Fit-fluencer apologises to followers for giving bad health advice
A fitness influencer with over 250,000 followers on Instagram has made a public apology after realising some of her previous posts encouraged a dangerous attitude towards food and exercise.
Georgie Stevenson, who has been sharing her fitness journey on the social media platform for seven years, revealed it was an email from a follower left her in tears which prompted the apology.
“I went through stages of constantly wanting to manipulate my body, to change my appearance and had disordered ways of eating and training,” the 25-year-old, from Queensland, wrote.
“I know a lot of girls go through this BUT the difference is they don’t have a relativity large audience following them and consuming their habits. So here is a public apology for some of my previous content.”
Georgie admits she “honestly didn’t know any better” but realises “how damaging some of my content could have been to others”.
A post shared by Georgie Stevenson ⚡️ (@georgiestevenson) on Mar 12, 2019 at 2:21am PDT
“I am not ashamed of my past as it has made me the person I am today (who I am very proud off) BUT I have come to realise that having a platform comes with responsibility which is why I am so passionate about my ‘health without obsession’ message these days.”
The email she received was from a woman who admitted she used to follow Georgie thinking she was “body goals”.
“I wasn’t in a great mind space at the time so I unfollowed you for a little while,” the message, which Georgie shared in her post, read.
“But then I found you again about a year ago and you had completely changed and grown so much!”
The honest post has had almost 12k likes and hundreds of grateful and supportive comments.
“This is so inspiring. It’s so important and we’re so happy you shared this,” one follower wrote.
“Love this, such an awesome change and so honest,” another said.
“I love watching this generation of social media becoming more true and honest not just to the community but to themselves,” was another comment.
Georgie also shared some examples of posts from 2015/2016 when food restriction and over-training consumed her life.
Some include posts promoting ‘Skinny tea’ products, and talking about exercising to work off the “food from last night”
“If you followed me back then and still follow now… thanks for putting up with me and I hope you have also grown,” she concluded the apology.
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