The Flip Side of Body Positivity: Discrediting the Healthy Body (And Why We Need to Reclaim it)
Please note: This article has sparked quite the discussion on my Instagram. In order to address the most common concerns and questions, I have added a section below for clarification!
I can kind of smell that this piece will be misunderstood and judged by those who want to. But it’s been sitting with me for a while, and it’s time to put it out there:
The Body Positivity movement might have taken a toll.
Body positivity started with good intent - to diversify the idea of the “right” body type. Applied to ballet, for example, it meant letting go of the idea that the petit, underweight, and long-limbed/long-neck body was the ideal ballet body. It meant becoming accepting of different shapes, heights, BMIs, and proportions.
But I’m finding that body positivity has come to be, more recently: A way of glorifying the overweight body. A politically accepted way of negating the benefits of leanness and health. And I think it’s harming us more than it would help.
Now, almost anyone reading this blog article has the right and freedom to choose what body they want to live in (I know that’s not the case for everyone in the world, and I also acknowledge any health conditions that make it impossible). Whether that’s an overweight, or underweight, or lean or healthy or not so healthy body. And I have no issue with that. What I have an issue with is when we celebrate a body that is not in shape to perform well in a high-impact activity as ballet (=the too heavy body), just because it is the opposite of another unhealthy body type (=the under-nourished body).
We have been brainwashed to believe that (extra) bodyweight doesn’t matter as long as the body is healthy. So it warrants clarification: A chronically overweight body is not healthy. The body’s ability to put on weight is a survival mechanism that got our ancestors through periods of severe food scarcity. The main point: That extra weight would drop as fast as it came on. If it doesn’t, it triggers a chain reaction of either immediate or long-term risks that we know enough about nowadays (you can find a comprehensive review study here).
The fact that obesity and overweight are so pandemic in today’s Western world is mainly related to over-availability of food and the types of food that are so abundant, in combination with emotional attachment to eating. Most of us don’t experience any seasons (= cycles of more and less food) any more. The brain is hardwired to eat whenever there is food around, even if that means eating too much. And because of the hormonal reactions to food intake, we get used/addicted/comforted by it.
But back to body positivity. Because it’s so hard to break out of eating too much, especially when it is coupled with emotional attachment, and the overwhelm of all the nutritional information out there - at some point we collectively used body positivity to say: Let’s not make it too hard on ourselves. It’s ok. You’re great. Don’t worry, you can do all the things, no matter how much you weigh, and no matter whether that extra weight is good for you or not.
And then if went further. It become politically incorrect to acknowledge or compliment a lean and fit body - because that could imply promoting weird eating or tranining behaviors.
Another aspect of this is that getting and maintaining a lean and gorgeous body became stigmatized in certain demographics - i.e. it would be assumed that the person cared too much about appearance, and not enough about more important things. The “enlightened”, educated, and correctly-minded person shouldn’t care about any extra pounds - they should be worrying about their inner qualities and focus on all the more important things in their life, right?
And all that perpetuates the idea that living in an overweight body is admirable and not a problem at all: The flip side of body positivity is a “letting-of-the-hook” masked as “compassion”.
Here are some fact and thoughts, in no particular order:
Overweight is detrimental to high performance in any physical activity because, in summary, it increases the load on joints etc and it decreases movement efficiency. That’s why athletes look the way they look (and increased BMI is a risk factor for lower limb injuries).
(Btw, overweight is one of the risk factors for severe courses of Covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses. And for cardiovascular disease.)
Overweight impacts your ability to sense small differences in movement amplitudes, i.e. controlling the finesse and differentiation of movement. So it makes it harder to develop movement quality. Also, overweight makes certain types of body work less effective, because it’s harder to manually access deeper tissue layers.
You can get used to overweight - but from my experience, for most people, it doesn’t feel great. I have yet to meet one person who has lost their extra pounds complaining that they want them back. Every single such person I have ever met reports a heightened vitality, self-satisfaction, ease, and sense of self-efficacy in their lives.
Having a fit and gorgeous body does not make you happy. It will not resolve all the crap that life throws your way. It’s not going to get you the man of your dream or tons of money in your job. It is simply a way of using your energy in a much better way and of having way more fun with way more ease.
