“Weight loss is not always necessary for optimal health,” says Linzy Ziegelbaum, R.D., founder of LNZ Nutrition.
Know that losing weight or having a smaller body doesn’t make a person healthier. This can include chronic disease management, maintaining a sense of personal hygiene, engaging in behaviors that support your mental and physical health, and fostering healthy relationships, Singh says. Rather than fixating over the number on the scale or looking a certain way, outline what a healthy life means to you. So before you make any changes to your diet (as in what you eat, not an eating plan) or life, there are some things you should know about the complexities of weight and weight loss.įirst, it is important to examine how your life would be different if your weight changed, says Kimmie Singh, RD, founder of Body Honor Nutrition, a Health at Every Size (more on that in a minute) private practice. It’s also a complicated, challenging, and often confusing endeavor that is overshadowed by diet culture myths, fatphobia, and the pressure to conform to whatever body type is trending. Deciding to lose weight and make lifestyle changes is a super personal decision. Now is that lovely time of year in which we're about to be bombarded with alll the diet ads on IG, and now it's up to you to wade through that noise. Read more about the ways diets and diet culture can impact your physical and mental health.
We feel it’s important for you to know that the biological connection between health and excess weight isn’t straightforward-and your BMI or the number on the scale is not a solid measure of health. Our goal is to publish weight-loss content with integrity, science-backed reporting, and insight on what you can realistically accomplish while attempting to lose weight in a healthy way.