I Wanted to Lose Weight, That Would Make Me Better - With Libby Supan
Libby Supan grew up considering the letters f, a, and t to be the building blocks of one very bad word. A lot of us felt that way though, didn’t we? During my childhood, everyone was looking for ways to lose weight with aerobics and fat-free diets. In Libby’s memories, it was her mom who was always on a diet. She learned that gaining weight equals bad, losing weight equals good, and how you did it didn’t really matter. For her, that was a lesson that eventually evolved into an eating disorder.
Things were going well for Libby in junior high. She was on cheer and in dance, she was smart, and she was popular. That’s about the best most tweens and teens can hope for. All was swell in Libby’s life, but then her parents had to up and move to another community, and Libby had to start over at a new school. It didn’t go so well. She went from popular to unknown, from being the best or near best at everything to being smart and talented, but not the smartest or most talented.
Remember the lesson she learned earlier – gaining weight equals bad and losing weight equals good? Well that lesson was about to come in handy. She’d lost some control in her life, so she could regain it by losing weight. She couldn't do better than straight A's, but she could always lose another pound by restricting her diet in unhealthy ways.
Libby struggled with disordered eating for many years, but she’s doing great today. She’s a therapist, a certified intuitive eating coach, and a Decent Fucking Human.
Creators and Guests
Host
Terrible Scott
Terrible Scott has 3 cats, 1 dog, and a podcast. He lives in Chicago. And he feels whole.
Guest
Libby Supan
I’m a therapist and Certified Intuitive Eating Coach. I also know what it’s like to have an eating disorder. I used to wake up daily hating my body and knowing that I was destroying it. I know the obsession with counting calories, eating too much, not eating enough, etc. I know the “crazy”! By the time I was 30 years old my eating disorder had hijacked my life. I was desperate, terrified, and in a lot of pain. I could not keep it together. The harder I tried to control it, the worse it became. Dealing with my eating disorder left my relationships suffering. I couldn’t keep commitments, cancelled plans, and could not show up for myself or others. This hindered my romantic relationships as well – the entire relationship would become wrapped up in my eating disorder.
