79. Body Image + Men, Masculinity, Body Trust with Aaron Flores
Release Date: 10/21/2025
88. How I Healed My Relationship to Movement
The Body Grievers® Club
In this episode of The Body GrieversⓇ Club, Bri shares her five-year movement journey from having no exercise practice to building an intuitive, consistent, feel-good relationship with movement. She traces how the pandemic disrupted her gym routine, triggered body image distress when back pain arose on a short walk, and revealed deeper body grief tied to internalized ableism rather than weight loss. Bri outlines five needs for healing and answers questions about “enough” movement, limited mobility with others, pushing vs listening to the body, and much more. TIMESTAMPS: 03:12 Pandemic...
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87. Understanding Type II Diabetes and Body Image
The Body Grievers® Club
In this episode of The Body GrieversⓇ Club, Bri interviews dietitian and certified diabetes educator Kristie Messerli (The Type 2 Diabetes Nutritionist) about type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, medication, and the shame and fear that often follow diagnosis. Kristie explains diabetes in lay terms, emphasizing insulin resistance as the underlying issue, genetics as a major driver, and the nuance beyond “cut carbs, lose weight, exercise more,” especially for women already dieting and exercising. They discuss complications as largely tied to unmanaged diabetes, the reality that medication...
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86. Why I Almost Skipped Prom: Clothing Grief + Privilege of Choice
The Body Grievers® Club
In this episode of The Body GrieversⓇ Club, Bri shares how receiving five perfectly fitting gowns from Sydney’s Closet sparked a corrective experience that contrasted with her 2007 prom season, when a dream dress wouldn’t zip and intensified shame, restriction, and a fixation on weight loss that later contributed to pursuing bariatric surgery. She reflects on being pre-diabetic at 16, the discouragement of dieting and being blamed for “not doing it right,” and how clothes not fitting became a lasting scar tied to dating, food anxiety, and self-worth. As an...
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85. Unflattering: Clothing Grief with Dacy Gillespie
The Body Grievers® Club
In this episode of The Body GrieversⓇ Club, Bri interviews anti-diet, weight-inclusive personal stylist Dacy Gillespie about clothing grief, style, and size accessibility. Dacy shares how styling clients revealed the need to address body feelings and how “flattering” advice often aims to make bodies appear smaller, rooted in white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism, referencing work by Sabrina Strings and Sonya Renee Taylor. They discuss real scarcity in plus-size clothing, including brands dropping extended sizes, and the grief and privilege tied to beauty standards. Dacy shares some...
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84. Seasons of Bravery in Dating as a Plus Size Late Bloomer with Allora Dannon
The Body Grievers® Club
In this episode of The Body Grievers® Club, Brianna interviews TikTok creator and author Allora Dannon, who describes herself as a plus-size “accidental late bloomer spokesperson.” Allora explains how she reframed “late bloomer” to mean not dating or experiencing physical intimacy until her thirties, and she shares how growing up as the oldest of ten in a supportive religious family still left her feeling embarrassed, isolated, and “left behind” as her sisters married while she received little romantic attention. Together, Bri and Allora discuss the cultural whiplash around...
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83. Core Beliefs: I Can Advocate for Everyone But Myself
The Body Grievers® Club
In this episode of The Body Grievers® Club, Bri discusses the challenges of self-advocacy within the context of body image and core beliefs. She recounts a personal experience at the Sacramento Airport where she found herself struggling to ask for a wheelchair accommodation due to an injury. Bri explores the layers of body image distress, internalized ableism, and the difficulty of allowing oneself to ask for help. Through examining core beliefs and emotional triggers, she identifies a deep-seated fear of being perceived as a fraud by her clients and herself. The episode highlights the...
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82. Weight Loss + Cutting Carbs Won't Solve Your PCOS: Ending Body Blame with Kimmie Singh
The Body Grievers® Club
In this episode of The Body GrieversⓇ Club, Bri sits down with Kimmie Singh, a registered dietitian specializing in PCOS and eating disorders, to discuss the complex journey of body liberation. They explore the societal assumptions faced by fat dietitians, the challenges of navigating professional spaces, and the stigmas around PCOS and body image. Kim breaks down her unique approach to nutrition, which emphasizes body liberation and destigmatizing food and body size. They delve into the importance of self-care, the limitations of behavior change alone, and the nuanced role of medications...
