To Asian households where bodyshaming is normal, what do you do?
I (16F) constantly get fatshamed by my relatives despite being in a healthy bmi range (18-20 bmi). It all started when I was 10 years old, I've always been skinny and have been bodyshamed by my mother for looking like a "stick". A year later, pandemic hit and my mother had to stock up our pantry. I started stress eating as my source of comfort, and because of me eating too much calories I gained weight. My mom noticed and started making comments like: "If you continue eating like that you might be a pig at this rate" or "When I was your age I had a 19 inch waist, 21 if I'm bloated". Because of constant bodyshaming, I developed an eating disorder that time, anorexia to be specific. I started working out and I would exercise cardio for 2 hours straight. I also became obsessed with measuring my body, calories, and my body measurements. Anything related to numbers. When I lost weight my mother made another comment: "What? you have a stomach of a crocodile? you eat a lot yet you still lose weight" Which made me insecure and felt conscious of my body and I developed a habit of body checking in the mirror. During Halloween, my mother's clients gifted her healthy snacks that are low calories and gave most of it to me, since it's a lot I gave it to my cousins. While visiting my cousin, my auntie noticed the packaging and said "isn't that food for dieting?"
and I nodded. She replied "Why do you need to diet? you're already skinny" that made me calm down a bit.
Now fast forward to present time, I forgot to mention, I got into depression and no longer exercise. My metabolism is ruined because of me skipping meals all the time. So when my relatives see me they comment things like: "You look so fat now" casually as if it's a normal thing to comment on
Posted Jan 27, 2026, 11:31 AM UTC