The SkinnyTok Social Media Trend Explained

Social media has found yet another way to make you feel bad about yourself. In a new trend dubbed “SkinnyTok,” creators use tough love style phrases to promote unhealthy beauty and weight standards.

When you search “SkinnyTok” on TikTok, you’re first greeted with a message from the app that promises “You are more than your weight.” The app also links resources to help those struggling.

What SkinnyTok Creators Say

However, navigate out of that well-intentioned message and you’re bombarded with other videos that try to show you that you, in fact, are not more than your weight.

“It’s f**king hard work, and it’s a calorie deficit, and it’s moving your body,” one person said of weight loss in a video addressed to those who “hate scrolling SkinnyTok.”

Another person proudly noted that she learned to portion control by watching someone, who was a “normal person,” not a dietician or nutritionist, on the internet do so.

A different user celebrated losing eight pounds in two weeks “with nothing but a mindset shift.” That same person shared her five “skinny girl” rules to live by: eat less and move more; don’t reward yourself with food, you’re not a dog; walk 10,000 steps a day, no excuses; laziness is a root cause of weight gain; you need to act like the best version of yourself in order to become her.

“What you eat in private will show in public,” another user said of her favorite “skinny girl” quotes, before adding, “A skinny body is rented, not owned.”

Another user professed her favorite rules to be “eat skinny, be skinny, eat big, be big,” “fat lasts longer than flavor,” and “if you’re paying for a gym membership and not going, cancel it so you can afford bigger clothes,” and “we’re not going to sugar coat it for you because you’d probably eat that too.”

The Dangers of SkinnyTok

Dr. Asim Cheema, an internal medicine specialist at Your Doctors Online, told Forbes that the practices discussed on SkinnyTok could lead to medical problems. Those, he said, include electrolyte imbalances, hormonal disruptions, nutritional deficiencies, development or worsening of disordered eating patterns, psychological distress, and cardiac issues.

Eating disorder survivor Phaith Montoya likened the new trend to that of “pro-anorexia Tumblr” in the 2010s during an interview with Today.

“I know that if I had seen that [advice] when I was younger, I would have thought I needed it, too,” she said, adding that the posts left her “so jarred, so taken aback.”

Paula Edwards-Gayfield, a licensed professional counselor and a National Eating Disorder Association board member, blasted the trend for its negative message and impact.

 “[On SkinnyTok] I hear, ‘You’re not good enough. You’re not trying hard enough,’” she told the outlet. “… [SkinnyTok] just really [embodies] the entirety of what my patients experience. It is so ever-present that it’s difficult for people to acknowledge that it’s dieting. It’s easy to normalize it because people don’t think there’s a problem with the behavior.”