Where To Start
December 8, 2025
If you are new to body liberation or weight-inclusive health topics, you may be wondering how to get started in your own work to reduce weight stigma and its harm. As we often hear in activist spaces these days, the most important thing is that we “do something.” Here are some ideas that can reduce harm and raise awareness among others. Links are provided for finding further information and details.
How We Talk About Our Bodies, Weight and Health
- Use more neutral terms for referring to body size such as larger or smaller body, or higher or lower weight. Avoid using stigmatizing “O-words”, which are based on the problematic BMI framework. Instead of the label from the BMI framework of “normal” (which suggests anyone not in this category is “abnormal.”), use “straight sized body.”
- Avoid idealizing or pathologizing certain bodies, and respect body autonomy by not giving unsolicited advice. Avoid commenting on your own or other people’s bodies. This includes things we might generally consider as “compliments,” such as, “Did you lose weight?” In most cases, we don’t know why or how weight loss or weight gain has happened and commenting on it could be upsetting or triggering. Illness, medications, and mental health issues can all lead to changes in weight, just to name a few. Unless you know about a person’s goals and history, and have the educational and experiential qualifications to do so, giving unsolicited advice is at best insulting and at worst can cause physical or mental harm, or both.
Self-deprecating comments about your own body can also be harmful, both for yourself and others who may hear them. Tylka et al. (2014) have explored both the physical and mental health impacts of body dissatisfaction and a focus on weight. Think of who else might also hear your comments, even if you intend to be making them in jest. Greta Jarvis, from the Center for Active Women, refers to refusing to participate in body talk as a “courageous and healing act.”- Don’t comment on the food or exercise choices of others and refrain from talking about your own diet or weight loss efforts. This just perpetuates the weight-loss industry focus and idealizes being thin. Making your own choice to try to shrink your body is up to you, but it doesn’t need to be shared with others. (See above for notes on impacts.)
- Include weight stigma in discussions about equity and anti-oppression work. This will help to raise awareness about the bias and discrimination that people in larger bodies face, and plant seeds for future change.
- More on this topic: More Than Semantics, Part 2: The “F” Word; More Than Semantics, Part 3.
Spaces
If you are overseeing a classroom, meeting space or any other place where people might be gathering, check for situations that might make people in larger bodies feel uncomfortable or even unable to participate. Is there a variety of seating options in terms of size, sturdiness, arms/no arms, height, etc.? Are aisles wide enough that people can move easily around the space, and/or is furniture moveable to accommodate different sizes or assistance devices? Can the space be accessed without using stairs? If any type of equipment or materials will be used, can they be used by everyone? For example, if providing event t-shirts, will there be sizes to fit everyone? Or might some people need to be worried about weight limits on equipment?
Obviously, if you are not in control of these spaces or events, you might be limited in how much you can control these things, but at the very minimum, you can raise the issues – to the facilities management, to your supervisor, to the person arranging the event. Often they happen simply due to a lack of awareness. Even if something cannot be changed in the immediate situation, the more complaints they receive, the more aware they will be of the need, and likely to make changes in the future.
More on this topic: Creating Weight-Inclusive Workplaces; Reducing Harm in Higher Education.
Visuals
What kind of images and messages are you using in your materials or other visuals in your space, such as posters or signage? If you are using presentation slides with pictures or drawings of people, are a variety of body sizes represented? Are you avoiding stigmatizing language or images that perpetuate stereotypes? What does your space say about the focus of your work? For example, are the posters and inspirational messages at a gym focused on weight loss, or more genuine health-centered messages about building strength, endurance, balance, confidence, or reducing stress?
More on this topic: Body Liberation Fits in Public Health, Reason #5; Representation in the Classroom; Size Inclusion in Fitness and Recreation.
Doing Our Own Learning
Finally, we can prepare ourselves for more alignment with a weight-inclusive approach through our own learning, focusing on the perspective of people in larger bodies, especially if you are in a smaller body. Also, since we all have bodies, body liberation intersects with all our other identities, so there can be a lot to unpack. This website has many ideas for getting started, listed both on our Resources page and throughout the articles.
As with any anti-oppression work, the first step is doing our own personal work – unpacking and unlearning the biases we have learned from society, and possibly from our family over multiple generations. If you are ready to jump into this, a great place to start is the Center for Body Trust, in particular their book, “Reclaiming Body Trust” and their e-course, “No More Weighting.”
More on this topic: Feeling Comfortable; Intersecting Identities – Fat + ?.
Tylka, T. L., Annunziato, R. A., Burgard, D., Daníelsdóttir, S., Shuman, E., Davis, C., & Calogero, R. M. (2014). The Weight-Inclusive versus Weight-Normative Approach to Health: Evaluating the Evidence for Prioritizing Well-Being over Weight Loss. Journal of Obesity, 2014, e983495. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/983495
EDUCATOR'S TIP
Check out these other articles for more information and ideas.
ALLY ACTION
Speak up and advocate for inclusive changes like those mentioned above. Raise awareness among your friends and co-workers about the potential harms of “diet talk,” weight stigma and anti-fat bias. Commit to doing the work to educate yourself on these issues, and encourage others to do the same.