Losing weight for external validation???
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Maybe we'd all be better off if we didn't look to the tabloids for cultural validation.0
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So I watched a bit more. For those who have other things to do: She feels personally betrayed and angered by someone's pursuit of health. And hearing talk about the benefits of weight loss (and of one's own weight loss journey) is a hindrance to her positivity about her body.
This lady's doing gymnastics, even if she's not working out
I do think it's fair to suggest that someone who took on a very public role as a representative of a marginalized group might consider addressing this change. I think it probably did let a lot of people down. But the bottom line is that the idea the youtube chick doesn't like is that it is better to be thinner and healthier.
(I'm sure a response to that would be that those aren't the same, correlation not causation etc. But it's a pretttttttty tight correlation. (Except for that one study where overweight (not obese) people had some health benefits.)
I'm sure one can modify gymnastics just as I modified my yoga practice after my full-time yoga teacher weight to my plus 60 or 70 pounds weight. But it was a very different experience, and many things were simply out of the question.
I was definitely healthier as a full-time yoga teacher, mostly due to being fitter, and having an all around healthy lifestyle, and not a full time desk job.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »So I watched a bit more. For those who have other things to do: She feels personally betrayed and angered by someone's pursuit of health. And hearing talk about the benefits of weight loss (and of one's own weight loss journey) is a hindrance to her positivity about her body.
This lady's doing gymnastics, even if she's not working out
I do think it's fair to suggest that someone who took on a very public role as a representative of a marginalized group might consider addressing this change. I think it probably did let a lot of people down. But the bottom line is that the idea the youtube chick doesn't like is that it is better to be thinner and healthier.
(I'm sure a response to that would be that those aren't the same, correlation not causation etc. But it's a pretttttttty tight correlation. (Except for that one study where overweight (not obese) people had some health benefits.)
I'm sure one can modify gymnastics just as I modified my yoga practice after my full-time yoga teacher weight to my plus 60 or 70 pounds weight. But it was a very different experience, and many things were simply out of the question.
I was definitely healthier as a full-time yoga teacher, mostly due to being fitter, and having an all around healthy lifestyle, and not a full time desk job.
Oh sorry!! I meant mental gymnastics, like rationalizations
Cool that you were a yoga teacher!0 -
Thanks for the link. I get where she's coming from. Interesting perspective. The video raises this question - should those who claim to promote body positivity then make statements which imply that one type of body shape is better than another? For those who didn't watch it all - the lady in the video is not feeling betrayed that a plus size model has lost weight. Nor is she saying, 'world, don't tell me to lose weight'. She's just peeved that someone who claimed to promote body positivity is implying that a thinner body is better than a fat one. That's what I got from it, anyway, that she's annoyed about what she perceives as the model's hypocrisy.
Yeah that was more my interpretation of what I heard.0 -
Ugh, HAES is the worst. Be as fat as you like. But don't pretend it's healthy or body positive.0
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Ugh, HAES is the worst. Be as fat as you like. But don't pretend it's healthy or body positive.
It can't be healthy, but I don't think it's good for people to feel bad about their bodies at higher weights.
On the other hand, unhappiness with how I looked was a motivator for me. Not sure I'd have bothered if I really liked how I looked, even knowing it was unhealthy.0 -
I got as far as her saying people who are happy to have lost weight are a hinderance to her happiness and oppressing her. It was too long and boring, but that was just ridiculously stupid.
Who is she trying to convince that she's happy with her body? Us? Herself? Both? It's not working.
I didn't lose weight for validation. I did it to be healthier. The bonus of looking better is icing on the cake.
If that girl wants to feel that other people's weight loss is hindering her happiness and oppressing her, she can continue that denial for as long as it works for her. I will still be happy to not be fat.
It's not about external validation from anyone, including her. She doesn't have to be happy with my weight loss.
It's about me.0 -
The comments on that videos youtube link are surprising! There are others who feel she was able to express their concerns in an elegant and admirable way!
