I don’t blame anyone for wanting to lose weight - Here’s why
Photo by nikko macaspac on Unsplash
The insidious discourse around body size has been around for centuries and has resulted in social pressures around weight that, while being cultural creations that are not rooted in solid science, nevertheless have led to very real cultural consequences.
Our world is currently built to make a very narrow range of bodies feel safe. That is not okay. It needs to change, and I believe it will, but probably not in our lifetimes.
How can I blame or shame someone for wanting to not be stigmatized? I can’t.
And I don’t.
I don’t and I do know that diets don’t work. I don’t and I am not a weight-loss dietitian. I hold space for those thoughts and beliefs while working with folks to change their relationship with food. Often, the desire to lose weight directly conflicts with the desire to find a peaceful relationship with food. And we notice that and interrogate it.
Here’s the thing: we are failing if we put the pressures of a system on any one individual.
Weight stigma and discrimination are systems-level problems that require entire systems to be held accountable and change. The best any of us as individuals can do is to treat ourselves with compassion in our journies that allow for multiple things to be true at once. Because that’s the nuance that’s present in our everyday lives. You can both want to lose weight AND know that it’s probably not going to lead to all the things it promises. None of this is simple or cut-and-dry and that’s okay. With full body autonomy, you get to decide what is best for you and your body at any given moment.