Body Inclusivity & The Myth of Promoting Obesity: Podcast Ep. 1

Written By Kara Whitely

Welcome to the first episode of Gorgeous Corporate Bodies, the podcast about body inclusivity in the workplace.

Join host Kara Richardson Whitely to explore the concept of body inclusion and challenge the myth promoting obesity. Kara shares experiences including climbing Kilimanjaro multiple times, dealing with weight fluctuations, and combating weight stigma to emphasize the importance of changing mindsets, promoting self-love, and fostering inclusivity in workplaces and marketing campaigns.

Links

Music: AleXZavesa

Transcript

Introduction 

In today's episode, we'll be sharing about body inclusion and the myth of promoting obesity. This is where the work I do gets sort of controversial, not so much from the people who get it because body inclusion is important. And we need to support all bodies of all shapes and sizes. But by people who have been schooled in the world of diet culture, and have the understanding or thought that smaller is just better. 

And the work that I do, allows people to embrace who they are, where they are at this very moment. And that's why it's so important to me. And in my own journey. For those of you who don't know me very well, I've climbed Kilimanjaro three times, weighing as much as 300 pounds. 

My Kilimanjaro Journey 

And the first climb that I did was after a significant weight loss, I lost a triple digit number, right? It was the kind of weight loss that everybody has to say something about. I worked as a newspaper reporter at the time. And before I started training for Kilimanjaro, that time, there were people who wouldn't look me in the eye, didn't acknowledge who I was. And when the pounds started dropping, everybody had to say something, and they would like literally follow me into the bathroom. And like, ask me, What are you doing? What kind of exercise are you doing? What are you eating tonight, and it was so intrusive. And off putting. 

When I decided to climb Kilimanjaro, I decided to do it to raise money for global Lions for Africa, which is a wonderful organization based in Chicago, to support their AIDS orphans programs, because then I could change the conversation with my colleagues who were constantly constantly constantly talking about my body. So when they asked me what I was doing, I told them that I was raising money for Kilimanjaro. And here's how you can donate. So that was the first climb after this significant weight loss and moments. 

After I got off the mountain, I started thinking about what my next adventure would be. And for me that was becoming a mom. And one of the things that was most challenging about becoming a parent was that a lot of my eating disorder behaviors started to return with a vengeance when I was pregnant. And so more than half of that weight that I had taken off that everybody had to know everything about came back in one pregnancy. And so I started so desperately to try to drop pounds, tried to follow this program, follow that program, and I just didn't, I just couldn't gain the momentum that I had that first Kilimanjaro climb. So I figured the best way out of the scenario was to climb the mountain again. I mean, this is just the way my mind works and go bigger go home, right? 

So I went back to the mountain and spoiler alert, when you're going for an intention like that, it does not turn out well. I did make it to summit night. That's five and a half days into the hike of grueling nonstop hiking. But somewhere in that path, this like, glorified kitty litter path where you're taking one step, step up and you're sliding halfway back, my legs stopped doing what my mind was telling them to do. And I decided that it was time to turn around. 

And I thought I was never going to climb Kilimanjaro again. I thought it was over. Like Forget it. Don't ever talk to me about mountain climbing. And that went on for several months. And you know, the thing about it is once I felt so defeated, a lot of those eating disorder behaviors start to come right back again and I was hiding food, which was a hallmark of my experience with binge eating disorder. 

I would tell everybody everything was fine. You know, I did a lot of things, I was highly functioning, I had a job, I had a child, I took the recycling out, I volunteered, but I was absolutely consumed with this complicated relationship with food. 

An Opportunity to Change the Narrative 

So, it wasn't until a friend said that she wanted to climb Kilimanjaro, and she wanted me to do it with her, and also that she would be willing to raise $1 per foot of the mountain, which is $19,343, with her friend, if I came with her, and then my husband, my husband's cousin also said she would come along, and she would also raise $5,000 for global Lions for Africa, on this climb, and I knew I could raise another 5000. So there's, like, $30,000 on the line for this, this cause that I love and I care about. 

But I started to think about the mountain and its relationship to me. At one time, it was the celebration, another time it was defeat. But what I needed to change was my mindset, because so often, when I looked at fitness goals, or programs, or whatever somebody was advertising or putting in front of my face as the best option to take care of my body, it was all about it was coming from a place of hate, it was coming from a place of like, my body is not enough, and I need to change it. So I decided that I needed to remember that feeling of what I loved. What I loved was to be in nature, what I loved was taking steps on a path and not really knowing I mean having a destination but not really knowing where it was going to take you. 

And so that's what I loved. And if that's what I loved, if I was going to climb Kilimanjaro at that third time, I needed to just start from a place of loving myself where I was and go from there. It wasn't about changing my body. It was about changing my mind. 

