Why I Don’t Post Body Transformations

If you spend any time looking at fitness content on the internet, you’ve probably seen plenty of body transformation posts: before and after pictures of people that show their weight loss or muscle gain. It’s a very common and effective form of marketing for personal trainers and gyms, and I intentionally choose not to do it.

Many people feel pressured or discouraged when they see these images, especially those with anxiety, depression, chronic illness, or a complicated relationship with exercise and their body. Those are the types of clients I love to work with, and for them, I find that body transformations do more harm than good. Here’s why.

Exercise Is Not About Shaping And Controlling Your Body

The fitness industry often sells exercise as a way to alter your body composition, to tone and tighten your muscles, and to improve the way you look.

That’s not the primary purpose of exercise. Yes, working out can change your body, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting to look a certain way. But that’s a side effect, and side effects can be unpredictable, individual, and aren’t guaranteed.

Exercise has dozens of important benefits that have nothing to do with physical appearance. For the clients I work with, reducing their symptoms of depression and anxiety, increasing their mood and energy levels, increasing their resilience in the face of stress, and boosting their deep confidence in themselves and their capabilities can profoundly change their lives.

Exercise can also reduce your risk of dozens of chronic diseases (and sometimes help treat ones you already have). It helps you live longer. It strengthens your bones, improves your daily functioning, and can maintain your independence as you age. It helps you sleep better and reduces pain. It makes your brain work better. The list goes on and on.

If you want the science behind this, there are many, many studies that back this up. Here’s one peer-reviewed journal article that gives a good overview: Exercise acts as a drug; the pharmacological benefits of exercise.

When we focus on exercise as a tool to change physical appearance, we minimize all of these incredibly important effects on physical health, mental health, and daily wellbeing.

Certain Body Shapes Aren’t “Better” Than Others

The way your body looks from the outside isn’t a reflection of your value, your worth, or your goodness.

By their nature, before and after pictures suggest that the “after” is better. What do those pictures say to someone who looks more like the “before”? How do they affect self-esteem, self-worth, and mental health?

A 2025 study that showed before and after weight loss pictures to 404 women between the ages of 18 and 30 found that it’s not good.

After viewing the pictures, the women’s mood decreased and they were more pre-occupied with their own bodies. In addition, they did not report an increase in motivation to exercise or eat healthy. There goes the “inspiration” excuse for posting these pictures.

I’d rather not put anything out in the world that’s going to make people feel worse or make them focus more on their physical appearance, especially if it’s not even going to motivate them to take action.

You Can’t Tell A Person’s Health From How They Look

Years ago, I worked as a wellness coordinator for a local government. My office was in the HR department, with office neighbors on either side. Since I was the resident health coach, one of my neighbors shared with me, in confidence, that they had been seriously ill for the last few months with a gastrointestinal condition. They had lost weight because they couldn’t eat much and were feeling terrible.

Other people in the building didn’t know about this. Several times a day I would hear someone stop at their door and say, “oh you’ve lost weight, you look so good!”, forcing this person to deflect or change the subject. These compliments, as well intentioned as they may have been, were just making the situation worse.

That experience was a good lesson for me to not comment on other people’s bodies. You don’t know what they’re going through. Thinner doesn’t necessarily mean healthier. Think about that next time you look at a body transformation picture.

Trying To Replicate A Body Transformation Can Lead To Unhealthy Behaviors

A purposeful and dramatic body transformation can also come at a cost. What’s not visible in before and after pictures is the restriction, stress, and often excessive and unsustainable exercise and diet habits that can lead to those body changes.

Those kinds of behaviors can degrade your physical health, not make it better. For mental health, it’s even more important to avoid extreme behaviors because they can make anxiety and depression worse.

To learn more about why exercise intensity matters for mental health, I wrote a full article about it: How Hard Should You Exercise If Your Goal Is To Support Your Mental Health?

The Transformations I Care About

I’m really not interested in helping clients get a “revenge body” or shape their arms. I know, as a personal trainer I probably shouldn’t say that. But it’s true.

What I do care deeply about is helping people feel and function better every day. I love it when my clients tell me they have more energy, their mood is better, they feel less stressed, or they had the confidence to take a risk.

When I watch my clients do something in the gym that they couldn’t do a few months ago and see their face light up, I know something inside them is changing for the better.

These transformations don’t photograph well, but they change lives.

If You Need Help

If you want a personal trainer who’s not all about physical appearance and takes a different approach to strength training, contact me. My one-on-one personal training programs include expertly designed, personalized workouts and guidance to help you build physical and mental strength.

Or you can check out my Strength Training for Anxiety Program. You get 12 weeks of strength workouts with detailed instructions, plus an in-depth eBook and video lessons to help you get the most out of your strength training program, with tips specifically for using strength training to improve mental health.