Canadian influencer Kenzie Brenna on what to do when a friend says they 'feel fat'
"If your friend ever looks in the mirror and says, 'I feel so fat,' please don't rush to respond with, 'no you aren't! You are beautiful.'"
Kenzie Brenna is sharing the appropriate reaction when a friend is feeling insecure about their body.
The Canadian influencer took to Instagram to share a carousel of photos of herself in a black swimsuit, posing in a hot tub, paired with powerful on-screen text about what one should and shouldn't say if a friend tells you they "feel fat."
"If your friend ever looks in the mirror and says, 'I feel so fat,' please don't rush to respond with, 'no you aren't! You are beautiful,'" Brenna wrote, adding:
"Try: 'What other feeling words could you use right now? If you were fat, how would that make you feel? Is something else going on?'"
She explained that while "fat" can be a feeling, it doesn't inherently mean they feel "ugly, unlovable, unworthy, disgusting."
"We don't always need to save our friends with beauty. We don't need to remind them that they are always beautiful because our friends are more than the beauty they hold," the body positivity advocate penned.
Brenna doubled down in her caption, detailing further advice for her more than 374,000 followers.
She urged her fans to ask their friends "what’s going on right now in their life," and try to "relate to them. Share low body image stories — bond. Connect."
"Ask them who they look up to and why? Maybe introduce them to other people to broaden their mind a bit. this too is medicine," she suggested.
The Vancouver-based creator's message was met with supportive comments from fans.
"Wise words," an Instagram user commented.
Another added: "This is a very good reminder. Beauty becomes the default."
"Thank you for sharing this. Very true and important responses to understand," someone else wrote.
"Love this. Thank you so much for addressing this," a fan shared.
"Love this, thank you so much," echoed another. "I find myself struggling to know what to say when my friends say this."
In January, the content creator shared another powerful reminder in an Instagram Reel about self-love. In the clip, she wore a black bra and underwear set and filmed herself looking at her body.
"My body is not wrong," the on-screen text read. "I show you my body so you can see your body is also not wrong, which means, my love, you don't need to be at war with yourself because you are perfect."
"Wild idea: what if we moved in the direction of love and stopped thinking that there is something wrong with ourselves?" she added in the caption. "Revolutionary idea, I know."
Let us know what you think by commenting below and tweeting @YahooStyleCA! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
