Personal Trainer Breaks Down Why Fat Shaming Is Necessary
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
213.14116
Summary
Tess Holliday is a model, influencer and body positivity advocate. In this episode, she shares her journey with body shaming and how it has impacted her life and how she has dealt with it. She talks about her struggles with weight, how she got to where she is today and what she does to stay motivated to lose weight.
Transcript
00:00:00.000
Yeah, but talking about body positivity, does it help?
00:00:10.200
I think telling people to be kind to themselves goes a long way.
00:00:13.500
I think it just makes you comfortable to do the same thing.
00:00:16.460
No, but at the same time, I feel like it depends on what type of person you are.
00:00:20.980
So depending on what makes you tick, you know what I'm saying?
00:00:23.980
So some people might respond to body shaming, whereas other people might respond to a different type of method, you know?
00:00:31.800
Wait, if it helped, wouldn't you see most of these influencers lose weight?
00:00:35.740
I mean, I am an influencer and I'm actively trying to lose weight and I've documented it on my platform.
00:00:46.400
For me, like, I have a lot of problems related to when I used to be quite thin.
00:00:51.440
I was very, very unhealthy and it meant that when I was thin, I went to a...
00:00:57.940
So when I was, like, doing acting and stuff, I was in a theatre company where they would write all our weights on the wall
00:01:02.260
and it was always, like, the goal not to be the biggest person and everyone was skinny, right?
00:01:05.920
So I have a lot of problems around that, around weight, around weighing myself obsessively.
00:01:11.380
And because of that, like, I would just restrict and binge and restrict and binge and restrict and binge,
00:01:16.580
which at the time, I was making myself sick, so I stayed skinny.
00:01:20.200
And then when I stopped throwing up, I got very fat because I didn't break the patterns,
00:01:25.140
but I still had the eating disorder of the restrict and binge and restrict and binge, restrict and binge.
00:01:29.060
So when I stopped throwing up, I just gained all the weight.
00:01:33.280
Like, I restrict and restrict and restrict and I feel very in control when I restrict.
00:01:37.480
But then I will binge when I've had a vulnerable moment or I've had an argument with my boyfriend
00:01:44.780
But I think the point is that across the board, I don't see plus-size influencers
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that have built their brand on body positivity losing weight across the board.
00:01:53.600
If anything, I see them get fatter and I see them drop dead in their, like, mid-30s to 40s.
00:02:00.940
Like, in your example, why would you want to lose weight if you're getting paid to be in a plus-size ad?
00:02:05.920
Yeah, but I know what, for me, if I'm plus-size, I'm plus-size.
00:02:19.080
I would say that there's also a difference between, like, I'm a plus-size model.
00:02:22.260
If you lose weight, are you still going to get plus-size jobs?
00:02:28.500
But right now, I would say I'm at a weight where I feel unhealthy.
00:02:32.460
I can still be, like, overweight and feel healthy.
00:02:36.480
I could still qualify for plus-size jobs based on my height and things like that.
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Because I'm shorter and curvier, I'll still qualify.
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And I still worked in plus-size when I was technically, like, a healthy weight on paper.
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I was still plus-size because I had big boobs, a big bum, and I was short.
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And that's sort of what qualifies you for plus-size modeling.
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I've changed agencies when I've gained a lost weight.
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If you were 120 pounds, would you still get plus-size modeling gigs?
00:03:03.160
And I think people would still follow my content.
00:03:10.560
Nobody follows someone just because they're like,
00:03:13.660
Like, nobody's following Tess Holliday just because...
00:03:27.780
I would say that being overweight, being obese, being fat is oftentimes a hustle.
00:03:34.740
It can be your identity, just like being a PT can be your identity.
00:03:40.680
It's better for the individual at the end of the day.
00:03:43.820
In this economy, they both make money, unfortunately.
00:03:47.100
And I would agree that being obese is oftentimes incentivized,
00:03:50.920
especially if we're talking about being an influencer.
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about someone who is plus-sized doing a what I eat in a day.
00:04:00.720
It would be very easy for a person like that to secure a brand deal
00:04:03.960
and start advertising, I don't know, like corn, vegetarian, sausages.
00:04:13.220
But then they still eat like a six pack of donuts in a day.
00:04:18.580
if we're talking about obesity being incentivized economically,
00:04:23.080
we're then talking about essentially hustle culture.
00:04:28.040
It's just that opening for a company to make more money,
00:04:34.580
when I made a video saying I was going to lose weight
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and it went viral because I made a video that was embarrassing
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and I was really embarrassed and I wanted to lose weight.
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And I got so many sponsorships and companies emailing me
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with their weight loss products because that is a huge industry.
00:04:52.380
And I think that's far bigger than any body positivity
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or an industry like the weight loss industry is a huge thing.
00:04:58.580
Take our lollies, take our diet drinks, take this, take that.
00:05:03.960
than people being like, I'm plus size and it's cool.
00:05:11.960
I mean, I don't think the weight loss products work.
00:05:24.360
If I could press a button and just be a healthy weight
00:05:41.500
if I could press a button and be a healthy weight
00:05:53.060
Okay, you say it's a grind for a lot of people,
00:05:54.960
but what is the actual solution of losing weight?