We're constantly bombarded with daily ads for quick fixes and unrealistic success stories plastered on magazines, websites, and social media.
You visit your doctor for your annual checkup and regardless of the condition at hand, you’re mandated to lose some weight.
From 7-day detoxes, diet pills, shakes, and surgeries, the message runs deep – beauty and health are dependent on body shape and size.
When in reality, size is not a reflection of health.
Fat promotes disease: True or false?
The idea that weight plays a large causal role in disease is to an extent, unproven. Little evidence supports that weight is the primary cause of many diseases for which it is routinely blamed, except osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, and possibly a few cancers.
There can only be one explanation when science so blatantly contradicts popular thought: economics. CC: weight loss centers, supplement makers, drug companies, and more.
I’m NOT saying that everyone walking around the world is in perfect health no matter their body size.
I’m also not saying every skinny lady is unhealthy and every fat woman is a healthful goddess.
I’m saying that weight is not the number-one way to diagnose a person’s “wellness.”
The hard truth? The weighing scale sucks.
The human body is one incredibly complex piece of machinery. There are things going in, coming out, transforming, and dissolving all of the time.
As a result, your weight can fluctuate wildly over the course of a 24-48-hour period, by up to five to six pounds.
Even if you ate the exact same thing, in the exact same quantities, every day, for the rest of your life. Phew!
Factors that affect your weight (other than food):
- Medication
- Sleep
- Hormones
- Water Intake
- Deficiencies
- Diseases
- Stress
If you’re trying to lose weight the healthy way, your successful weight loss could be hidden by any number of circumstances that falsify your statistics.
Everyone has the right to happiness, regardless of their weight!
Once you consider the extent of the magical thinking that tends to be tied in to the fantasy of thinness, you can understand how threatening it is to consider the idea that you may never get the thin body you crave.
It means that you never get to become the person you want to be.
Wow! No wonder it's so painful to let go of the drive to lose weight!
So, start living life fully now, in your present body; because waiting until you lose weight is a big old waste of time.
Instead of asking "How can I get thin?" ask yourself, "What can I do to do be say happier?"
Measure progress in other ways!
Here are 6 better ways to measure if what you're doing is working!
- Feeling “full”. Not stuffed. Just satisfied. Feeling like you’ve had enough.
- Experiencing stable energy levels through the day.
- Exhibiting clear and optimal blood markers.
- Sleeping better and waking up more refreshed.
- Improving in the strength and endurance domains of physical fitness.
- Better mood and ability to cope with emotions.
No matter where are, remember that you’re alive to do more than just lose weight and pay bills – so, approach weight change with compassion, care, and love!
We dive into the details of this much more in-depth in our weight-neutral counselling program!