But What if I Still Want to Lose Weight?
Our culture is obsessed with weight loss and dieting.
We don’t expect our clients to have broken free from this desire when they start to work with us. Messaging around weight and self worth run very deep in our culture and we understand the desire to lose weight is not only common, it can be a form of self protection. It is ever present and pervasive. So what do you do about it? Our goal is to help you start to look inward at this desire. Where did it come from? Why is it there? Is weight loss really what you’re after?
Weight loss or managing to stay “small” typically lends itself to better treatment from medical providers, peers, dates, strangers, friends & family. It can provide a sense of belonging and “rightness”. Being thin or even just colluding with diet culture in the act of pursuing thinness can provide a type of performative assurance (for yourself and/or others) that you are “not giving up”, you are “healthy” or you care about your body. And care you do! Or you wouldn't be dieting! But if we dig a little deeper we know that health is not determined by our size and if people only respect us or treat us well if we are the “right” size in their eyes, maybe they aren't treating us so well after all. We know that thinner is not always better when it comes to health, and it certainly does not guarantee health. We also know that thinness does not equal positive self esteem or even self respect. So what do you want out of the pursuit of thinness? Maybe it's better treatment at the doctor, ease of fitting in, less judgment or assumptions about your behaviors, easier time buying clothes, more energy, health in general, or fitness? A lot of these can be addressed by behavior change and weight is not a behavior. Some of these are signs that our culture has an issue- not you.
There is this idea that if we all just fit into this box we will all have health, happiness, the love we desire, the job we want…the perfect life. SO the pursuit makes sense - why not try and have this?
Well, with the information we have currently, we do not have a way to help someone lose significant amounts of weight and keep it off long term. And we also know those who diet tend to be at a higher weight over time, tend to have less body satisfaction regardless of their weight and body image does not tend to improve with weight loss - this is an inside job.
"Don't believe me? Let's look at the numbers. Using the most generous estimates based on current data, only 20% of people who diet maintain that weight loss long term. Long term, in these studies is never more than 5 years. That means that 80% of everyone who has tried to lose weight has gained it back. Additionally, ⅓-⅔ of dieters regain more weight than they originally lost! Some might look at this and still say so what? Some weight loss even for a while is “good”, right? But everything has a risk. Dieting is often detrimental. While we often use it as a proxy for health, the evidence begs to differ. Here’s some side effects of dieting:
Disordered eating/eating disorder
Increased cravings/binging
Dysregulated appetite
Dysregulated blood sugars
Nutrient deficiencies
Fatigue
Weight gain/weight cycling/yo-yo
Dysregulation gut microbiome
Digestive issues like diarrhea, constipation or bloating
Loss of muscle mass
Lowered bone density
Gallbladder disease
Hormonal issues (especially with sex hormones),
Lowered immune function,
Dehydration/ headaches
Additionally, from a psychological standpoint, dieting can lead to
Increased anxiety and depression
Moodiness/irritability
Dieting can impact your social life and can lead to social isolation.
If we truly want to care for ourselves and pursue health, dieting ain’t it for most of us.
While the desire might understandably be there, IE is asking you to unpack that desire. Question that desire and where it comes from. Look honestly at your history with diets and weight loss. This will help you start to move away from using food to change or control your body to using food as nourishment, pleasure and satisfaction.
The desire to lose weight makes SO MUCH SENSE based on all of the empty promises given by diet culture. This assumption that the only way to be healthy or happy is to lose weight, to stay small, to take up less space. But the reality is you can be happy and find food neutrality and peace at the size you are at now.
Hitching your happiness to a moving target such as your weight will inevitably be a disappointment and you can find something so much better to help you tie your happiness too.
We are always open to discussing these desires and getting to the root of the desire. Our goal is to help you take a look at the root of this desire and dig a little deeper and help you free yourself from the shackles of diet cultures' relentless imposition on your body. We are not anti-dieter, we are anti - diet. We are not anti - weight loss, we are anti- oppression and anti- pushing behaviors that only result in negative self image, poor relationship to food…etc. We know that navigating this world is complex and we also know you are capable of holding multiple truths at once. Our goal is to help you find your truth and find a path to freedom from this insidious harm diet culture perpetuates on all of us.
What if you still want to lose weight? Working with a dietitian can help you work through this desire and ultimately decide what is right for you and how to start taking care of your now -body and now-self through positive behavior change and weight is not a behavior.