Reclaiming My Body Positivity
Lori Whitman
My body positivity journey.
I was asked to write about my weight loss journey, and I second guessed doing it because part of me felt guilty saying “look at my weight loss achievement” because of the whole Body Positivity movement, but I do want to share my thoughts on it. When you look at yourself in the mirror, does your body bring feelings that are positive, negative, or neutral? Do we all have to agree on what Body Positivity should look like?
Stats
- Starting weight: 157lbs/71kgs
- Goal weight: 125lbs/57kgs
- Current weight: 127-129lbs/58kgs
- Highest weight: 161lbs/73kgs
- Height: 5’5/165cm
Carrying the weight of a frumpy mom.
Back in high school, I didn’t think one way or the other about my body, be it my weight, height, color, or health. I guess it’s because I was content with where I was. Fast forward into adulthood and marriage and giving birth to three wonderful children, I gained extra weight and I didn’t like it very much. I wasn’t obese, but overweight with mom life. My BMI was high, and I didn’t feel good about myself. I was physically tired, and I didn’t feel content in my own body. I didn’t enjoy shopping when I felt like I didn’t look nice and just felt kind of frumpy.
My kids remember me complaining about my body as they grew up (which may have been harmful to them even though it wasn’t my intention). I do believe it got old listening to me belittle myself and maybe it was confusing to them since I wasn’t doing anything about my weight anyway. What could I do about it, after all? I knew I didn’t have the willpower to diet so that wasn’t of any interest to me. I also knew the hours of exercise it would take to lose weight (been there, done that, didn’t want to do it again).
Little by little I gained weight over the years without understanding why, and chalked it up to age just like the doctors do, followed by the excuse of menopause. I came to think this is just me now, and I must learn to accept it.
Feeling good in my body again gave me back my positive body image.
In recent years I’ve heard younger women talk about a “body positivity” movement and celebrating the skin we are in no matter what size or shape it may be. It’s become taboo to talk negatively (body shaming) about our bodies when it comes to fat because we are supposed to accept our bodies wherever we are. I sometimes felt guilty because of this movement, for not loving myself where I was at. I felt judged because I wanted my old body back.
Why does it matter to anyone else if I want to make a change so that I too can feel my own body positivity? Why does body positivity have to equal body acceptance wherever we are at the time? I didn’t need to be super skinny or anything like that, I just felt good in my old body and wanted “me” back. As much as I wanted to be at my younger weight, I felt losing that extra weight was an unattainable and an unrealistic goal.
Understanding why we gain weight was all I needed to start intermittent fasting.
In April of 2021 I saw a picture of myself that made the thought “Is that really me?” pop into my head. At that moment, at 57 years of age, I knew I needed to do something, and I felt like it was now or never. I went online in search of a diet. Thank God I didn’t find one! Instead, I happened upon a video by Dr. Jason Fung, who told me WHY we gain weight and WHY we can’t lose it without giving our bodies a break from food (which is a break from insulin spikes).
Dr. Fung made the science common sense. The answer to weight loss was to go back to childhood habits, and I started fasting the next day. It all made sense to me, and I wanted to do this for me! My husband and I realized he has fasted his whole life. We just didn’t know it. He listens to his hunger signals and has never been overweight.
The health benefits of IF outweigh the weight loss.
I lost 30 pounds after fasting just a few months. I now have more energy, I’m more motivated to do things, and I’m thrilled to be down 3 pants sizes. I rid myself of sleep apnea, I have less inflammation, less aches and pains and less brain fog. I realized quickly that I was onto something way more important for my life than just losing the weight. I was on my way to better health!
I had bloodwork done at my annual physical and my tests were outstanding. The three doctors I saw over the year asked me how I lost weight. I explained intermittent fasting. They had little knowledge of it but were intrigued and said, “Keep doing what you are doing!” The doctors are even researching intermittent fasting themselves.
Finding the healthy me again.
I have found the OLD ME! I have found body positivity! I may be a little grey now, I may have some wrinkles and stretch marks, and I’m slower getting up off the floor, but I will grow old gracefully. Getting older doesn’t bother me now that I know how to keep my body a healthy weight and feel good in my skin for the first time in almost 40 years.
Giving my body a break from food brings autophagy which maintains things like my heart and my brain! Stay away dementia! I wish I had known this 30 years ago. I’m a little late in learning this, but that doesn’t mean you have to wait. You can learn it all now.
Sharing the inspiration.
Since finding MY idea of body positivity, I’ve been sharing my story and fasting protocols on two podcasts to inspire others like many have inspired me. I started a group of interested close friends on Facebook to get them started in fasting, because when I feel passionate about something that can help people, I’m going to shout it from the rooftops. Afterall, it wouldn’t be nice to keep it to myself.
I don’t push my lifestyle on anyone, but I tell others the books I have read, and videos that inspired and educated me if they want to know.
I just celebrated one year of fasting!
I documented the following fun facts from my journey.- Eating fat doesn’t make you fat.
- Sugar is the devil and is in everything.
- WHEN you eat (the frequency of meals and snacking) is what makes a huge difference because every single time you put something in your mouth you raise the hormone INSULIN. INSULIN IS THE FAT STORING HORMONE! Insulin tells your body to STOP BURNING and START STORING fat in case of famine. Because we’ve been led to believe we should eat several times a day our insulin has been raised continuously and it isn’t possible to burn fat. It’s why so many of us are overweight. It’s not anyone’s fault. Who knew the only way to bring insulin DOWN is to simply take a break from continuous eating? I know this now… and it’s why I’m telling you!
- When you are hungry you can choose to either eat food through your mouth or your body can just eat its own stored fat. Either way the hunger goes away. It doesn’t grow more intense. I think that’s cool.
Let’s support everyone with their goals.
I’d like to end on body positivity. I hope all people that choose to seek it, find balance and happiness in the body they are living in. Some maybe like to be fat; some like to be thin or some like me, like to be somewhere in between. Please don’t judge anyone for where they are at, for we all have struggles. Likewise, let’s try not to judge those who want to make a change, be it weight loss or learning something new that enhances their life.
We are all entitled to our own body positivity zone! If you are trying to make a change to better health, I applaud you.
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This is wonderful to read! Thank you for sharing. Very inspiring.
Thank you for sharing. You truly are an inspiration 🙂