Twilight
In the first chapter, Bella reports her weight and height. "But I thought it was a book about vampires. Why do I need to know her weight?" you wonder. Well, body weight is related to eating, and a vampire is defined by it's eating habits. So, her body weight is relevant...or is it? What happens if we remove the weight? Same story, right? Yes, except better. Without the weight, the story could be about any girl, making the character more widely relatable.
Why is it there? Because the character is boring and has no life, so her weight becomes something that defines her.
Her weight is 110 lbs; height is 5'4." BMI is 18.9, which indicates that her weight is within a healthy range, but at the low end of it (skinny). However, next to the average American teenager, she would seem very small and likely face accusations of being underweight or having an eating disorder, from other teens and adults. That doesn't make it true. There are people who are naturally thin, but is it common? No. That's one reason for skinny-shaming.
But is Bella's weight Fitness Inspiration? It depends on your state of mind. I'm sure there's some crazies out there who read it and say "HOW DARE A FICTIONAL CHARACTER WEIGH LESS THAN ME!" and then they exercise. Not me, although I confess to jogging an extra lap today when contemplating Bella's weight. However, the gap between this fantasy and most peoples' actualities, is too great for this to be motivating. For this reason and others, the weight should've been left out.
Overall, the book was uninspiring. I give points +2 points for a character does grocery shopping and cooking. Teenagers and young adults tend to frequently eat fast food, due to lack of planning and poor cooking skills.
On a 1-10 scale, with 10 being very motivational and 0 being demotivational, this book gets a 2/10 for Fitness Inspiration. In conclusion, this book is not good for fitness inspiration.
**On a side note, this book places a huge emphasis on eating and an unhealthy body image. First, with the unnecessary listing of the characters physical stats. Next, the character's self consciousness about her clumsiness reveals unhappiness with her body. Additionally, when Bella is eating lunch with her friends in the cafeteria, she becomes aware of the beautiful teenagers (vampires) who are not eating lunch, which suggests that the author was thinking of anorexic teenagers when writing the book. Finally, an unusual amount of time is spent detailing what Bella eats, buys and cooks. Therefore, I believe that the inspiration for the book comes from the author's dissatisfaction with her body.
So, what do you think? Motivating or demotivating? Is this book about a young woman with a body image disorder?
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