We’ve become so accustomed to seeing and reading the so-called inspirational stories of celebrities who lose a significant amount of weight over short period of times that we often stop to wonder what they do to people, especially women, who are in the same situation. Most of the time, these weight battles have the exactly opposite effect in overweight and obese women, sending to them the message that how they are is nothing short of “embarrassing,” “humiliating” and “gross.”

Stars like Oprah Winfrey, Kirstie Alley, Melissa Joan Hart, Valerie Bertinelli and Jennifer Love Hewitt, to name just a few of the many who made headlines over the past weeks, standardize and, at the same time, idealize yo-yo dieting by speaking out of their trials and tribulations to being thin. What this does to regular women is disheartening, since it’s telling them that not only they should lose weight (which they probably know already and need no reminder of it), but that they must also be ashamed of how they’ve become, of what they’ve done to themselves. For a person who’s trying to overhaul their lifestyle completely to lose the desired weight, this can have the opposite effect to the expected one, by demoralizing them and pushing them back in the overeat / binge trap.

As a recent piece in the New York Times also points out, while celebrities’ weight battles are admirable in their own special way, when regarded in a larger context, they can be very detrimental to regular women who find themselves dealing with the same weight problems. “How do heavy women – many of whom bluntly describe themselves as fat – respond to these sagas? Judging by the Internet applause, many feel inspired and connect to the celebrities’ seeming candor. But for many, these mortification-of-the-flesh narratives are not galvanizing, but toxic, undermining their hard-won self-esteem and exacerbating the derision they face. These celebrity stories can even be counterproductive: health experts say that many famous dieters flaunt weight-loss goals that are unrealistic for most obese women.” the aforementioned NY Times piece reads.

Aside from the issue that the stars who make their weight battle public are actually handling the public a free license to judge anyone based on appearance alone, eliminating the need of meeting them, these stories also contribute to spread the idea that being overweight is shameful and disgusting. This, in turn, contributes to more loathing and, most importantly, self-loathing, which is clearly not the correct approach to the problem, experts point out. “The culture rewards that self-disgust. Once you acknowledge that your body is not O.K., then people love you, because that’s what expected of fat people all the time.” Kate Harding, one of the authors of “Lessons from the Fat-o-sphere: Quit Dieting and Declare a Truce with Your Body,” says for the NY Times.

There is also an upside to all this, namely that celebrities serve to show the world that the problem is widespread, that all women are forced to deal with it no matter their social status, financial situation or other admittedly essential aspects. Unfortunately, experts claim, few are those who get to see this, since they’re too busy trying to overcome the initial shock of being constantly told they might as well go dig a hole and bury themselves in it for what they’ve done to their body.

For the full NY Times piece, please see here.