Can You Lose Weight and Still be Body Positive? with Kristin Booker

Healthy At Any Size

Kristin Booker is a writer, blogger, and the creator of the site Fashion.Style.Beauty. Kristin has crafted stories for Marie Claire, ELLE, Refinery29, Lucky, xoJane, xoVain, and Yahoo Beauty, among others. I got to meet Kristin when she interviewed me for a piece on Self.com. Since then, it’s been amazing to get to know her and watch her flourish in so many ways!

In this episode, Kristin is so brave and vulnerable in sharing her experiences, from early alcohol abuse, sexual assault, eating disorders, and her struggle to find a place in the world. Kristin’s journey is an inspiration, and the things that she’s accomplished in her fiercely authentic journey to self-actualization prove that it is possible for all of us to create a life that we love!

Kristin’s relationship with her body is at the core of her journey, and throughout the years she’s had ups and downs, just like all of us. When her doctor gave her a very loving, direct wake-up call a few years ago, Kristin embarked on the next chapter of her journey: weight loss, in the name of her health.

So often in the body positive community, it can feel like we’re being torn between two extremes: dieting, weight loss, “all or nothing” thinking, and permission to be whatever size, eating whatever foods, and doing whatever exercise with no regard for our health. But the truth is that there is a middle ground. Kristin proves this, by sharing the very integrated ways in which her pursuit of health, and self actualization, has lead her to a very body positive mentality. She has reconciled weight loss with also loving her body, and accepting it as it is.

Key takeaways:

• Kristin’s early life, which includes some tough stuff like alcohol abuse, sexual abuse, sexual assault, and feeling like she didn’t fit in as a creative
• Kristin’s journey to find a place for herself professionally where she can use both her creative and her business brain
• Kristin’s relationship with her body over the years, from extreme deprivation and an eating disorder, to dire health consequences in her later life
• How Kristin got her start as a freelance writer, and what lead her to create Fashion.Style.Beauty
• Kristin’s big break as a writer with SheFinds.com
• Kristin’s wake up call with her health
• How Kristin has come full circle to a body positive mindset, as someone who also lost weight and transformed her health
• The importance of carving out your own definition of health, and how Kristin stays balanced in a world of extremes!

Mentioned in this episode:

Fashion.Style.Beauty

The forthcoming Fashion.Style.Beauty podcast, coming November 27th!

Kristin’s piece on me and several other models for Self.com

SheFinds.com

Kristin’s blog

Kristin’s Instagram

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