Maybe because most of the people I work with are half my age but I have more issues with body image as I approach 50 then I ever did. I am going for neutrality and health.
I think there's something really freeing and powerful about the idea of body neutrality. After a lifetime of spending so much time worrying about the ways my body wasn't good enough, and the energy wasted on trying to make it better, I'm finding a lot of joy in just accepting it for what it is. And that frees me up to think about so many other things, completely unrelated to my body.
Easier said than done, of course, as we've all had decades of conditioning and still receive that messaging every day, but it's nice to have something to work towards. Here's to health and neutrality! 💚
Thank you for a very timely topic. I am 8 weeks into recovery from anorexia and very aware of just how insidious, pervasive and toxic the whole body shaming, body image and diet culture is.
Thank you so much for tuning in Eilidh — I hope it was a helpful listen and agree with you completely on how toxic and pervasive the entire diet culture is. Sending you so much strength and love in your recovery. 💚💚💚
It's a powerful one, isn't it? I just think taking away the importance of the body, as the "most interesting or important thing about us" is freeing and well worth exploring. I'm so glad it hit home for you Sarah, and thanks for listening xx
Thank you so much for talking about Ozempic and body image. If you are interested in learning more please check out this document about GLP-1 agonists (Ozempic, Wegovy, etc) and informed consent. Most patients who are getting pushed these drugs are not fully aware of the side effects and long term efficacy.
The amount of marketing being pushed behind this drugs are downright insidious. I also recommend checking out the work of Ragen Chastain and Christy Harrison (both on substack) who cover this topic extensively.
Claudia, thank you a million for this info. I agree that there is so much damaging misinformation and disinformation around about these drugs. While I would never suggest that people avoid medication if they need it, we're messing with big, important bodily functions with this stuff and as you say, that people are being sold on it by celebrities and magazines and unscrupulous practitioners without understanding what it's doing to our bodies is so concerning.
Thanks for the suggestion RE Ragen Chastain and Christy Harrison too - I'll check them out. 💚
Thanks for the conversation Brooke and Ben. I feel I aligned quite similarly to a lot of what you said. Even though I feel I do better with body image now, I still definitely have hang ups, and listening to you guys made me tune into that a bit more. I recently looked back on some pics in my late 20s pre kids (now mid 30s) and can’t believe how ‘skinny’ I looked. And I remember at the time thinking how many body parts I detested or didn’t like. Such a sad waste of my mental energy caring so much back then. Now in a post baby body I’m working as best I can on rewriting my mental algorithm on how I feel about myself. Coming to terms with knowing I’ll never go back to my pre-kid body is hard to take, with all the social media and societal crap telling us we can get there if we just work a bit harder. When there’s 30 years of low grade self loathing it’s so hard to rewire those thought patterns! Maybe when I’m 60 I might get there?
I totally agree with your comment. I look back at photos of my self in my 20’s and remember thinking back then that I needed to lose weight and I lost so much mental energy thinking about it. I look at my body from back then and wonder why I ever criticised it. Post three babies my body isn’t what it was but I am trying my best to remember how much my body has allowed me to do, how lucky I am that it is strong enough to carry my three year old or that I can walk or stand on my feet for a few hours at a time. No doubt I will look back in twenty years time at photos of myself in my early forties (now) and wonder why I was putting so much pressure on myself to lose weight and why I didn’t learn from my twenties!
Yes! This is where I am now too. Trying to soften into gratitude (while acknowledging that the system isn't set up for it) and see that I will look back at these days and see all that was great about my body and my mind and my life. Trying to live in that now rather than wait for Future Me to see it is the goal. 💚
Unfortunately my husband's grandmother, who died two years ago at 100, had hang ups about her body in her late 90s. It's pervasive at any age, it seems.
I also identify with what you said about pre-baby body. I feel very much the same and know I will never look that way again. I wish I'd loved my body better during that time.
I think the roots of this self-loathing run so deep and are so ingrained in us, particularly girls and women but increasingly everyone, that we could conceivably live an entire life dissatisfied with the very body that makes life possible. I don't want that for my kids so I'm trying so hard to unlearn it, but at the same time I do have so much compassion for people who never could. I hope that I live to 100 and if I do, I hope I love my body even then. 💚
Ah, you could have plucked this straight from my brain, Brooke! The sheer amount of time and energy I spent loathing parts of me only to look back now and see all the good things that were there all along is mind-blowing. I'm choosing to learn from that these days, knowing that in 10 years I'll look back and think I looked good now, so I'm circumventing the middle bit and telling myself it's all good as it is. (Doesn't always work but it's worth trying!)
As for the post-baby body, I hear you. It took me many years to come to accept mine (and the "bounce back" BS we're fed daily doesn't help) and much longer to be grateful for her. I found focusing on my strength helped, and practicing the idea of neutrality when I couldn't find anything good. It feels lighter somehow, like I'm wasting less time these days. 💚💚
Maybe because most of the people I work with are half my age but I have more issues with body image as I approach 50 then I ever did. I am going for neutrality and health.
