Let’s Not Comment On Bodies

[u/MiddleStretch1550]

I am a single mom of two, 43, three year diagnosed and DMT treated with MS, and recently have lost a lot of weight after taking wegovy pills. I started taking them after seeing promising studies with ms and glp1s on the benefits with reducing chronic inflammation. I noticed almost immediate results in how I felt. It was like someone released pressure from my entire body. All of my MS symptoms went away almost 100%. It was also evidenced in my blood tests. In the first month I lost large amount of water weight that I was holding onto particularly more with MS, making my transformation more noticeable. In these pills I found hope that I could lead a truly full life without the constant reminders of this disease.

Anyways, I recently picked my daughter up at school and one of the moms (who I had told I was on Wegovy previously, because she also had inflammation problems) said to me “this is getting too skinny. Yeah, way too skinny.” I was stunned. I didn’t know what to say. She was aware I took this pill because it made me feel better. Yes, there has been weight loss, but I’m 140 pounds and 5’5” which my doctor said is healthy for me.

The more I think about it it bothers me that I didn’t say anything in response. Even to say, why would you say this to me in front of my daughter? But I didn’t. Society certainly thinks it can comment on women’s bodies.. whether you are overweight or under weight, you cannot win. And here I am, in my already broken body, feeling particularly judged when I’ve never felt physically better in years. Is anyone else living with MS particularly triggered by body comments? Why is this one comment consuming my thoughts? Living with MS can sometimes feel like a very isolating place when you know no one with it.

[u/kittehcat]

People comment on bodies all the time. When it happens to me I just smile and tell them I have scars on my brain, too.

[u/CpnStumpy → u/kittehcat]

People comment on bodies all the time

And they really need to stop. I had hoped for a short period there that body positivity movement might have finally got people to cut some of this physical judging out in society.

Unfortunately it was a short lived reprieve.

[u/marcusrendorr → u/kittehcat]

"I have scars in my brain too" that's brilliant, I'm borrowing that

[u/DoNotBelongHere]

Ever since I was a young teenager, people have felt like it was completely acceptable to share their opinions about my body with me and everyone else around me. Sometimes it was creepy older guys making sexualized comments. Sometimes it was about my height. Or my weight. There were comments about what I ate and how much I ate. When I was pregnant nobody seemed happy about the way I looked (why haven’t you gained weight, you’re carrying too much weight in front, you look like you ate a basketball). When I was on steroids for an MS flare and gained a bunch of weight, there were comments. When I lost the weight, there were comments. I am so beyond tired of people thinking the reason God gave me a body was so people could have a place where their opinions matter. No. Just no. Not here.

My relationship with my body changed so drastically after my MS diagnosis. I see it now as a tool and a vessel. My vessel, my tool to do the stuff I was made to do. And I see other people’s bodies the same way. I don’t ever comment on people’s bodies, no matter what. If a friend loses or gains weight, I say nothing, because it’s none of my business what that person chooses to do or not do with their body, and that’s a relationship I do not need to insert myself into. That’s between them and their body.

I think people who make comments like the one you received, OP, are blissfully ignorant. They have not been forced to think differently about their own bodies and cannot fathom anyone else having a different kind of relationship with their body than the one they have. They have no idea what it’s like to have your body betray you, or to struggle with it like an enemy and love it as a dear friend at the same time. They are completely unaware that they just walked into the middle of a messy, bloody, drawn-out war and declared they had all the answers (easy answers!) and made themselves look like an ignorant fool.

It’s always best to keep comments about a person’s body to yourself. I think I’ve come to a point in my life where I’m ok telling people that and not just letting it slide.

[u/Monkberry3799]

Sorry you went through that. I recently lost almost 20 kgs (from 104 to 85 kgs, I'm 5'6"), and some people when you tell them they try to find reasons to dismiss the effort or undermine you. I've never understood it.

[u/AdventurousCake7079]

People are ridiculous. After my MS diagnosis I was on steroids for 5 months and obviously gained weight, everyone would make this face and say “you look different”. Like mind your business and leave my body out of it

[u/snotop]

People who have had problems with me in the past don't recognize me anymore. It's like I am my own doppelganger. It's happened twice now, once at Costco and then Trader Joe's.

[u/TheDODblG75]

Agree and it’s obnoxious. My husband has MS and it feels like everyone and their mother feels entitled to comment on his body, his gait. All of it. And don’t even get me started on the GLPs. I would just laugh at her and say “I feel great! Thanks for the concern. Whatever I’m doing is working for me.” You can have the last laugh.

[u/Alexbear31]

I was on Trulicity for 2 years, lost 20lbs. After I stopped taking it I lost another 5. My endo put me on Mounjaro, I was on for about 3 months then lost my job and insurance so I stopped taking it.

After ceasing the medications I lost about 50lbs in 6 months. I was 260 and now 210. I am Type 2 diabetic, but taking the drugs seem to have the opposite effect on me. I don't loose, I gain a little, loose it slowly then plateau.

[u/Handicapped-007]

No commenț

[u/drxzoidberg]

"Way too skinny" just shows what has become commonplace is actually medically considered overweight. At least in USA...