92. Body Confidence Has Nothing To Do With Your Body

Hi, and welcome back to another episode of the Body Gravers Club.

Today we are going to be talking about body confidence.

This all came about because not too long ago I was on vacation and I was swimming in my aunt's pool.

And I decided to post a video of me in a bathing suit.

And it accidentally popped off.

Yes, I am a super fat person wearing a two-piece bathing suit.

Yes, at one point in my life, this would have been radical.

I never believed I was going to be that body positive person.

Like, I didn't think I'd be the person who wants to show off their body or jiggle or say that I love my stretch marks or love any of the perceived flaws that I believed I had.

But I never thought I'd be the person who would even just be able to show up in a two-piece costume.

I sent the video to a Sometimes Fun Times guy that I'd been seeing, and his reaction made me smirk.

So I posted it.

And I was thinking back to my 26 year old Bree that not only did she not believe that she would ever be desired in her fattest body, but she couldn't believe that she wouldn't actively hate her body anymore.

That 10 years later, she would no longer believe that her fat body was disgusting, that it was something to be ashamed of and change.

I knew that saying that out loud 10 years ago was taboo.

It was much more widely acceptable to say that I wanted to improve my health, which I did.

But that became my line.

I'm losing weight for my health.

In the work that I do, I call this a red herring.

I believe that people genuinely do want to improve their health.

But I often think people make the misconception that the only way to do that is through intentional weight loss.

This is one of the three most common barriers to radical body acceptance.