As women we’re constantly bombarded with images of how we should look, from red-carpet A-listers to top catwalk models. However unless you have those genes that give you legs that are about a mile long, it ain’t happening.

You can go online and find scary ‘thinspo’ images which are meant to inspire you to get thinner and thinner. Having seen some of these I can honestly say that they are terrifying. They fetishise bones, delicate limbs that wouldn’t support any sort of physical activity, and starving yourself. None of which are healthy in any sort of way…

Enter ‘fitspo’. These images are shared around the internet to inspire women (and men) to get fit, build some muscles and become healthy. Now don’t get me wrong, when fitspo goes too far it can also be terrifying. The sorts of muscles that extreme fitspo promotes can only be achieved through extreme diets, massive amounts of protein and obsessive exercise.

‘Real’ fitspo:

Extreme fitspo:

As someone who is going through everyday struggles to stay on track with eating healthily and exercising, real fitspo has kept me going. It shows me that by eating properly, exercising cleverly and staying committed you can make real changes.

Women come in many different shapes and sizes and I don’t see anything wrong with trying to be the best shape that you can be, within the parameters of your own body. Just like with thinspo, there’s no point in trying to be something that is physically impossible. It becomes dangerous and damaging. But trying to be a bit more healthy and be happy with yourself, that’s what’s cool.

Anyway, who wants legs that look like they can’t carry you up a mountain, run a race or power you through a swim? Not this girl, that’s for sure…