No Magic Required

This is a hard one to write because it’s more personal than usual. But I feel I owe it to myself to try and get my thoughts out; though I imagine this is just the first part of many attempts at clarifying my ideas and opinions. Today I want to talk about weight loss medications:GLP-1’s.

I am in recovery from an eating disorder. I am a daughter of diet-culture. I am fat. I have no interest in taking these drugs, though understand why someone might. I might have if they came out a decade ago. But I wouldn’t now.

It’s not just because of the side effects or the social critiques of how individual personal solutions don’t solve systemic food injustices or because weight loss is not synonymous with medical care/health. These are all topics that I want to address and which are complicated and deserve their own spaces. I wouldn’t take these drugs for a deceptively simple reason: I love my body the way it is.

I came to this realization when I asked myself: What if I could take a pill and loose be thin? Like magic. If the pill had no side effects, was free for everyone, and cured all my health issues. I could take it and loose weight. Would I? I knew the answer right away was no. I love my body just as it is and wouldn’t change anything about it.

It’s been a long and hard road to get here. But it’s where I am. No magic required.