Tasha Sanders

We live in a culture that is obsessed with getting thinner and thinner. Since having recovered from an eating disorder, I am especially sensitive to certain “key words” that I often hear from people around me. I could be completely focused on a book or engrossed in my work at my job but if someone down the hall says words like diet, weight, calories, etc, my ears perk right up. Something I have noticed is we love to give people the “Have you lost weight?!” bit. I have seen people glow from such questions and I have also seen awkward interactions in the case where said person did not, in fact, lose weight. This question makes me uncomfortable for several reasons. For one, why are you paying that close attention to someone’s body? Especially in the instance where it is not an obvious, dramatic weight loss, when someone notices a 10 pound weight loss, I think that is borderline creepy. As if I didn’t have enough things to worry about, now I have to worry about people eyeing my back fat closely for fluctuations? Stop staring at people! It’s rude.