Why you may need to scale back on celebrity weight battles

When celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Kirstie Alley make their struggles with weight a public issue, many applaud their transparency. Some women connect with the celebs’ openness and say it fuels their motivation. But not all women were inspired when Oprah declared in the January issue of her magazine “I’m mad at myself. I’m embarrassed.” after realizing she’d hit 200 pounds.

Some experts believe these public weight battles can cause more harm than good, according to a recent New York Times article. That’s the topics of a recent NY times article.

Health experts quoted in the story say celebrity dieters often publicize weight-loss goals that are unrealistic for more obese women.

Furthermore, chance are a woman who has finally come to accept her body as is will feel pretty discouraged after hearing celebs like Alley call herself “disgusting” for being overweight.

From the NY Times article, “Bingeing on Celebrity Weight Battles”:

It’s not that these women are unsympathetic to Ms. Alley. Been there, felt that. “You loathe yourself,” Ms. Alley told People. “You hate what you’ve done to yourself.”

But the yo-yo dieting and disparaging comments prompt some women to feel unmotivated and hopeless.

“I can’t believe this is still getting to me,” said Sarah Morice, 31, a doctoral candidate in theology at Notre Dame. “I see what Kirstie Alley says about herself and how easy it is for that to become my script. It’s easy to lapse into ‘Oh, my body’s ugly,’ and ‘What’s the use?’ She triggers all those messages for me.”

What do you think about celebrities going public with their weight struggles?