Mind Body Connection with Dr. Tyrone - April 2021
Let’s Talk About It: Complimenting Weight Loss
Hello Team Wukkout,
For this month, I want to share another article. Sharing what we see and is talked about in the media is a great way to start conversations with ourselves and others while reflecting on our actions and beliefs. On April 1, I came across a post on IG from @growthwithdrtoussaint linking an article from the Huffington Post about not complimenting people on weight loss (I Don’t Compliment People on Weight Loss, And Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Either by Layne Van Vranken).
Below are some highlights from the article:
Intuitive eating helps folks develop a healthier relationship with food and their bodies. It also aids in freeing people from the constraints and expectations of an image-obsessed society.
Complimenting people on their weight loss contributes to a dysfunctional conversation surrounding body image. It affirms the outdated narrative that smaller/thinner is better; therefore reinforcing fatphobia.
We don’t know folks stories or their journey toward weight loss
Does one validation about their self-worth need to be tied to their size?
Here’s an excerpt:
At one point in my late teens, at the height of one of my eating disorders, a teacher stopped me in the hall and told me that my fellow students were talking about how great I looked now, and that I should be proud of myself for achieving my weight goal.
What she didn’t know was that I was consuming no more than 500 calories a day, that I chewed sugar-free gum to ward off natural cravings, that I always felt close to fainting, and that my period had stopped six months earlier because I was starving. I didn’t need someone to encourage my illness. I needed someone to save me from myself.
So before you compliment someone on weight loss, stop and ask yourself, “What am I really complimenting here? Am I part of a larger problem?”
What are your thoughts on this subject? What’s your personal experience? I encourage you to reflect and consider this point of view in the future.
Read the full article here https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dont-compliment-people-on-weight-loss_n_6062086cc5b67593e05affc8