8 Tips for Writing About the Diet and Fitness Industries in Fiction

Writing stories set in the world of diet and fitness is tricky. On one hand, you’ve got nourishing meals, strong muscles, and healthy cardiovascular systems. On the other, diet pills, waist trainers, and eating disorders.

(8 Ways to Stay Mentally Fit and Mindful in the Writing Process.)

As a writer, how can one explore this domain in a thoughtful, yet entertaining manner? This is a question I grappled with while writing my thriller, Bodies to Die For (tagline: The body image war is moving offline . . . And fit girls are dying). Below are my eight best suggestions.

Set the Tone

From the outset, let the reader know what they’re in for. Is your book light and breezy or dark and sardonic? Communicate the tone by being deliberate with word choice, scene, and interiority. Your story’s first pages are fair warning. If the reader doesn’t like them, they best turn back now.

In Bodies to Die For, the opening scene is foreboding and subversive. A hotel manager is staring up at a dripping ceiling where a dark stain is forming and reflecting on his crazy day. There was a Fat Activist protest against the bodybuilding show next door, the police showed up to make arrests, a few protesters broke loose and are now somewhere in his hotel. “Diet culture sluts” has been scrawled on a wall in black five-feet-high permanent marker.

World Building

One of the reasons readers come to fiction is to explore new worlds. Welcome them into yours by giving them the necessary tools and a map. Whether your book is about CrossFit, competitive gymnastics, or ballet, each will have its own lingo, attire, spaces, and behavior.

In Bodies to Die For, the reader is introduced to the world of professional bikini bodybuilding. It’s a land of thousand-dollar crystal bikinis, backstage smells (perfume layered over body odor spritzed with protein farts), peak weeks, rooms of naked women being spray-tanned the exact same shade of brown, carb manipulation, water cuts, bright stage lights, crazy posing routines, Ziplock bags of hair extensions, and makeup so heavy it could have been applied with a trowel.

What is it like for your characters to live in this world? What’s on their minds? What are their biggest fears, insecurities, and goals? In Bodies to Die For, Gemma is ruled by her fear of Fat Gemma, her inner fat girl. We see the pressure she is under to maintain a perfect Instagram image as her marriage collapses and she trains to win the Olympia, the biggest bodybuilding competition. We experience hunger that takes on a life of its own.

Relatable Protagonist

No matter how foreign this world or the characters’ goals, it’s important that your protagonist is relatable and that your readers feel empathy for them. This can be achieved by tapping into something universal. Who among us hasn’t experienced alienation, imposter syndrome, toxic work environments, shame over one’s body, rage about shame, fear over losing one’s livelihood, romantic loss, bullying, or a loss of control?

By infusing your protagonist’s arc with relatable emotions, your reader will be invested in their struggle and experience the sorrow of their losses, the highs of their wins, and satisfaction of their resolution.

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The Good

You can’t explore the bad without acknowledging the good. How did our characters get here? Quite often, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. A nutritious diet and solid exercise routine often lead to improved mental and physical well-being.

In Bodies to Die For, we see the positive aspects of wellness in both our protagonists. Gemma loses weight and is motivated to leave a crappy job and become a personal trainer, which she finds fulfilling. Meanwhile, Ashley, in Health at Every Size fashion, makes peace with her body and signs up for boxing, despite her larger size. These are good things.

The Bad and Ugly

But thrillers don’t thrill if things don’t go south. What are the negatives of the diet and fitness industries? How do they harm your characters’ psyches and bodies? Do they experience feelings of inadequacy? Rage? What actions do they take as a result? This is where things should heat up get propulsive.

In Bodies to Die For, we witness extreme diets to the point of seeing black spots, to carbs being meted out in tablespoons of white rice. We see waist trainers and water pills, the constant judging of bodies—by mothers, teammates, strangers on social media, competition judges, and even by oneself. We see rage bloom in Ashley as she perceives the world telling her that she needs to shrink.

Allow for Ambiguity

Give the reader space to reflect on what their own thoughts might be. They don’t need to be hit over the head, and they won’t appreciate being preached to.

In Gemma’s first chapter, while on a talk show, she thinks, “The other two panelists are self-made millionaires, but they’re single and a little flabby. I lost a bunch of weight, look great, and married a hot guy. So, I win. I’m not sure how I feel about that.” This is my promise to the reader that this is something we’re going to explore together.

Find the Humor

The toxicity of the diet and fitness industries would bring one to tears if we couldn’t laugh about it. Therefore, introduce levity, where possible, to provide respite from the darkness and heaviness of the subject matter. You may be able to do this by probing the preposterousness of it all. What sort of weird rituals, behaviors, or beliefs exist in this crazy land?

In Bodies to Die For, we’ve got a nutcase coach on steroids running his team like a totalitarian dictator. We’ve got a 20-year-old guy living in his parents’ basement, pretending online to be a hedge fund investor. We see his preposterous failed attempts to hit on the fitness girls. We’ve got catty women leaving spiteful Yelp! reviews, sending anonymous texts, and writing bitchy comments on Instagram.

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The Message

Finally, figure out what you ultimately want to say and have all roads lead there. In Bodies to Die For, our two protagonists realize that getting strong is the answer. They also conclude that we need to quit judging each other and work together to make for a better tomorrow. That strong women lift each other up.