feels wrong NOT to talk about this

skinny is baaaack

In my summer “creation” sabbatical, I’ve been on IG way less. It’s off my phone and every few days I open it up on my laptop to watch a few favorite stories and send memes with my besties.

You can imagine my shock when I started scrolling for a minute and was bombarded with weight loss ads. Every other post (literally) was for a GLP-1 or a “not a GLP-1 but just as good” or a “pill form of a GLP-1!” or a “faux-zempic.”

Wowza.

In between those posts were people (who I don’t even follow) telling me about how I need to eat wayyy more protein and wear a weighted vest to lose weight in perimenopause.

It was OVERWHELMING.

I’m not here to make a black-and-white statement about GLP-1s, eating gobs of protein, or weighted vests. I think they are healthy, supportive choices for some people and not the right/best choice for others.

What I am going to make a statement about is how quickly the social dialogue changed from beginning to embrace body diversity and understanding that health is not one-size-fits-all, back to the full blown 90s where we are OBSESSED with being skinny.

I know you’ve noticed it, so I’m not even going to ask.

But, I am curious about: How is it impacting you?

After that short scroll (which quickly reminded me how happy I am to be taking time away from IG), I noticed that I had two days where I felt so icky about my body. Everything I put on? I threw it back on the floor. My closet was littered in outfits that just didn’t feel right. Ugh, I wanted to crawl out of my skin!

Of course, my body was the same during those two days as it had been the two days before. But, the barrage of 20 messages telling me how much better I’d look and feel if I was skinnier burrowed deep in there and whispered that my body wasn’t right.

I’ve got 15 years of skills/practices I’ve built up to help me through those moments, and thank goodness for that. I used them all and was able to get back to a place where I felt calm in my own skin and wasn’t making decisions from a place of panic.

But, it was a strong reminder of how powerful those messages are. How they can plant a seed of not-enoughness.

In the coaching I do with women, there is always judgment-free space to share how you’re feeling in your body. Clients will often share about desires to lose weight — that desire is ok. My job isn’t to tell you “don’t feel that way! You don’t need to lose a pound!” or to shame you for not being “intuitive enough.” My job is to help you cultivate a deep sense of care and respect for yourself and to help you learn to make decisions that honor you — your lifestyle, your body, your values. When you shake free from the rules, self-judgment and perfectionism, you’re able to care for yourself (inside and out) in a relational way.

So, when your needs change, when your body changes (hello perimenopause), when the season of your life changes… you don’t lose yourself. You stay connected, compassionate, and caring.

I want to help you feel your best in YOUR body. This has always been part of my mission and the cultural shift back to idolizing heroine chic doesn’t change it.

The body trends will ebb and flow, come and go. The relationship you cultivate with your body will hold you through it all.

If you’d like to share, please let me know how you’re doing. Anyone else feel like deja vu to the 90s (and not in a good way)?

Warmly,

Simi

As always, I’m here to support you.