Brittany Runs A Marathon

[Iceheart]

Watched this for the first time last night, and it absolutely nails what it's like to take up exercise and lose weight.

 

I did want to watch it when it debuted because it came out at my halfway point, and I didn't want to be discouraged by an inaccurate portrayal. I didn't have to worry.

 

I felt this movie. The "friend" who drops you because you're prioritizing yourself for once and they're not the center of attention anymore. The (false and illogical but your brain still does it) belief that since you're getting it together with your body everything else will start to fall into place for you. The horror and sense of loss when you put in all that effort and you still can't reach your goal because of something out of your control. Watching your friends reach that goal and being so miserable for yourself you can't even be happy for them. Obsessing over the scale even though you told yourself you never would, and then getting over it again. Thinking you're going to lose every bit of progress you've made and just revert back to the "old you" when you have to rest an injury. And, lest you think it's all awful, finally reaching your goal!

 

The only thing I wish they had shown more of was the body dysphoria. They touched on it in two parts - when Brittany breaks off the friendship with her roommate, and when she's registering for OK Cupid. The stuff that Brittany's roommate said about always being the fat girl inside, and the change will never last, that's a real fear. I would have liked to see Brittany discuss that with a better friend and ask "what if she's right?" and get some good advice. And the part where Jern was helping Brittany sign up for OK Cupid, and she goes through every body type description on the larger size before Jern tells her to put down "average." I would still put down "curvy" even though I'm the same size as Brittany. Your brain kind of gets used to how your body is now, and melds it into how your body was, so you can't really perceive yourself correctly without a photograph or outside opinion. But if you haven't lived it, you don't really know the why behind the scene. It's also tough to completely replace your wardrobe, you feel like you're wearing a stranger's clothes for awhile, and that wasn't touched on at all.

 

Also, Brittany did NOT have to feel badly about eating a cheeseburger and fries. Training the way she was, she could eat one every night and still lose weight. It's nothing to be ashamed of, just a small indulgence she earned, sheesh.

 

Anyway, A+ movie, inspirational and entertaining without being all syrupy and unrealistic.

[Tank]

I liked it, but I do struggle with it's baseline idea that you have to lose weight to be happy.

[Iceheart]

Point. I was not miserable when I started exercising, far from it, I was much happier then than I am now, actually. I guess I was relating too hard to catch that, lol. They did cover that a little with the lady and her husband at the birthday party. She didnt need to lose weight to get to where she was happy.

 

Ive been struggling a bit with the messaging around what Im doing, since I am trying to do this in a healthy way physically and mentally for everyone involved. I learned to tune out the corporate messaging of diet plans and gym memberships ages ago, but Im still plugged into the HAES and body neutrality messaging that actually makes you feel bad for losing weight and getting fitter, because how dare you make people who arent there yet feel bad. It was nice to see a message of doing it for you, not to be a good little consumer or sex object. And that its positive to make these changes, and your friends and family should reinforce this with their support.