A little bit of double talk

The advice is good, but oh the irony!



Watching this video, I just kind of shook my head. I mean, the advice is good ("love yourselves, ladies!") but the person from whom it springs might want to think about the other advice she gives, too. I mean, Jillian Michaels preaching body love? Not that I watch The Biggest Loser (I've lived it, I don't need to see more), but the segments that I've seen don't indicate that she's telling the contestants to accept their bodies.

Oh...that's right. Accept your body but only if you're not fat. And not until you've bought a Jillian Michaels exercise DVD. I get it.

Honey, your entire fortune is predicated on the fact that people don't like how they look. There's some lip service to health, but most "motivation" I hear is about appearance. If people suddenly accepted their bodies, you would be out of a job. At least admit it.

Are people really that disconnected from their own messages? Do the execs at Weight Watchers and Slim Fast really buy their own schtick ("we're not a diet, we're a Lifestyle Change!"), or do they know the rest of us are a bunch of suckers?

"Fat talk" in women serves a variety of purposes, but mainly as a bonding device, a way for women to connect. One of my therapists in treatment called similar things "bonding through bitching." Women don't dare bond through talk of their achievements, so they bond through their problems, body and otherwise. Bitching is okay; bitchy isn't. Saying how fat we are or how ginormous we feel makes us feel like one of the gang.

But you don't need to win The Biggest Loser in order to stop with the fat talk and start accepting yourself and your life and your accomplishments. Start now.

Share an accomplishment from today in the comments- no "it was just..." or "only..." and such. What did you accomplish today? I'll start: I went to the grocery store and got what I needed without a meltdown. Yeah!

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14 comments:

Nan said...

I gave my body 30 minutes of cardio without pushing so hard I injured my knees! It felt gooooood!

Carrie Arnold said...

Awesome!

Anonymous said...

I was going to wallow in bed this morning, feeling sorry for various things, but I got up, went to church, and listened to an excellent sermon about the hard work of love. (And the woman who gave the sermon is hopefully out there somewhere feeling accomplished and happy as well.)

Anonymous said...

i made a risky decision to secure a garage apartment with a vegetable garden! i couldn't be more thrilled.

Anonymous said...

What *do* you say though, whenever women start making comments like that?

I never know what a 'normal' thin person is supposed to do in those settings, when other women start complaining about their bodies or how fat they've gotten. Med school isn't the healthiest place in the world, and a lot of my classmates have packed on weight this year.

But even with all our 'health education' no one's commenting about their concern for hypertension or peripheral artery disease. No one even pretends.

I don't know if you're supposed to placate people, if you're supposed to brush it off or what.

It feels like I ought to make some disparaging remark about my own body, but I've spent far too long actually hating my body to actually make derogatory comments now that I'm loving how i look.

So I just change the subject as quickly as I can.

And um... today I reviewed a semester's worth of material, that's hopefully enough to get me a passing grade on tmrw's final!

Samantha C. said...

I wrote a thousand words of fiction for the first time in over a month!

Wrapped up in Life said...

I ate when my stomache asked me to. The horror. The success. The fear. The triumph. It's all there.

Sarah at Journeying With Him said...

I spilled my entire breakfast on the ground, didn't cry, AND didn't refuse to eat breakfast citing "a sign from the heavens telling me not to" as I would have in a past life. Rather, I whined, mourned a little for the loss of expensive yogurt and strawberries, and remade it. GO ME.

Lisa said...

I made breakfast without burning or spilling anything - and let me tell you, that is an accomplishment!

I Hate to Weight said...

i haven't had a drink in a week. it seems like i'm substituting food (scarey!), but i'm leaving myself alone. hard as that is! i'm doing the best i can. it's hard work.

Adrianna Joanna said...

I haven't noticed anyone's weight.

Granted, I never judged or rejected anyone because of their eight. I really didn't care that much, but when I had body image issues, I *did* constantly examine other people in the hope that they were fatter than me. I hated that I was doing it, but I did.

As for noticing whether they lost or gained weight? Unless it's ridiculously extreme, I'm totally blind to it.

When someone says to me, "You gained 20 lbs," to me, that sounds totally obsessive. Otherwise, I wouldn't know how you could tell.

Lauren said...

I put together patio furniture for our deck and rewarded myself with a Dairy Queen blizzard!

Anonymous said...

Great post! I didn't go to the gym today even though something bad happened because I know my body can't handle my pushing it so much lately. I actually feel good anyway even without the gym AND a real dinner.

Carrie Arnold said...

Seriously? I have the
Coolest.
Readers.
Ever.

Rock on, everyone!

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I'm a science writer, a jewelry design artist, a bookworm, a complete geek, and mom to a wonderful kitty. I am also recovering from a decade-plus battle with anorexia nervosa. I believe that complete recovery is possible, and that the first step along that path is full nutrition.

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nour·ish: (v); to sustain with food or nutriment; supply with what is necessary for life, health, and growth; to cherish, foster, keep alive; to strengthen, build up, or promote



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