Next week marks the third annual Weight Stigma Awareness Week, sponsored by the Binge Eating Disorder Association (of which I am privileged to serve as a board member).
Weight Stigma: Judging People By Their Body Size
Weight stigma is an insidious yet pervasive problem in today’s world. It comes out of the judgment about body size, the judgment about a person’s health based on their body size, the judgment that people are somehow “less” if they are different than the societal ideal.
People have come in all shapes and sizes since the dawn of mankind. Yet as I write, there’s an often unrecognized “opinion” that there’s something wrong with us if we don’t fit the mold.
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Accept Your Wonderful Self
That “opinion” is often at the root of struggles with eating and weight. And it’s one that is often lodged deeply inside each of us, as we’ve grown up hearing these messages and have internalized them to the point that we think we’re unacceptable, too. It’s not just the opinion of others.
Weight Stigma Drives Unhealthy Practices To Change Our Bodies
When we think like this, we often find ourselves engaging in unhealthy practices in an attempt to change our bodies. And often we do see change. Except it’s not what we’re looking for. When they diet, most often women end up gaining weight, not losing it. The intentional pursuit of weight loss doesn’t get you where you want to go the vast majority of the time.
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Warning: Dieting Increases Your Risk of Gaining MORE Weight
That’s not to say that smaller body sizes aren’t right for some of us. But the only way we know that is by letting our bodies find their right place naturally, not trying to force them through unsustainable and hence unhealthy means. In essence, that’s what the Green Mountain program is all about. Helping you find your natural healthy weight and stay there. And it happen as a by-product of living well.
Stay Tuned For More Weight Stigma Awareness Week Activities
I’ll be posting next week about some of the Weight Stigma Awareness Week activities and issues surrounding them. But in the meantime, check out what’s in store here.
I have a post coming up during the week, talking about how when we “take weight stigma off our plate,” healthy eating is a much easier thing to do.
‘Til next week!
Marsha
Have you ever experienced weight stigma? Tell us!
At a recent job interview I was asked if I needed a “special chair, in the past women your size have broken many office chairs”
Needless to say, I did not accept the job