Last week I went to see Bodyposipanda’s show ‘Never Say Diet Club’. It was by far the most uplifting and empowering experience I’ve had. Nothing but positivity and love all around.
I’ve known about Megan for a just over a year now since seeing one of her Instagram videos where she shakes and shimmy’s her fabulous body to an upbeat positive song. This was the first time I ever saw someone with a stomach that wasn’t perfectly flat or toned just living their best life and being unapologetically themselves with zero fucks given. As someone who has struggled massively with body confidence and loving themselves Megan was a breath of fresh air, and shown me that beauty comes in all different shapes and sizes. I received a copy of her book for Christmas last year and it was life changing. I’d recommend it to anyone, I struggled to put it down! It really does help change your perspective on your body and around diet culture.
I’d originally bought the tickets for the Never Say Diet Club show when I’d been in a good place with my body image and myself. Since then, like anyone else I’d been through ups and downs. I think it’s normal for the way we feel about ourselves to fluctuate from time to time. I mean it’s hard not to have bad body image days when we’re constantly bombarded with media predominantly filled with one type of ideal body. Consisting of stomachs as flat as ironing boards, boobs that aren’t too small but aren’t big enough that they sag, and of course they don’t have any cellulite! Because universe forbid that our skin isn’t immaculate and smooth with zero lumps or bumps!
When I first walked into the meet and greet room at the venue, I immediately felt calm and relaxed. The energy in the room was filled with nothing but love and positivity. While waiting to meet Megan, there were various props around the room to take pictures with which had kick ass statements on them like ‘Counting memories not calories’ ‘So much more than a size’ ‘Too busy rising up to shrink down’ and even more! This was a really great & fun way to kill time while waiting but also feel empowered. Getting to finally meet Megan and tell her how much she has inspired me and thank her for everything she has and is doing was just amazing. She was so genuine and kind and really took her time with every person that she met and it didn't feel rushed at all - despite the long queue and high amount of people waiting to meet her. Megan had the same bubbly and enthusiastic energy all the way through the meet and greets to the very end of the show.
When watching Never Say Diet Club, I was filled with a whirlwind of emotions. This show truly is a masterpiece and some of the things Megan said will stay with me forever. It was so joyful and thought provoking, while sending serious messages there were plenty of moments I cried with laughter. Through a series of motivational talks, Moana inspired songs about diet culture, and iconic dance numbers from Megan and Joeley - The Vagaggle (who I can 100% say I've never witnessed a more funny person in my life performing with such a radiating energy) there was so much to take in and learn from. Getting to see two strong women living their best lives and being so free from society's expectations made my day.
As a whole I've learnt so much about myself, about diet culture and even more importantly to me - what to do next going forward in taking steps towards a more positive culture surrounding body image. Here's some tips I learnt from Megan:
1. Treat every body with respect, all shapes, sizes, age, gender, sexuality, ability.
2. Not to put food into categories of 'good' or 'bad'
3. If you ever see someone body shaming themselves, remind them that their body is not the problem, the way they have been taught to see it is.
4. Never say the word 'diet', unless you're talking about how rubbish they are.