Stop Fat Talk

Have many times have you heard a friend say: "I'm so fat." or "Do I look fat in this?" (Or how many times have you said that about yourself to someone else?)

How about:

Friend 1: "I'm so fat."

Friend 2: "No you're not, I am."

Friend 1: "You are NOT fat. But look at me, I mean my thighs are HUGE."

Friend 2: "Are you kidding me? Your legs are like sticks! Look at my stomach. Ugh, gross."

And so on and so forth...

Sound familiar?

This video was made four years ago for an event called "Fat Talk Free Week." It's pretty powerful. Take a moment to watch it.

Many women think fat talk is helpful because they see that their friends suffer from the same problem. But in reality, woman who complain about their bodies are actually more unsatisfied with their appearance. Support and empathy from friends is important and even healthy. Commiserating about body image is not. Fat talk tends to emphasize the ideal body image portrayed by the media and leads women to believe that hating one's body is normal.

This makes me so, so sad. I think it cuts really deep with me because it was a part of my life for about six years. Body image issues consumed me throughout high school and for a good portion of my first two years of college. I now realize that talking with my friends who shared my struggle was not beneficial; if anything, it continued to feed the struggle.

It honestly makes my insides hurt when I think about how controlling this struggle with body image has been for girls and women in today's society. One out of three women is on a diet at any given time. An estimated seven million women in America have an eating disorder. And 97% of women have negative body thoughts daily. That is an overwhelming percentage.

So I think that one of the ways we can help prevent eating disorders and obsession over dieting and weight, is to STOP fat talk. I have to start with myself. I will stop fat talk. And I will try to help my friends stop as well.

Let me just end by saying that the root of this struggle is sin. Our desire for people to find us attractive, our brokenness, our dissatisfaction. That is all sin. And I do not want to pretend that body image issues will be solved by simply eliminating certain words or phrases from our vocabulary. I know that the only true healing that anyone can receive is through Jesus. I know without a doubt that I would not be able to fight this battle without Christ. I pray that Christian women would recognize the grace of God and the life He has given us. Let us stop striving for the unattainable and start believing that the Lord looks at the heart.

I want people to see Christ in me. The way I look shouldn't matter. It's time I start believing that.