Twitter goes into meltdown over guy body-shaming his girlfriend over her choice of food

These days, it's very easy to feel like our appearances are being criticised all the time. Health professionals are always telling us that we're too fat or too thin, advertisements are always pushing some ideal of what people should or shouldn't look like, and every other person on Instagram has a six-pack of abs so chiselled they make the rest of us look like shapeless lumps of flesh.

And with all that already going on, the last thing we need is someone close to us making us feel even more insecure about our bodies.

So, when one woman on Twitter overheard a guy telling his girlfriend not to get a tuna melt because it would be "a little fattening", she just had to share her frustration on the internet - and thousands of people piped up to share their opinions on the matter.

Some people joined the conversation to say that they had been in a similar position to the woman in the story.

"I was in a relationship like this with a gym rat boyfriend who was super judgy of all my choices, who at one point was literally saying to me daily 'if you loved me you would exercise'," said one user.

"My ex did this all the time. Once he shamed me so much over ordering grilled cheese by the time it came I was crying and asked the waiter to just wrap it up. I don't think I ever ate it. Seriously girl, run. Life is too short," added another, highlighting how constant criticism like this can become almost like a form of abuse.

Others jokingly said that they hoped the girlfriend bought the sandwich anyway to spite her guy.

"I hope she got two with extra mayo," wrote one person.

"And three servings of bacon!" added another.

Mara Wilson, who is most famous for her role in the film, Matilda, also commented on the Tweet and made it very clear what she thought of people trying to control their partners' diets/body image.

"I have straight up told guys like that ‘she could do a lot better than you’ before," she wrote.

As trivial as this may seem to some, incidents like this are a sign of a wider culture of this unhealthy attitude we have to eating and our personal appearances. Sure, some foods are unhealthier than others, but being so strict with ourselves and denying ourselves the kinds of foods we enjoy isn't really going to make us happy in the long run.

The key to a happy, healthy relationship with your body is to enjoy everything in moderation, and to listen to yourself - not anyone else (unless, you know, that person happens to be a nutritionist/doctor and you have explicitly requested their input). Not everything you eat is going to be a zero-carb, low-calorie, high-protein, mega-nutritious meal, and that's fine. Beating yourself up over the occasional treat won't help you feel better about yourself, and nor will staring at all those so-called beautiful Instagrammers, or paying too much attention to celebrities and people on TV.

Basically: if you want that tuna melt, you go get that tuna melt. With or without the mayo and bacon.