Do you think it's ok to 'love your body' whatever shape?
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Yes I think everyone should love their body, whatever their shape or size. However, my definition of "love your body" includes "do right by it" which includes "keep it healthy". So if someone truly loves their morbidly obese body then they will do right by it and get healthy. Even if they are focused on being healthy rather than thin (which IMO they should be) they will at least not end up being morbidly obese. Even if they don't want to be as thin as some sections of society would want them to be, they will at least end up healthy and accepting themselves for who they are, which is a lot more likely to lead to being happy as well as healthy.
Self hatred is a very negative place to start trying to get your body fat percentage into the healthy range, and if you hate yourself, I don't see how it's going to be easy to motivate yourself to become healthy. On the other hand, if you truly like and accept yourself, you have the motivation there already to get healthy. You wouldn't want anyone else that you love to carry on being unhealthy, so why do that to yourself? You don't... you love yourself enough to look after yourself properly and get healthy. I've come across many people who are very obese, hate themselves, and have no motivation to change because they hate themselves. Maybe they have to learn how to love themselves to be able to find the motivation to make whatever changes they need to to be able to get healthy.
Also I've lost count of how many people get to their goal weight and find that the body hatred doesn't go away. So they end up thinking I'll just make this change and that change, lose another 5kg and *then* I'll be happy, and *then* I'll like myself.... but it doesn't happen. And if this kind of thinking goes on indefinitely, it can lead to eating disorders and other health problems.
Many thin people are not healthy or happy, yet no-one tells them they're not allowed to love their bodies until they're healthy.
The sooner everyone learns to love their body and also to look after them well and stay healthy, the better.
Perfection. This!0 -
someone on my facebook shared this, and i thought it was pretty appropriate for this topic
http://www.rxmuscle.com/rx-girl-articles/8342-real-women.html0 -
Love whats on the inside... and take care of yourself both inside and out. :flowerforyou:0
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I think loving yourself just as you are, and continuing an unhealthy lifestyle are two different things entirely.
OP claims to not be hating on fat people but it is exactly the argument and the view she is talking about that is harmful and has totally stemmed from fat hate.
To say to someone that they aren't allowed to love themselves until they reach an allowed weight is frankly horrifying because you do realise that even if they change their habits and try to become a healthier person THEY STILL HAVE TO BE THAT OVERWEIGHT PERSON while they get there. So they have to try and look after themselves, while hating themselves until they get to a bodyweight that is acceptable. Only then can you love yourself
Can you see how ridiculous that sounds? How awful? How impossible that seems?
Nicely said!
You can totally love and accept your body, but that doesn't mean you cant also try and be healthier or try and lose weight. It is still your body regardless so love it always and try to promote living healthily as loving your body, not loving it based on aesthetics.0 -
This is a very complex issue, and really comes down to how you want to define a lot of terms.
I think most people regardless of shape or size have a slightly skewed view of thier own bodies. It's just a matter of how that manifests itself and whether it leads to destructive behaviors/habits or not. Or if it leads to total apathy and neglect.
You only get one ride on this rock and different people decide to spend it with an infinite number of different priorities. Not every one can understand some one else's priorities. Not everyone is successful at making things they want into a reality.0 -
I think 'loving your body' and 'loving yourself' are too tangled up.
I agree. There's a HUGE difference between loving yourself and your body; two totally separate things. It's awesome to have confidence, but if you are faced with health problems due to weight then you need to not be ignorant.
I watched this show about an obese girl who 'loved her body' but her family/friends were encouraging her to go to the doctor and lose weight. She finally agreed, and found out she had diabetes, high cholesterol and blood pressure, and was dangerously overweight. By the time the show was over she said, "I don't think my health problems are that bad. I get more attention from guys being bigger so I don't want to lose weight. I'm scared they won't be attracted to a skinny girl." People like that need to get a reality check.0 -
If you so overweight or underweight that it affects your health then HELL NO u must not like your body at all , its good to be happy but without health u can kiss life good bye0
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in....for the *kitten* storm to follow....0
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All I know is when I look at my pictures from six years ago I am like ughhhhh, who the hell is that guy? Thinking back I did not think of myself as out of shape, but I definitely knew that I was heading in the wrong direction and needed to make some changes...I guess it depends on the person. Some people can be obese and be "happy" I suppose, not sure how they could be but they really do not seem to care about body appearance or over all health ...or maybe they do not understand it...0
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I think loving yourself just as you are, and continuing an unhealthy lifestyle are two different things entirely.
OP claims to not be hating on fat people but it is exactly the argument and the view she is talking about that is harmful and has totally stemmed from fat hate.
To say to someone that they aren't allowed to love themselves until they reach an allowed weight is frankly horrifying because you do realise that even if they change their habits and try to become a healthier person THEY STILL HAVE TO BE THAT OVERWEIGHT PERSON while they get there. So they have to try and look after themselves, while hating themselves until they get to a bodyweight that is acceptable. Only then can you love yourself
Can you see how ridiculous that sounds? How awful? How impossible that seems?
Nicely said!
