How I’m Staying Body Positive in an Ozempic World

As a child, I don’t think he told me fat or cut more or nothing like that. At the time, I knew I was different from the girls in my class, but in many ways: my hair was different, my skin was different, and at that time, even my accent was different. My size didn’t change me because so much of me was unique. As a bonus, I saw women who looked like me dominating the media I consumed. Two of my favorites were Raven Symone de That’s so Raven and The Cheetah Girls, and America’s most recognized talk show host, Oprah Winfrey. I would sit at home, marveling at their contents, and think, Wow, they’re older, like me, but nobody cares! They’re fun and very stylish, and if they can be all of those things, so can I, no matter my size. I admired these women because they didn’t seem to care what society said about their bodies. They were undeniably talented, funny and artistic women who were plus size.”

I think the little girl in me who was so inspired by them is the one who feels the most hurt when I see celebrities like Oprah talk about using Ozempic. On the one hand, I’m very happy for them because the reality is, most days it can feel like an act of activism to simply exist in a plus size body. He was supposed to wake up every day and remind the world that he was happy just like us. Their bodies have been the subject of scrutiny and afterthoughts for years, and I can only imagine how it feels to be freed from that burden. But on the other hand, I no longer see myself in them. I can’t help but think that no matter how much we preach self-love and body positivity, the goal will always be a social standard of thinness.

How the body positivity movement changed my life

I don’t remember where I was or what I was doing when I first heard about Ozempic, but I remember thinking, I hope this is one of those celebrity things that is never available to the public. Selfish, perhaps, but I knew it would challenge my sense of self-love.

I’ve spent the better half of the last 15 years making peace with my body and how different it is from most people I’m in on a daily basis. My teenage years were characterized by me stepping on and inciting my appearance. I avoided mirrors quite regularly because TigerBeat and J14 told me that Hilary Duff and her single belly roll were ugly, so confronting my own appearance didn’t seem appealing at all. For a while, I tried every butter, cream, and detox drink I could get my hands on, which with my sweet mom just meant natural remedies like shea butter and apple cider vinegar to try and undo -me from cellulite and stretch marks, and then one day. , I just stopped. I stopped trying to fit my shape into a mold I was never supposed to fit. I stopped obsessing over losing weight to wear styles I thought only existed for skinny people. I stopped paying attention to the number on the scale. I stopped all of that because, in 2013, I found the fat Instagram side.

… my size is just an arbitrary number that fluctuates from brand to brand and means nothing when compared to the person I really am.

Since I never had friends my size, social media became a place where I could see other plus size women appreciating their bodies and wearing styles I had been told over and over again that were only for thin girls They called it “body positivity” and said it’s about embracing our bodies as they are, celebrating the uniqueness of our bodies and recognizing their beauty regardless of shape, size, color or condition physics Standing on the shoulders of the fat acceptance movement of the 1960s, the body positivity movement began its journey into the spotlight around 2010. This movement called for people, traditionally labeled fat, to reject trying to change drastically his body to adapt to society. mold while demanding that society change the way it sees people of all shapes and sizes. At its core, body positivity was a reminder that a person’s worth shouldn’t be determined by the size of jeans they wear.

My brain took a deep breath and I fully immersed myself in the world of body positivity. Not to be dramatic, but I think it changed my life. I started wearing clothes that I was too self conscious to wear before. I stopped being afraid of being seen in something that fat girls shouldn’t wear.” I began to stand out in my uniqueness instead of trying to fade into the background. In the more than 10 years since I discovered this term and the whole Body Positivity Movement, I’ve learned that my size is just an arbitrary number that fluctuates from brand to brand and means nothing compared to the person I really am.I’ve connected with women from the entire spectrum of plus sizes who look like me and share my truths, who understand what it’s like to exist in the bodies we do.I’ve seen major fashion brands launch inclusive sizes and emerge new brands just to focus in our marginalized bodies I really had a great time in my own skin!

