To wonder if ‘body positivity’ has gone too far?

@LolaLouise
so you are telling me that you are not worried at all that there may be a non-medical route for a lot of these women that may just involve a bit of fortitude and hard work? Are you telling me that it’s ok for an injection to be a substitute for what I’ve managed to achieve (and many others) …

As a former fat person you should understand the impact weight has on a person. Many, many people try all their life to lose weight unsuccessfully, or bounce between 2 weights for years. These WLI's are not a miracle fix. They still require will power, they still require good food choices, high protein, low calorie, low sugar, they require exercise and dedication to the journey. Its a tool that makes it a little bit easier. If losing weight was so difficult for you, and requires that much effort and will power even now you are a healthy weight, may be you are deficient in GLP1 receptors and this tool probably would have been useful for you at the time too? Instead of berating people who are using them to make lifestyle changes and become healthier, maybe try being happy for them they are now able be nearly as successful as you were without it?

I agree, but I imagine ordinary bodies that are of a healthy weight don’t get much attention on social media and so they don’t sell as much. People are always fascinated with extremes. Obese, ultra thin, big muscles, oversized boobs and bums are entertaining to a lot of people.

Every GP and surgeon I know really does eat healthily. I think the stress is unavoidable though.

I would love the government to have a healthy living channel on the TV (instead of bloody baking and cooking programmes that just encourage us to eat more fat and sugar).
Even more, I would love them to invest in cycle paths, to make cycling safer and more mainstream for everyone.

I live in the countryside but the roads near me are A roads and are horrendous to walk or cycle on. I have to drive to a safe place if I want to go for a walk or bike ride with children.

Same.

We should know our place in society as the disgusting, fat worthless morons that we are.

We wouldn't want anyone to think we like ourselves. We don't deserve to.

I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand I know it's better to promote a healthy lifestyle but on the other I've spent my entire life not doing things because I'm too fat, too thin, not the right shape, too old etc.
I decided a few years ago that I was going to do everything I wanted regardless. I am embarrassed about the horrible scars on my body from an accident and now I don't let anything stop me from wearing shorts swimsuits and doing what I want.
Body positivity allows people to get out there and live their lives instead of hiding in the shadows.

You’re being very pedantic. If you cannot understand sarcasm then I cannot assist you.

There are many fat people who think slim people are just that way because of good genes and are ‘lucky’ and cannot comprehend the effort and self regulation it requires to be that way.

my own journey started out as a weight loss journey from years of hormonal imbalance brought on by countless rounds of Ivf. I slogged away on the road and gym to lose the pounds I had piled on. I thought if I couldn’t have a baby I would at least be thin. The realization soon came that my mental health was in fact the biggest winner in my conquest. You are discounting the sheer amount of will power it takes to get to that point. I would hazard a guess that most women who are looking to injections as their solution have not even explored the depth of what they could achieve if they made a commitment. im not sure there is any medical test or exam which can sift through those who need the help or those who are are not being honest with themselves. And my issue with that is that whilst fat people don’t like to be called fat they some of them are happy to take the shortcut and call the rest of us putting in the hard work stupid.

Don't worry, OP. I'm fat and not at all positive about it. In fact, I feel like a disgusting, worthless second class citizen most of the time. Does that cheer you up?

@FruityShampoo Tbh as much as I think what you've listed is sad and I'm sorry if it happened, I do however find it quite hard to believe. Size 20 is scarily common now, and I was nearly that size at 5'1 not that long ago. I never experienced those types of comments, in fact every time I would say I feel like I'm fat, I would get a barrage of comments saying no I'm beautiful.
I really don't think what you experienced is common.

But you said you'd cancel your gym membership and live off burgers so you could take weight loss injections and be slim that way instead?

I'm confused about whether living a healthy lifestyle is a terrible sacrifice that you're making and need to be congratulated on, or if it's something you enjoy because of your moral superiority to fat people? You seem to be arguing both.

I like weightlifting, swimming, walking and cooking healthy meals because those things make me feel better. I don't expect anyone to admire me for it or celebrate it and I wouldn't want to give it up to sit on the couch and eat burgers. I don't think that's what all fat people are doing either; I think it's much more complex than that and yeah, it seems like hormones and genetics really play a role. But it doesn't take anything away from slim people to acknowledge that.

Sorry to point out the obvious but isn't Mumsnet social media you know where you've commented on?🤔🙄 Yes it's anonymous unlike most but you are online chatting to people and everyone gives their own opinions.

No one is disputing its hard for everyone to maintain a healthy lifestyle, especially in today society with 1000 calorie drinks on every corner and virtually every take away imaginable delivered to you in under 30 minutes, along with life being busier and finding the time and motivation to exercise. Its hard, for everyone. What im saying is there is an added reason for a lot of people that makes that even harder, a medical, genetic, biological hormone imbalance as they are deficient in the hormone that regulates digestion and hunger.

What are you on about? I never said that I only exercise to stay slim. Exercise has literally saved my life from the pits of infertility and the happy side effect is weight loss.

im just so sick of fat people who can barely walk the block judging me for putting in the effort to fix myself without any medical intervention.

