Are you wondering why you have tons of people all over your Instagram, Twitter and Facebook feed doing some weird-looking yoga pose that involves wrapping their arm around their back and trying to touch their belly button? You just witnessed the latest body trend: The Belly Button Challenge.
The craze reportedly started in China when people (mostly young women) started sharing photos of themselves showing off their stomachs as they touch their belly buttons while one hand is wrapped around their back. It's supposed to test if you are really in shape. Step one: wrap one arm behind your back. Step two: try and touch your belly button with that hand. Step three: fail. Step four: feel bad about yourself.
There is nothing wrong with being skinny enough to do this and we're not about to shame someone for having a tiny waist or being really flexible. We are, however, going to shame the idea that anyone feels like they need something like a Belly Button Challenge or a Bikini Bridge or a Thigh Gap to validate their beauty.
This is not a message that should be spreading through social media. Yes, having a smaller waist is usually indicative that you do not have an unhealthy amount of belly fat on you. That's a logical connection. However, experts confirm what most rational human beings already know: that the Belly Button Challenge is not the best way to test if a person is in shape. Just because you can't touch your belly button doesn't mean you aren't healthy, and just because you can touch your belly button doesn't mean you are healthy.
"If you can touch your belly button from behind your back, you could be in better shape than someone who can't, but you shouldn't have a false sense of security about your health. You might have a small waist and look healthy, but your blood work could show that you're just as unhealthy as someone who weighs 400 pounds," Charlie Seltzer, M.D., a Philadelphia weight-loss specialist, tells Cosmopolitan. "If you can't do it, don't be completely freaked out."
We tried the Belly Button Challenge out of curiosity, but we got stuck on our love handles, extra skin and soft spots. You know, the kind of torso that comes from all those dinners with friends, celebrating the end of a work week with happy hour, indulging in some ridiculous dessert concoction with a significant other, cooking out with family and an addiction to both pizza and burritos. Sometimes we don't go to the gym as much as we should. Sometimes we pass on a spin class because there is a Friends marathon on TBS. We're human.
We may not be able to reach our belly button with our arm behind our back, but we certainly don't have to feel s--tty about it. And no one should make anyone else feel s--tty about "failing" this challenge. The challenge is the failure; not the person attempting it.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with being healthy and having a body you are proud to show off. Especially if you work hard to achieve that strong body. But remember, there is also nothing wrong with whatever space is between your hand and your belly button. So take that arm and wrap it around your body, but this time from the front.. Now take your other arm and wrap it around your body. There. You're hugging yourself. Because you are awesome and beautiful and no stupid social media trend can say otherwise.