Quote:Such factors coincide with a double bind that midlife women often face: cultural pressure to remain thin and youthful and an aging body that naturally shifts away from the proportions idealized in media. The pressures are so intense that research shows an overwhelming 73 percent of midlife women reporting weight dissatisfaction—making it clear these struggles are not just personal, they’re systemic.

This dynamic has only been intensified by the surge of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and harmful diet trends promulgated on social media such as #SkinnyTok. “Asking a woman between the ages of 45 to 55 to be the size she was at 15 or 20 or even 30 is terrible advice,” says Kievit.