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81. Healing Your Body Image is Healthy as F*ck
The Body Grievers® Club
In this episode of The Body GrieversⓇ Club, Bri goes live and bears all about the complexities of body image and the radical notion of body acceptance. As a body image coach, she challenges societal norms and misconceptions around health and body size, dives deep into the emotional and psychological toll of weight discrimination, and introduces the concept of 'body grief.' The discussion includes common fears that hinder radical body acceptance and highlights the importance of grieving the loss associated with societal body standards. Bri also explores the transition from pursuing weight...
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80. How ADHD Can Impact Your Body Image with Dani Bryant
The Body Grievers® Club
In this episode of The Body Grievers Club, Bri sits down with therapist, drama therapist, and creative arts therapist Danny Bryant—a fat, neurospicy clinician from upstate New York and one of Bri’s dear friends. Together they unpack the messy, beautiful intersection of neurodivergence, ADHD, body image, and body liberation.
Bri and Danny talk about what it means to work with your brain instead of against it—how perfectionism, masking, and executive dysfunction show up in everythi
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79. Body Image + Men, Masculinity, Body Trust with Aaron Flores
The Body Grievers® Club
In this episode of The Body Grievers Club, Bri sits down with Registered Dietitian and Certified Body Trust® Specialist Aaron Flores, RDN. They dig into how grief shows up in men’s body image work, why “optimization culture” keeps so many dudes stuck, and what it really means to move from control to trust without the shame-fix-rush.
Bri and Aaron unpack the lifelong messages men receive about “fixing” their bodies, the pressure to perform masculinity, and the quiet grief of
info_outlineIn this episode of The Body Grievers Club, Bri sits down with Registered Dietitian and Certified Body Trust® Specialist Aaron Flores, RDN. They dig into how grief shows up in men’s body image work, why “optimization culture” keeps so many dudes stuck, and what it really means to move from control to trust without the shame-fix-rush.
Bri and Aaron unpack the lifelong messages men receive about “fixing” their bodies, the pressure to perform masculinity, and the quiet grief of losing the hope of thinness, rippedness, or former abilities. They talk about straddling two ships, diet culture and body liberation, and why permission to be in the in-between is often the bridge to values-aligned change.
They also explore community as an antidote to isolation, how empathy (not fixing) rewires the story, and why acceptance = “the willingness to receive my body as it is.” From Big Mouth’s “shame wizard” to Yoda’s wisdom, this convo uses metaphor to make the work doable. If you’ve ever felt like you should just “hack” your way to a better body, this episode offers a different path: zoom out, name the grief, and build trust - slowly, gently, on purpose.
TIMESTAMPS:
02:10 Aaron’s story: from running a VA weight-loss program to Body Trust
06:05 Men, diagnosis, and why eating disorders are under-recognized
09:30 The two ships: straddling diet culture and body liberation
13:20 Masculinity, “optimization,” and the illusion of control
17:45 Grief themes: anger, fear, urgency, shame—and moving without a rush
22:15 Community + witnessing: why healing must be seen to be felt
25:40 Body Trust basics: zooming out, C-level work, and self-compassion 2
9:20 Partners & attraction: unlearning beauty standards + holding your ground
33:10 Parenting & modeling: the relationship you want your kids to have with their bodies
36:00 Big Mouth’s “shame wizard,” parts work, and building new neural grooves
39:20 Star Wars metaphors: fear, the dark side, and choosing values over control
42:10 Final takeaways for dudes: your body isn’t a project; find your people
RESOURCES:
Mentioned in this episode:
* Center for Body Trust® (rupture → reckoning → reclamation)
* Big Mouth (Netflix): The “shame wizard” metaphor
* Star Wars quotes & metaphors (Yoda, fear → suffering)
* Book: Manhood: The Bare Reality by Laura Dodsworth (photo essays + narratives)
* Aaron’s 5-module body image course for dudes (via his website)
WANT MORE OF AARON FLORES, RDN?
* Instagram: @aaronfloresrdn
* Website: www.aaronfloresrdn.com
* Substack: The Unscripted Journey
* Podcast: Men Unscripted
WANT MORE OF BRI?
*Instagram: @bodyimagewithbri
*Website: https://bodyimagewithbri.com/