People who have lived in an overweight body for a long time usually have built some sort of identity and defense mechanisms around it: It could be the “empowered body positivity rebel” that stands up against the dictate of the lean body, getting attention and admiration for their advocacy work. It could be the successful business person who is so busy saving the world that they just can’t sweat the small things, and then the extra weight becomes sort of the indicator for their success (the busier and more succesful, the more weight). Related is the aphysical intellectual or spiritualist who downplays the importance (or even existence) of the body. Or the “self-accepting” person who justifies overweight as a natural result of aging or personality type or genetics and finds virtue in making half-joking (but really self-deprecating) comments about it. Often in combination with judgmental views about people who put in the effort to change their ways (and looks). Identity is a source of safety - that’s why losing weight can feel threatening and trigger resistence.
Extra weight is also an excellent hiding place and protective layer - especially women can feel safer behind extra pounds. They might feel less prone to being objectified or sexually assaulted; and they may use it as an excuse to not show up and not shine and not be vulnerable.
There is a lot of confusing weight loss information out there, which often lets people throw up their hands in despair and say “whatever”. Or people who have tried many different things with no lasting success and then think that there is no way for them to lose weight. Based on my experience with it, so many approaches in fact don’t work sustainably and it’s not easy to recognize why. There are a few ways that work, and all of them share very similar principles, and then it’s just about fine-tuning to make them work for you. Every human being is able to lose weight and keep it off - it’s as natural as breathing when you restore naturalness to your eating.
There is an interesting disdain for “rules” and “diets” in the world of body positivity: That you shouldn’t follow anyone’s rules, that you should just eat what you want, when you want, and how much you want. That you should listen to your body’s intuition. Well, that’s kind of like saying “don’t follow any training programs or exercises, and just move like your body wants to move”. Sure that’s totally fine, but you probably won’t develop very much. You could even hurt yourself. Or you just won’t move at all :-) If you want to change the weight and health of your body, you will need some sort of guidance and you will need a concept and a plan. Most of us, even those who eat fairly healthy, have a screwed-up eating intuition due to imbalances in the gut flora (which is what is responsible for your cravings). So we need to re-store our intuition (“gut sense”) before we can eat in a more intuitive way.
Effective and holistic eating and weight-loss frameworks are highly compassionate, despite their structured nature. They’re a path of re-connecting with yourself, of growing as a human being, and of re-discovering the essence of mother nature’s gifts. They’re not something temporary you put on like the latest fashion trend. They’re something that you evolve into and that becomes a permanent shift in your way of doing and being (and eating). They’re vehicles to freeing yourself of attachments, pressures, and obsessions. They acknowledge that eating is secondary - love is first.
But still - losing weight, especially when you had it for a long time, is not a piece of cake (:-)) Anyone who tells you that they have this super easy diet to help you lose weight is probably sugarcoating (:-)) things. It can be super hard when you break with your overweight identity. It will take you out of your comfort zone when you re-learn and re-purpose your relationship with food.
So why does a person like me, who has been mainly normal- to lean-bodied almost all her life, with only temporary slight overweight phases, feel entitiled to write all this?
Because I deeply care about the original intent of the body positivity movement - to celebrate diversity and challenge a one-dimentional body ideal that simply is a lie.
Because it pains me when this intent is misunderstood and the enormous potential for growth, self-discovery, and ease is lost - which happens when that diversity is reduced to idolizing overweight bodies, and negating or even villifying the grace of physical transformation to a lean and healthy body.
Because eating and a healthy body weight is about more than just appearance and looking toned. Nutrition is an incredibly powerful healing agent. Many of us, even those with a healthy weight, have experienced some sort of conditions that can be addressed by eating: Digestive disorders, autoimmune conditions, inflammation, mood swings, neurological issues. How cool is it when we don’t have to constantly throw pharmaceuticals at that stuff? That’s something I am very passionate about and that I personally have just recently once again experienced around muscle inflammations and digestive issues.
Because I think it’s important to really get down to what “being hard on ourselves” means. Putting good stuff into your body is NOT being hard on yourself. It’s highly compassionate. Overworking yourself is being hard on yourself. Not sleeping enough is being hard on yourself. Constantly self-doubting yourself is being hard on yourself. Thinking you’re not good enough for others is being hard on yourself. There are so many things we can ease up on - but to me, eating in a way that nourishes your body and soul is a good thing.
