Weight Stigma Awareness Week may have come and gone, but as I see it, every day should be an opportunity to dismantle negative judgments of bodies’ shapes and sizes – other peoples’ and our own.
The widely prevailing paradigm in healthcare (and society at large) assumes that body size predicts a person’s health, that it is directly linked to various diseases, and that it can be controlled through diet and exercise. Alas, this weight‐centric approach is ineffective for the vast majority of folks, and it can have serious negative consequences.
Our bodies’ shapes and sizes change over our lifespan. This is particularly obvious in women, whose physiques are influenced by hormonal fluctuations from girlhood through puberty, childbirth, lactation, and then again after menopause. These changes are normal and are to be expected and accepted – even celebrated.
And yet, many women feel they must look a certain way (youthful, thin, and athletic), and never change. Indeed, research has found that up to 84% of women in the United States are dissatisfied with their bodies. This is in large part because they don’t resemble the women we see in the movies, in magazines, on catwalks, and on social media.
Moreover, many healthcare professionals reinforce the idea that small bodies are healthy and larger bodies aren’t (and therefore, must be shrunk). While there is indeed an association between certain types of adipose tissue (such as visceral and ectopic fat) and disease risk, most body fat is healthy (indeed, as we age, having more fat is linked to reduced mortality risk), weight isn’t a reliable indicator of health, and intentional weight loss bears serious health risks of its own. (More on these below.)
Body Loathing from Cradle to Grave
Women’s body dissatisfaction starts early and persists throughout our lives. According to numbers published by the National Organization of Women,
- At age thirteen, 53% of American girls are “unhappy with their bodies.” This grows to 78% by the time girls reach seventeen.
- 50% of teens are “self-conscious” about their bodies; 26.2% report being “dissatisfied”. By age 60, 28.7% of women feel “dissatisfied” and 32.6% feel “self-conscious” about their bodies
- 45.5% of teens report considering cosmetic surgery, 43.7% of women over 60 report considering cosmetic surgery
- When asked “Are you happy with your body?” 43.2% of teens answered “yes,” and 37.7% of women in their 60s answered “yes”.
- 40-60% of elementary school girls are concerned about their weight or about becoming “too fat”.
- A majority of girls (59%) reported dissatisfaction with their body shape, and 66% expressed the desire to lose weight.
- 46% of 9-11-year-olds are “sometimes” or “very often” on diets, and 82% of their families are ”sometimes” or “very often” on diets.
- Studies at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts found that 70% of college women say they feel worse about their looks after reading women’s magazines.
The Health Risks of Body Loathing — Especially For Older Women
No one is born hating their body; our culture teaches us to do this. We learn that to gain social acceptance, we have to starve, pluck, tone, restrict, adorn, and discipline our bodies, even though research is increasingly revealing that body dissatisfaction can give rise to serious health risks, ranging from lower diet quality, dangerous yo-yo diets, disordered eating, compulsive exercising, depression, social anxiety, and low self-esteem.
Diet & beauty culture promotes the idea that thinness and youthfulness equate to beauty, health, and worth. For women who are not thin or young, this can lead to a distorted relationship with food and body image; this is why middle-aged and older women are particularly vulnerable to body dissatisfaction.
A recent study found that among 453 women with an average age of 55 years, a whopping 80.8% were dissatisfied with their body, 4.6% deeming themselves too thin, and 76.2% too fat. Other research has shown that middle-aged and older women who are not satisfied with their bodies tend to experience more negative emotions and psychosocial impairment, derive less enjoyment from physical activity, and have a poorer quality of life.
Are You Ready To Opt Out Of Body Shame?
As a late-middle-aged woman of 58, I don’t have oodles of time left on this earth. Do I want to spend my limited time and energy, and astronomical sums of money, fighting my wrinkles, jiggly midriff, and soft underarms?
Heck, no! (The mere thought exhausts me.)
There are so many more enjoyable things I want to do: enjoy the glorious outdoors, share delicious meals with people I love, take naps, laugh, read, sing, write, dance, and savor every minute of my life! Besides, my wrinkles show that I’ve lived, my midriff is a reminder of the three amazing humans that emerged from it, my wrinkles remind me I’m lucky not to have died of cervical cancer 25 years ago (when it was caught early), and in my experience, soft arms give the best hugs.
Because my body lets me do all these amazing things, I thank it daily by offering it delicious food, restful sleep, and joyful movement. It took me years to quiet the self-critical chatter, but I now feel at peace with my body. You can, too.
As a nutritionist, mother, sister, and friend, I am committed to spreading the message of body acceptance and self-compassion to as many people as I can reach. I want to show you that it’s possible to be healthy and happy without looking young and skinny or engaging in time- and labor-intensive, expensive, and even dangerous wellness regimens. And if you have risky health markers like elevated glucose, blood pressure, or lipids, I can show you ways to tackle those – without dieting or spending your life at the gym.
By opting out of the restrictive, self-harming behaviors that diet & beauty culture have inflicted on women for generations, we can break the cycle of shame and self-loathing that is keeping us trapped and is infecting our children and grandchildren. Enough!