Every time I sit at home in my flannel pajamas, eating Häagen Dazs vanilla ice cream out of the tub, browsing Tumblr, it is impossible to escape the pictures.

Enter a few choice search terms, and I am drawn deeper into my screen as it is inundated with photographs of stick-thin girls with flat stomachs, protruding hipbones, and fully displayed thigh gaps.

Usually these pictures are accompanied by self-deprecating captions referencing unhealthy methods of extreme weight loss.

Simply having these images out there can have an immediate damaging effect on a viewer.  Anyone with the slightest self-doubt may be easily manipulated into thinking that these are the body types they should be striving for, or that this is what people think is attractive.

Statistics gathered by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders found that 47 percent of girls in 5th-12th grade reported wanting to lose weight because of magazine pictures. 20 percent of Harker students reported they were completely happy with their bodies.

Almost everyone has been insecure about his or her body at some point, and the Internet has made it easy to find motivation to make a change.

I have found myself scrolling through page after page of emaciated-looking bodies, struggling with feelings of repulsion, desire, and, most troubling, a fixation with testing whether or not I could exercise the willpower to discipline and restrain myself to achieve the same results

Thankfully I found an alternative. Getting in shape provided the same sorts of mental tests, but being fit is not the same as being skinny. Skinny is an appearance, something external that is open to interpretation and judgment. Fitness is less tangible, a state of contentment that can only be assessed internally.

Being fit doesn’t mean being conventionally skinny. It is entirely possible to be fit and not have less than five percent body fat. Even through rigorous exercise and strict healthy eating, achieving the “ideal” body type may not be possible whether due to genes or body structure.

This is why fitness isn’t just about going to the gym and working out solely to watch the calories-burned counter creep higher. It also isn’t about eating kale because it has magical weight-loss properties. Fitness is about making conscious, healthy choices solely for personal benefit.

Fitness also isn’t necessarily indicated by appearance. People who do not have fast metabolisms can still obtain the same satisfaction by pushing themselves without any accompanying weight loss. Satisfaction is inevitably gained through persistence and hard work. Being in control of your own opinions of yourself allow you to surpass vague generalizations about the optimal body type.

An intense treadmill workout, lifting weights, or even just doing yoga in bed, I always feel my best after any exercise. I may never have the body of an Italian supermodel based off my bone structure and genes, but being fit has helped me embrace that.

As long as I feel good about myself at the end of the day, getting a good night’s sleep is never a problem. My goal is not to challenge society’s views, but rather to promote a deeper investment in one’s self, and a greater desire for a happiness not determined by others.

This piece was originally published in the pages of the Winged Post on Jan. 27, 2014.