This week on Thrive Beyond Size, Michelle shares a powerful story of envisioning her future self—a vibrant, joyful, fat elder woman—and the unexpected emotional release that followed. But what started as a profound moment of body acceptance was quickly disrupted by a trip to TikTok that served up a harsh reminder of the world we’re still living in.
What Michelle saw was a spectrum of extremes:
🔹 Reel after reel celebrating weight loss, scale numbers, and GLP-1 injections
🔹 Defiant “What I Eat in a Day” videos where rebellion replaced nourishment
🔹 Performances of control vs. performances of resistance—with little true peace in sight
In this deeply personal and reflective episode, Michelle explores:
- Why both extremes on social media—weight loss obsession and anti-diet overcorrection—can be harmful
- The emotional toll this content can take, especially if you’re in the messy middle of healing
- How the diet mentality sneaks back in through your feed, even when you’ve done the work
- Why real healing is quiet, nuanced, and doesn’t make for viral content
- How intuitive eating invites you to stop performing and start listening inward
You’ll also learn practical, compassionate strategies for protecting your healing while navigating social media:
✨ How to curate your feed like your mental health depends on it
✨ Ways to recognize when you’ve been triggered—and how to respond
✨ Tools for reconnecting with your body and creating boundaries with content
✨ A reminder that you are not alone in the messy middle
“The most radical thing you can do in a world obsessed with food and body performance… is to eat, live, and exist without needing to prove a damn thing.”
Join the conversation: Have you ever felt derailed by social media content while doing healing work? Michelle would love to hear your story—reach out and share your experience.
If this episode resonated with you, please share it with a friend who’s also trying to find peace beyond the extremes.