I think there's something really freeing and powerful about the idea of body neutrality. After a lifetime of spending so much time worrying about the ways my body wasn't good enough, and the energy wasted on trying to make it better, I'm finding a lot of joy in just accepting it for what it is. And that frees me up to think about so many other things, completely unrelated to my body.
Easier said than done, of course, as we've all had decades of conditioning and still receive that messaging every day, but it's nice to have something to work towards. Here's to health and neutrality! 💚
Thank you for a very timely topic. I am 8 weeks into recovery from anorexia and very aware of just how insidious, pervasive and toxic the whole body shaming, body image and diet culture is.
Thank you so much for tuning in Eilidh — I hope it was a helpful listen and agree with you completely on how toxic and pervasive the entire diet culture is. Sending you so much strength and love in your recovery. 💚💚💚
Thank you 💜
So well covered! Thank you. Xx
Thanks so much for listening, Monique! xx
Thank you SO much for talking about body neutrality! The concept has really resonated with me over the past few years, it's so freeing.
It's a powerful one, isn't it? I just think taking away the importance of the body, as the "most interesting or important thing about us" is freeing and well worth exploring. I'm so glad it hit home for you Sarah, and thanks for listening xx
This one hits hard 😘 I’ve put my feelings in an email. Thank you xx
Thank you lovely Shireen, I'll drop you a note this afternoon. xxxx
Thank you so much for talking about Ozempic and body image. If you are interested in learning more please check out this document about GLP-1 agonists (Ozempic, Wegovy, etc) and informed consent. Most patients who are getting pushed these drugs are not fully aware of the side effects and long term efficacy.
https://sizeinclusivemedicine.org/glp1/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
The amount of marketing being pushed behind this drugs are downright insidious. I also recommend checking out the work of Ragen Chastain and Christy Harrison (both on substack) who cover this topic extensively.
Thank you again for your wonderful work.
Claudia, thank you a million for this info. I agree that there is so much damaging misinformation and disinformation around about these drugs. While I would never suggest that people avoid medication if they need it, we're messing with big, important bodily functions with this stuff and as you say, that people are being sold on it by celebrities and magazines and unscrupulous practitioners without understanding what it's doing to our bodies is so concerning.
Thanks for the suggestion RE Ragen Chastain and Christy Harrison too - I'll check them out. 💚
Thanks for the conversation Brooke and Ben. I feel I aligned quite similarly to a lot of what you said. Even though I feel I do better with body image now, I still definitely have hang ups, and listening to you guys made me tune into that a bit more. I recently looked back on some pics in my late 20s pre kids (now mid 30s) and can’t believe how ‘skinny’ I looked. And I remember at the time thinking how many body parts I detested or didn’t like. Such a sad waste of my mental energy caring so much back then. Now in a post baby body I’m working as best I can on rewriting my mental algorithm on how I feel about myself. Coming to terms with knowing I’ll never go back to my pre-kid body is hard to take, with all the social media and societal crap telling us we can get there if we just work a bit harder. When there’s 30 years of low grade self loathing it’s so hard to rewire those thought patterns! Maybe when I’m 60 I might get there?
Keep up the interesting topics! Loving it!
I totally agree with your comment. I look back at photos of my self in my 20’s and remember thinking back then that I needed to lose weight and I lost so much mental energy thinking about it. I look at my body from back then and wonder why I ever criticised it. Post three babies my body isn’t what it was but I am trying my best to remember how much my body has allowed me to do, how lucky I am that it is strong enough to carry my three year old or that I can walk or stand on my feet for a few hours at a time. No doubt I will look back in twenty years time at photos of myself in my early forties (now) and wonder why I was putting so much pressure on myself to lose weight and why I didn’t learn from my twenties!
Yes! This is where I am now too. Trying to soften into gratitude (while acknowledging that the system isn't set up for it) and see that I will look back at these days and see all that was great about my body and my mind and my life. Trying to live in that now rather than wait for Future Me to see it is the goal. 💚
Unfortunately my husband's grandmother, who died two years ago at 100, had hang ups about her body in her late 90s. It's pervasive at any age, it seems.
I also identify with what you said about pre-baby body. I feel very much the same and know I will never look that way again. I wish I'd loved my body better during that time.
I think the roots of this self-loathing run so deep and are so ingrained in us, particularly girls and women but increasingly everyone, that we could conceivably live an entire life dissatisfied with the very body that makes life possible. I don't want that for my kids so I'm trying so hard to unlearn it, but at the same time I do have so much compassion for people who never could. I hope that I live to 100 and if I do, I hope I love my body even then. 💚
Ah, you could have plucked this straight from my brain, Brooke! The sheer amount of time and energy I spent loathing parts of me only to look back now and see all the good things that were there all along is mind-blowing. I'm choosing to learn from that these days, knowing that in 10 years I'll look back and think I looked good now, so I'm circumventing the middle bit and telling myself it's all good as it is. (Doesn't always work but it's worth trying!)
As for the post-baby body, I hear you. It took me many years to come to accept mine (and the "bounce back" BS we're fed daily doesn't help) and much longer to be grateful for her. I found focusing on my strength helped, and practicing the idea of neutrality when I couldn't find anything good. It feels lighter somehow, like I'm wasting less time these days. 💚💚