Body Transformations

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About

Body Transformations refer to before-and-after images and videos that highlight individuals' drastic changes in physique over time, typically as a result of significant weight loss or muscle gain. Online, such media are often shared on various communities devoted to the topic of physical fitness.

Origin

Body transformations have been widely utilized in advertisements for weight loss and fitness products. One of the earliest known examples comes from a 1920s ad for the Dynamic-Tension fitness book by American bodybuilder Charles Atlas, which featured a comic in which a skinny man transforms himself into a bodybuilder to defend his pride against a beach bully (shown below).

In 2004, the reality television show The Biggest Loser began airing in the United States, which featured obese contestants competing to lose the most weight to win a cash prize at the end of the season. On August 28th, 2007, YouTuber Kluivert9 uploaded a video titled "My body transformation," featuring a slideshow of photographs showing his transformation from skinny to fit (shown below). Within nine years, the video gathered upwards of 6.5 million views and 11,700 comments.

Spread

On June 28th, 2009, YouTuber durrah 1986 uploaded a slideshow of photographs depicting his fitness progress over several years (shown below, left). On January 13th, 2010, YouTuber Hamid Hassanzadeh posted photographs showing his 5-month body transformation (shown below, right).

[This video has been removed]

On February 25th, 2011, an advertisement was uploaded by the Six Pack Shortcuts YouTube channel, featuring before-and-after photographs of men using the company's "Afterburn" training video for abdominal muscles (shown below, left). On June 23rd, the /r/progresspics^[1] subreddit was launched for Redditors to share before-and-after photographs of their body transformations. On February 5th, 2012, YouTuber Furious Pete uploaded a video showing how to fake fitness transformation videos (shown below, right).

[This video has been removed]

On March 4th, the /r/NakedProgress^[2] subreddit was launched for NSFW photographs of fitness and weight loss progress. On December 12th, a Facebook^[3] page titled "Body Transformation" was launched, which gathered upwards of 179,000 likes over the next four years. On March 3rd, 2013, YouTuber Jon Calvo uploaded footage of himself losing 175 pounds over three years (shown below, left). On August 9th, 2014, YouTuber Bar Brothers DK posted a video showing a 16-year-old's fitness transformation using a calisthenics program (shown below, right).

On January 1st, 2015, Ebaumsworld^[5] published a slideshow titled "23 Incredible Female Body Transformations." On August 14th, YouTuber David Laid posted a video showing his bodybuilding progression from the age of 14 to 17 (shown below, left). On September 4th, the EpicMashups YouTube channel posted a video of 10 celebrity fitness transformations (shown below, right). In December, a compilation of celebrity body transformation images was posted on 9gag.^[4]