Re. “The Quarantine 15? This tool will help you calculate how much weight you'll gain under isolation” (The Tri-City News, April 4)

I am writing to express my disgust and disappointment over an article posted on The Tri-City News dated April 4th 2020, titled "The Quarantine 15? This tool will help you calculate how much weight you'll gain under isolation" by Stefan Labbé.

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The article is supporting a "tool" that is clearly just fear-mongering nonsense, blatantly fat-phobic, contributes to weight stigma, and is extremely triggering for any of your readers who are currently struggling with eating disorders, orthorexia, and/or body image issues.

Posting an article like that encourages the harmful mindset that fat is “bad” and thin is “good,” which is simply not the case. A person’s weight has absolutely nothing to do with their worth. I highly recommend you have your journalists consult a dietitian specializing in HAES (health at every size) and take a good look at how fat-phobic messages like this contribute to the development of eating disorders and potential long term damage, both physically and mentally.

In this time of uncertainty I am disappointed to see The Tri-City News sharing articles like this, contributing to the fear-mongering surrounding weight gain during a global pandemic. Is there truly nothing more important to report on in the middle of a worldwide health crisis?

Reporting about weight gain in any context is not necessary nor is it helpful, even jokes about the “quarantine 15” are not funny, they are harmful and exacerbate many people’s anxieties and neuroses surrounding food and body image. If gaining weight is the “worst” thing that happens to you during this pandemic, consider yourself lucky.

People are literally dying, and many people don’t have the luxury and privilege of worrying about something as frivolous as gaining weight at this time. They’re worried about losing their job, or not being able to afford rent, or worried about not being able to feed their kids, or worried about catching the virus themselves.

We need to look at the big picture. Many people are just trying to survive right now. The last thing we need is yet another media outlet shaming us if we’re not doing the latest workout video, eating perfectly balanced meals and worrying about extra weight on our bodies right now. There is no contest seeing who can come out of the quarantine with the best looking body, no gold star for who ate the most vegetables, and no blue ribbon for who did at-home workouts three times a day. It seems ridiculous and trivial, doesn’t it?

It saddens me that The Tri-City News is stigmatizing weight gain at a time when so many are vulnerable and struggling.

Perhaps The Tri-City News doesn’t see a problem with that, but I certainly do. I encourage you to remove the article immediately and issue an apology to those readers affected by your carelessness and ignorance on this topic. Perhaps an article or two providing resources for those struggling with disordered eating in this uncertain time would be more beneficial.

Danielle Melvin, Coquitlam