Fit for revenge

The latest fitness social media trend ‘Revenge Bod’ is bringing women a sense of empowerment

“Revenge is a dish best served cold” but according to the latest social media trend — “revenge is looking your best and flaunting your well-toned body.” For all those ladies who have been nursing a broken heart, get your revenge with the latest available weaponry — Revenge Bod — the new-fangled ‘it’ thing that’s bringing women a sense of empowerment.

Citing her rough divorce from NBA star Lamar Odom and being called the “fat” Kardashian sister as motivation, Khloe dropped 35 pounds courtesy to an intense fitness regime and diet makeover. But instead of hiding away while healing her heartache, Khloe’s taken the expression ‘Looking good is the best revenge’ to a whole new level by sharing her success with her millions of followers.

It seems like other celebrities are following suit too. Kourtney Kardashian, Perrie Edwards and Jenelle Evans are flooding their feeds with photos that feature their bikini-clad, well-toned bodies and that deliver the ultimate revenge message: “Eat Your Heart Out.” Our very own B-Town gal Parineeti Chopra who has been called names too, for a not having a size-zero figure, recently stunned everyone and posted series of amazing pictures showing her remarkable weight loss and stunning never say die spirit.

“Wanting to look good after a breakup is nothing new,” shares fitness expert and sports enthusiast Mallika Sharma.

She explains, “Most of us have probably had some experience with this aspect of our lives over the years. Whether it’s witnessing a dumped friend religiously hitting the gym and swapping her personality for boiled veggies, or trying to attain the sexiest bod through weirdest of diet plans, craziest of haircuts or makeovers to reclaim her real self — nothing unites sisters in solidarity like being wronged or dumped by a romantic partner.”

She adds, “If women use break-ups as a chance to healthily improve their lives for their own personal benefit, then that’s great. They’ll feel miles better and will forget the dumb**s that dumped them in no time. A big life event can often provide the right opportunity for someone to make the changes they’ve been putting off for years. Exercise is proven to make people feel happier, and someone who has been dumped may find those endorphins doing wonders for their self-esteem.”

Social media has proven to be a great friend and a powerful tool for all these women. “We are after all in an era obsessed with ‘likes’,” affirms 28-year-old marketing professional Pia Khanna, who started exercising after breaking up with her boyfriend couple of months back. “I am, like everyone, a social media junkie. Knowing that my ex or one of his friends would definitely see my posts was absolutely my main motivation for working out in the beginning,” she admits. “It’s become part of our psyche to care what others — including strangers — think. However, in my case, once I started to see my own progress, my perspective shifted. It went from being about exercising to look good to creating major changes in my diet, lifestyle and goals. That’s when I realised that I was actually doing all this for myself. It’s not about looking good as revenge anymore for me, it’s about living well.”

A serious bonus that’s been noticed vis-a-vis this trend, cites media professional Vandana Mehra, is women are being nice to one another online instead of trolling and insulting. “Isn’t that great ” she says and adds, “I, on a daily basis, scroll through so many posts by my friends who are trying their level best to get that revenge bod and I see so many positive comments like “#GetItGirl” and “You so have this” on those feeds — and frankly it’s a welcome change from the general rudeness that rules the Internet.”

And that’s exactly what Akansha Sharma experienced recently. A sales professional, she began posting pictures of her progress on Instagram after her boyfriend of five years announced by phone while away on a business trip that he wanted a break-up. “It’s a vulnerable time just after a breakup. Instead of putting up sad and hurtful statuses, I began to work on myself and distracted my mind to my best of abilities. I took to Instagram initially, and to my surprise, I started receiving so much online support and motivation from both friends and people I’ve never met,” says Sharma who’s dropped 20 kilos ever since. “Other users gave me ideas for workouts to try, and nutrition information. I enrolled myself into a dance-aerobic class and made so many friends that I can’t begin to convey my gratitude.

What turned one of the hardest times in my life became a period of ‘can’t fail determination’ that’s resulted in more self-respect than I have ever had. I thought of several other paths to get back my happiness like surgeries, etc. But, sometimes it’s important to work on things inside first,” she says.Mallika agrees and warns, “It’s obviously better than getting wasted every night, drinking your feelings away, and going home with every stranger in sight just to avoid waking up in an empty bed. But, I’d suggest that building your body shouldn’t be solely about attracting anyone’s attention or motivated purely by the idea of irritating your ex, rather it should be a self-healing process. Don’t restrict yourself with damaging break-up behaviour.”