What happened when Ozempic became popular

So basically, social media helped me love my fat body. But now, it makes me start to question this love again. Over the years, I have become desensitized to the onslaught of change your body ads that take over our feeds from late December through January. Years and years of this have made them more like a pesky fly that you learn to live with rather than swatt. But a new plague has entered the chat: Ozempic. No matter which social network I open, I am targeted by ads for semaglutide weight loss. I’m not going to lie, it sucks. Every day I face the question: do you really love your body the way it is?

The other day, I was reading an article about Rebel Wilson. Her weight loss journey has been in the public eye more than I’m sure she cared for it to be. She is another one of those women that I saw as incredibly attractive and talented. His ability to be absolutely hilarious in movies like pitch perfect, How to be singlei The bridesmaids she inspired me in the same way Raven and Oprah did. She’s said in the past that her desire for a future family motivated her weight loss journey, and honestly, that’s pretty sweet. However, in the process of this transformation, she became someone else who had advocated for plus-sized bodies to be treated equally and then seemingly abandoned hers. He recently talked about using Ozempic to help him lose weight and keep it off, leaving the plus-size community to deal with yet another erasure attack.

No matter which social network I open, I am targeted by ads for semaglutide weight loss. I’m not going to lie, it sucks. Every day I face the question: do you really love your body the way it is?

With so many of our plus size and standard favorites jumping on this Ozempic bandwagon, I’m worried. I worry that all the progress we’ve made will be swept under the rug. I worry that plus size focused brands will cease to exist. I worry that the allies we have gathered will turn their backs on us. I fear that women like me forget how beautiful they really are inside and out. That’s why I won’t stop talking about being body positive because once we stop talking about it, it won’t exist.

How I’m Staying Body Positive in an Ozempic World

I constantly remind myself that being body positive can mean wanting to change your body, and it can also mean wanting to stay the same. So I don’t think I’m against Ozempic, and I don’t know that I’m for it either. I think right now I’m oscillating somewhere in the middle, taking in the scenery and realizing that I can’t rely on the representation of other peoples to make me feel accepted in my own skin. My great-grandfather had a saying back in the day: Don’t make a hero of a man, the man will always let you down. Because I can’t begin to imagine how body image scrutiny affects the favorites I mentioned above, as well as the likes of Jennifer Hudson, Danielle Brooks, Divine Joy, Lizzo, Melissa McCarthy, Ashley Graham, the list goes on, not the I can blame for the changes they make to their appearances. I truly believe that we should be able to change our bodies as we see fit, but it’s important that this change is rooted in our own desires rather than pushing what society deems acceptable and desirable.

As I navigate this Ozempic era, here are some ways I can deal with my feelings and stay positive:

• Filter the media I consume: I pay attention to how the things I see, read, and hear make me feel, and if the answer is “bad,” I cut it!
• I integrate movement into my daily routine: I have found that moving my body regularly during the week makes me very proud. It’s really hard to find time to believe what society might say about my curves when I’m huffing and puffing in a SoulCycle class!
• I treat myself… to batch: Whether it’s taking me on a shopping trip, getting me a sweet treat, or arranging a photo shoot to show off my body, I like to do at least one nice thing for my body each week to give it the thank you for sticking with me the whole time. years.
• I don’t waste my time with biased doctors: Gone are the days of using our hard-earned insurance money to pay doctors who tell us the key to all our problems is to lose weight. Last year I made a conscious effort to switch to primary care doctors who can help me understand my body and have unbiased conversations with me when I want to explore conversations about weight loss and weight loss supplements .

So sweet friend, if you take just one thing out of this, know that if you decide that Ozempic, or any other weight loss drug, is right for you, you are still positive. If you want to stay away from these medicines, you are also positive. You can love your body and want to change it; you can love your body and want to stay the same. Regardless of what society dictates as the standard of beauty, you know that the only one who dictates your standard of beauty is you.