And so I started to tell this story, and just you know, it started with writing magazine articles, then it evolved to Gorge the book, which is being made into a movie with this is us actress Chrissy Metz. And then I started to do influencer work. And I started ultimately building a platform and taking all of my marketing experience and disrupter strategy experience, and I knew that there was a need to be served for corporations on how to have these difficult conversations about bodies, weight stigma, body inclusion. And I knew that I could be somebody who could have it. 

The Myth of Promoting Obesity

But the comments I get sometimes on Instagram for the work that I'm doing, whether it's with a brand or for my own personal adventures is that by showing myself in a larger body and encouraging people to come out as they are in the bodies that they are that I'm somehow promoting obesity. And it's such a strange war cry to me that you're promoting obesity, like this is some kind of bad thing that I'm doing what I love in my body, I'm moving my body with joy, with intention, with heart. And just the act of moving is so good for you. And it doesn't matter how you're moving, what you're doing, that the act of being physically active is such a wonderful thing for your health. 

And so this cry of promoting obesity, I never quite understood because like, why would you not want someone to be active? Why would you not want someone to find joy in themselves in that moment, whether they want to change and whether they don't? Life isn't just about before and after pictures. And I know I mean, I spent so much time thinking about before and after pictures and seeing myself as a before and after picture. 

I started this agency, The Gorgeous Agency, because I didn't want people to have that mindset every time you looked at a body. I wanted to challenge people's narratives on, what do you assume about someone's lifestyle, about their background about, who they are as human beings simply because of the weight that they're carrying, where they're carrying their weight?

I am still fully understanding my own weight and my own body. It wasn't even until like three years ago, that I found out that I have lipedema. And now that I know more about this condition, I totally get it, it makes perfect sense that I carry my weight between my navel and my knees. The top of me is relatively small, I do have a little extra hanging on my arms. It's just the way that the weight is proportioned on me. And it wasn't until I wrote a piece for Backpacker Magazine about being fat shamed while hiking 100 miles on the Long Trail. 

Weight stigma can happen anywhere, even on a remote stretch, stretch of trails, in Vermont. And so it wasn't until that actual conversation that I learned that I have lipedema. And that this is something that there are some treatments for but some of it is just the way my body is. 

But I'm sure that even though I have that understanding, and that understanding is unfolding within myself, that every time I go out to do something, someone else has an opinion of me, someone else has a narrative. Someone else is saying like, Oh, I bet she's like a ticking time bomb for cardiovascular disease, or diabetes, or high blood pressure, not knowing that those numbers for me like blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol have always been picture perfect, it doesn't matter. 

It didn't matter if I was in my three pregnancies to this very moment, right now, every time I go to the doctor, my numbers are perfect, except for in some people's mind, the one on the scale. So the work that we do at The Gorgeous Agency, the work that I do in my life is to continue changing and shifting that narrative for people like Ted Lasso says to be curious, and not judgmental, because it is really, really important on this topic. 

Weight Stigma, Discrimination & Legislation

It is so important because in the United States, there's only one state, one state, it's Michigan, where it is illegal to discriminate, folks, because of the size of their body. There are some cities across the country that are starting these initiatives. And I know that there will be many more to follow in Michigan's footsteps. And it's really, really important that we stop looking at the size of someone's body. And, and judging their character. 

So the work that we set out to do is to is to change those narratives, to make sure that folks have the language and the tools to have challenging conversations, or maybe that they're not offending someone, or at least not doing harm. But also  thinking about, what are the images that you're putting out there? Are they stereotypes? Or are they leading people forward to what you want to do? 

Conquering Weight Stigma in the Workplace 

Because what we believe at The Gorgeous Agency, and I believe in the world in general, is that conquering this issue of weight stigma in the workplace. And being body inclusive is so key, it is so key to growth into new markets, because we're talking about 67% of US women are size 14 and above. 

That means that plus size is average, the average woman is size 16. Right. And they're often left out for marketing campaigns, internal and external of companies. And so the more that you can target talk to represent, to help people feel seen, the more that they will be feeling included. And the more likely they would be to be loyal to your brand. 

And the same goes for attracting and retaining talent. People want to be seen in your company. They don't want to be compared to and they don't want to have that feeling like I talked about back when I was a journalist. And everybody only cared about me when I started to drop pounds. 

So this idea of body inclusion and the myth of promoting obesity, I want people to stop thinking that this is just about obesity. I want people to start thinking about how we can include more people into conversations and images and more people can feel seen, so that in the end, people feel like they have a place and more importantly that everybody is welcome

If this conversation resonated with you, make sure that you like and subscribe. And if you'd like to be a leader in your workplace in this conversation, make sure you share it with your colleagues. One of the things you can do is download our white paper, The Rise of the Body Inclusive Economy, at thegorgeousagency.com. You can find the link in the show notes. 

Thanks, and we'll see you next time on Gorgeous Corporate Bodies.

Kara Whitely
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