Dieting while feminist
 

I was going to ask if anyone else struggles with this, but then realized I don't struggle with it at all. I just think it's hilarious when I read a thread that basically amounts to "tracking your calorie consumption is an eating disorder." Seriously, things like measuring how much milk you put in your coffee and using MyFitnessPal were being labeled "disordered behavior."

Eating disorders are a serious matter and undue pressure is felt by women to monitor their weight. But perhaps the community is getting a little hypervigilant in its definition of eating disorder.

My all time favorite gem from that particular blog: All exercise is self-induced torture in pursuit of a fascistic beauty ideal.

I have to admit, though, I did struggle with it in the past. I think I took up weightlifting partly because it felt like a feminist expression of fitness to me, with a focus on strength rather than thinness.

These days I don't even give a rip. I'm about taking care of me.

As women, we often feel societal pressures such as we have to be a certain weight, we have to not have cellulite, we have to do this or that or else if not, we are failures as women. I don't think wanting to lose weight is anti-feminist, I think we have to approach it as love. Love for ourselves, love for our bodies and love of the process. Our bodies, aren't horrible, our bodies don't deserve the hate we often give them but rather we should accept them as they are now and understand that wanting to be fitter, healthier, stronger, etc are all good goals and show love for ourselves. I think if we approach weight loss in a more feminist mindset, we may even be more successful.

What Nelie said. I have struggled, to a degree, with my desire to lose weight. Mostly because, if I am honest with myself, some of my reason for wanting to lose weight is to look more in line with a social standard of beauty. Being a pretty hardcore feminist, perhaps I should be ashamed of myself for this, but I'm tired of being ashamed for things that make me feel better. It's part of my desires, and while it may not be in line with my ideals, I'm not going to beat myself up about it.

I also have plenty of feminist aligned ideas for wanting to lose weight. Being stronger. Wanting to be able to do beautiful things with my body (for example, certain amazing yoga poses). Feeling that my body was designed to move - run, jump, and play. The good vibes I feel when I regularly exercise and eat in a healthy manner. These, by far, are goals that help me stay more focused, as they provide much more immediate results than that elusive "looking good."

It's a bit of a difficult line to walk. It always has been for me, but I think our ideas surrounding feminism have broadened quite a bit. I'm a feminist, but I love makeup. It makes me feel fierce. I also love being traditionally feminine, with A-Line skirts and bubble baths. I'm a feminist, but I enjoy my husband taking a leadership role in our marriage. I'm secure enough in myself and him to know that he is much better at all of that practical stuff. I'm a feminist, but I shave my legs regularly, even though at times the thought that it is expected of me posses me off. Then I feel how nice crawling into satin sheets feels afterwards, and, well, it's okay. I have much of the same feeling about losing weight for vanity reasons. I know what system I'm succumbing to, but I do enjoy looking "better" in clothes. I enjoy being able to have more access to fashionable clothing, and I enjoy feeling more "dainty", for lack of a better term. Like I said earlier, I don't know how exactly to feel about all of those things, but I'm going to enjoy them if they bring me happiness.

Tracking calories in and of itself does not constitute an eating disorder. There are specific definitions of eating disorders that anyone can look up on line so I won't bother. However there is a spectrum and I do think that constant yo yo dieting seems to compound certain behaviors that are not great. I prefer to call it dysfunctional eating or disordered eating rather than "eating disorder."

Tracking calories is fine. But then it leads to weighing food, measuring food, reading labels, and ultimately judging food. This food is better than that food... then this leads to judging oneself about the food they eat. This brings about hypervigilence in weighing and measuring one's body. This leads to scrutinizing one's body and weighing more and measuring more. The restrictions can lead to deprivation and an indulgence leads to guilt and shame, which may lead to more severe restriction and more scrutiny of food and our bodies. One starts to read magazines about detoxing and fitting into bikinis and learning that so-and-so celebrity is bikini ready only 3 weeks after giving birth to twins so she hops on a yacht in the Caribbean with her perfect babies and her perfect abs. This is awful so we turn to a different diet to see results and promise to weigh oneself 3 times a day and skip dinner. One writes everything down so they can be held "accountable" and journal all their exercise so when they cry at their therapist's office about a plateau in their weightloss they can point to their writings and say "see? I'm doing everything right!"

None of this constitutes an eating disorder. But yes, I believe it is a collection of dysfunctional behaviors that are doing more damage than helping us meet our goals.

