While a skinny figure has always been the body goal that netizens strictly impose on
idols, there are still times when people ask idols to stop losing weight since they look
so questionably petite.
However, that isn’t the most mind-blowing thing because after doing research for this
video, it turns out that not only female but even male idols, who are often expected to
look strong and masculine, also put themselves on a rigorous diet to lose weight with a view
to looking better on camera.
aespa’s Winter
Coming back after almost a year absent from the Kpop race, Winter has recently made headlines
everywhere for the defined visual that made many believe her peak visual era has finally
come.
However, for her features to suddenly become so prominent with the buccal fat shredded
and facial lines stand out sharply, some noticed Winter has lost tons of weight for this comeback.
While netizens often prefer skinny idols, many believed the fact that Winter now looks
even slimmer than the debut era was nothing but an alarming sign.
At the time when aespa made their very first public appearance with BLACK MAMBA, Winter
had already hit headlines for the super small waist and surreal body line.
Looking from the side, her waist appeared to be so small that people had to wonder if
she could really fit inside all the intestines and regarding her bone frame, it was so naturally
petite that everyone was convinced even her body was made to be an idol.
Sadly, regardless of the already-perfect figure that almost every girl craves, Winter somehow
still decided to lose weight for this comeback, looking so paper-thin that not only netizens
but also fans had to voice their concerns.
Appearing in a mere bralette croptop and a short pleated skirt, Winter exposed all her
ribs even when just standing still and compared to Giselle, some pointed out that Winter's
legs were literally twice as small.
Her signature chubby cheeks that gave her the nickname Baby Rabbit were also shredded
and replaced by sharper and more defined ones.
Of course it’s undeniable that the current V-line face and defined features have brought
Winter a step closer to perfectly aligning with South Korean strict beauty standards,
but fans weren’t happy at all.
Obviously the pressure for Winter to stand out on all fronts is getting extreme as more
and more acts whose visual and talents are both overwhelming are entering the Kpop scene,
especially considering how aespa has just taken a one-year break and their previous
promotion didn't do as well as expected, fans still found it hard to accept that she had
decided to lose more weight and put her wellness at risk just for a public-approved appearance.
In fact, this isn't baseless excessive worrying at all because just a few weeks prior to the
official music show promotion, Winter had to take a temporary break due to her poor
health condition.
At the end of last year, she was also unable to perform at the Japanese concert due to
the same reason, making people more worried about the scenario where she might faint on
stage, which had happened to many idols before, of unendurable exhaustion.
aespa’s Karina
Said to be even more extreme than the case of Winter, Karina was seen to lose weight
way before the comeback with Spicy and regardless of her inherently tiny figure in the debut
era, she still decided to lose so much weight that Instizens had to ring the alarm bell,
asking her to stop being any skinnier.
While people often find it hard to know whether idols whose figure is already slim have lost
weight because the differences are often too subtle to notice, Karina is a completely different
case as she seemed to have shredded at least five kilos.
Such a weightloss also made her a hot topic on Instiz and according to people, they couldn’t
help noticing how her face was literally devoured by her hair.
Of course it’s undeniable that Karina looks even more like a CGI-character as her features
stand out as surrealistically prominent compared to the fist-size face size, but regarding
her health, many believed this new appearance would do her more harm than good.
However, fans said netizens wouldn’t have to worry for Karina that much because in the
practice room, Karina’s condition still seemed to be nothing but at its best: her
moves were strong and her energy was overflowing.
Plus, some pointed out that her body also stood out as lean and toned rather than bony
and sick, implying that her weight loss was most likely the result of a healthy diet and
constant workout, so bothering about her weight seemed to be quite redundant.
While netizens might view this as a hypocritical defense because there was no proof showing
Karina hadn’t starved herself behind the scene, the female idol has recently confirmed
what fans said was true when featuring on No Prepare.
Here, Lee Young Ji was impressed by Karina’s eating a great volume of food in one sitting
but what blew her mind even more was how healthy Karina’s weight loss method was.
