5 health trends we should leave in 2015

A lot of awesome health trends took over in 2015: rowing classes, morning workout raves, zombie runs…But there were just as many fitness fails as successes. Here, we round up five trends that totally took over last year, but need to be gone. For good.

1. Searching for the next #ThighGap

There’s fitspiration and then there’s faux fitspiration, something that passes itself off as healthy but really isn’t. In 2015, the thigh gap craze finally died down, but only because it was the gateway to a slew of other unhealthy measurements of what a “perfect body” is. Thighbrows (a set of folds located at the top of the thighs, separating them from the butt), bikini bridge (the space between your bikini bottoms and hip bones when you lie down) and hot dog legs (photos of slim, tan legs) all took over Instagram this year. And they are all unhealthy barometers of what is healthy and what isn’t.

Related: 3 cool fitness trends of 2015

2. Waist training

Kim Kardashian, Jessica Alba and Lily James have all endorsed waist training — wearing a corset to get a slimmer figure — but the centuries-old tradition is not an ideal way to get your strongest, best body. Waist training doesn’t actually help anyone lose weight or shed fat; it only hides it. And some doctors have said that compressing the lower intestine can cause pulmonary problems and gastrointestinal issues. Not cute.

3.21 Day Fix

According to Google, the 21 Day Fix was the third most popular health search of 2015. The package, created by fitness trainer Autumn Calabrese, costs $73 and promises to transform your body in 21 days using pre-measured food and 30-minute workout videos. Having a plan is great, but a “fix” isn’t going to lead to long-term success. Feeling confident in the long run requires forming healthy habits you can keep for a lifetime, not 21 days.

4.A bigger booty at any cost

Doing some squats to make your butt perkier and more toned is all well and good, but you can’t will yourself to have a backside as bountiful as Iggy Azalea’s or Jennifer Lopez’s. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons reports that butt augmentation is one of the fastest growing surgical procedures today, with many people getting illegal injections to cut costs from the approximately $4,500 price tag. But the risks outweigh the rewards. There is little data on the injuries, but CBS reports that amputations and deaths directly resulting in butt augmentation surgeries are on the rise.

5.#BellyButtonChallege

Social media can be a great tool for staying motivated to workout. Getting likes for working out can pump you up. But when something like the belly button challenge (a photo of reaching around your back and touching your belly button) takes over, it promotes an unhealthy idea of body image that can destroy one’s confidence. Thinspiration should never be a trend.

Follow Emily on Twitter: @EmLaurence