You can totally love and accept your body, but that doesn't mean you cant also try and be healthier or try and lose weight. It is still your body regardless so love it always and try to promote living healthily as loving your body, not loving it based on aesthetics.
ok but about what about folks that are 350+ pounds...is that loving your body when you have so much extra stress on your heart that your age is 30 but your "real age" is like 50....Just throwing that out there but I dont see how force feeding yourself 5000 calories a days showing love for yourself....maybe they just really do not notice, but it seems strange to me....0 -
It's extremely important to love your body in whatever it's condition. Weight is a factor that can be changed, so it can be easier to make snap judgements on a person who is overweight. But there are folks who have physical conditions or characteristics that cannot be changed. Society may not accept them as the standard either, but they still have a right to love their own bodies.
If your friend really "loves her body" , she will eventually come to a place where she will realize that she must nurture it and care for it. But while she is waiting to get there it is important for her to accept herself in the moment.
I have to love my body in the moment, and respect it's limitations, even though I am not at my goal weight and have a while to go. If I constantly looked toward the "future me", any slip would feel like a failure and this weight loss journey would be a nightmare.0 -
Frankly it's no one's business to decide whether or not it's acceptable for another person to love their body contingent upon whether it meets certain 'acceptable' criteria.
I have friends who are considered obese who are perfectly content with their bodies the way they are. Any medical issues their physical condition may present are THEIR business, not mine, and it's not up to me to concern-troll them into trying to live the sort of lifestyle that I want to live.
We are (hopefully) all autonomous adults who can make our own choices and ALSO respect the choices of others.
tl;dr why is this even a concern? Why aren't we all minding our own bodies and not the bodies of others? I wanted to make a change to myself and I'm doing it. I don't love what I see in the mirror right now - if someone who weighs 50 pounds more than me does, who am I to say they can't?0 -
I think everybody deserves to have decent self-esteem. I don't think that smugly telling overweight people that they are supposed to hate themselves helps *anybody*.0
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I think loving yourself just as you are, and continuing an unhealthy lifestyle are two different things entirely.
OP claims to not be hating on fat people but it is exactly the argument and the view she is talking about that is harmful and has totally stemmed from fat hate.
To say to someone that they aren't allowed to love themselves until they reach an allowed weight is frankly horrifying because you do realise that even if they change their habits and try to become a healthier person THEY STILL HAVE TO BE THAT OVERWEIGHT PERSON while they get there. So they have to try and look after themselves, while hating themselves until they get to a bodyweight that is acceptable. Only then can you love yourself
Can you see how ridiculous that sounds? How awful? How impossible that seems?
Nicely said!
You can totally love and accept your body, but that doesn't mean you cant also try and be healthier or try and lose weight. It is still your body regardless so love it always and try to promote living healthily as loving your body, not loving it based on aesthetics.
ok but about what about folks that are 350+ pounds...is that loving your body when you have so much extra stress on your heart that your age is 30 but your "real age" is like 50....Just throwing that out there but I dont see how force feeding yourself 5000 calories a days showing love for yourself....maybe they just really do not notice, but it seems strange to me....
When I started this I was 358 pounds, and for years I had very low self esteem. I could not stay focused and be determined to get healthier until I truely loved EVERYTHING about me which included loving EVERY inch and pound of me . So I say it is very important for a person no matter what size to love their body. Just my opinion based on my life
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I'm not going to read the replies prior to my own - Im sure there's been a fair amount of banter both ways, and maybe even some drama! Another day in the life of the MFP boards
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There's a big difference between loving your body, no matter what size, and loving YOURSELF. As one of MFP friends recently reminded me, each of us is just a soul within a body.
You can want to change yourself to be healthier without hating yourself. You can want to improve your body without losing respect for the fact that it has gotten you this far - heck, I think I have even more respect for my body because DESPITE the fact that I am much heavier than many of my friends, I can run better than they can - with better form, better times and over great distances. DESPITE the poor food choices that I have made in the past, my body continues to have good health numbers. I am thankful, and I am making the right strides to treat it better than I have in the past, but I don't hate it (or myself) for being the way that it is now, just like I don't hate myself for the choices that I've made that has gotten me here.
When you know better, you do better.0 -
A person should love themselves enough to not harm themselves by eating junk.0
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You should love yourself enough to realize when your unhealthy and need to change. Ignorance is not bliss.
Agreed0 -
You can leave anyone and everyone else, but you are stuck with you. Work on making yourself happy and healthy and let everyone else pound sand.
Check out the Health At Every Size movement and this blogger - http://danceswithfat.wordpress.com/0 -
It seems as though this "love your body" campaign, though altruistic at its core, is being abused by much of the American populous. It's one thing when your natural, healthy body shape and frame are larger or smaller than average. I believe that, concerning those people, this campaign is wonderful. Women with that hourglass figure, such as (please forgive me) Kim Kardashian can be absolutely gorgeous. Likewise, very petite women, such as Olivia Wilde, can also be gorgeous.
Issues arise when those who cross the line into unhealthily overweight use it as a cop out to not take care of themselves, and then go so far as to become hostile towards those advising a healthier lifestyle. It seems to be nearly synonymous to enabling a drug user. They do not care to change their life threatening lifestyle, and combat the general public by saying that they are the way they are, and that is how they will remain.0 -
I don't think anyone should ever hate their body. Loving your body is motivation to take care of it.
Yes, everyone is beautiful. Not everyone is healthy or well cared for though. That's just how I look at it.0
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