Warm days ahead here in Malta, and they’ve already made an early appearance in SoCal as well.  On most girls’ minds (including my own)?  How to get that beach bod.

So it’s no surprise that the Pinterest boards are currently overflowing with “fat to fit,” “how to lose that belly,” & “Bangin’ Body Program” type-pins from work out sites and health freak blogs.

Am I reading them?  Yes.  Are some of the tips great?  Absolutely.  Do I repin/bookmark?  Guilty.

But at the same time, am I the only one bothered by the insanely musclely pictures and supermodel images to accompany?  I don’t know, I mean, not that I’m not believer in their advice or workout suggestions, but isn’t that a bit misleading?  Let’s face it, 30 jumping jacks a day plus a few reps of crunches are not going to have me looking like these girls — friggen bathing suit competition-status — in two weeks.  That’s not exactly inspiring to me.  If anything I’ll follow that work out regimen and be even more pissed that I didn’t come out looking like Alexandra Ambrosio.

And enough with the whole, “strong is the new skinny.”  The “strong” girls in those pictures…are still skinny.  So why are they hating on themselves?  (Can we just stop hating on each other, period?)

Oh, and why are we so shocked when we hear that an actress or model was photoshopped in a magazine cover?  That’s nothing new.  We’ve been misled to believe that celebrities look like real-life Barbies for a long time now.

Let’s just try (and I myself have to make a conscious effort, believe me) to tell ourselves that being healthy and happy doesn’t have one definition.  It doesn’t have to mean being very thin-framed, or even super fit and muscular with 12% body fat.  It can mean junk in the trunk for some, and little cute buns for another.   So don’t hate your “flab” or your “chicken legs.”  Being healthy for some can mean any of these things, and plus or minus a million of other things.

Kudos to the girls that have worked hard to get where they are, not taking away any credit.  Like I said, my intentions are not to hate, but to snap us all out of the delusion that this one very particular physique is what we should be trying to achieve.

Along with that, the common misconception that we can get there “with these easy steps,” and if(/when) that doesn’t work, we want to take drastic measures, sometimes unhealthy.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to challenge yourself, but don’t take it to unrealistic levels.

Set goals, take baby steps.  And love yourself along the way.  Easier said than done, I know that.