Specifically, instead of cutting down on food and weakening the body overtime, Karina chose
to eat freely yet then exercise like crazy to stay in shape.
There was one time when she put on four kilos and lost the exact same amount in one day
by running for four hours straight on the treadmills.
To boost the process, Karina said she had worn a puffer jacket outside a tight shirt,
put on idol songs, and ran passionately while also giving herself a pad on the shoulders,
saying “Jimin ah, you are really badass!”.
LOONA's Yeojin
Unfortunately, not every idol could afford to have a healthy relationship with food and
publicly promote it.
Exemplified for this is the case of LOONA’s Yeojin whose height is 148 centimeters and
what shook people more was how light she weighs: only 34,2 kilograms.
It could be said that Yeojin’s weight loss was the aftermath of severe pressure netizens
put on her because she was said to look slightly chubby during the debut era.
In fact, with a high of only 148cm, Yeojin impressed people with the tiny feature rarely
seen among female idols and as Kpop has never seen such a visual like Yeojin before, many
were expecting that she would push the boundary, making this industry a more welcoming field
for whoever has a big enough passion regardless of their appearance.
However, this promising situation didn’t last for long and after a while in the industry,
Yeojin was not only seen losing a drastic amount of weight but also publicly promoting
an unhealthy relationship with food.
Specifically, when answering fans’ questions on Instagram about her secret sauce to weight
loss, Yeojin outright advised them to starve and posted a picture of her weight as a living
proof for this method’s result.
Right off the bat, this garnered everyone’s attention yet regardless of the apparent harm
starving would do to one’s body, there were still polarized opinions about Yeojin’s
method.
On one hand, many said they couldn’t understand how Yeojin, as a famous idol, could outright
tell fans to stop eating for weight loss.
Especially since there might be lots of fans who are still going to school, her tip was
said to do nothing but stop their body from naturally growing, which inevitably results
in limited height and digestive issues.
On the other hand, some said that people needed to stop sugar-coating the weight loss process
and stoning whoever dared to speak the truth about how idols lose weight, and in this case
it’s Yeojin.
Of course she could have ignored the question but sometimes, this would lead to an even
more detrimental situation where fans kept comparing themselves to Yeojin, asking why
they couldn’t look like her while it had never been good and easy to look like her
from the start.
BTS’ Jimin
Seemingly after BTS went on an extended hiatus, many of the members are struggling as besides
Jungkook’s alleged unstable mental state, which made so many headlines that you can
learn about everything with a single search, Jimin has also admitted to struggling a lot
with his weight, which seemed to be a side effect of his not-so-good mental wellness.
During his time in BTS, Jimin had already concerned fans for his drastic weight loss
despite the inherent fit figure in his debut days.
Actually, back in 2017, he had once shook fans by revealing that a one-meal-per-day
diet was his option because he felt uncomfortable in his own skin and wanted to look more handsome
compared to other members.
As Jimin explicitly recalled the story in the past tense, many thought that such bad
harmful days were long gone but in the most recent solo comeback, he has become a great
concern again due to his extremely skinny physique.
Looking at Jimin now, many said they felt like his face was disappearing as time passed
and when he wore sleeveless tops, his shoulders were just as slender as female idols thought
males’ bodies were naturally built with a bigger frame.
What bothered people more was how Jimin himself also admitted to having a struggling relationship
with food and for the latest comeback, he was having a hard time maintaining a weight
within the 50 range.
However, to comfort fans, Jimin also said he was already used to the restricted diet
and felt completely fine with it.
Still, his alarming condition didn’t easily pass by and according to fans, regardless
of what he said, being 58 kg heavy for 174cm height has never been a healthy scale for
any human being.
Combining this with the fact that Jimin also shared about his struggles with his mental
state, many believed this was nothing but a severe eating disorder looming large and
he should probably get professional help as soon as possible.
So, why do you think starving is still one of the go-to options for idols although they
could have just eaten freely and exercised a lot to quickly shred the weight gained?