Welcome to Debate Club! Please be aware that this is a space for respectful debate, and that your ideas will be challenged here. Please remember to critique the argument, not the author.
Can you both desire to lose weight and be body positive?
Replies
-
distinctlybeautiful wrote: »These articles are worth reading in their entirety. I’ve put an excerpt of each below each link.
https://everydayfeminism.com/2017/05/body-pos-definition-undebatable/
Body Positivity Actually Has a Specific Definition
Once upon a time, the phrase “body positive” had a specific meaning – one that signaled to the reader that the content with which they were about to engage was (at least going to attempt) to not be oppressive, harmful, or triggering.
The term “body positivity” was borne out of treatment for anorexia recovery in 1996, when a psychotherapist and a woman who had personal experience with an eating disorder founded thebodypositive.org.
The methodology and messaging behind their lectures, workshops, and other resources all centered on messaging about reducing focus on changing body weight through disordered eating and exercise.
In fact, the first of the core competencies of body positivity is to learn how to “ncover the messages that have influenced your relationships with your body, food, and exercise [and d]evelop a weight-neutral, health-centered approach to self-care [to b]ecome the authority of your own body by sorting out facts from distorted societal myths about health, weight, and identity.”
https://daretonotdiet.wordpress.com/2017/01/30/is-weight-loss-body-positive/
Is actively trying to lose weight a body positive act?
This is where it gets complicated.
Diet and weight loss culture is not body positive because it is rooted in the belief that fat bodies, bodies that do not conform to the very narrow beauty standards (thin, white, able-bodied, cis-gendered), are wrong, unattractive and/or unhealthy. Diet and weight loss culture simply does not respect the broad diversity of body weights and sizes that exist.
http://www.bodyposipanda.com/2016/04/stop-showing-me-your-beforeafter-weight.html?m=1
So I'm asking people, please, think twice before you bring your weight loss talk or your before/after pictures into the body positive community. Not only for those of us who've come through EDs and can be seriously triggered by diet culture, but for everyone who's finally found a safe place away from all that crap. There are millions of communities, pages, and places online where your weight loss will be celebrated beyond measure, where you'll be hailed as a fitspo queen and dubbed a loyal disciple to the deity of dieting. Let those of us who've been damaged from our belief in that deity have this safe space. Stop watering it down to fit your weight loss agenda. Body positivity was started as an underground punk movement, with fat acceptance and radical self love as its main aim (people actually stormed into diet meetings and demanded the group leaders defend their cult-like techniques in the face of all the research that says dieting doesn't work and is harmful, pretty badass huh?). So please, do whatever you want with your body, but understand the culture that you're buying into, and the people who never want to be a part of it again.
(I don’t know why some of this came out underlined. None of it was underlined in the articles or in my response before I posted.)
All of this is dangerous thinking. These people are triggered by anything.4 -
@eliciaobrien1 What about it is dangerous?0
-
distinctlybeautiful wrote: »@eliciaobrien1 What about it is dangerous?
"Diet and weight loss culture is not body positive because it is rooted in the belief that fat bodies, bodies that do not conform to the very narrow beauty standards (thin, white, able-bodied, cis-gendered), are wrong, unattractive and/or unhealthy. Diet and weight loss culture simply does not respect the broad diversity of body weights and sizes that exist." There isn't a very narrow "beauty standard" Be healthy not overweight. "Obese" is not a body size. It is an illness.
And the whole last paragraph. It's a set of rules. "all the research that says dieting doesn't work and is harmful, pretty badass huh?" this doesn't even make sense.2 -
"Please know that I never blame or judge those who participate in diet and weight loss culture. They are victims of a society that profits from their insecurities."
3 -
NorthCascades wrote: »"Please know that I never blame or judge those who participate in diet and weight loss culture. They are victims of a society that profits from their insecurities."
RIGHT?! lol
I don't know about you but I am not a "victim" of "diet and weight loss culture".0 -
"Weight loss for health is wholly unnecessary. " 4
-
eliciaobrien1 wrote: »NorthCascades wrote: »"Please know that I never blame or judge those who participate in diet and weight loss culture. They are victims of a society that profits from their insecurities."
RIGHT?! lol
I don't know about you but I am not a "victim" of "diet and weight loss culture".
seriously?
this post was from a site that was created to help people who have eating disorders...who are/were victims of diet and weight loss culture.
taken out of context sure it's not good but in context it makes total sense and is understandable...
4 -
if you cant bend down to tie your shoelaces then its time to lose weight. Body positivity is useless if you cant tie own shoelaces.1
-
eliciaobrien1 wrote: »NorthCascades wrote: »"Please know that I never blame or judge those who participate in diet and weight loss culture. They are victims of a society that profits from their insecurities."
RIGHT?! lol
I don't know about you but I am not a "victim" of "diet and weight loss culture".
seriously?
this post was from a site that was created to help people who have eating disorders...who are/were victims of diet and weight loss culture.
taken out of context sure it's not good but in context it makes total sense and is understandable...
I don't think that's true because a lot of the page that quote comes from talks about obesity and about the failure of dieting to end obesity in the long term. That would be a really strange and bizarre context for anorexics, don't you agree?2 -
if you cant bend down to tie your shoelaces then its time to lose weight. Body positivity is useless if you cant tie own shoelaces.
That's a question of flexibility/function. I've never had that problem. and I suspect I could have gained another 40 extra pounds beyond my high water mark and still not had that problem.1 -
NorthCascades wrote: »"Weight loss for health is wholly unnecessary. "
This is from the same page that's allegedly to help people recovering from eating disorders.1 -
eliciaobrien1 wrote: »NorthCascades wrote: »"Please know that I never blame or judge those who participate in diet and weight loss culture. They are victims of a society that profits from their insecurities."
