Why The "Fat Talk" Needs To Stop

The stereotypical image of a woman standing in front of her bedroom mirror, rotating from side to side, asking her partner "Does this dress make me look fat?" When girls "speak fat" about themselves, it doesn't benefit anyone. It hurts because the amount of times we call ourselves fat out loud doesn't even compare to the amount of times we've said it in our head. We torture ourselves with this word, this word we say with such distain. The word "fat" takes the space in our brains of other words, positive words. Words like beautiful, healthy, gorgeous, feminine, curvaceous, lovely, kind. Fat talk reverses our positive inertia and spins us into a state of emotional and physical unrest. Over 90% of women have engaged in "fat talk". What makes this a more shocking statistic is how only 9% of these women were actually overweight. Our mutual self-deprecation for some reason is almost like a female bonding mechanism. Like the famous Mean Girls scene when the beautiful girls pour over their looks in the mirror, each remarking on their particular flaw. I have had far too many conversations with friends that go along the lines of "I'm so ugly." "What are you taking about you're gorgeous! I'm hideous." "Pfft, yeah right. You're beautiful, you're not fat like me." It is a common practice among all ages and body sizes. A practice we must stop. Why is tearing down our appearances a part of our nature? Why do we not change our thoughts and our actions? I challenge you to write down 10 things you love about your body and post it somewhere you can see. Add to it everyday! It can be small step to changing our internal monologues. What do you think of fat talk and self-body shaming? Share your opinion with us!