Talkin' 'Bout a New Year's Revolution
As the new year approaches, glossy ads for "new year, new you" campaigns dominate, pushing gym memberships and diet plans. These messages drown out what’s truly important: strength, solidarity, and genuine self-acceptance. For many in our community– particularly people living in racialized bodies, bigger bodies, queer bodies, trans bodies and female bodies – political uncertainty has intensified a familiar pattern: the urge to control our bodies when we feel we can't control anything else.
I see you. As a weight-inclusive health coach and personal trainer, I witness daily how political anxiety manifests in our relationship with our bodies. For some, it appears as heightened body scrutiny or a resurgence of restrictive dieting behaviors; for others, it’s an overwhelming sense of disconnection from their physical selves. These responses often reflect attempts to regain control in a world that feels increasingly unstable.
The diet industry exploits these fears, promising that shrinking ourselves will make us safer or more acceptable. But here's the revolutionary truth: engaging in restrictive eating and punishing exercise isn't protection – it's a distraction from building the real strength we need. Real strength means cultivating resilience, fostering connections within our communities, and harnessing the energy to fight for justice.
This year, instead of pledging allegiance to diet culture, I invite you to join a different kind of revolution. One that recognizes that the time, energy, and mental space we spend counting calories and scrutinizing our bodies is time we're not spending on building community power, learning practical self-defense, or organizing to protect our rights and those of our neighbors.
Every moment spent hating our bodies complies with oppressive systems – diet culture, capitalism, patriarchy – designed to keep us exhausted and isolated. Every dollar we spend on the latest diet trend is a dollar not spent on mutual aid, legal funds, or community defense. Every ounce of emotional energy we expend trying to shrink ourselves is energy diverted from growing our collective power.
What if, instead, we channeled that energy into:
Learning to defend our physical boundaries through self-defense training
Building sustainable community care networks
Developing practical skills that make our communities more resilient
Creating art that celebrates our bodies in all their diverse glory
Organizing with others to protect our fundamental rights
This isn't about ignoring our bodies – it's about relating to them differently. Instead of seeing your body as something to control or fix, what if you viewed it as your ally in resistance? Your body, exactly as it is, is capable of showing up for protests, creating art, holding space for others, and building power in your community.
For those struggling with disordered eating or exercise, I know this isn’t easy. The pull to control your body often reflects a desire for stability. Overcoming it begins with small, compassionate steps: seeking support, practicing mindfulness, and remembering your worth isn’t tied to your size.
Consider this: every time you choose to nourish rather than restrict, to move for joy rather than punishment, to accept rather than shame yourself, you're practicing a form of resistance. You're declaring that you deserve to take up space, to be well-fed, to use your energy for things that matter.
As we face uncertain times, we need all of us at our strongest – not physically depleted from restriction, not mentally exhausted from counting calories, not isolated in shame. This strength is the foundation of the revolution we’ve been building together, one that prioritizes collective power and self-acceptance over impossible societal standards. We need you showing up with your full energy, your creativity, your anger, your joy. We need you focused on building real power, not pursuing impossible standards of thinness.
This new year, let's start a different kind of revolution. One that recognizes that accepting our bodies isn't just personal – it's political. One that understands that resilience against diet culture builds resilience against all systems of oppression. One that knows that our bodies, in all their diversity, are not the problem – they're part of the solution.
Your body isn't wrong. The systems that want you to believe it is are wrong. And the best resolution might be to stop trying to change your body and start working to change those systems instead.
Remember: every act of body acceptance is an act of resistance. Every moment you choose not to diet is energy freed up for revolution. Every time you refuse to shrink yourself, you make more space for others to do the same.
If you’re ready to make this shift, I’m launching a 12-week "Body Trust Launchpad" program to guide you from body control to body liberation. This program offers a weight-inclusive approach to health and practical tools for community care, creative expression, and activism. To start your revolution, schedule a free discovery call with me here.
The Body Trust Launchpad isn't just another wellness program – it's a stepping stone to redirecting the energy you might have spent on dieting into building real, lasting resilience and community power. Together, we'll work on transforming your relationship with your body so you can focus on what truly matters: showing up fully for yourself and your community in these challenging times.
This year, let’s resolve to be more, not less. To take up space and reject systems that tell us we aren’t enough. Let’s focus our energy on creating the world we want, rather than shrinking to survive the one we fear.
The revolution needs you exactly as you are.
