How do I (31M) support my girlfriend (29F) in dieting without reinforcing negative self talk and unhealthy beauty standards?

My girlfriend is funny, brilliant, beautiful and supportive of me. She is really my dream girl, and I want to help her achieve her dreams in the way that she has helped me achieve mine.

Lately, she's been pretty hard on herself about her eating habits. We eat pretty healthily and are pretty active generally. However, because of various things surrounding us like a cold winter and this crazy virus that's been going around, we've been a little less active these past few months. I am sure that we are both less in shape than we typically are, but I really haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary. Personally I feel like it is good to get a little stockier in the winter because of holiday treats to protect against the cold. That said, my girlfriend wants to eat even healthier before the holidays, and she wants to try the diet "keto."

Being kind of dumb, at first I assumed that keto was just a run of the mill low carb situation, no bread no booze -- that kinda deal. However, as I did some research for our shopping I realized that it is even more restrictive than I imagined. Like, in keto, a tomato is a high carb food! That said, I am down to do keto with her, because I love her and would choose supporting her over the passing pleasure of any carbohydrate-heavy food forever.

However, I notice that the way she talks about keto feels a lot more about losing weight fast than about sustainable healthy eating habits. I want to be supportive of her choices, but I don't want to be supportive in a way that makes her think I want her to lose weight. Instead, what I want to be supportive about is her having agency in her eating, and her feeling good about what we eat.

tl;dr : Good people of reddit, how can I support the choices of my dream person without reinforcing negative stereotypes about how women should look? How can I be kind to my smart and sexy partner while also navigating how hard it is for women to deal with the unachievable beauty standards that exist in our culture?

Submitted December 03, 2020 at 02:34PM by himbo420 https://ift.tt/2JFh4Mh