The Body Grievers® Club

Join me for a hotseat coaching with my client Kelsey. Kelsey was diagnosed with PCOS when she was 22 and because of weight stigma with her doctor, was unable to get any testing done until she lost weight. She has since been diagnosed with Type II diabetes and still doesn’t fully feel that she deserves quality healthcare while she lives in a larger body.During this hotseat coaching session, we’ll work through some beliefs that are holding her back from accepting herself and her body.Check out my resources, course, and membership community “The Body Grievers Club” at https://bodyimagewithbri.com/A Podcast Launch Bestie production

I’m so excited to welcome Ragen Chastain to the conversation. Ragen is a fat queer activist, speaker, and writer. Today we’ll go in depth about fatphobia in medical care, including: Medical professionals practicing stereotypes instead of medicine The basis of fatphobia in the oppression of black and indigenous bodies Why BMI is bullshit How implicit bias can become explicit bias How to talk to doctors about diagnoses and treatmentsWeight stigma is not your fault, even if it has become your problem.Download printable self-advocacy cards here: https://haeshealthsheets.com/resources/Connect with Ragen: https://danceswithfat.org/Subscribe here: https://weightandhealthcare.substack.com/Check out my resources, course, and membership community “The Body Grievers Club” at https://bodyimagewithbri.com/A Podcast Launch Bestie production

Today’s guest is Steph Gaudreau, who is a strength nutrition specialist and lifting coach helping women lift weights, get stronger, and experience the life-changing magic of focusing on what you can do instead of only focusing on what you look like.Today we’ll chat about her transition away from restrictive diet culture and how that experience frames her work today. Her experience with Paleo and the restrictions that went with it led her to learn how intuitive eating really is better for your body, especially when it comes to fitness goals.In the wellness space, a lot of it is oversimplified into “just eat this way.” With that comes the moralization of how well you’re able to do that, and if you don’t follow the program perfectly at all times that makes you less of a person. There’s also a disregard for marginalized peoples - the vast majority of industry “leaders” are cishet white dudes.We have a long way to go when it comes to examining our internal and external biases about who can and can’t be a health or nutrition expert.Connect with Steph on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steph_gaudreau/Online: https://www.stephgaudreau.com/strength-nutrition-unlocked/Check out my resources, course, and membership community “The Body Grievers Club” at https://bodyimagewithbri.com/A Podcast Launch Bestie production

The 5 stages of grief are commonly known, so in this episode i’m going to discuss how this relates to my Body Grief Method.Body grief is the loss or losses accompanied by the conscious choice to stop attempting to change one’s body size. Moving through the 5 stages of grief is much the same: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The acceptance stage doesn’t mean loving every curve and dimple, it just means the absence of distress.Peace requires discomfort. We know peace because we know discomfort.The steps of the Body Grief Method: Building awareness around how we talk to ourselves, how we talk about our bodies, and how we interpret the world of bodies. Active unlearning, which requires us in the moment to choose differently. Over time, the wound of grief still exists, but it’s more familiar. Everything takes time. In community, you don’t have to feel alone.Check out my resources, course, and membership community “The Body Grievers Club” at https://bodyimagewithbri.com/A Podcast Launch Bestie production

I hesitate to use the word “war,” but when I think of my own journey with my body, that’s what it felt like. It felt like a war I couldn’t win. Diet culture sells us a vision, but the game is rigged. There is no end to the road.Some things folks have shared with me about grieving their bodies: Believing their bodies need to look a certain way Fitting into the world Ability to get medical advice that isn’t fatphobicPart of ending the war on our body is to deprogram from diet culture. Society tells us that having fat is bad and immoral, while having a small body is preferable. In reality, malnutrition can literally kill you. Weight loss and gain should be amoral, without judgment.The way to get all the way on the body positive boat is unconditional positive regard.What does body love mean to you? For example, the ability to accept and love your body how it is. This goes totally against diet culture’s emphasis on loving how your body looks.I can promise you that if you can let go of what you’ve always done, if you’re willing to let go of the praise for your “effort,” that makes space for grief. In order to heal, you need to sit in the suck. Grieve what you’re going to be losing in order to allow your life to change for the better.Check out my resources, course, and membership community “The Body Grievers Club” at https://bodyimagewithbri.com/A Podcast Launch Bestie production

