I Went There in Current Events

I feel a little better after my entry yesterday. That wasn’t easy to get out. Coming out as gay was easier than coming out as a vegan. Now coming out with my political beliefs feels scarier. Anyways, I said that I would start talking about opinions aka start drama so I want to get something off my chest.

Obesity and body image. Some body-positive warriors and some health at every size warriors are lashing out at this sudden increase of at home workout videos on social media. They claim that it just goes to show how fatphobic society is to make their weight a priority during this pandemic. Not wanting to be fat means that a person is fatphobic and therefore, a garbage person. It was also mentioned that before and after photos are the most damaging thing on social media and that ex-fats are the worst fats. I didn’t realize how it is perceived as a betrayal for a person with obesity to shrink down. This is all disturbing. I’m not a keyboard warrior so I keep my opinions to myself but I’m pretty gagged over this. I want to get into healthcare as a dietician and my naive ass didn’t even know that this is what I was up against. First of all, not everybody who works out is doing it for their weight. It feels good. “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands.” - Elle Woods

Beauty at every size? Yes! Love at every size? Yes! Health at every size? That is my disconnect. When I watch these individuals debate their weight they bring up the indignities they face in society and in healthcare. Nobody is trying to take that truth from them. However, obesity is a disease. It’s actually a pandemic right now. We have more people living with obesity than we do people who are starving. Not every person with obesity ate their way there but at the end of the day, this is still a preventable and treatable disease. The idea of somebody not getting treatment because society says that it is perfectly acceptable and healthy does not sit well with me. We’ve already been fighting the modelling industry to stop promoting unhealthy body types of visibly starved models. We are just switching one unhealthy body type with another. She done already had herses. I am okay with it if we are just adding more to beauty standards but I am not okay with it being a promotion of health. It just feels like a dangerous game.

If all my dreams come true and I have my own clinic I do want to have a body-positive environment for my clients. Nobody needs to have a flat stomach to be happy and healthy. I don’t want to use a scale as a measurement of success. Actually, I want to make it clear that our goal is not about weight. It is not about size. I want to help these individuals create a whole new lifestyle that works for them healthwise in the long run. I want them to love their body at every size. I will need to work with them to not view their bodies as an identity. You’re not an obese person, you’re a person with obesity. The word love according to linguistics means oneness. You want to be one with what you love. You don’t want to be separate. Self-love means that you want to be one with yourself. We all live in a culture that does not love us. Nobody is safe. We just create a lot of distance from ourselves and try and use the material world to make us feel love. So my main focus will not be the client’s diet but the client’s mindset. I will need to help them empower themselves and own their stories and not let themselves be defined by their bodies. That’s going to be a rough ride because it is damn hard to drop the victim mentality. There is no blame, excuses and denial to rock you to sleep when you’ve empowered yourself. Accountability, ownership and responsibility is the underlying fear, I believe, for a lot of us. I’ve tried everything. No, you’ve quit everything. That’s a big pill to swallow but it’s not impossible.

Anyways, that’s enough drama for the day. I don’t think I’m a monster but I could be wrong. I’m the bad guy in a lot of people’s stories.

Last updated April 28, 2020