#13 - Can You Be Body Positive And Want To Lose Weight?

Today we’re talking about body positivity and weight loss. Can
you be body positive and want to lose weight?


Whether it’s the election or TV shows, there’s been an explosion
of stories about weight stigma, self acceptance in the news and
social media. We think it’s great that this conversation is
growing so we’re diving right into this timely topic today.


Here's what we talked about:


What is body positivity? There’s not a singular approved
definition. It’s a way of life and philosophy of respecting our
bodies and treating them well that had its origins in the fat
acceptance community.

Body positivity is trending so much that I’m nervous it may
jump the shark. There is growing chatter about mixing weight loss
diet culture messages with body positivity messages and it’s
making some people angry. Those who started the body positivity
movement are moving to terms like “fat activism” and “fat
positive” to ensure there are safe spaces where you can be fat,
not just a fat person trying to lose weight.

We talked about the tendency to “give credit” to weight loss
when we achieve goals. For example if you make lifestyle changes
and happen to lose some weight and have less knee pain, you
attribute that to the weight loss rather than your actions. This
associates knee problems with weight when people of all sizes
have knee problems! There’s a lot of nuance there, but if we need
to understand that weight loss may not be a helpful conversation
in a body positivity space.

My view is you can't control your honest desires and "wants"
- they are thoughts and feelings - but you can accept you feel
that way, acknowledge that diet culture and society plays a role
in creating them, but focus on the actions you would take -
losing a certain amount of weight is not an action. So you can be
body positive, reject dieting (and want to lose weight at the
same time) and focus on a healthy approach to habits. If you lose
weight you're not kicked out of the body positive club.

We discussed our mixed feelings about the new show This Is Us
which has a fat character Kate. I was disappointed that Kate’s
weight battle was such a part of her story, when it looked like
she is buying foods to binge eat - not healthy at any size!
Bernie hated that her fridge was full of junk food and felt it
was extreme and cliched.

I loved that her family does not judge her based on her
weight. When she asked her brother to tell her to lose the
weight, he did not. Kate’s own voice is the loudest that her
weight is a problem. I would like to see the real problems get
addressed - her mental health.

If you Google “Trump weight stigma” there are 340,000 results
with articles on fat shaming, weight bias and weight stigma from
major media outlets. I’d never have predicted that this election
would put these topics on the agenda.

These issues go beyond partisan politics and I’m grateful
they’re getting attention and entering our conversations as we
need to be aware of the harm of weight bias and stigma.



Links mentioned


My Facebook live chat http://bit.ly/2dHSmWz

An Imperfect Human’s Guide To Body Positivity
http://bzfd.it/2eal5ai

This is Us actors discuss "Kate" weight and habit concerns
http://bit.ly/2eakRzJ

Fat Girl Flow’s video http://bit.ly/2dHS1TP

For more links visit http://bit.ly/2eam4Hw



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