Thin privilege is being called the “best you can be”, just because you’re thin.

I’m tired of seeing advertisements for weight-loss products, exercise machines, or gym memberships with the words “be the best you can be!” or “be the best version of you!”

How, exactly, will losing weight make me the “best” version of myself? Being thin does not automatically make someone a better person. Just like being fat does not automatically make someone a lesser person.

I’m happy with my weight. I graduated university as a fat woman, I got a good job as a fat woman, I’m paying off a house as a fat woman, I got married as a fat woman, and I’m living a pretty happy life as a fat woman. I am the “best version of me”. I’m living the life I always dreamed of, yet apparently none of that matters because I’m not thin. My parents were thin and lived in poverty. So were their grandparents. And their great-grandparents. I have spent much of my life trying to get out of the rut of poverty so I can live comfortably (my parents had an extremely unhappy marriage because they were constantly stressed over bills and not being able to afford food, yet couldn’t even get a divorce because neither could afford to live on their own) and so I can give my future children the childhood I never had. But when I finally succeeded, I’m barraged almost daily with the media telling me that my efforts aren’t good enough because I’m not thin. I’m just not the “best” version of me, because I’m not thin. :(