It takes all kinds, i suppose. I feel like this is an area of identity politics that I'm not well versed on, and I probably shouldn't get too involved.0 -
I couldn't even watch the whole thing because I just want to slap her mouth shut! My thought is...she wasn't following this model on Instagram for "seven seconds", but more like....seriously following her. And now she's looking at this woman as some kind of traitor to the plus size "community" for thinning out. As if she's not in their corner anymore.
It has a very "high school" mentality to it.0 -
Well that was a public exercise of self defence. She obviously felt betrayed by someone she didn't even know.
Personally, I love myself. Loving my body can change by the hour, but it has never been hated, nor needed any external validation.
We all do mental gymnastics with the mirror, it is part of being human.
Cheers, h.0 -
I'm glad this discussion is happening. I love the body positivity movement--but I just feel like it's denial to say that weight doesn't factor into health. I've worked at a hospital for 5+ years (with many overweight and obese patients) and grown up with obese family members. I can say that the quality of life that I desired and the quality of life I would have at the weight I was at are two vastly different things.
Body Positivity is a great thing. The idea that you can "shame" a person into a healthier body is absolutely false--they've done studies to prove it. Shame not only prevents weight loss, it tends to cause weight gain. So in that sense, the body positivity movement is a beautiful thing. I just wish that I didn't feel shamed for talking about weight loss in a Body Positive community--choosing to lose weight is choosing to love my body. Furthermore--choosing to lose weight doesn't put down another person who is overweight. This is my journey. Your journey is yours. Both are beautiful regardless of where they take us, and both should be celebrated.
All of that being said--I do agree with the youtuber in the sense that it's a huge bummer that this model claimed one thing and then went a different direction.0 -
^^
I don't see it that way though. I don't think it's wrong for the model to say plus size is great, but then make the choice to slim down. As long as the individual is healthy, then who cares? Both can be ok, right? Does it have to be one side of the fence or the other???
And as far as health goes, I don't know who the model she's referring to is but from what I've seen of plus size models, they really aren't all that heavy! They're just an average sized woman's size.0 -
I don't like this woman. I should probably type out why but I'm too lazy. And it would probably offend some.0
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arditarose wrote: »I don't like this woman. I should probably type out why but I'm too lazy. And it would probably offend some.
No. Please do. We need more honesty around here.0 -
All of that being said--I do agree with the youtuber in the sense that it's a huge bummer that this model claimed one thing and then went a different direction.
Bummer I guess and it would have maybe been something to address the issue head on. I have a feeling some of her fans wouldn't be pleased no matter what she said, though. Does she owe them her body? What about her health?0 -
All of that being said--I do agree with the youtuber in the sense that it's a huge bummer that this model claimed one thing and then went a different direction.
Bummer I guess and it would have maybe been something to address the issue head on. I have a feeling some of her fans wouldn't be pleased no matter what she said, though. Does she owe them her body? What about her health?
Also, are people not allowed to change their minds, to evolve and grow and develop new goals? Really, it's a bummer that somebody with whom you've not had any personal contact and whose body has no influence on or power over your life decided to lose weight and then talk about it in public? How is that a bummer?0 -
All of that being said--I do agree with the youtuber in the sense that it's a huge bummer that this model claimed one thing and then went a different direction.
Bummer I guess and it would have maybe been something to address the issue head on. I have a feeling some of her fans wouldn't be pleased no matter what she said, though. Does she owe them her body? What about her health?
Also, are people not allowed to change their minds, to evolve and grow and develop new goals? Really, it's a bummer that somebody with whom you've not had any personal contact and whose body has no influence on or power over your life decided to lose weight and then talk about it in public? How is that a bummer?
Exactly.
David Bowie started out as a mime. Where would we be today if that's all we let him be?0 -
She's in denial, like so many of us were at her age. Stay large, girl! Enjoy! But everything is gonna start to hurt in a few years. That's just the facts. We all have our own learning curve. I do feel bad for her. At least I don't have access to a video of myself, 20+ years younger, ranting about 'fat justice.' Justice. Hahahaha!0
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I found this woman extremely annoying and I couldn't make it through the whole video.0
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