Dear Special K Cereal,
I am writing to you in regards to your advertisement, “What Will You Gain When You Lose? Confidence. Passion. Joy.”

If you asked me this time last year what I thought I would gain by losing weight, I would have told you that I would gain happiness, confidence, acceptance, and beauty. In reality though, I’ve gained a low level of self-confidence, I’ve gained an unhealthy dependency on the number on my bathroom scale, I’ve gained exhaustion, I’ve gained an extra semester of high school, and a new personality that neither me, nor my family or friends, is very fond of. Even after reaching a weight that I was so sure would bring me happiness, I still find myself having lost more than I can ever gain.

I realize that you are promoting health, not eating disorders; and I realize that it’s not my place to tell someone to not lose weight if that’s what is healthy for them. However, I can’t stress enough that it is NOT weight loss that will bring confidence, passion, and joy. All of those things come from a positive attitude, and it is possible to gain all of those things at any weight.

I had more confidence, passion, and joy at my highest weight than I ever will at my lowest, and I hope that speaking up can stop even one person from starting on that never ending uphill climb towards “happiness” through weight loss.

Sincerely,
Andrea Barr

*Andrea originally shared this letter on Facebook as Part of the #Proud2Bme 3-Day Challenge.

Related:

Special K's New Ad Campaign: A Body Image Booster or an Attempt to Boost the Bottom Line?