Honestly I don't know what this has to do with feminism. A true feminist claims her own wants and needs and if that means you want to look good in your new jeans then own it.

Well said!

I feel exactly the same pressures as a man.

The only difference is it's easier to lose weight as a guy.

Well I'd say I expect society doesn't take lightly to overweight people in general, women in general tend to have expectations imprinted on them from a young age that they should be thin, have a flat stomach, the stupid thigh gap thing, etc, etc and the thought is that if we are trying to lose weight, it is due to us trying to fit into societal expectations, rather than doing what we actually want to do. The feminist point of view would be that our bodies aren't something to be hated and if we want to lose weight, that is our prerogative. This is also where women may need to evaluate/re-evaluate goal weights that are unrealistic (looking like you did when you were 18, if you were thin at 18 is not usually a reasonable goal for someone in their 40s partly because we don't even stop growing until we are 28 and hormones change with time)

Nelie when it comes to smaller weights (below 150lbs) I get confused by other women's weight goals. Maybe it's because it's been too long since I was ever below that number and if I ever get to 150 I'll feel like I won a million dollars. But I don't know Where they get the numbers they seem to fight with. If someone is 143 they want to get to 135. If someone is 135 they wan to get to 128. I don't know how they choose those goals but there must be some reasoning. A friend (probably 135ish) tells me she's been fighting the same 9lbs for the past 20 yrs. She loses it, she gains it back, then loses it then gains it back. She's either happy that's she's losing it or upset that she gains it. I don't see the point. To me the only way I can tell the difference is she either looks thin or she looks gaunt. What a terrible thing to be tortured by all the time. I think we become obsessed and lose sight of what's important sometimes.

I think that's the feminist issue, we're set up to be consumed with beauty so that we don't deal with the important stuff.

I never lost a pound worrying about how I looked and being insecure--I just angsted over it and did nothing. It wasn't until I decided that I didn't give a damn, but I wanted to do it for me that I started seeing progress. Also, because I spent so much time being hyper-conscious of my looks, I try very hard to not judge other women on their looks/goals, even if I think that they're already skinny or don't really need to lose any more. (and hey, its not really my business anyway)

totally agree and with women, a lot of focus goes into looks when it should be on accomplishments that we have made. This is totally seen with famous women, where you talk about their outfits or how much weight they've gained/lost, not their talents/abilities, etc.

I've never paid attention to any of that BS and when someone tries to update me on a kardashian show they get the death glare. Change starts with us and our personal abilities to ignore nonsense. All this stuff and these people are famous because women watch it. If we didn't, they wouldn't be making money. I don't know tons of guys watching the bachelorette or those other stupid reality shows.

And all of it is damaging to the average woman. We don't have gobs of money to look a certain way dictated by modern society.

Even the way we've been told to lose weight is truly not appropriate. There's still such a small amount of women lifting. It took me months to be brave enough to lift in the gym. The short time I've been doing it has resulted in far better body changes then the months I spent just doing cardio. Lifting is not encouraged because it is not "lady like." There's grunting, there's lots of sweat and I feel pretty amazing doing it.

Rant over, please lift with me!

Nicki I want to lift too! I'm getting there, can't afford a gym membership right now but when I do I won't be afraid to grunt!

But I wish that this type of scrutiny was relegated to the kardashians alone. It's not. If Hilary Clinton pops up on the screen women clamor to talk about her bad hair, puffy eyes, weight gain/loss and the clothes she wears. Not for a second do they stop to hear what she's talking about. Is that what people do when a male politician appears on screen? No, we pay attention to what he says.

Likewise when we meet a young boy we talk to him about dinosaurs and trucks. When we meet a little girl we tell her how cute she is and how pretty her hair is, establishing right off the bat that the most thing about her is how other people perceive her. These are the things I think about that permeate our culture even more so than the kardashians.

This....so much this.

What I feel from the feminist community and what I was referring to when I started this thread (and realize now I wasn't clear on), was the pressure from other feminists to NOT lose weight. That to care about size is conformist and anti-feminist and that to restrict eating in any way is sick or "disordered."

There's a lot of overlap between feminists and fat acceptance, to the point where I feel that my interest in fitness and desire to affect change in my body is unwelcome and sometimes untolerated. That blogs such "Fit and Feminist" and "Fit Is a Feminist Issue" exist indicates I'm not the only one who feels so.

