It wasn’t that long ago that the internet was overflowing with messages about body positivity. “All bodies are beautiful,” we were told. We saw campaigns encouraging bigger bodies to be celebrated. Celebrities fronted entire movements about loving yourself exactly as you are.
And then—almost overnight—the wind changed.
Suddenly, the conversation wasn’t about body confidence anymore. It was about weight loss drugs. GLP-1s like Wegovy, Ozempic, and Mounjaro exploded in popularity, and the very same media, influencers, and celebrities who were leading the “love yourself as you are” charge are now openly celebrating rapid weight loss.
Lizzo—once the poster figure for bigger body acceptance—now looks unrecognisable, her previous stance buried under the noise of “transformation.”
This isn’t an attack on her or anyone else. It’s about recognising a deeper problem: The people driving these movements are not necessarily interested in your long-term health. They ride whatever wave gets the most clicks, attention, and money. When the narrative changes, they change with it—because it was never about you to begin with.
The Body Positivity Paradox
Here’s the truth I’ve seen over years of coaching:
- You can be happy and ‘overweight’.
- You can be happy and in ‘great physical shape’.
- But the two often feed into each other—improving your health often improves your confidence, and vice versa.
If you asked someone, point blank, to choose between being overweight or being at a healthy weight, I believe most would choose the latter. Which tells us there’s often some level of insecurity behind the bravado of “I’m happy as I am.”
Ironically, I’ve met plenty of lean, in-shape people—especially in the fitness industry—who are deeply insecure, I’ve been there myself many times. So this isn’t about size alone. It’s about our expectations for ourselves and what we think society expects of us. Like I say, I often live with the (self) expectation that people think I should be in incredible shape all of the time, making me want to diet before every holiday, so it really does work both ways.
The Risks We Can’t Gloss Over
Body confidence is important. But body confidence without honest conversations about health is dangerous.
The research is clear:
- Adding just 2,000–3,000 extra steps a day can reduce your risk of all-cause mortality significantly.
- Carrying excess weight puts considerable strain on your joints—especially knees and hips—accelerating wear and increasing the risk of arthritis.
- Cardiovascular health declines sharply with both obesity and low fitness, each compounding the other.
We have to be able to say:
“You’re worthy and valuable exactly as you are—AND, I care enough to want you to be healthier for yourself and the people who love you.”
GLP-1s: The Hype and the Reality
I’m not against GLP-1s. For some people, they are a genuine lifeline—especially if they’ve lived with a huge appetite, poor metabolic health, or no foundation of exercise in their upbringing. A lot of people NEED the help that GLP-1 drugs can provide.
But here’s what the headlines don’t tell you:
- Oxford University research shows most people regain the weight—often quickly—once they stop.
- BBC reporting confirms that appetite rebounds sharply after coming off the drugs, making weight regain more likely without structured aftercare.
- Without resistance training and a protein-rich diet, people risk losing significant muscle mass while on GLP-1s. That makes long-term weight maintenance even harder.
If GLP-1s are used, they must be paired with long-term habit change—nutrition, movement, mindset—so you can keep the results and stay healthy.
Why I’m Not Pushing the Quick Fix
If I believed GLP-1s were the best strategy for everyone, I’d be telling all my clients to take them. That would make my business more “sexy” and probably more profitable.
But they’re not. And I refuse to promote something that isn’t in your best long-term interests.
My approach is slower. Less glamorous. Less marketable. But it works—and it builds a foundation you can keep for life.
Again, to reaffirm, they are useful to a lot of people and I do have two clients currently who are being prescribed (officially) with GLP-1 drugs. I’m just saying that they should not be as easily accessible to the general public e.g. a friend getting hold of them for another friend to lose weight quickly for a holiday in six weeks.
If body positivity was everything the media told us it was, then there would be no need to be sourcing these drugs under the counter at beauty salons or from your friends ‘friend’. Something just feels really ‘off’ about the whole thing. If someone’s 14 year old daughter sourced these from anywhere other than the GP – would we be ok with it?
We all know the answer to that. These drugs aren’t inherently bad, they will do so much good in the world for a lot of people, they just aren’t required, nor should they be in the hands of most people and that’s a hill I’m willing to die on because it doesn’t solve the long-term health crisis and to be honest it probably won’t solve the confidence crisis either.
Final thought: We can have body positivity and the pursuit of better health. We can encourage self-love while also encouraging self-care. But we cannot keep swinging from one extreme to another based on what’s trending online.
Because your health should never be a trend.
If you’re ready to block out the noise and focus on a sustainable path, whether you’re on a GLP-1 or not, message me, I’d love to help you keep the weight off for good and help you improve your relationship with your diet, with exercise and with yourself.
#DoTheWork
If you’d like to learn more about how we help the women of Preston & South Ribble to not only achieve incredible weight loss results but to keep the weight off too, click the link below.
