BODY TRANSFORMATIONS: IT’S COMPLICATED
On the morning of May 6 last year, I was scrolling through Insta when my thumb froze on a picture of Adele. You know, the internet-breaking snap from her 32nd birthday celebrations. She might have been thanking healthcare workers, but the content of her caption wasn’t the reason the post went viral. Clad in a form-fitting LBD, her speculated 45kg weight loss was clearly visible. She looked, to put it mildly, transformed. In the days after, praise was liberally served alongside speculation over how she’d done it (Pilates? The Sirtfood Diet?), while think pieces pointed out just how problematic it is to zero in on any woman’s body, not least a multi-platinum-selling singer who owes no explanation for her shifting size. Without a word from Adele, her transformation had become political, with people weighing in on all sides.
My own transformation didn’t make headlines, but the reaction felt just as seismic. In 2017, after years of experiencing poor body image – characterised by overexercising and disordered eating – I’d managed to
