When is a Good Thing Too Much?

Body positivity is a great thing. I think we should all love our bodies and we should embrace others for their differences in sizes and shapes. The body positivity movement has the greatest intention of helping people realize that real people have real bodies, and each body is different from the next. But with great intentions may come some negative side effects. Being body positive is good. But when is there too much of a good thing?¹

What is body positivity?

Body positivity is a social movement that was popularized around the early 2000s as more people started interacting online and on social media. During this time, I saw people express their own beauty standards and say "no" to the beauty standards that society had idealized for so long. I saw real bodies in advertising and more clothing lines using plus-sized models. It seemed like magazines were called out for all the photoshopping they were doing on their pages. I saw more people speak out about their experiences feeling excluded throughout their lives.¹

This movement hit the ground running and is something I still see presently. It’s wonderful to see more and more people love themselves no matter what size they may be and it’s wonderful to see fewer people judging others based on their size. While society still has a way to go before fully embracing the idea that any size is beautiful, I think it's still moving in the right direction.

Is there a downside?

But what happens though if we swing that body positivity pendulum too far? What if, while being body positive, we ignore the potential health issues associated with obesity? I think it is a very fine balance between embracing and loving ourselves despite our size versus loving our obesity whilst having weight-related health issues.

How do I help myself?

For me, part of loving myself ought to include a willingness to take care of myself. I don’t want to allow myself to swing out of control into the realm of bad health. My advice? Don’t make loving yourself an excuse to make poor health decisions.

What helps me is to remember that I can be overweight or obese and still take care of myself. Yes, I only live once, so that slice of cake is okay, but I leave it at a slice. I try not to make life harder on myself just because full figured bodies are now embraced more in society.

How does loving myself motivate me?

If you have weight related health issues, please make sure you do what is needed to take care of yourself. I believe that loving yourself means loving yourself enough to take care of yourself. I encourage you to try and work the things you need to be well and work with your physicians to make sure your health is the best it can possibly be. That includes your mental well-being, too.

Body positivity is about loving yourself, but don’t love yourself to death. Love yourself to live! Embrace yourself for who you are but make sure that you’re healthy too, because I love you, dear reader, and I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.