‘Tis the season of resolutions and weight loss propaganda, and on top of the regular “new year, new you” messaging around diet and exercise, we now have the addition of semaglutide weight loss medication marketing to deal with!
For many people, this new addition makes things… complicated.
After all, the body positivity and acceptance movement was heavily based around the idea that diets don’t work, and that weight loss really wasn’t an option for many people, right? Many people turned it only after the myth that our weight was supposed to be something we could (and therefore should) control with discipline and willpower was thoroughly busted, because why spend your life pursuing something impossible?
But now we have another lens to look at weight– one in which our weight is viewed as something we can (and therefore should) control again, but this time through medication.
As always, I don’t judge anyone for making any decision that feels right for their own bodies. I may be a body neutrality coach, but I’m not “anti-ozempic” for the same reasons I’m not “anti-plastic-surgery,” which is to say: I fully understand how these interventions may improve someone’s life, I don’t assign moral significance (to someone’s body or their choices), and I believe in bodily autonomy, full stop.
In other words, I’m not here to shame anyone for being on weight loss medications, or for being curious about them. I am, however, here to explore what it means to have briefly lived in a world where people were starting to understand that our weight wasn’t something we could (or needed to) control… and then have that snatched away.
Over the last few years, I’ve had many old clients reach out again, reporting a resurgence of disordered eating, body dysmorphia, and body insecurity in response to the increasing popularity of these weight loss medications.
Some have expressed an interest in trying them, mixed with a complicated cocktail of shame and failure for having “turned their back” on their previous values.
Some have expressed a feeling of disgust, anger, and judgment toward the people who choose to use these medications, and the companies who market them.
Most have expressed a feeling of confusion around this idea that being fat is “optional” again, and what that means for the people who don’t choose to pursue weight loss.
And while there is so much juicy body neutrality work to be done in all of these scenarios and more, it’s that last one that I want to talk about today.
What does it mean to stay fat, in a world where you don’t “have to”?
What does it mean to opt out of the pursuit of weight loss, when other people around you are getting results for the first time in their lives?
And perhaps most interestingly, what does it mean to keep struggling with and trying to heal your relationship to food and weight the “old fashioned way,” in a world where there is the promise of a quick and easy solution?
For today, I just want to say that if you’re asking any of these questions, or exploring these topics, I see you.
We don’t know the long term cultural implications of these medications yet, but if their rising popularity has you second guessing yourself, struggling with stuff you thought you’d healed again, or feeling complicated feelings, I see you.
Whether you’re on one of these medications and loving it, wishing you “could” go on them but feel like it would go against your values or identity (or financially, it’s just not an option), or you’re feeling personally attacked and irritable about the whole topic… I see you, and what you’re experiencing is valid.
You do not have to feel shame– not about your body, and not about the choices you make for your body– because these things are not a moral reflection of your character or worthiness.
That said, you also don’t have to pursue weight loss just because it’s an “option again.” Because as the old adage goes, “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”
Also, you deserve to have a positive relationship with yourself and your body, no matter what.
So if you’re looking for coaching support around body image, self-worth, or your relationship to food, exercise, or weight this season… I’ve got you.
Apply for coaching with me here, or hit reply to learn more about the private and small group coaching offers I have coming up in January.
Big hug and happy new year,
Jessi
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