I Don’t Know How Women Survived Nineties and 2000s Weight Loss Culture

But we need to understand it because three decades later, it’s happening again

Image: Wikimedia Commons under CC license

TW: Discussion of body image, disordered eating, and diet culture

You look so well, Charlie.

They said it over and over at my parents-in-law’s 50th wedding anniversary this weekend. Family members I’ve not seen in at least six months.

The difference between six months ago and now? I’ve lost weight.

The reality is that I am not especially well. Early menopause has gifted me brain fog and bleeds that last weeks, and has robbed my ability to sleep. Low iron levels make me tired all the time. My doctor tells me the fat in my blood is at higher-than-normal levels and I must get it down (hence the weight loss). I’m psychologically reeling from infertility.

But I look “better” because I am thinner.

I’ve been here before. For various reasons, my weight yo-yos so I know how the world treats women when they are slim, and how it treats them when they are bigger.

I have been both.

I am also a child of nineties and 2000s weight loss culture. I, like millions of other women, know what it’s like to have your…