Are you wondering why you have tons of people all over your Instagram, Twitter and Facebook
feed doing some weird-looking yoga pose that involves wrapping their
arm around their back and trying to touch their belly button? You just
witnessed the latest body trend: The Belly Button Challenge.
The craze reportedly started in China
when people (mostly young women) started sharing photos of themselves
showing off their stomachs as they touch their belly buttons while one
hand is wrapped around their back. It's supposed to test if you are
really in shape. Step one: wrap one arm behind your back. Step two: try
and touch your belly button with that hand. Step three: fail. Step four:
feel bad about yourself.
There is nothing wrong with being skinny
enough to do this and we're not about to shame someone for having a
tiny waist or being really flexible. We are, however, going to shame the
idea that anyone feels like they need something like a Belly Button
Challenge or a Bikini Bridge or a Thigh Gap to validate their beauty.
This is not a message that should be spreading through
social media. Yes, having a smaller waist is usually indicative that you
do not have an unhealthy amount of belly fat on you. That's a logical
connection. However, experts confirm what most rational human beings
already know: that the Belly Button Challenge is not the best way to
test if a person is in shape. Just because you can't touch your belly
button doesn't mean you aren't healthy, and just because you can touch your belly button doesn't mean you are healthy.
"If you can touch your belly button from behind your back, you could be
in better shape than someone who can't, but you shouldn't have a false
sense of security about your health. You might have a small waist and
look healthy, but your blood work could show that you're just as
unhealthy as someone who weighs 400 pounds," Charlie Seltzer, M.D., a
Philadelphia weight-loss specialist, tells Cosmopolitan. "If you can't do it, don't be completely freaked out."
We tried the Belly Button Challenge out of curiosity, but we got
stuck on our love handles, extra skin and soft spots. You know, the kind
of torso that comes from all those dinners with friends, celebrating
the end of a work week with happy hour, indulging in some ridiculous
dessert concoction with a significant other, cooking out with family and
an addiction to both pizza and burritos. Sometimes we don't go to the
gym as much as we should. Sometimes we pass on a spin class because
there is a Friends marathon on TBS. We're human.
We may
not be able to reach our belly button with our arm behind our back, but
we certainly don't have to feel s--tty about it. And no one should make
anyone else feel s--tty about "failing" this challenge. The challenge is
the failure; not the person attempting it.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with being healthy and having a
body you are proud to show off. Especially if you work hard to achieve
that strong body. But remember, there is also nothing wrong with
whatever space is between your hand and your belly button. So take that
arm and wrap it around your body, but this time from the front.. Now
take your other arm and wrap it around your body. There. You're hugging
yourself. Because you are awesome and beautiful and no stupid social
media trend can say otherwise.
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