The world of health and fitness on social media has become a battleground of obsessions, carbs, protein, fiber, fasting, body recomposition, or the latest “10,000-step” challenge. There are influencers who swear by tape measures instead of scales, those who flaunt shredded abs as “motivation,” and those who document the loose skin left behind after extreme weight loss. In this noisy ecosystem of advice, metrics, and moral judgment, 26-year-old Ethan Benard found himself both a participant and a symbol of the culture itself. A former gamer from western Michigan, Ethan is 6-foot-5 with a shock of red hair and a disarming awareness of his size. It began as a personal effort to reclaim his health soon transformed into something much larger, a public narrative followed by more than

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