Because I have seen how deeply liberating and energizing it can be for some people to plain simply lose weight. And I don’t want to see anyone discouraged or feel unsupported on the ground of unhelpful body positivity claims.
Because I want to give hope and open up to the idea that it’s ok and absolutely possible to want to look good, lose weight, be healthy, gorgeous and graceful. No matter what age, no matter what circumstances. That is true body positivity to me: Being positive about where you are at any given point, being positive about what you have, and being positive about where you are going.
And if that’s still to be misunderstood - so be it.
EDIT: I would like to add to above points that there is a natural range and individual sweet spots for health + weight and athletic performance. I.e. healthy normal weight vs overweight means something different for every body. I appreciate that a commenter on IG pointed that out and prompted me to make it explicit.
EDIT 2: The links to some exemplary peer-reviewed studies (all meta-analyses) were added on April 12th 2021.
EDIT 3, on April 18th, 2021: Due to the high amount of comments, questions, and some confusion around this post, I would like to address the four most common ones in order to clarify the intention and message of this article. If any of yours remains unanswered, please feel free to either leave a comment below or email me at patricia@balletmisfits.dance!
Common question 1: Are you suggesting that being overweight equates to being unhealthy?
I can’t say anything about an individual person, but the evidence that we have nowadays pretty clearly suggest that being overweight (BMI 26+) or obese (BMI 30+) increases the risk of a lot of metabolic, cardiovascular, and respiratory issues. There is also evidence for a higher risk of injuries from exercising. (There are other risks from being underweight (BMI under 20)). As with all data, there is a chance that you and I and our friend over there will be fine. But to spread the message that everyone will be fine – there is just no support for that. Here is a timely analogy: Just because you and your friends did not get Covid, or had only mild symptoms, still makes Covid a very real risk to our whole population, and some people will have severe symptoms. You wouldn’t go around saying that Covid is not an issue or denying the number of ICU cases just because you don’t like lockdowns.
Common question 2: Aren’t you judging other people and saying that overweight people should lose weight?
Not at all, quite the contrary. I’m saying that everyone is totally free to be in the body they want and are happy with. No judgment, this one goes to everyone’s own, individual, and personal preference. In fact, personally, I am highly non-ideologic about it – it’s not a fat vs. skinny deal for me, I don’t even use the terms. You do you. As a strength & conditioning coach, I am pointing out the risks and inefficiencies that come with certain choices.
Common question 3: Ok, but are you saying that overweight people should not exercise or do ballet because they are not in shape for it?
Again, no, I am not saying that and if it came across like that, I apologize. I am encouraging everyone to exercise and do ballet, every body is beautiful the way it is. As a mother of a handicapped child, I live with someone who adores moving and working out and exercising while being in an atypical body and I am delighted by and totally supportive of it. I am going to give another analogy here: If you were a marathon runner and your coach would point out that your heavy smoking impairs your development, you wouldn’t get offended. It wouldn’t be about smoking/non-smoking ideology. You would either quit smoking in order to improve your performance, or you would decide that smoking is too enjoyable/important to you and that you rather accept a somewhat lower performance and possible long-term health issues. So you can choose to move and exercise with any weight you want. Carrying overweight will have an effect on certain performance parameters and it will statistically increase your risk for injuries.
Common question 4: What about the discrimination and biases against overweight and obese people?
Those for sure exist and we definitely need advocacy in that area - again, as a mother of a disabled child I have seen my fair share of exclusion. My point in this article was that we shouldn’t advocate by saying that weight doesn’t matter for performance and health outcomes. That claim is just not supported by data. I believe that accepting everyone where they are and the choices they make as well as including them can co-exist with proper knowledge about the impact of overweight on physical performance, wellbeing, and long-term health. Body positivity advocacy should not discourage people from a path and/or physical transformation that would have a lot of benefits for them. Vilifying weight loss misses the point. Body positivity to me should be about giving people access to options and the freedom to pursue them, and not about insisting on a fixed identity and ideology (and ignoring scientific evidence).