There are ways you can tell when a body positive overweight woman is promoting obesity, even when she’s rather cryptic about it.
There’s one particular “self-love” advocate who literally encourages her 200k+ followers to eat junk food and never mind if they gain body fat — even during a pandemic.
A body positive crusader encourages poor eating habits and wants you to believe that the risk of disease is the same whether you restrict sugary foods or not, whether you have excess fat around your vital organs or not.
How do you tell an influencer is promoting obesity or weight gain?
It’s when she says the following:
“Why is fat such a scary word?”
However, “Although we should be happy with how we look and be positive about our bodies, the reality is that excess weight does lead to heart failure, heart attacks, diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea and other chronic diseases,” says Danielle DonDiego, DO, a family physician and obesity specialist with SteadyMD, an online program where patients can call, text or video chat with their doctor anytime.
When she says, “We ALL have fat; it’s just part of being human. Did you know that?”
Yes. And according to the American Council on Exercise, if a woman’s body fat percentage is at least 32 percent, she’s obese. Obesity is a condition that doctors do not approve of.
When she posts, “Every bit of fat is there for a reason. It’s serving you.”
Shutterstock/Kokhanchikov
Fifty, let alone 100, excess pounds serve no useful purpose to a woman’s body health.
With a comment like this, you KNOW a body positive influencer is outright promoting obesity!
When she tells you to go ahead and have the cupcake, donuts, soda and whatever else feels good to you.
I fully endorse including your favorite foods; never eliminate them entirely. But…
Consumption of sugary, highly processed foods is bad for ANY body, and hence, intake should be limited and controlled.
When she points out that life is too short to spend most days thinking about how much or little to eat and how long to exercise to undue the calories.
I love thinking about food! I love anticipating my next serving of chocolate layer cake or homemade salmon patties! Mmmm!
How DARE any health-conscious person think about how much or how little they should eat?
The body positive influencer is encouraging mindless, rather than mindful, eating.
Raise your hand if you’d gain at least 30 pounds of useless body fat if you put NO thought into “how much or how little” you should eat.
Finally, you know that a body positive influencer is probably promoting obesity when she discourages followers from doing hard workouts and sees this as a form of “punishment” for eating too much food.
Discouraging Obesity Does Not Mean Promoting a Barbie Doll Body
I don’t endorse the skinny-fat look. I fully endorse “Strong is the new skinny.” Check it out…
If you consider yourself “fat and squishy,” you CAN do something about this! You can train your body to build lean muscle to bully out the fat.
“There needs to be a happy medium of this mindset with body positivity for mental and emotional health, but also with the awareness that excess weight does put you at risk for chronic disease,” says Dr. DonDiego.
Be very careful about taking self-love advice from very plus-size women who post endless photos of themselves in swimsuits that are two sizes too small, and videos of themselves lumbering through simple exercises but claiming they’re physically fit.
Dr. DonDiego focuses on weight management, fitness, nutrition, reproductive health, preventive medicine and managing end stage disease. Learn more about SteadyMD.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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