In the last 2 years, I have come to realize how as a society, we are ridiculously preoccupied with weight. 

I’ve had the privilege of growing up in an environment where the idea that my weight equated to my worth was not unintentionally imparted on me. My experiences and introduction to weight stigma were mostly in adulthood. I know this is uncommon. 

I feel as a society we have internalized these false beliefs that less weight equates to value, and larger bodies are “bad”. This is nonsense. Humans are no more or less valuable when they weigh more or less. 

Is it ankles? Are bigger ankles the cause of lower worth? Is it knees? Thighs? Arms? Is it elbows? How are we scoring this worth? How are we drawing comparisons? Are bigger ankles weighted higher than bigger wrists in the determination of a persons worth? Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it. 

This false logic is right in line with other ‘isms, and any other type of discrimination, seeking to hurt one group and advance another. 

Today, on my lunch break, I watched 30 minutes of a well know Canadian national television program. In the 30 minutes, I was exposed to no less than 5 advertisements for weight loss. These are targeted, and offensive, and look to “inform” us about how we can be “better” versions of ourselves by loosing weight.

I have 2 young kids. One is a 5 year old girl. I watch how my kids, despite best efforts, retain the things they are exposed to on TV. We talk about commercials being sales tools. We talk about critically thinking about what we see. We talk about wording in advertising. But today, I realized I need to do more. I need to do all I can to break the cycle of this messaging. For my kids, and and other people everywhere. 

Weight loss advertising (ex. Noom, WW aka Weight Watchers, etc.) insights self hate, and redirects our most valuable resource - time - to the pursuit of appearance. Imagine all the good we could do if we put this energy and time into other endeavours. Let’s move our bodies simply because it’s joyous. 

In 2022, please sign this petition to prevent weight loss advertising being shown before 8pm (or ideally never!)

Thank you for your support!