Episode 270: Understanding the impacts of weight and size stigma in pregnancy

In today’s episode, Jessie sits down with Nicola Salmon who works in fertility and pregnancy education coaching and guidance with folks who are in larger or bigger bodies, who are navigating these healthcare systems in which they might be having a difficult time directly because of the weight and size stigma that exists everywhere, but particularly within trying to conceive and through the pregnancy, birthing, and postpartum processes. This is key, especially if you are a fitness and health pro working with pregnant and postpartum people – to understand the impacts of weight and size stigma on patient health – or understanding your own experience as a pregnant person in the body you live in right now!

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Resources and references

• • Pre and Postnatal Fitness Specialist Academy

SHOW NOTES

1:05 – Intro to today’s episode, which is a guest lecture from our Prenatal Fitness Specialist Academy!
3:50 – What today’s episode is all about
4:58 – And intro to Nicola Salmon and her work!
8:50 – What does “fat positive” mean? (Including some key definitions around what we are talking about today)
12:47 – What are on the minds and in the experiences of pregnant people as their bodies grow larger?
16:04 – Questioning the lack of body diversity in pregnancy exercise materials
18:40 – How does navigating weight or size-biased practitioners impact someone’s experience in pregnancy and in preparing for birth?
22:46 – How does Nicola navigate birth preparation with her clients?
27:27 – What are some of the most common things coming up for clients going through fertility treatment?
29:14 – When looking at messaging, marketing, and what they are selling, how can people increase feelings of safety and comfort for people entering their spaces?
38:06 – How can fitness and health professionals really begin – and continue to – unlearn their biases and shift the culture of their industries?
41:12 – Parting words from Nicola Salmon!