Dieting Is As Awful As I Am
I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN WEIGHT LOSS FOR HEALTH
Alright BicepsRusPT relax that’s not what I said
Earlier this week I highlighted an article published by the Daily Mail that celebrated Peter Kay as the ‘picture of health’ because he’s lost some weight
No reference to his habits or behaviours or even comment from him but rather simply a headline based on the very real fact he’s in a smaller body than before
Peter Kay may have followed a super flexible healthful diet and taken up more exercise and feel great and good for him if that was his goal
He may also be unwell
We don’t know
It's not possible to tell the health of an individual based solely on their body size and unsolicited celebration of someone simply because they’re smaller is a wild public display of this population level weight bias we hold
A weight bias narrative that we ingest daily and more toxically, that we conform to daily that says small always equals better
Here’s the post if you didn’t see it
BicepsRusPT didn’t like it
He swiftly reassured me that ‘many people would benefit from losing fat for their health’ as if I, a Nutritionist, Personal Trainer and PhD in exercise physiology don’t understand contributors to health
As if I was screaming DON’T EVER DIET by pointing out that giving your unsolicited opinion on other peoples’ bodies is so 90s and shows you don’t understand health at all given that body size can go up and down in response to good and ill health
I love dieting for many people if they love dieting for themselves and it serves them well and it’s a means to an end and not a lifelong endeavour
A sign of emotional maturity is being able to hold space for multiple (and often opposing) facts and opinions
Like recognising that commenting on peoples’ bodies is wrong AND that people are absolutely allowed to change their bodies should they wish
Like dieting can increase the risk of disordered eating AND can be done in a really healthful way
Like someone can be a medical doctor AND give out really problematic nutrition advice
Like not assuming someone MEANT to lose fat just because they did AND recognising that fat loss is totally healthy for a large majority of people
It’s wild when we take a critical approach to what we see on social media and in the actual media especially at this time of year when our feeds are saturated with toxic yet extremely enticing messaging
It’s wild more so when we recognise that each of us see things through a lens of our own history, in this case, with diets and food
After this email I urge you to be critical of everything you see (yes including my content) and ask yourself:
Am I seeing what is true or am I seeing this through my own filter of life experience?
I’d say 80% of people that apply to work with ETPHD have a fat loss goal and yet transformation coaches still feel the need to comment on my posts to remind me that WeIgHt LoSs Is HeAlThY tHoUgH
I don’t believe in ramming fat loss down your throat and making it the most important thing in your life because that’s what creates a bad relationship with food and an obsession with your body
After this email I would love you also love you to consider:
Am I making my body size the most important thing in my life and am I using it as an indicator of my (and those around me) success?
I’m buzzing that many of you reading this will answer no to this question because you’ve worked with us and you’ve listened to the podcasts and have read my emails for the years I’ve written them
But for those of you who consider that maybe it is actually a bit too much of your life I wonder if you can create space for a whole life that includes fat loss?
Instead of a fat loss-focused life sprinkled with a bit of living?
Have a beautiful weekend
Em x
