Symptoms

I want to address the issue of fitness trainer Jillian Michaels talking about not celebrating the fact that the artist Lizzo is overweight.

Apparently, Jillian Michaels was talking to someone about how her weight-loss show, The Biggest Loser, wouldn't work today because we celebrate being overweight now, rather than view it as unhealthy, and the conversation involved Lizzo and the fact that she celebrates who she is, including her size.

Lizzo, I believe, took a break from social media following mean comments about her weight.

From what I understand, there is a lot of vitriol toward Jillian Michaels for saying what she did about Lizzo. To be clear, Jillian also said she and her daughter love Lizzo's music and think she's a great performer, she just doesn't pretend that Lizzo's being overweight is a good thing, because it's not, it's unhealthy.

I get why Lizzo would feel bad about this. It must be hurtful. But I also understand where Jillian Michaels is coming from. Being overweight is a symptom of a mistaken belief about oneself, and this symptom can harm the person's health and well-being. It stems from a person believing she/he does not have the right to shine, to be beautiful, just as smoking/vaping stems from the mistaken belief that a person does not have the right to breathe.

If we celebrate being overweight, if we make it OK, it's the same as celebrating smoking or alcoholism. These things are symptoms of a mistaken belief about oneself, and they should be addressed for what they are in a positive way.

There's a difference between being a bully and stating the obvious. A bully means to be hurtful, someone stating the obvious is just stating the obvious. We need to take the sting out of being overweight, being a smoker, an alcoholic or whatever, and treat the people who exhibit these symptoms with the kindness and understanding they deserve so that they can get to the heart of the issue and get better, rather than insist a symptom of a mistaken belief is OK. 

The symptom of being overweight is a tricky one, because in our mass media society, the images of women we're led to believe are beautiful are too thin. This is also not OK. We all need to be at a healthy weight, and this is different for everyone. When we have a sense of self-worth, when we know we are meant to shine and enjoy life, we will all be at our own best weight.