CONTENT NOTE: In this episode I discuss weight loss surgery.I used to think that acceptance was a destination, that peace was a place of arrival. After my lap band surgery, I thought that the weight would just melt off and I would love how my body looked. That’s the promise I was sold, and it was a lie. Turns out, there’s no surgery to go from hating your body to loving it.Body image has very little to do with your body. It’s about how you FEEL about your body, or how you believe other people see you.One of the things we talk about in my Body Grievers Course is body scapegoating. That’s when we put the blame or responsibility on our bodies. If my body was smaller, I’d get more dates. If my body was smaller, I’d love myself more. That may work for a short time, but it’s not sustainable. Letting go of the expectations can suck.Visit my free webinar about how to sit in the suck: Investigate why it’s bothering you. Decide if you can manage it. Honor the grief work that’s happening. Assess the suck. You don’t have to find a solution or reframe, just whether you’re able to explore it.Sometimes the solution is the process.Check out my resources, course, and membership community “The Body Grievers Club” at https://bodyimagewithbri.com/A Podcast Launch Bestie production

CONTENT NOTE: In this episode I discuss weight loss surgery.As long as I can remember, I hated my body. I was encouraged from a young age to diet, for “health.” The result was that I was striving for ultimate health and despite following all the diets and exercise plans to a T, I was never satisfied with the amount of weight I had lost.I still had a strong sense of self-worth for 2 reasons: I had some strong emotional and parental attachments with people who made me feel valuable. I had strong faith that God loved me.Even still, my self-esteem was low. I would worry about whether the world would love me, or a partner would love me. I hit my breaking point at 19 years old. I decided I was done dieting, it wasn’t working, and with the influence of my family I had weight loss surgery.The surgery promised better health, a smaller body, and exponential weight loss and like dieting, it didn’t deliver on what it promised. Instead, I couldn’t eat and my hair was falling out.Part of the thing with body dysmorphia is looking at a part of our body convinced that it’s wrong, working to fix it, then moving on to another part, and another. Unfortunately, in the clinical definition of eating disorders, a disordered eating pattern isn’t necessarily diagnosed unless certain physical characteristics are present, such as low body weight in the case of anorexia.Working in an eating disorder center and going to therapy highlighted the cognitive dissonance that I didn’t believe that I could be healthy in a larger body. That depression in the area of body image brought me to the concept of body grief.Body grief is the loss or losses accompanied by the conscious choice to stop attempting to change one’s body size. Grieving sucks, but you don’t have to grieve alone.Check out my resources, course, and membership community “The Body Grievers Club” at https://bodyimagewithbri.com/A Podcast Launch Bestie production

Welcome to The Body Grievers Club Podcast – a podcast aimed to support those people struggling to make peace with their body image. In my experience of grief it often feels like a club. A club that no one wants to be a part of but when you meet someone with that shared experience, you understand them. This has been my same experience with body grief.   So I made the Body Grievers Club.Body Grief is a part of body image that we don’t talk about enough. Grief is described as deep sorrow. In the process of making peace with my body, one of the pinnacle parts was grieving the loss of intentionally pursuing weight loss.I’m an admitted people pleaser. I felt that by reaching a certain size or weight that I was a personal failure. Thing is, the game was rigged from the start.Check out my resources, course, and membership community “The Body Grievers Club” at https://bodyimagewithbri.com/A Podcast Launch Bestie production

In this finale episode of Season 2 I talk with my personal physical therapist, Danny Shapiro. Daniel Shapiro is a Dutch trained Physical Therapist and specializes in manual therapy. He has developed his own pain elimination techniques that have helped people get rid of pain and get back to enjoying life quickly. Daniel has been helping people who want to stay active and continue doing their favorite activities for many years to come.Daniel believes that everyone who wants to stay active, mobile, and retain their independence should have access to care that doesn't require painkillers, injections, or surgery.He is currently licensed to work with all NY, NY & FL residents. If you'd like to learn more about how Daniel Shapiro can help you get back to feeling and living great again, check him out on social media or his website https://projectphysicaltherapy.com/about/IG: officialdannyshapiroTikTok: officialmusclewhisperer

Arielle Juliette from Madison, WI is the owner of Dance Life, an in person and livestream dance community specializing in body positive and fat positive belly dance, burlesque, ballet and cardio classes for adults. Arielle believes that dance is for EVERY single body, especially those who feel left out of a traditional class, and that movement should be fun! Arielle is passionate about Health At Every Size and spreading the body liberation message, and loves to help her students declare a truce with and connect positively to their bodies.To learn more about Arielle, follow her on social media or at her website www.madisondancelife.com