Weight Loss Cannot Heal You
For the longest time, I thought weight loss was the answer. I thought, "Man, if I could just lose 20 pounds..." or "If I were skinny, I wouldn’t have these problems."
It took me a long time to realize that this simply wasn't true...
"No amount of weight loss will make you happy. No amount of weight loss will heal you."
Once I realized that, that's when the true healing began.
In case you haven't noticed, we live in a fat-phobic society. We praise the thin, and shame the fat. We literally fear using the word "fat" because we have been conditioned to believe that it carries a negative connotation. But, in reality, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the word "fat."
Fat is fat. Skinny is skinny. Why is it that we have been socialized to think of the word "skinny" as positive and the word "fat" as negative?
When you really think about it, we have attached an emotional meaning to the words fat and skinny.
We've created this narrative:
"If you're skinny... You eat healthy, you exercise, and you have no health concerns," versus, "If you're fat... You don't eat healthy, you're lazy and sedentary, and you are constantly worried about your health."
These are ALL assumptions. Neither of these statements are backed by scientific evidence.
The size of someone's body is not—I repeat, is not—an indicator of their health status. Someone's health is determined by a variety of factors. These factors include the following:
Food intake
Water intake
Amount of physical exercise or movement
Heart rate
Lung capacity
Blood work
Urine analysis
X-rays
Genetics
Social factors such as access to resources and financial status
And SO much MORE!
As Lindo Bacon puts it:
"Health [is possible] at every size!"
If you haven't read Health At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight, do yourself a favor and read this book! It's Incredibly educational and insightful!
Through my personal experiences, studying Clinical Psychology, and tons of reading and research, I finally learned that the size and shape of my body wasn't the problem. And that in fact, society was wrong all along.
"You are not the problem... Society is."
It didn't matter how many diets I went on. How many pounds I lost. No amount of weight loss would ever bring me the happiness I was yearning for.
Unbeknownst to me, I had immense pain buried deep inside of me. Untouched and unconsciously avoided.
I had formed these negative core beliefs about myself throughout my childhood, and carried them into my adolescence.
It took reframing, cognitive restructuring, and unlearning many behaviors to finally make peace with food and my body.
I know that right now, weight loss may seem like the answer, but I promise you, it’s not.
I am living, breathing proof that weight loss isn’t the answer.
We only get one beautiful life to live on this earth. Take it from someone who’s been there, don’t waste it on trying to change what you look like.
It simply isn’t worth it.
