Content warning: talking about talking about weight loss/diet culture (my, my this is getting meta )
In the Empowerment Studio, we don't talk about diet culture/weight loss/weight in any capacity.
Say whaaaat? Here's why!
One of our goals in the Empowerment Studio is to create a protected space for folx who have historically not had a safe platform to explore body love. People in the body positivity/liberation movement are inundated with posts about weight loss and diet culture in every single other online space. Few spaces are immune - and we want our community to be one of them.
With that in mind, let’s steer clear of posting before-and-after photos, chatting about weight loss goals/journeys, and/or bemoaning our current bodies.
In the Empowerment Studio, we believe that every body--every shape, every ability, every curve, every texture, every roll—is magical and beautiful EXACTLY as it is right this very second (and it was beautiful the way it was yesterday, and the way it will be tomorrow; bodies are always changing, and they are always all good).
This a really good time to remember to be gentle and kind to EVERY version of our bodies. We can be proud of the bodies we have here, today, and what we can do with them, without throwing shade at the bodies we used to have, or comparing ourselves to the bodies we might or might not have tomorrow. It's really hard to dive all in on loving ANY bodies when we're stuck in comparison mode (whether that's you comparing yourself to someone else, or to yourself).
A common and very reasonable question that I get pretty often:
"But I'm proud of my weight loss journey, I've worked really hard, it's helped me feel more empowered!"
And my standard answer:
I love you and I love your body and I'm so glad YOU love your body. I'm especially glad that you are feeling empowered. Please PLEASE share your body pride and self-love with us, for real -- that love is contagious and inspiring and we soak it all up here. BUT let's keep your shares specific to how you feel in your body now—not how your body was wrong before.
An example of how to implement this shift:
Instead of saying, "I've lost xx lbs and I'm so proud of myself!" you could say, "I'm feeling so good in my body lately and I'm so proud of that."
What I love about this is that now we're celebrating a really beautiful side of your journey that you might not think to talk about otherwise!!!! The NOW is the part we want to know about. I kind of love what happens when we ditch the numbers and talk about the FEELINGS instead. There's magic there; I believe in it deep in my soul.
Still wanting to talk about your diet culture things? There are tons of Facebook groups where you can post before and afters, talk about weight loss, discuss body goals, etc -- let's keep the Empowerment Studio free from those topics so that members have this space to explore their relationships with their bodies in other ways.
THANK YOU for reading along and for being so awesome. I really value the consent and safety we practice in our community, and I know it's a reason why a lot of you choose to stick around. This is really good stuff. Let's keep it up.
I'm so glad you're here.