I had an epiphany today. I was watching an episode of Bones where they were talking about young girls being in beauty pageants. Please note that I am not judging that — I mention it because it got me thinking about all the things girls and women go through to appear beautiful. In that episode, young girls were dyeing their hair, wearing corsets to define their waistlines and watching their weight. It depressed me, honestly. It brought back memories of being called fat when I was in the 5th grade — 5th grade, people! I should have brushed the comments off, but there were already seeds of fatphobia planted in my little head — from society, friends, family, etc. That seed grew and now is a full-blown eating disorder (Binge Eating Disorder).
My worth has been tied to my weight. The way I feel and care for myself is tied to my weight. When I’ve gained some extra pounds, I punish myself…hate myself.
I eat my feelings, which leads to more weight gain. Which fuels more self-destructive behaviors. It’s a vicious cycle. To help break it, I signed up to do one-on-one coaching on intuitive eating with my beautiful and sweet cousin, who’s a registered dietician. On our last call, she told me to get rid of the ideas of “bad foods” or “being bad” or “cheating” on a diet. There are no forbidden foods. There’s fueling your body and doing everything in moderation.
I have a lot more to learn and I’m eager to do it.
But here’s my epiphany — what if I just accept who I am? What if I give myself some grace — some compassion? What if when I gain weight, I just buy bigger clothes and focus on my health and not my caloric intake?
What if I practice radical acceptance? I learned about radical acceptance in therapy. It’s a skill or tool that can help people face painful emotions and experiences by accepting them fully WITHOUT JUDGEMENT.
This may not sound much different than a blog I previously posted about loving myself and body positivity. But the thing is, I’m still struggling and writing helps me come to terms with my feelings. And this is a topic that can’t be fully explored with one blog. Or three. Maybe 10. And that’s OK, too.
My point is that maybe I don’t think I need to focus on losing weight or looking a certain way, so much as I need to reprogram my brain. And those of you who follow me should know — my brain is a stubborn asshole. It’ll take time. So much time.
But I’m done with fatphobia, fat-shaming and all that judgement that goes along with it. I’ve had gastric sleeve surgery and a tummy tuck. Guess what? I’m still not skinny and I don’t think I’ll ever be. Why has that plagued me so much?
Why are people so afraid of being fat?
Girl, I have all kinds of feelings about this. First, you can’t just accept that you’re fat and just buy bigger clothes. I did that and only ballooned more. It’s dangerous to stop here. But, I think you nailed it, though, when you said you then need to reprogram or retrain your brain. Catchy, no? Retrain your brain? That’s the difficult part – learning to love oneself without damaging judgment. But, some tough lough and a come-to-Jesus moment can help in changing habits. You have to draw some lines for yourself if you’re going to swing the pendulum in the other direction, no? I don’t know if I make sense. What I do know is that it’s not at all easy to truly see oneself and then unconditionally love oneself. But, it can be done. I think when that happens, then we can be honest and take accountability. Maybe it’s like everything else – practice makes better.
I totally get what you’re saying – it’s not as easy as buying new clothes. It what has helped me SO MUCH is following principles of intuitive eating. Its retraining my brain like you said.
Let’s both aim for self acceptance and self love
Thanks for reading boo