fatfashion:

redefiningbodyimage:

Usually I’m quite lucky in that the people I surround myself with on a daily basis generally don’t focus on making their diet and body size a matter of everyday conversation.

Still, I find myself regularly engaged in some sort of conversation based around another person’s weight-loss goals, some…

I’d say, you have to deal with it in the same way you’d deal with any problem in a relationship.  You state your piece and ask that they respect that and if they refuse, then you set boundaries.  When it comes to friends and family, it’s almost like I am coming out of the closet as fat and body positive.  I tell them that I am in a place where I am learning to really love myself, and that it’s important for my mental health that I continue.  As a part of that I can not listen or partake in their body/diet talk.  I then explain that their commentary may cause me to regress and I can not partake.  Then if they continue, you shut it down or remove yourself from the situation.  It’s been particularly hard for me, when talking to my brother.  When we speak on the phone, if I mention I’m eating or drinking something, he immediately starts with the “You shouldn’t be having that.”  And I immediately tell him “I don’t give a fuck and I told you to stop saying that shit, just because you are unhappy with your body and are trying to lose weight does NOT mean that I am.”  I explain what I need and if I don’t get it, I shut it down.  It’s so ingrained in our lives, to want to be thinner, to diet, to shame ourselves and others.  It takes a lot to make people stop bringing it up.  For that friend that posts diet talk constantly, just remove her updates from your feed…she will never know…

All truth. What really gets me is that most of the people in my life KNOW how I feel, are aware of my stance on body image, weight and dieting…Hell, most of them have seen this blog as well as a number of my body positive projects. However, still they either choose to ignore it or evidently don’t care enough to educate themselves.