I have pulled myself from the depths of hell to get where I am today and I can promise you that most people do not know hard it is to be committed to a healthy lifestyle!!!!

It's a shame you only exercise to be slim. I love the gym for its mental health benefits, same for getting up early and out in nature. I'd hate to be resentful of it and slogging it out just for weight reasons.

Absolutely. There has to be a reason for the rise in people who are deficient in GLP1 receptors, and huge influx in ULP's particularly in childhood is probably a contributing factor. Some of these medications have been around for 20 years though, so we have some insight into there effect. The bigger issue is these medications need to be life long to work. They dont cure, they provide synthetic receptors, so when a person comes off them, they are likely to regain some weight. However the lifestyle changes made whilst on them hopefully go some way to allowing a person to stay at a more healthy weight in the future. But they are designed to be a life long medication, not a quick fix.

@LolaLouise
fuck off is the same answer my sister gives me when I suggest we go for a walk instead of sitting on the couch.

im well aware that injections work but i really believe that you are discounting the hard work most slim people put into looking the way they do. Try celebrate that!

I'm so sorry that those people treated you so cruelly, and that you have had traumatic experiences too. People harping on about obesity being "glorified" or "glamorised" must be completely ignorant to the day to day stigmatism that larger people experience.

Weight loss injections don't work that way; you can't eat takeaways and be sedentary on them and still lose weight. That's a really common misconception.

@LolaLouise There's a very interesting radio podcast about the effect of ultra processed food. There's 8 episodes and one talks about this phenomenon. The ultra processed food actually physically alters the wiring of our brains and we don't actually know how easy it is to reverse that yet. Children who are now growing up on UPFs in the majority of their diet (which is most kids) are especially worrying as there's no baseline for the brain to fall back to, even with medical and dietary intervention.
There's not much research done on the long term effects of all this pharmaceutical intervention, but what they do know is if the person doesn't completely change their lifestyle, so yes they need to cut out UPFs and stop being 'lazy', otherwise even the medicine won't help.
So I agree with you to a extent, but we've only got to the point of the disease stage because people have been lazy in both their eating and activity. There's so many factors that come into play as to why that's happened, a lot is around good poverty, but the message the media sends out about body positivity is dangerous. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground either, people are either extremely fat or extremely skinny or extremely toned. I do think people are a bit naive as to who benefits from this movement too. Its not the overweight people who's lives will be short and uncomfortable, but the owners of these food, pharmaceutical and clothing companies. You can bet a pretty penny they're not taking part in this body positivity movement and their kids have probably never touched a UPF.

Oh fuck off. These injections also require a person to make the right food choices and exercise, however they also correct a hormonal imbalance that makes doing so possible. Stop being so sanctimonious. The medical evidence is out there if you care to educate yourself properly.

Accepting who you are and loving your body regardless of what it looks like is not the same as promoting an unhealthy lifestyle. Existing in a fat body is not promoting obesity.

That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.
I can afford private healthcare so I’m going to cancel my gym membership right now and schedule an appointment with my GP. I was also planning on getting up at 5am tomorrow before my household so that I could join my running group.
Also makes shopping so much easier now that I can just order Mr Delivery for a burger!

Thanks for saving me so much effort that I’ve been putting in to keep off all the weight I’ve lost. It’s quite tiring so you’ve really made my day. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I fell down a rabbit hole when I googled The Fat Doctor UK and it came up with the notes from their warning from the General Medical Council on the first page of results

www.gmc-uk.org/-/media/documents/publishable-ic-minutes---dr-natasha-larmie-3-june-2024_pdf-107291633.pdf

I think for me, it's about acknowledging that every body holds value and deserves respect regardless of size/ health/ ability/appearance etc and to try and move away from the stigmas that are attached to certain bodies. I don't feel that a plus size person should always have to come with a *health warning label to exist online or elsewhere. I understand why some people who are struggling with certain eating disorders may need this due to the nature of the eating disorder and "thinspo" posts being dangerous for others struggling, but again only where that is the intent of the post. Not where someone is just existing.

I think that when you're expecting the health warning you're also by default creating a situation where someone needs to disclose their private medical information which they're under no obligation to do. I know people who have put on really significant amounts of weight due to brain injury/ cancer treatment/, mental health. They are just as important and deserving of respect now than before and they shouldn't have to disclose any of that just because they're online and overweight. Similarly it would be disingenuous for them to talk about the dangers of obesity (as if they're only overweight because they like to eat) without explaining why this has happened. Its so much more nuanced and I think what you're looking for is overly simplistic.

I think it's more about getting away from judgement and letting people live as they want to or as they have no choice but to.

Yes, a Dr or Nurse is not there as a mirror of an ideal. A Dr can smoke and also tell someone that smoking is bad because that is a fact and it is their job to give impartial medical advice that cannot be based on personal opinion. People have become so sensitive to any criticism, they now take medical advise as a personal attack and defend themselves like it's a school fight.