Demi Lovato says complimenting someone on their weight loss can be ‘harmful’

Demi Lovato, an advocate for body positivity and self-acceptance, has spoken out once again reminding everyone to refrain from comments about weight, as this can affect one's mental health whether the comments mean well or otherwise.

A few days ago, the singer shared their thoughts on Instagram Stories saying that compliments on weight loss "can be as harmful as complimenting someone on their weight gain."

As an eating disorder survivor, Lovato has been open about their own experience, and has voiced out their opinion against diet culture and the media's portrayal of unrealistic beauty standards. Lovato said, "If you don't know someone's history with food, please don't comment on their body. Because even if your intention is pure, it might leave that person awake at 2 am overthinking that statement."

Lovato said that such comments can feel "great" sometimes, "but only to the loud-ass eating disorder voice inside my head that says 'See, people like a thinner you' or 'if you eat less you'll lose even more weight.'"

They added: "But it can also sometimes suck because then I start thinking 'Well, damn. What'd they think of my body before?'"

Demi, who recently came out as pansexual and non-binary, ended her Stories with a lesson. "Moral of the story: I am more than the shell for my soul that is my body. And every day I fight to remind myself of that, so I'm asking you to please not remind me that that is all people see of me sometimes."

Screenshots from Demi Lovato's Instagram (@ddlovato)