I'm a big girl and can deal with it - I don't need validation from other feminists to do what I feel is best for me. But sometimes my eyes just really get to rolling, you know what I mean? I mean, c'mon: "All exercise is self imposed torture in pursuit of a fascistic beauty ideal." Because nothing says screw the patriarchy like heart disease and type 2 diabetes?

I don't know anyone here tooting that stuff violett. Maybe stay away from sites like that. Heal this an important issue. I'm not succumbing to societal pressures by hitting the pavement and torturing myself with cardio. It makes me feel awesome and alive. But if I was doing it so that Justin Bieber would ask me on a date then yea that's a little anti feminist I guess.

I feel like perhaps you're hanging around the wrong types of feminists/fat acceptance people. Maybe find some groups that are more accepting?

The people I choose to associate with in both movements are all about freedom of choice, and being able to feel good about your choices without being judged. I've actually never seen, or heard, any of my feminist friends refer to tracking calories or any healthy dietary measure as an ED. My group of friends is much more just about acceptance and feeling good about yourself.

If people are being toxic to you, don't keep them around, or don't visit their sites. Not everyone in the feminist movement, or fat acceptance movement, is going to have good intentions, or be moderate. Some may be trying to push a different agenda or push people to conform to what they consider normal. Jerks exist in all circles.

I agree, maybe it is best to ignore those blogs. I see value in accepting and loving yourself as you are now and recognizing that improvements aren't due to societal expectations but your own desires.

I love lifting weights and hiking and even monitoring my food is done to better take care of myself for myself.

I think anyone who says that tracking your food intake is an ED doesn't know what a real ED is. They could say that it is OCD and some people could and do take it to that degree, but not all. Many people like to track so they can see where their calories and macronutrients are coming from and adjust accordingly if needed. Many people exercise because it is healthy for their body, not just for weight loss. Even thin people should exercise. Sounds to me like some feminists are using this as an excuse to just let themselves go. Those who care about how they look and how they feel are not wrong to do that. Everyone has their personal preference.

And Ian? We KNOW that men lose must faster than women. Don't rub it in!! LOL

Yeah, it doesn't really sound like those are your average feminists. At all., OP. Time to ignore

I think this is in an increasing problem culturally though... I find I'm hearing about these things more and more. Isn't there a saying that fits this, something like "the smallest group is the loudest" or something like that? I feel that's the case here. Extremes like that are the minority, but they are certainly loud. It's because the rest of us know better than to scream our opinion of someone's body weight out. Its not our business.

Just the other day I read an article about a girl with down syndrome who was an aspiring model. It was really neat to read how she was pursuing her dream, and how natural she seemed to be in the craft based on the sample shots! But then, a bunch of people commented that even though it was progress for people seeing learning disabilities in a new light, that she wasn't making any real progress because she wore make up and pursued a healthier lifestyle to have a more fit figure for modeling. They said she was conforming to beauty standards instrad of being a real spokeswoman for individuals with down syndrome. Because of make up and fitness. I thought it was out of line to say... I get that our advertising is way too photo shopped and everything, but she was HAPPY to be fitter and eating better. She LIKED what she was doing. And, I think getting dolled up is part of the industry... Why shouldn't she be treated like a regular model? Isn't that also point, that she csn do anything anyone else can? I'm not saying we need all the extra Photoshop crap and ridiculous body standards, but being a little fit and doing make up I think completely reasonable. Especially because her "fit" body, was NORMAL. She wasn't aiming for a size zero.

The above is just an example, but I think its a growing attitude amongst some. Its sad that they don't see that they're doing the same thing they are so against- setting standards that people must comply too based on their age, gender, size, ethnicity or whatever other excuse you want to use to be a bully.

Not entirely true. I agree that Hilary gets too much scrutiny on superficial things, but there's a lot of chatter about Huckabee's weight and Christie's weight, and I remember after one of the debates in 2008, there was a bunch of news about Biden's obvious botox. Afterwards, the Washington Post ran an article about how many male politicians do cosmetic procedures to look younger and more vibrant. Yes, there are some very old male politicians, but vigor still sells.

(I do agree that women seem to get more and worse of this, though!)

I've never really thought of it this way.

I have competed as a powerlifter (and set records) and have moved away due to struggles with my mental health impacting on my training. Gained tons of weight while training and afterwards due to medication and losing motivation on my diet.

I'm back for me. I'm not happy being bigger and whilst clothes shopping is harder (in the uk), for my size it is my health that brings me to the need to lose weight. I am prone to diabetes on the medication I'm on know my cholesterol was 'borderline' when last checked.