About Falicity Nixon

Exploring Identity After Transformation

What happens when your body changes dramatically, but the person you have spent years believing yourself to be does not change at the same pace?

This question sits at the heart of my writing and research.

My interest in identity after major weight loss is both personal and academic. Having experienced significant weight loss, bariatric surgery and subsequent reconstructive procedures, I became increasingly interested in something that receives far less attention than physical transformation itself: the complicated process of learning to recognise and understand ourselves after our bodies have changed.

Weight loss is often described through numbers, medical outcomes and before-and-after photographs. Yet these measures tell us remarkably little about what happens to identity. They cannot fully explain why familiar expectations persist, why a changed reflection may feel unfamiliar, or why achieving a long-awaited physical transformation does not necessarily bring the sense of resolution we anticipated.

As an anthropology student developing a longer-term research pathway through Honors and doctoral study, I am particularly interested in the relationship between identity, embodiment, social expectations and personal transformation.

Central to my developing work is the concept of identity reconciliation. I am exploring how individuals negotiate the relationship between their former and present selves, and whether the process of living in a changed body involves more than simply adapting to a new appearance.

My research interests extend beyond weight loss itself to include reconstructive and cosmetic surgery, healthcare access, medical tourism and the social inequalities that influence people's experiences of bodily transformation.

Why I Write

I believe there are important stories that remain largely unheard once the physical transformation is considered complete.

Through this website, I share personal reflections, emerging research questions and writing that examines the experience of living through profound bodily change. My intention is not to offer another weight-loss success story or suggest that everyone experiences transformation in the same way.

Instead, I want to explore the questions that remain after the weight is lost, the procedures are finished and everyday life continues.

My longer-term ambition is to contribute original anthropological research to this field and develop a research-based nonfiction book, The Body Changes, But Who Am I?

At its center is a question that continues to shape my work.

When our bodies change, how do we come to understand who we are becoming without losing the significance of who we have been?