Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2025

I hope that’s not your body currently
 
Was the feedback I got on a video I posted recently
 
I hope you don’t look like that
 
Ouch
 
It wasn’t meant as an insult but rather, a reminder that some people don’t want to hear my message come out of my body. 
 
I remember when I was newly preggo and I said to the girls – I can’t wait to be able to share my body on social media whenever I want and not be criticised for it. Not be told that I’m damaging people. Not be told my message doesn’t make sense because it doesn’t fit my body. 
 
When I’m preggo, no one will tell me I can’t talk about disordered eating
 
And I was right
 
For almost a decade, I’ve faced consistent backlash from people suggesting I can’t talk about weight bias, anti-diet, diet culture, body image and disordered eating when I live in a smaller body
 
It’s impossible to take this from you 
 
Is the general vibe of the criticism 
 
An important disclaimer before I go any further is that I fully recognise the privilege of being in a societally ‘acceptable’ body
 
When I was preggo, getting bigger, I didn’t receive a single comment about my messaging, my lack of authority to speak on my area of expertise
 
As soon as Ohtli popped out (ok, was ripped from my gaping abdomen), the comments returned – how dare you talk about disordered eating when you live in a smaller body
 
And this is the very real problem being in part, brought to light this eating disorder awareness week
 
Not my silly little moan about silly little comments from people who are having a hard time – those comments on the whole, are like water off a ducks back to me these days
 
I truly can’t imagine much worse than wasting energy in any direction, let alone giving it to people who are trying their best from where they are, where I am an easy target
 
But this lens through which we collectively see others through – the lens of our bodies
 
The theme of eating disorder awareness week 2025 is that eating disorders can affect anyone
 
Only 6% of people with an eating disorder are underweight. 94% are in healthy, overweight or obese BMI categories
 
We look at muscular physiques and assume health and happiness and success and rarely consider that someone in at a ‘healthy’ BMI range could be experiencing an eating disorder 
 
We look at larger bodies and assume a fat loss diet is the healthiest answer despite 30% of people pursuing weight loss support meeting the criteria for binge eating disorder
 
The fitness space has created safer spaces for women to talk about disordered eating but I see a huge gap in empathy and awareness for men
 
IMO, it’s also created safe spaces for women in lean bodies to share their experiences (I recognise I fit this mould) but continues to ignore the reality of the ED experience for those in larger bodies, perpetuating a personal responsibility narrative and cultivating shame in those in larger bodies more so than anyone else
 
Something perpetuated by misinformed health professionals suggesting diets to those experiencing ED because of this pervasive weight bias - these people then finding themselves the fitness space
 
You can’t judge anything about a person’s body, not least their relationship with food
 
One body type doesn’t have ownership over disordered eating or body image struggles (whilst recognising that weight stigma is experienced by those in larger bodies and really isn’t the same for those in smaller bodies)
 
One body type doesn’t have ownership over success and productivity
 
One body type doesn’t have ownership over health
 
Imagine a world (if you don’t hear Denzel Washington here I question your coolness and your age) where we simply saw people for how they showed up in the world with their soul, how they left you feeling, the impact they had
 
Imagine a world too, where everyone was given equal opportunity for support, regardless of weight, gender, background or race
 
Just imagine Love is Blind, in every interaction of every day (imagine the red flags though)
 
I wonder, as you go about your interactions this weekend, you can notice the attention you pay to peoples’ bodies, and how you filter their words and actions through that body lens
 
I wonder, how able you are to validate those who fit the mould society has created, whilst diminishing the lived experiences of those who don’t
 
And finally I wonder if it would be possible to begin to clean that lens, remove that filter and recognise that we are all flawed humans, all vulnerable to shared experiences and all, regardless of our body size, doing the best we can from where we are
 
Body size means jack shit. Other than an objective amount of body fat. It’s adipose tissue. Cells in your body with body fat in them. 
 
At what point did we let those body fat cells dictate our entire understanding, appreciation and acceptance of another human being?
 
Have a wonderful weekend.
I’m always here,
Em