdowns still tying us up mostly at home, taking care of our physical and mental health really should be a priority. Easier said than done? Of course! But when it comes to our fitness, every challenge is an opportunity to lead a better, more energetic life and to get more in touch with what our bodies need and want.

How much you weigh isn’t the only thing that’s important when it comes to your health, as these photos have probably already convinced you. The context—the lifestyle that you lead, your body composition, how much you move, and what you eat—is vital if you want to make accurate assumptions about whether or not a person is as healthy as they can be or if they need some help in that area of their life.

There’s no shame in admitting that we’re not as active as we could be or that we might need a helping hand to lose some pounds if we’re currently overweight. (Even if it’s our lifestyle that’s important, there is a limit to how much big you can get without being considered overweight or obese. Even if you aren’t obese, if you’re a 150kg strongman or strongwoman, your joints won’t thank you.) The CDC is very clear on this point: obesity worsens the outcomes from Covid-19.