There is a lot of pressure on people to look a particular way.
Obesity is at all-time high in this country, with 62.9% of the adult population being overweight or obese in 2015 [1]. Sugary foods and drinks are easily accessible to all, and many people are sedentary - the average number of steps taken per day by adults in the UK is 3,000-4,000 [2], well under the recommended 10,000 (although this figure was actually pretty randomly chosen, roughly coinciding with around 5 miles of walking). But still, if you heard someone walk up to an overweight person and say "You're too fat, you need to loose some weight", you'd probably be pretty flabbergasted at their rudeness, and I would imagine the recipient would feel rather bad as well. Last night, I was body shamed. Before I continue, my stats: Height: 5ft 8ins Weight: 9st 7.2lb (this morning) BMI: 20.39
In other words, my weight is perfectly normal, perfect the healthy, and I've worked out that to be classed as underweight I'd need to lose 10lb.
I had no idea how to reposed to an acquaintance coming up to me and saying "you're too skinny, you need to put on weight" (it was midnight, I was tired and it was totally unexpected). Like many people, I have (and have in the past had) doubts about my body shape and size. At my heaviest (having had 5 kids in 7 years), I was around 13st. Like many women (and men, I guess), I had wobbly bits that made me self-conscious, but I don't recall anyone ever commenting on it, and at this time I was definitely overweight. In fact there seems to be a kind of expectation for me to be larger ("you look great for someone who's had 5 kids"). It fascinates me that my body shape and size are of interest to people. But I digress. Last night, I felt bad about myself. The more I thought about it, the more self-conscious I felt. "Too skinny" sounds bad. It's a criticism. I don't look "right" or "good enough". But then it's totally subjective, isn't it? My body shape is probably totally fine to a lot of people, obviously not to others. Why is it anyone else's business? And is it acceptable to comment on someone's weight, no matter what your opinion?
I eat normally (3 meals plus snacks), but relatively healthily (lots of fruit, wholemeal bread, not too much sugar most of the time). I exercise a fair amount (yoga daily, running 3-4 times per week, swimming or cycling maybe once a week, plus walking the doggy).
I also had 2 dinners last night - spaghetti bolognese and fish and chips. Although this isn't the norm, I also don't starve myself. I've spent a lot of hours mulling all of this over (probably more than it deserves), but I guess my take-home message is this: body shaming makes people feel bad about themselves, however well-meant it may be. It's not OK to tell someone they're too fat, and it's not OK to tell someone they're too skinny. In fact, it's none of your business!
0 Comments
|
AuthorSophie Archives
May 2018
Categories
All
|