This is so profoundly true. A year or so before the pandemic I lost 50 pounds because I wanted to. I felt great. I did WW and built healthy eating and activity habits.

Then we all got sent home in March 2020. Gyms closed. My "office" dining room table was right by the kitchen. I felt blehhhhh and isolated. AND I got COVID - long COVID.

Now I weigh a little more than before I lost the weight, and it's funny. I have one part of my circle "worried about my health" and another loudly proclaiming that I should be body positive and embrace my curves. I don't like the feeling of failure I sometimes get from a couple of the health-kickers. But I have to laugh a bit over the embrace it cheerleaders. I'm back on BP meds, my skin is...adolescent, my gut is unhappy, and none of those cute clothes fit. Oh, and my knees hurt.

So who is right? Both and neither. I am just as valuable and awesome bigger as I was smaller. I am also doing more damage to my health in this bigger body. Yes....I am. I'm tired of people claiming that weighing 350 pounds is "just as healthy" as anyone else. It's not. It's science. No I don't weight 350....but 210 is too big for my 5'9" frame.

So I love this article because it illustrates the false dichotomies we all cling to.