One Instagrammer is proving that weight is just a number. She is on a mission to show followers that your body can look different at the same weight.
According to People, Arielle Mandelson used social media to show that with diet and exercise a person can tone their body, without gaining a single pound. The behavioral health consultant shared a series of photos of herself at the same weight, but her body looks different in each picture. The photos are over the last two years. All three photos were taken when she was following a certain diet and exercise regimen, but the scale never budged.
In the first photo from February 2016, Mandelson was focused on being lean, especially in her abs. She thought at the time that being healthy meant being lean.
“I all but completely cut carbohydrates out of my diet, ate about twice the protein someone my size should, did a lot of cardio and attempted some random weight exercises. I felt aimless, bloated, lethargic and just completely frustrated,” she shared.
However, that method turned out to be completely wrong. After months of not feeling healthy Mandelson decided she needed to switch up her diet and exercise routine. This time, she joined a specific program to help her. She noticed many people on Instagram had success with Kayla Itsines’ Beach Body Guide, so she chose that one.
“After a few weeks of doing BBG, something inside me had shifted; I could feel myself getting stronger each time I did a workout and my relationship with food improved. My motivation was still primarily aesthetically driven, but I also wanted to get stronger, so I looked at food as fuel and workouts as personal challenges to overcome,” Mandelson revealed.
However despite seeing a significant change in her body, Arielle Mandelson still didn’t see the scale move. It became her obsession to move the needle on the scale, but it never worked. After looking back at pictures from the past couple of years, she realized that weight it just a number.
She learned what fitness trainers like Jillian Michaels and Autumn Calabrese have been saying for years. A scale is not the most accurate way to measure body composition. They recommend you use photos, like Mandelson did, or use the way your clothes fit as guidance. Don't worry about the number on the scale.
