For many young women, their relationships with fitness, health and the body are shaped by unrealistic beauty ideals. Body image scholars have long focused on the impacts of the media and more recently, social media, on the way young women experience body satisfaction. This thesis investigates the lived experiences of young women in Aotearoa New Zealand, in relation to body image and fitness culture. Underpinned by feminist post-structuralist theory, this research project aims to amplify the voices and experiences of young women (18-25 years) to gain nuanced insights into how they interpret, internalise and negotiate the complexities of the fitness lifestyles and everyday body image. This study draws upon an anonymous survey (203 participants), as well as three focus groups and three individual interviews with 15 young women, with all participants considering themselves to be actively pursuing fitness lifestyles. Conducting a thematic analysis, results showed that many young women are actively pursuing a range of fitness practices for diverse reasons and motives. However, many report feeling the pressure not only to adhere to thin ideals, but also to pursue bodies that are strong and toned. For many of the young women, however, the fitness lifestyles were also connected to broader social trends of ‘fitspo’ (fitness inspiration) and the ‘glow up’ (body and lifestyle transformation). Engaging with feminist literature on the pressures on young women to aspire and achieve ‘successful’ femininities in the context of neoliberalism, this research develops the concept of the ‘glow up’ in relation to their highly consumptive fitness lifestyles. In so doing, this thesis provides rich, nuanced and original insights into the pressures on everyday young women to pursue bodily and lifestyle transformation, and the effects on those unable to maintain their commitment to the ‘glow up’ imperative. Importantly, not all young women passively accept such limiting versions of the ‘body project’, with some actively acknowledging the harm that can be caused by the ‘glow up’ imperative. The thesis concludes with some researcher reflections on the contributions of this study and future directions to help young women redefine what it means to participate in meaningful physical activity.