New body positive TikTok trend shows how differently bodies can carry weight

More of this, pls, TikTok.

The video sharing platform has become our go-to for anything from viral food recipes to beauty hacks and craft ideas. But this latest trend might just be one of the very best ones yet – and we are here for it. Over the past year or so, a thriving body positivity community has emerged on TikTok, and this time around, women are taking to the social media platform to share their exact weight in order to show that the number on your scale means very little – and that the same weight can look totally different from one person to the next, all depending on your height and build. Under hashtags like #selflove #bodypositivefitness and #curvyfitness, women are sharing their weight in order to try to redirect our obsession with things like BMI and numbers on the scale into feeling good about your body and wanting to work out and take care of it – no matter what you weigh.

@happyfitkatie body positive fitness is where it’s at #bodypositivefitness #selflove #fitness #curvyfitness #gymconfidence #gymgirl #gymtok ♬ original sound - ALTÉGO

In one version, women over 200lb have shared their weights, in a video titled: "Sharing my *actual* weight in order to normalise women being over 200lb."

@billieleannex #DayMeNightMe #InstaxChallenge ♬ original sound - billieleanne

Other women followed suit, sharing their weight and height to simply show the different ways bodies can carry weight. "Showing my 15.5 stone, 5ft 3 body! Remember no two bodies are the same," creator @billieleanne wrote. "This is what 250 looks like on me," @angelicaglowsup shared, while wellness creator @happyfitkatie added her own video, writing: "Me at 240." She added in the caption: "The number on the scale doesn’t define you or your worth."

@happyfitkatie the number on the scale doesn’t define you or your worth #bodypositivefitness #curvyfitness #selflove #loveyourself #gymgirl #lifting #fitness ♬ original sound - caesar

Needless to say, the trend has been well received, with women from across the globe praising it, and feeling represented – maybe for the first time – on social media and in general. "I was having a hard time this morning because of how [I] looked. But you’re so beautiful and have the same body type as me and it made me feel so much," one person commented. "These videos and all these gorgeous 200+ women make me feel so much more accepting of my weight," another added.

@sparklesandstrength Those #hourglassfigure ratios - and yes #celluliteisnormal #curvyfitness #builtnotbought ♬ sonido original - ?????.

This body positive trend comes as the medical community or health- and wellness experts across the world continue to come to terms with the shortcomings of relying so heavily on BMI – Body Mass Index – to determine whether someone is within a healthy weight or not. Those critical of the measurement system argue that it most often fails to take into account things like muscle mass and body fat percentage, and that using this system as widely as it has been used over the past decade has no doubt caused many to suffer from disturbed eating and body image issues.