Please, stop trying to sell me your weight-loss products on Facebook.
I'm going to write this letter with the assumption that you, the entrepreneur, are a kind and considerate person who means no harm when trying to sell me your "get trim" shakes, "hide your love handle" wraps, and "stop looking like a fat slob" pills.
But the truth is, you are doing harm. And being the kind and considerate person that you are, I believe you deserve the truth.
I have struggled with insecurities about my weight since I was old enough to understand what weight was. I was 6-years-old the first time I remember crying about being "fat". I was 8-years-old when my skinny best friend tried to put me on a diet, and 9-years-old when that same friend laughed at me after tricking me into telling her how much I weighed. I was 12-years-old the first time I made myself vomit after a meal. I was 13-years-old the first time I passed out at school from not eating. I was 14-years-old when my guidance counselor called my parents and told them that I was showing signs of an eating disorder.
And I was 15-years-old the first time I realized that my weight was just a number that could never make me more or less deserving of God's love.
I wasted years of my life in junior high and high school, hiding myself from the world. During my freshman year, at 115 pounds, I wore jeans and sweatshirts every single day in an attempt to hide my shape. I gave up swimming, a hobby that I loved, for a long time because I cried every time I wore a swimsuit. I avoided social situations and hid myself from the criticism of the world.
At almost 22-years-old, I am still trying to learn how to accept myself. I still struggle with wanting to hide my body under baggy clothes. I still untag myself in pictures because "my arms looks flabby" or "you can see my double chin". I still won't let my fiance put his arms around my stomach because I'm afraid he won't find me attractive anymore. I've gone swimming twice in 2 years.
Every day is a struggle to accept my body and love myself as a woman created in the image of God.
But then... you come along.
You send me a text or a private message asking me to try some new "incredible weight-loss product". You want me to replace my meals with 8 oz. shakes, or trick my body with "metabolism-boosting pills". You try to convince me to wrap my body and "get rid of belly fat". You do a wonderful job of promoting your product, and I have to believe that you honestly want to help improve my life.
But then the age-old thoughts creep in...
How did you chose me to market to anyway? Do I look unhealthy? Did you scroll through your Facebook friends and pick out those who looked overweight? Did you sit down and add my name to a list of people you know who looked better when they were skinny?
And what makes you think that I'm in a stable enough place in my life that your attempts to get me to lose weight won't push me over the edge of an eating disorder? What gives you the right to pop in my life, or in my Facebook newsfeed, and say "Hey! I think you could stand to lose a few pounds"?
The truth is, friend... You aren't "saving lives" as the company you sell for has probably convinced you. You are contributing to a culture that has made it socially acceptable for you to tell me that I need to lose weight. You are feeding into an industry that has made billions of dollars on the lie that being skinny will improve your life. And most importantly, you are reaffirming insecurities in men and women that are more real and more haunting than you will ever know.
So, next time you try to sell me your wraps or your diet pills or your meal-replacement shakes... please don't be offended when I ask you not to message me anymore. As we established earlier, you are probably a kind and considerate person with wonderful intentions. However, that's irrelevant when you're trying to sell me products. What IS relevant is this...I am an insecure woman, desperately hoping that you will one day stop pointing out the one thing that I've years trying to convince myself doesn't define me.
Thanks- but no thanks. I find my value in being a child of God- not in a number on a scale.
No comments:
Post a Comment