Issues with society accepting and normalizing attitudes towards body weight and build are re-surfacing occasionally. The abundance of information on how to lose weight is easily accessible, which is not necessarily a sign of its efficiency. And people often find themselves warped by weight loss plans or perhaps witnessing someone going through it. Be it for health issues, improving fitness level, or any other personal decision, the battle with fat and with feelings that surround differently built figures is still real.
A curve model, activist, and content creator, Kendra Austin, shared a Twitter post that highlighted how after she lost 100lbs, people congratulated her and treated her differently, which seemed like a confirmation that being thin is being more valuable to the world. Kendra ignited a discussion online about what it's actually like to lose weight and what consequences come with it.
Curve model Kendra Austin shared a thought-provoking post on Twitter about losing weight and being congratulated
Image credits: kendramorous
Kendra, who has spoken out about her journey through accepting and embracing her body, tweeted how all of a sudden, people’s reactions to her have changed significantly and that it happened once she lost 100lbs: "everyone suddenly loved me." What she highlighted was how the fact that she was congratulated, perhaps even without it being intended to take such a turn, simply seemed to her that her negative feelings about being fat had been nothing but confirmed.
In her Twitter post, she highlighted how people can misunderstand and take weight loss cheering as proof of their fear of being too fat
Image credits: kendramorous
As a curve model, Kendra advocated for plus size women and how the fashion industry lacks clothing options and then excludes them for "not being high fashion enough." On her social media, she has also tackled the topic of fatphobia and its constant stigmatization through systematic oppression rather than encouragement of acceptance and normalization. She points out that such stigma is toxic and it results in harsh consequences, ranging from being bullied on playground, in workplaces, and on dating apps. It is easy to guess that growing up with fatphobia probably meant being ashamed of eating in front of people, trying numerous diets, and all leading to the presumption that fat people are not desired or loved in the same ways.
Image credits: kendramorous
Kendra also stressed the fact that some plus size women believe that being fat is a negative thing
Image credits: kendramorous
In one of her videos on TikTok, Kendra encourages body positivity and not being scared to use the word ‘fat’ or consider it offensive. “Fatness and beauty can actually exist in the same person, whether you believe it or not; the implication that it can't is actually deeply rooted in fatphobia.”
Image credits: kendramorous
And she also admitted to losing precious moments of positive feelings due to feeling too big
Image credits: kendramorous
And quite a few people online agreed that this post resonates with them—many shared stories of unintended weight loss, due to an illness or a health condition, and how people congratulating them for it are actually not aware of the backstory, which then leads to easily hurting someone’s feelings, which eventually could lead to feelings of failure in case of gaining the weight back.
Image credits: kendramorous
And here are some of the comments she has received on her viral post with over 632K likes
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