Brainfire of the Vanities: A Woman’s Work | Running, Diets, and Beyoncé

Yesterday, hell broke loose when Beyoncé released an advertisement showing us more of the work she did to get ready for her EPIC Coachella performance, forever preserved in a Netflix special called Homecoming. Beyoncé's preparation began shortly after giving birth to twins, so the story of returning to post-partum performance-level readiness in 8 months is part of what made her performance so epic. 

The response to the ad on Coach MK's social media feeds (and even the local news!) was so visceral, MK shared the video with Susan and Sarah, who each had equally visceral, but different, reactions that intersect with body image and running. We knew we needed to talk about what everyone is really saying when reacting to that ad.

Weight is a TOUCHY, emotional, loaded topic. Weight loss is an even touchier topic. This podcast may be triggering to you, so be warned: we discuss weight loss, diet culture, weight, orthorexia, and systems of eating that have been co-opted as weight-loss plans. We've done our best to explore these topics sensitively. If you think we could have done better, please email [email protected] and tell us what to do differently next time. We would rather be 'better' than 'right'. If we are hurting you then we aren't 'right', please help us be better.

Special thanks to Mr. MK for bravely sharing a crash diet story with us in a livestream. I love being married to you.

Super special thanks to Coach Sarah for being so open, so brave, so honest and so vulnerable in this conversation. It pains me to think you could ever look at yourself and see anything other than radiant beauty; these are the moments I want to burn the world down. Thank God you quit Harvard so we can focus on building rather than burning. :)

SHOW NOTES

Society has never been more obsessed with food. In the recent Nielsen Global Health and Ingredient-Sentiment Survey, half of U.S. respondents reported adhering to a restricted diet - one that limits or prohibits certain foods or ingredients.

The term “orthorexia”, coined and recognized in the DSM in 1998, in recent years has become part of a broader conversation about the ethics and safety of restricted diets touted as ‘weight-loss solutions’, specifically by celebrities and bloggers/instagram influencers who dole out advice and tips despite having no training or certifications.

It is common for women to start running in order to lose the baby weight. The emergence of the “Dad-Bod” prompts men to start jogging for the same reasons. There are two places you can be at any time: where you want to be and “Not there YET”. Both are valid. It’s okay to not be okay. It’s okay to want to make changes. It’s okay to want to lose weight, to fit in your clothes again. It’s okay to take up running. Neither is categorically bad or wrong, and not everything you read on the internet is harmful and terrible. 

Our goal today is to examine the strong feelings the 22 Days advertisement elicited, recognizing the same forces that act on Beyoncé act on us as well. 

Video is here: https://youtu.be/1qv_D7OSQrA

We try to make our positions and opinions clear, while explaining the experiences and forces in our lives that shaped our response today.  There is SO MUCH to unpack here, and every bit of it matters.

Coach Sarah: "I hear 'every woman's nightmare' and it makes me mad, because what about the women who have worked HARD for YEARS to cultivate good relationships with their bodies? All that work to BE okay, now we have to PROVE that we're okay? Will we ever be free of this conversation? Will my work ever be done?"

Coach MK: "I totally thought the nightmare she was talking about was stepping on a scale with people watching in our nasty fatphobic world. But maybe that’s because I did it for a blog post 2 years ago."

for more shownotes and links, there are PLENTY, head over to the blog at https://www.coachedandloved.com/blog/