Can You Love Your Body — and Still Want To Change It? | Gabriella Lascano | TED

Gabriella Lascano rose to prominence as a plus-size influencer, advocating for respect at any size with her natural blend of confidence and self-love. She shares how a friend's death led to a candid reassessment of her own health and sparked a viral conversation about the complex intersection of body image, community and personal growth. (Recorded at TED Salon Novo Nordisk on November 19, 2024)

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[Kiluei]

It was BECAUSE for the love of my body and my health that I decided to lose weight.

One of the best things I've done. I couldn't stand being fat. It was a horrible way of living. I just felt horrible all the time. For fear of diabetes and other health concerns I decided it was time to do something about it. I started eating healthy and actually moved around a bit. After that I started working out.

[TerrorTerros]

Poor people get 'body positivity', rich people get ozempic

[latrestadaddison]

I enjoyed her lecture. She addressed how not to turn a blind eye to the health risks that come with being obese. Love yourself at any size and through your weight loss journey. That’s needed to be emphasized because some people are obese due to depression and other mental health conditions. She said a lot of other positive things to keep in mind while obese people better themselves. ❤

[rafaeldegiacomoaraujo]

So funny that most people didn't even listen to the video before commenting. So much rush to rate.

[CaptainChristianZ]

What do you mean? It's because you love your body that's why you want to change it.

[l]

Good points and a reasonable perspective about physical and mental health. We need more of that! 💖

[gerardoa]

Eat healty, stop eating ultra processed food, do yoga, cardio, etc. You will feel great. Stop this "just be yourself" bs. Be the BEST version of yourself.

[chocomalk]

It's about time science and common sense return, thank you Gabriella.

[mccashland]

Heres how you balance it:

Love yourself enough to realize if you are overweight you are not loving yourself. Your body is most happy and most capable when you exercise and put it through tough challenges.

Using "body positivity" as an excuse to stay overweight is ruining society and creating a complacent victim mindset. Be positive about your body and understand you are capable of anything, but being positive that everything is fins as it is would be just a flat out lie. Otherwise, we wouldn't be having this comparison as a Ted talk today.

[btjndr]

Yes! Preach it, girl!

Self-love means doing things that are healthy for you, AND loving the body you currently inhabit because it has gotten you this far. I can appreciate the reasons for my obesity & accept that there are barriers to losing weight, AND I can eat healthy meals and exercise to the extent that my body allows me to on a daily basis.

And yes, absolutely, seemingly opposite things can be true at the same time. That's actually the crux of the therapy I'm in: Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. (And why I say "and" instead of "but" most of the time.)

[ritarios]

Beautifully done Gabi. I’m very proud of you! Love you ❤

[ciarra]

Go Gaby girl!!! She was one of my first plus size boutique models online. Dolld Kouture! You are the love you receive! Love you! ✨

[uninvited]

Excellent video, and finally somebody who is overweight, but understands the problems and doesn't try to promote that it is ok - let alone preferable. While overweight people have been treated awfully by society (and, I'm afraid, still are), swinging the pendulum to the other extreme and actually promoting being overweight is equally awful. If an overweight person is fine with their body, as long as they are aware of the dozens of health problems that come with that, it's their business. But an overweight person who wants to get healthier should be encouraged by everyone. And, yes, you are absolutely right, you can love yourself and still want to be better. Loving oneself doesn't mean stagnation

[MelikaQasemi-gerb]

Her lecture was wonderful.
I did like her personality and her appearance.
Definitely she has so many positive points and this point about her body can't stop her not to be perfect❤

[trinleywangmo]

Thousands of years people have been on this earth and all different shapes and sizes (we we're even hairy primates once!) so STOP the shaming. If all you focus on is your love and how to express that, who cares what size or shape you are. Love doesn't care... but it starts with you yourself.

[AshleyFromTX]

Real positive change will never come hating your body. Only love can do that.

Also, there’s so much stupidity and negativity in this comment section. It never shocks me anymore, since the comments under TED videos are always a cesspool, but this message is for TED: y’all need comment moderation. Your community sucks, and it’s what keeps me away from interacting with your videos on a daily basis. Fix it!

[simsim]

Well, there is a differance between fat shaming and being concious of health. Same is true about body positivity and and disregard for negative impact of obisity or leanness on health. There ar too sides to that discussion. One is about how the image of the body is concieved in society and the other is a bout pure medical analysis. Leanness and obesity are not good for the body and are associates with heart, stamina or mobility issues. No matter how society is thinking about that this fact stays. (In fact it is easier to die of obisity nowadays than of starvation) So everything that is said here about health issues has nothing to do with the discussion at all. Body positivity is a sociatal thing and not a mediacal thing. So why are we still mixing this?

[TheUltimateHacker]

Al these comments haven't watched the video. She addresses all the bs going on with fat acceptance and so on

[aris]

thank you so much for this talk. it really hit me as it's something i'm going through rn

[Billabonggg]

Body neutrality has been WAY more beneficial to my emotional and physical health than body positivity ever was. I am worthy of love and respect which is why my body deserves to be treated well and be its healthiest -- NOT the other way around. You will never shame or hate anyone into long lasting, positive change.