“These flabs and stretchmarks just look horrid!”, I said to myself as I looked in the mirror.
What did she know about body positivity afterall she learns from what she sees, she treated the stack of fashion magazines like the bible. Most of us have stretchmarks and it’s nothing to be ashamed of or worth hiding. We live in a world where most of the times skinny is beautiful and you’re not considered attractive or beautiful until your ribcage can be seen or there is a gap between your thighs. For god’s sake they’re your thighs not the goddamned twin towers! Curves ARE pretty. By saying this I don’t mean to offend skinny people or people with thigh gaps because that’s not the point , what I want to make clear is that EVERY BODY IS BEAUTIFUL and we should be comfortable in our own skin as we aim to achieve a healthy body. But you know what, as easy as that was to read and say it loud it’s actually not. When you look at yourself in the mirror and notice your body and fats and marks and your curves you slowly start hating yourself and the body you live in. It’s absolutely fine to exercise and diet to stay fit and healthy but not just to be thin and mindlessly lose weight.
People often used to tell me things like, “You’re quite pretty for a fat girl” but I always wondered why can’t I be both? Why can’t I be pretty and fat? Fat is not a bad word but it simply is a natural substance deposited under a layer of skin and around organs, our body needs fat but as they say Excess of anything is harmful, same applies to this too. Excess fat leads to various diseases and obesity, that’s unhealthy!
Now, coming to the skinny people. I’ve noticed that skinny people aren’t spared either and are body shamed quite a lot of times too.It’s tough for them to accept their bodies as well, when they look at their reflection they don’t like what they see and I don’t blame them for that. Your body is YOURS and you get to choose what shape it is in as long as it doesn’t harm your health. Skinny people mostly get used to hearing things like flat or anorexic. You’ll need to understand that anorexia is a real body disorder that might’ve been caused by negative self image and trying to be perfect and being way too conscious about your body in a bad way. People also assume that it’s just the skinny people that can be anorexic. NO.
A person with anorexia has an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even when underweight. Fat people(yeah, I said fat people not because I couldn’t use any other words but because being called fat should not be offensive since its a description of one’s body the same way tall,short,dark,light,and thin are.) can be anorexic too and it might not seem so just because they’re not as thin, people think one is anorexic only if he/she is skinny and their bones are visible.NO. That’s not how it works.
I remember when I was fat and people kept telling me to lose weight because its unhealthy and how I kept ignoring them and strutted away with a burger in one hand and a coke in another but realization hit me hard when I went shopping and literally couldn’t find anything that fits. That is one of the worst feelings ever. At first I had no idea how to lose all that weight and starved myself and didn’t eat anything that I thought would make me fat. It was almost like I was punishing my body, I then came back to my senses and opted the healthy way to lose that extra weight, within a year and a half I reached my goal weight . Many people are anorexic but don’t realize that they are.
What is anorexia? Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by a low weight , fear of gaining weight, a strong desire to be thin, and food restriction. Many people with anorexia see themselves as overweight even though they are in fact underweight.
But I also think that the clothing brands and fashion industry are at fault because they at times create an unattainable figure which kids and teens look up to and if a person goes to the plus section to get clothes the judgemental stares they receive are awful. Now times have changed, people have become more accepting and have started appreciating all body types.
It’s not just women and young girls that have body issues , men have them too. They are under constant pressure to have a great body and have muscles and crap and hit the gym, it’s fine if they’re doing it willingly and not under societal pressure, they’re expected to be strong built and have abs and so much more.
When we talk about body positivity it should not be aimed just at the female audience but at everyone. It’s great to workout and maintain a fit body but what I’m against is that people punish their body by not providing it with enough nutrients,fats being one of them too. We’re so conscious about our calorie intake that we forget that our body needs a certain amount of calories to continue working, having 1200 calories in fruits and veggies is much healthier than a 1200 cal Ice Cream sundae,that’s what my point is.
We can talk about it and tweet all we want but it won’t benefit anyone until we start applying what we preach in everyday life. #nourishdontpunish
Word's spewed here. 