Ilona Maher and Kylie Kelce have a bone to pick with a benchmark they have seen labeled "unhealthy" for women.
The rugby star and the podcaster, who is a former collegiate field hockey player, gave their take on the June 12 episode of Kelce's "Not Gonna Lie" podcast about 200 pounds being considered a mark of poor health for women.
They brought up an online clip of a person saying that if someone is over 200 pounds, they should not be in a Pilates class.
"People don’t realize that your frame — how are we supposed to help being that close to 200?" said Kelce, who is 5-foot-11. "Why is 200 the benchmark for like, ‘Wow you’re really unhealthy.’"
"That’s been my thing recently is this idea of kind of skinny and that coming back," Maher said. "I really think that some of our bodies are just meant to be certain ways. I’m big, we’re tall. I’m not supposed to be skinny for my frame. I have broad shoulders. I just think there’s a natural way, and I think we’re forgetting that."
Maher, who has become a beacon of body positivity, leaped into the national spotlight when she helped lead the U.S. women's rugby sevens team to its first Olympic medal when they won bronze at the 2024 Paris Games.
"People’s ideas of weight and health are so wrong," she said on the podcast.
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model told Kelce her heaviest weight is between about 203 and 213 pounds and that her playing weight during the Olympics was 197.
"I’m considered massive on a BMI scale," Maher said about the body mass index, which bases a person's body fat percentage on their height and weight.
"I actually don’t get as many comments, but I think I have a BMI of like 30, and some women commented on it," she continued. "I talked to my dietitian about it because I was like, 'This is a crazy comment.' BMI is just two numbers put together and that’s it, and I’m like, 'Does that show anything?' That doesn’t tell you a gosh darn thing about what I can do, and nobody will look at me and be like, ‘Wow, she is just — that is crazy.'"
Kelce, who has spoken about being bullied for her size while growing up, said she has a similar body type.
"I feel like at my height specifically that I’ve always teetered, especially when I was playing, of just high 100s, close to 200 (pounds)," the mother of four said. "When I’ve been pregnant, over 200 (pounds). But it’s not like anyone would’ve looked at me while I was pregnant and been like, ‘Ooh, she really packed it on.’"
Maher believes that markers for health should be assessed individually.
"There’s some women who are meant to be thin, who are meant to be skinny," she said. "I’ve seen them eat so much, and they stay that way. There’s some of us who are meant to be a little bit bigger, and I’ve seen people who are so healthy and who live such fulfilled lives over 200 pounds.
"That’s kind of like why I’m constantly putting out these body-positive messages because it’s never-ending."
