SkinnyTok trigger: Why talking about weight loss feels problematic in 2025

I’ve been on SkinnyTok for a few months now, and to be completely honest, it has helped me a lot in my weight loss journey.

No, I’m obviously not referring to the highly problematic posts glorifying anorexia by suggesting that three slices of cucumber and a couple of ice cubes constitute a meal. I’m talking about those TikTok weight loss coaches who are there to remind us that our weight is, in fact, in our control.

What is SkinnyTok?

Let’s define SkinnyTok for those who’ve been living under a rock and those who rely on Instagram Reels to keep track. SkinnyTok is the side of TikTok where you get a not-always-so-gentle-reminder that if you want to be skinny, you’ve got to watch what you’re eating.

Why is SkinnyTok so triggering? Here are 3 reasons:

1.      It’s not what you want to hear

The reason why “miracle” weight loss pills and “secret” fat loss ingredients are so popular is because we want them to work. How cool would it be if there was a magic drug that would make us lose weight without a single effort? (Okay, Ozempic is here now, and that topic will be for another day).

SkinnyTok makes you face the sad reality that, if you want to lose weight, you’ve got to do the work yourself. No, that green powder smoothie in the morning will not make you lose those 10kg – regardless of what that skinny influencer is telling you.

Chia seeds, oats, matcha… Sure, they have great health benefits, but unless you’re in a calorie deficit, you’re not gonna lose the weight. I know. It sucks.

2.      It feels anti-woke

If, like me, you’ve spent most of your life overweight, you’ve definitely tried very hard to like your fat tummy. If you have succeeded and are now actually happy with your plus-size queen body, that’s awesome – as long as you’re healthy – keep that confidence, girl.

But if in spite of all your efforts, therapy sessions and meditation, you still feel like you’re just trying gaslight yourself into loving that double chin, landing on SkinnyTok can feel… wrong – like laughing at a very offensive joke wrong.

It wakes up a part of you that you’ve been trying to hide because “intentional weight loss is bad!” (yes, I said that in a bitchy voice).

After years of associating fatpositivity with moral superiority, openly trying to lose weight almost feels like a step back from woke culture, as if you were “betraying” a whole community. If you don’t believe me, think of how much hate Adele got from her own fans when she got in shape back in 2020.

3.      It’s the mirror you’ve been avoiding

The biggest reason why SkinnyTok feels so brutal is that it forces you to realize that:

-          No, it’s not all genetics.

-          Yes, you’ve been eating too much.

-          No, you’re not too broke to download a free calorie counting app.

Most of those SkinnyTok creators aren’t afraid to give you the cold hard truth that “naturally skinny people” are, in fact, just people with skinny habits. They take their daily hot-girl-walks, they allow themselves to feel a little hungry sometimes and they don’t eat when they’re not hungry *just because it’s dinner time*.

Is SkinnyTok toxic?

Depends on what you mean by toxic. If you have anorexia, then SkinnyTok is probably not what’s best for you, for obvious reasons. For people who just want to lose some weight to feel more confident and to fit into their old clothes… I don’t see anything wrong with it.

This might be a hot take, but I don’t think content that promotes walking 10k steps a day and not overeating is more harmful than obesity.