It’s been a hectic few weeks and I’ve not had much chance to sit and write. Luckily, there has been little MC4r news updates in the time I’ve been away.
This tends to be the time I look into weight loss news, and it never disappoints to amaze me. Weight loss news saturated the internet with some of the most toxic content between commenting on other peoples bodies, weight loss wonder drugs and celebrity endorsements.
Personally, I’ve been in quite a negative head space lately, this happens to all of us at some point. We get stressed and overwhelmed and if you’re anything like me, you don’t lash out at others, you lash out at yourself. Whenever I get like this I Google “how to lose weight fast” despite knowing rationally – THERE IS NO WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT FAST.
I have an entire blog dedicated to MC4r and the fact I cannot lose weight fast. But I punish myself when I get like this and lash out at my body. So I hate how toxic the media is towards weight loss content. Quite frankly, I don’t think weight loss content should be written by journalists and published at all.
When it comes to weight loss content, unless it’s published by a scientist for research purposes – I don’t want to see it.
I don’t want to see the media commenting on a celebrities “curves,” “impressive weight loss” or how they “bounced back” after having a baby. This behaviour implies that there is something wrong with their bodies, and “positively” reacting to a transformation only solidifies not only with the subject but those viewing the content idealised beauty standards.
This is why more, than ever before kids as young as 10 have eating disorders. You’d think in 2023, we’d have come further than this.
There is also this hideous double standard in the media, where men are rarely commented on. You only have to look at celebrities like Selena Gomez. She is a strong and talented person who has been through a lot, yet the minute her body changes it becomes a hot topic. All I know is that I don’t envy a lifestyle where my body is a constant conversation starter. A few months ago, Kim K lost weight to fit into the Marylin Monroe dress (I wrote a post about it) and the media went crazy about how unhealthy it was. She has every right to do what she wants with her body.
Yet, the media rarely comments on men, for example Christian Bale who underwent a dramatic weight loss transformation for his role in The Machinist; he went from 173 pounds to 110 pounds (eating about 260 calories a day) and more recently you have Joaquin Phoenix who lost 52 pounds for his role in Joker. A majority of the articles about Joaquín’s transformation into the Joker are positive and described as “legendary” with interviews stating how the weight loss journey helped him “find control” and get into character.
Yet, there is little to no content stating how unhealthy this behaviour is. Think about the the time-scale of this weight loss, combined with the lifestyle of an actor. It’s not healthy and yet the media describes it as legendary. If this were Selena Gomez or Kim K, you know this would be described as the exact opposite as legendary. The media would go into an uproar and there would be article with numerous “experts” giving their opinion on why this behaviour is unhealthy, just like they did when Kim K lost weight to fit into a dress. The double standard is just ridiculous. A woman can lose a few pounds to fit into a dress, but men can lose twice to triple that and nobody even looks in their direction.
The comparison to how men are treated in the media and how women are treated in the media is so twisted. It really needs to change. Women deserve to get the same respect men do, and by that I mean not have their bodies commented on every single time it changes.
Our bodies are allowed to change. Our bodies are allowed to get bigger or smaller. They’re allowed to do that. It’s not newsworthy.
MC4r and ME 