Why I’m Joining The #IWeigh Movement

If you’ve been on social media over the past few weeks and follow lifestyle journalists or bloggers, chances are you’ll have seen the I Weigh movement somewhere along the line.

To give a bit of background, I Weigh was started by Jameela Jamil, who I’m totally obsessed with as Tahani in The Good Place. She started I Weigh as a social media movement for us to ‘look beyond the flesh on our bones’ after seeing a post about the Kardashians with each of their weights listed beside them. The account which shared the post then asked its followers what they thought of the Kardashian/Jenners’ weights and what they weigh themselves.

After seeing this, Jameela posted an image of herself and listed how she measures herself, including ‘what I did, how I made people feel and how much I have enjoyed myself.’

The movement exploded and the i_weigh Instagram page now has 134,000 followers and 5,000+ posts on #iweigh.

View this post on Instagram

Rather than thinking about eating less, I encourage you women to do more, to learn more, to be more, to make more money, to have more fun and to treat yourself. It’s Sunday. Take a much needed break from the CONSTANT poison of our culture telling us that having a flat tummy and zero fat is what defines us. What are you going to remember on your death bed? It’s not going to be your figure. Go make some motherfucking memories. Like all the brilliant people at @i_weigh #fuckoffflattummyco

A post shared by Jameela Jamil (@jameelajamilofficial) on Aug 19, 2018 at 6:28am PDT

On the page, women and men alike are encouraged to share a non-edited photo on Instagram or Instagram Stories and write down words or phrases on top of the image that are aspects of your life that you’re grateful for or proud of.

Jameela later explained that I Weigh ‘is not about body positivity. It’s about life positivity, being grateful for and proud of all the things you have, do and are. Society tells us just to care about the exterior.’

She emphasises that there’s no shame in taking pride in our appearance, but to remember not to be defined by it.

I’ve been following the movement for a few weeks now and while I admired it from afar for a while, I realised that I want to be part of it. While I never thought I had any issues with my body or weight, I’ve realised while being on holiday this past month that I think about my weight more than I thought. I’ve worried about whether I’ve gained weight, that I look bigger, that I’ve eaten too many nachos and drank too many beers.

Then I saw a post from I Weigh pop up on my Instagram feed, and I realised that I needed to forget the kilos I may or may not have gained and know that my beauty isn’t defined by how I look, what I’ve eaten or how much I’ve exercised and to remind myself that I am not defined by my appearance.

As I write this on a train going from San Diego to Los Angeles on the second last day of our USA trip, here’s what #IWeigh.

… And so much more.

Trying to think of words to describe myself was trickier than I imagined, to be honest, but man it felt good to list qualities about myself that I’m proud of that weren’t related to my appearance.

Here’s the link to the @i_weigh Instagram page where more badass women (and men) share what makes them who they are. Even if you don’t want to post yours online, make a note on your phone and write down your #IWeigh list.

This post was a little different to what I usually write, but I really hope you enjoyed it and that it maybe gave you something to think about. I’ll finish it by sharing one of my favourite quotes of all time: ‘We get so worried about being “pretty”. Let’s be pretty kind. Pretty funny. Pretty smart. Pretty strong.’