On World Health Day, These Tweets Show How Self-Worth Attached To Weight Can Inhibit One’s Fitness Journey
One of my insecurities that haunts me till day is my weight. Yes, I’m on the heavier side of the spectrum and I haven’t had an issue with it since I was younger. In fact, when you’re a child they want you to be all-round and cuddly. But somehow this very idea changes into something toxic. All of a sudden you being on the heavier side is not cute but rather a problem. Speaking from experience, being fat feels like a crime and the punishment for that is constant bullying, taunts, being made fun of, etc. And the worst part of it is the fact that when you do try to get fit and healthy, instead of helping your journey, people just make it even more difficult. Trust me, it is not just me who has experienced it. In fact, a woman took to Twitter on World Health Day to talk about how being body-shamed demotivates a person from doing things that can get them healthier.
A woman on Twitter recently posted a must-read thread wherein she talks about how fat people are constantly trolled and shamed to the point that they can’t even exercise or visit the gym without being “told” what to do. She further goes on to share her own experience and talks about how people’s gaze and unwanted comments have given her major body image issues which have also resulted in her having a weird relationship with food. (Honestly, I can say been there, am there.)
Fat people don’t even have the liberty to actually exercise without being shamed and “told” what to do. I didn’t go to the gym because I knew what happens there and it took me so long to work on my body, also days of demotivation because of the spatial aspect. Leave people alone.
— noserotonin 💊 (@abeyjaabey) April 7, 2022
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In her tweet, the woman wrote, “Fat people don’t even have the liberty to actually exercise without being shamed and “told” what to do. I didn’t go to the gym because I knew what happens there and it took me so long to work on my body, also days of demotivation because of the spatial aspect. Leave people alone.”
She further mentions how anxious and exposed she would feel whenever she would be in the midst of the people that come to the gym and the trainers. She talks about how being a fat person in a gym gave trainers permission to take jibes at her while also allowing people to feel like a criminal every time she did what they would do. In fact, the young woman further mentioned that she would be very picky with her activewear as she wanted to feel safe in them every time she went to the gym.
I’d get anxiety from thinking about being so exposed in a sea of people, of trainers taking subtle jibes at me, other people giving me looks as if i was criminal for doing what they were doing and oh, selecting what active wear could I wear to the gym so I feel safe in my body.
— noserotonin 💊 (@abeyjaabey) April 7, 2022
And it isn’t just the gym she talks about. In one of her later tweets, the woman shared, “Even at physio sessions, the practitioners double checked if I said “boxing” as source of injury and pain. Because how can a fat person even play a sport? How does that even make sense no? And even on my walks in parks, the “look” never stopped and ofc, the unsolicited advices.”
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Then comes the part when you actually reduce a bit of weight and all of sudden you’re subjected to a whole new gaze along with compliments for losing weight. She goes on to talk about how all of a sudden people’s interest in her personality has given her more body image issues and developed a very different relationship with food. She confesses that she has somehow tied her worth to her weight. (And trust me, that’s one of the saddest feelings in the world as it leaves you all empty inside and lowers your self-confidence).
I somehow stayed at it and body feels fine now but the new gaze with all these compliments & sudden interest of people in my personality has given me more body image issues and i’ve developed a weird relationship with food. It doesn’t stop, does it? My worth is tied to my weight.
— noserotonin 💊 (@abeyjaabey) April 7, 2022
She concludes her rant by saying, “it’s literally so difficult for some of us to lose weight with all the medical conditions we quietly live with. I have PCOS, Chronic back pain and BPD. It’s never been easy. I tried so hard and now..people just make me feel as if my body belongs less to me and more to their gaze.”
If for a second you think that this is just the struggle of one single woman or a handful of them, I’d like you to think again. In fact, another woman on World Health Day opened up about her struggles with shifting self-worth because of their weight. She tweeted, “shifting bases of self-worth & attractiveness from physicality to character is so ridiculously hard for those of us who were once obese bc well how do you expect me to induce selective amnesia for the gigantic lacuna between how I was treated when I needed bigger clothes & now”. And there were many who not only agreed with her but also shared how they are also going through the same thing.
shifting bases of self-worth & attractiveness from physicality to character is so ridiculously hard for those of us who were once obese bc well how do you expect me to induce selective amnesia for the gigantic lacuna between how I was treated when I needed bigger clothes & now
— keta (@keta_mean_) April 6, 2022
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Yep this is CREEPILY accurate. I lost a a bunch of weight once due to this extremely restrictive diet I had to be due to a medical condition and they way people's, especially men's attitude towards me changed was like WTF?? I almost felt obligated to tell them this is temporary https://t.co/yQyV7FsiPI
— Edgar Allan Poeha (@vaniIlaessence) April 7, 2022
The worst part of this is that every woman who was once fat and has undergone a transformation has been through this. Just imagine how much of a toxic environment is created around overweight people that discourages them to do things that better their health. Honestly, we need an attitude shift in people. Stop judging or looking at a person differently based on how they look – especially when they are taking steps to ensure that they are fit and leading a healthy lifestyle. Trust me the fitness journey to losing weight is not easy. So if you can’t remove any hardship then at least don’t add to it either.
You know what, you can actually remove their hardship. How? By being more human and letting the other person be. Next time you go visit your gym and see a fat person in there, encourage them and be supportive. Be kind to them because you never know but that’s all the kindness they might have gotten that day. And instead of maybe telling them what to do and what not to do, sit with them and talk to them – understand their situation and be a friend who’s there to help them rather than look down upon them.
