Danae Mercer opens up about weight comment her mom made: 'It stuck with me'

Danae Mercer is committed to breaking generational cycles of trauma caused by diet culture.

On Tuesday, the body positivity advocate shared an Instagram reel shedding light on the insidious impact of toxic diet culture that can be passed down through generations.

In the video, Mercer performed a skit demonstrating some of the ways older generations might have impacted their children's relationship with food and exercise.

"First generation as a mother: 'Sweetie, no man will love a tummy like that,'" the on-screen text reads. "Second generation: 'Okay mom' (internalizes it)."

"Second generation: 'You don't have the body to wear that,'" the on-screen text continues. "Third generation: 'OK mom' (internalizes it)."

Mercer reenacted the skit until she reached the sixth generation, at which point she changed the narrative.

"Wait, mom. Our bodies aren't broken. We are worthy and loved exactly as we are," the text shows before the content creator picks up her baby daughter. "Let's be the generation of mothers who change the conversation."

Mercer shared a deeply personal caption recalling a time her mother made a comment about her weight that "stuck" with her.

"My mom told me I gained weight a few months after I started college. It was an absent comment, maybe even a joke. But it stuck with me and stuck into me and I started dieting stronger than I ever had before," she penned.

"Maybe you have a similar story. One from a mom, a grandma, an aunt or sister, who taught you about your body, but above all taught you shame," she wrote.

"Diet culture is strong and it threads through generations. But we can stop it. We can change the conversation," the influencer added. Mercer urged other parents to collectively address and dismantle diet culture.

She wrote: "It starts with the words we use about ourselves and the things we say about other women. Because through us, our littles will learn. And they deserve kinder narratives than the ones so many of us were raised with."

Mercer's post was quickly met with applause from fans.

"My mom was a personal trainer, very tones, and would tell me I was fat and lazy (I was neither)," one person commented. "I still struggle with that internal voice. Thank you for sharing!"

"I wish I heard this when I was younger," someone chimed in.

A fan added: "This is a huge lesson I am also teaching my sons! One by one we change the world!"

"Yes to this!" another exclaimed.

In July, Mercer shared another powerful Instagram reel about healing her relationship with food for her daughter's sake.

The video begins with Mercer eating from a yogurt cup alongside on-screen text that reads,"Healing my relationship with food," before cutting away to a clip of her daughter drinking from a bottle, "So that she doesn't have to."

"I want her to see me eating without guilt or shame or weird food hang-ups, and to know she can eat that way too," she penned.

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