RIGHT?! lol
I don't know about you but I am not a "victim" of "diet and weight loss culture".
seriously?
this post was from a site that was created to help people who have eating disorders...who are/were victims of diet and weight loss culture.
taken out of context sure it's not good but in context it makes total sense and is understandable...
Actually the article doesn't even mention eating disorders and is just about "body positivity".1 -
Actually this is all out of context and there's no such thing as obesity, people just don't realize there's a Secret Santa contest going on. I know because I just made it up.2
-
Regardless of whether y’all agree with what the movement stands for, the articles provide an answer to this thread’s original question from the standpoint of those within the body positive movement. No, weight loss and body positivity in its original form are not compatible; even more than that, they are mutually exclusive.2
-
distinctlybeautiful wrote: »Regardless of whether y’all agree with what the movement stands for, the articles provide an answer to this thread’s original question from the standpoint of those within the body positive movement. No, weight loss and body positivity in its original form are not compatible; even more than that, they are mutually exclusive.
Somebody just made that rule up tho.0 -
eliciaobrien1 wrote: »eliciaobrien1 wrote: »NorthCascades wrote: »"Please know that I never blame or judge those who participate in diet and weight loss culture. They are victims of a society that profits from their insecurities."
RIGHT?! lol
I don't know about you but I am not a "victim" of "diet and weight loss culture".
seriously?
this post was from a site that was created to help people who have eating disorders...who are/were victims of diet and weight loss culture.
taken out of context sure it's not good but in context it makes total sense and is understandable...
Actually the article doesn't even mention eating disorders and is just about "body positivity".
excuse me?
https://everydayfeminism.com/2017/05/body-pos-definition-undebatable/ this link specifically talks about ED's and why the term was developed
The term “body positivity” was borne out of treatment for anorexia recovery in 1996, when a psychotherapist and a woman who had personal experience with an eating disorder founded thebodypositive.org.
and the other link mentions eating disorders 3x and how diet culture impacts them and how before and after pics can be poison to recovery.1 -
eliciaobrien1 wrote: »eliciaobrien1 wrote: »NorthCascades wrote: »"Please know that I never blame or judge those who participate in diet and weight loss culture. They are victims of a society that profits from their insecurities."
RIGHT?! lol
I don't know about you but I am not a "victim" of "diet and weight loss culture".
seriously?
this post was from a site that was created to help people who have eating disorders...who are/were victims of diet and weight loss culture.
taken out of context sure it's not good but in context it makes total sense and is understandable...
Actually the article doesn't even mention eating disorders and is just about "body positivity".
excuse me?
https://everydayfeminism.com/2017/05/body-pos-definition-undebatable/ this link specifically talks about ED's and why the term was developed
The term “body positivity” was borne out of treatment for anorexia recovery in 1996, when a psychotherapist and a woman who had personal experience with an eating disorder founded thebodypositive.org.
and the other link mentions eating disorders 3x and how diet culture impacts them and how before and after pics can be poison to recovery.
That's not where the quote came from.0 -
NorthCascades wrote: »eliciaobrien1 wrote: »NorthCascades wrote: »"Please know that I never blame or judge those who participate in diet and weight loss culture. They are victims of a society that profits from their insecurities."
RIGHT?! lol
I don't know about you but I am not a "victim" of "diet and weight loss culture".
seriously?
this post was from a site that was created to help people who have eating disorders...who are/were victims of diet and weight loss culture.
taken out of context sure it's not good but in context it makes total sense and is understandable...
I don't think that's true because a lot of the page that quote comes from talks about obesity and about the failure of dieting to end obesity in the long term. That would be a really strange and bizarre context for anorexics, don't you agree?
Agreed. I found a lot of that page to be incongruous with the posted definition of body positivity. We did a LOT of work on body positivity in my eating disorder treatment group and it was in line with the posted definition-creating a healthy non-weight/appearance driven relationship with your body. Since people in my group were at all places on the weight spectrum (and actually represented ALL the body types that body positivity is supposed to accept), there was talk about living and making healthy choices. I understand the dangers of “dieting” particularly in the context of eating disordered individuals. However, categorical chastisement of all weight loss (with no mention of weight gain) as being part of “diet culture” vs attempts to live a healthy life making healthy changes? I guess now I see how “body positivity” is interpreted as applying just to large ones.
1 -
NorthCascades wrote: »"Weight loss for health is wholly unnecessary. "
Weight loss for health is wholly unnecessary. Studies show that our health habits (balanced diet, fitness, not smoking, not drinking excessively, etc.) make more of an impact on our health and longevity than weight ever could. We can begin to work toward fitness and eating well at any weight. Weight loss may be associated with health improvements, but there are three problems with concluding that weight loss is the solution to health problems: 1. Studies that show this association rarely take into account the health habits that typically change when someone tries to lose weight, so we really don’t know if it is the weight loss itself OR the change in health habits that are affecting health. 2. We’ve seen from other studies that health improvements can be accomplished through change in health habits in the absence of weight loss (eg. Eating a more nutrient dense diet, exercising more, etc.), and 3. Since weight loss is typically short term, any improvements made to health based on weight loss alone may end up being short term as well.
taken out of context...here is the complete paragraph.
8 -
eliciaobrien1 wrote: »distinctlybeautiful wrote: »Regardless of whether y’all agree with what the movement stands for, the articles provide an answer to this thread’s original question from the standpoint of those within the body positive movement. No, weight loss and body positivity in its original form are not compatible; even more than that, they are mutually exclusive.
Somebody just made that rule up tho.
What rule?0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.3K Introduce Yourself
- 43.4K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 387 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.4K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 901 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.2K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions