Former body positivity influencer Gabriella Lascano recently shared in an opinion piece why she stepped away from the movement she once endorsed.
Lascano, who has 405K followers on Instagram and 188K subscribers on YouTube, said she distanced herself from the “love yourself at any size” message because it encouraged unhealthy habits.
In 2023, she explained that caring about your health isn’t fatphobic, but she admitted the body positivity community didn’t respond warmly to her change of heart.
“We can still be body positive while acknowledging risks” linked to obesity, Lascano argued in response.
Ex-body positivity influencer makes bold admission about walking away from the movement
Image credits: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
Gabriella Lascano spoke to The New York Times in a video opinion piece published on Monday, February 16, where she shared that she began her online career in 2010.
While she never set out to become an influencer, she said she started promoting the message that all body sizes are beautiful after receiving support from other plus-size women.
Image credits: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
Over time, however, she realized she was gaining more and more weight and found herself unable to indulge in the activities she once enjoyed, like traveling or riding roller coasters.
“Some days, I would look at photos and not even recognize myself,” Lascano expressed, adding that she is five feet tall and was nearing 400 pounds at one point. “I started to wonder if loving myself at any size had become an excuse to ignore how big I was getting.”
She said the body positivity community was becoming increasingly “radical” toward weight loss and exercise, even when it was for health reasons, “so I stayed silent.”
Image credits: gabriellalascano
“Then my friend d**d,” Lascano added, referring to fellow body positivity influencer Jamie Lopez, who founded the world’s first plus-size salon.
This incident, mixed with the “language around body positivity sounding more extreme,” drove her away from the movement.
Gabriella Lascano is not the only body positivity influencer to document her disappointment in the plus-size community
Image credits: gabriellalascano
Lascano shared that she has felt like a pariah within the body positivity community since posting her 2023 video denouncing the movement and losing weight, a change she said has made her feel more like herself.
“We can still love ourselves even if we want to lose weight. That’s what real body positivity should stand for — loving yourself at any size and having the freedom to change it,” she pushed.
Image credits: gabriellalascano
Dronme Davis, a former plus-size model, revealed in a 2024 interview with the NYT that her slimmer appearance was the result of relapsing into the disordered eating patterns she had struggled with throughout her life.
Addressing the disappointed comments she received on social media, Davis said, “The only thing people are going to be OK with is a very detailed explanation, which is not something I can write in a caption.”
Image credits: dronme
Still, she said she understands why some women who followed her when she was larger felt let down. Davis admitted it would be unfair to “still expect their attention and support.”
Similarly, plus-size influencer Rosey Blair spoke publicly about using Mounjaro to lose weight in 2024, but, unlike Davis, she appeared unapologetic about the public reaction.
Image credits: roseybeeme
In a social media post, she wrote, “Full transparency: I have zero remorse or shame for being public about my weight loss. Two years ago, I couldn’t wipe my a**!”
Experts say influencers’ personal choices can deeply affect the communities they build
Image credits: The Burnt Toast Podcast / Spotify
Speaking to the NYT in the same year, Sally A. Theran, a clinical psychologist who studies the one-sided bonds people form with media figures and influencers, explained that when such entities appear to change their stance on an issue, it can trigger “intense feelings of betrayal” among followers.
“I think if you are going to put yourself out there, then you are positioning yourself as a leader in the domain, and you should take responsibility for the repercussions,” she added.
@nytopinion GLP1-s have exploded in popularity, and the body positivity movement is at a crossroads. What does loving yourself at any size mean now that weight loss is becoming more accessible than ever? Can you still be body positive while wanting to lose weight? The former body positivity influencer @gabriellalascano argues that the movement has lost its way and taken an extreme turn in recent years. But she says there’s a middle ground that still champions self-love and bodily autonomy while redefining them, too. #nytopinion ♬ original sound – New York Times Opinion
The Burnt Toast podcast also discussed the growing number of body positivity influencers who lost weight at the time.
Virginia Sole-Smith, a journalist who writes about diet culture, argued that influencers who once promoted acceptance at every size but now say they feel healthier when thinner are “throwing everyone else under the bus.”
“You used the hashtags in order to grow your following, in order to post your affiliate links, get your sponsor deals, all of that. So now what you’re basically telling us is you adopted all that rhetoric, and you don’t believe in it at all — this is pretty gross,” she said.
“There are extremes on both sides. Health is important, and self-love is important too,” a netizen remarked
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