Rob Kardashian is Hitting the Gym

In the aftermath of the Rob Kardashian fat shaming scandal, things seem to have more or less gone back to normal for the Kardashian clan. That's fair enough, considering they do have Kim's wedding in a few days to concentrate on instead, but, ever since Rob Kardashian defended himself against his weight critics on Twitter and Khloe Kardashian and Kendall Jenner stood up for Rob as well, the scandal has died down. If, of course, one even considers the whole situation a scandal rather than simply being a really sad reflection on our society's misguided values.

Since calling out his haters, Rob Kardashian has been free to return to focusing on his own health and happiness. According to TMZ, that includes flying a trainer out to Paris to help him get in shape for Kim's wedding. This rumor is further bolstered by the fact that Kardashian's tweets in the aftermath of his speech have been about working out or visiting the gym. True, Kardashian himself said that his "only therapy will be in the gym", but there's a difference between privately attempting to get in shape and making the world very, very aware that you're trying to get back in shape.

First, Kardashian retweeted a message from his sister, Khloe:

Later in the day, he followed that up with a hashtag tweet:

While it's great to see that Kardashian is committed to getting in shape in the most healthy way possible, I have to question why he feels the need to be so showy about it. It almost feels like we've given Kardashian something to prove, that he needs to keep us updated on his training progress because, after "trending for being fat" he no longer feels comfortable maintaining his privacy.

If that's the case, then it's a serious indication of the lingering repercussions of fat shaming. Body image is such a personal thing and the journey to loving your appearance is treacherous enough without feeling like you have something to prove to 4.8 million followers. In fact, while the desire to overcome judgment can be quite a motivating factor for getting in shape, it's also one of the worst reasons to hit the gym because it hinges your entire self-esteem on the ever-changing opinions of other people.

Of course, Kardashian has been reportedly working with a trainer for weeks even while he was casually avoiding Twitter, so his decision to publicly recommit to exercising might have nothing to do with having something to prove and everything to do with slowly returning to the public eye. If he spends most of his time at the gym — or if he's trying to get back in shape for Kim's wedding — then why wouldn't he want to share that with everyone? It's not like the Kardashian-Jenner clan is largely known for keeping all the details of their lives private.

Since this is hardly the first time Rob Kardashian has posted about hitting the gym, there's no real cause for concern just yet. All we can really do is hope that he's doing this for himself and not for anyone else.