Unlearning “Healthy”: Why Weight Isn’t The Measure We Think It Is
The word healthy has become entangled in thinness, intense discipline, and control. Today, “getting healthy” often implies losing weight, as if the number on the scale dictates something as complex as human well-being.
Despite decades of research, our narrative remains: weight = health. Weight stigma didn’t begin as a means to make people strive towards health, it developed as a tool of oppression. In the 18th and 19th centuries, thinness became a tool to justify racism and colonialism by deeming Black bodies as “lazy” and “undisciplined.” In the 20th century, eugenics movements sought to “perfect” the human race by eliminating "undesirable" traits, including fatness. These movements laid the groundwork and overt narratives of racial superiority have moved to concerns for peoples’ “health”, all while racism, ableism, and classism fuel the story.
What we do know is that people in larger bodies can be metabolically healthy, just as thin people can be metabolically unhealthy. We also know that intentional weight loss is not as sustainable as the wellness industry would like you to believe and can often lead to weight cycling (repeated weight loss and gain), which increases chances of health complications. Lastly, we know that experienced weight stigma is linked to negative mental health and physical health outcomes.
Despite this evidence being readily available, the diet & wellness industry, the medical system, and social media continue to push and profit from weight stigma. These are large forces in our society, and it can feel impossible not to let them affect our self-worth.
Rethinking Health Through Body Neutrality & a Health at Every Size Framework
Body neutrality seeks to challenge the “good or bad body” binary. We often feel drawn to either forcing ourselves to love each part of our body or forcing ourselves to strive towards a glorified ideal of what a body “should” be. Instead, body neutrality emphasizes compassion, respect, and a presence with our bodies.
Body neutrality can move us away from shaming ourselves for our bodies. We can approach ourselves with curiosity. What does my body need today? How does my body feel after rest, nourishment, movement, or stress? It may be difficult to know the answer at first, knowing how much systems of oppression can fuel our own self-narrative. You may find yourself automatically answering those questions with answers fed to us by those systems. Remain curious. Whose voice is answering? Is it me or is it all the weight loss drug advertisements I’ve seen this week? Is it me or is it that time I got shamed at the doctor’s office for my BMI?
Health At Every Size (HAES) is an approach that focuses on weight inclusivity, eating for well-being, and intentional movement, without one’s weight being an indicator of health. HAES encourages our attunement to our hunger, our fullness, and our cravings to help us move away from our food intake being driven by diets or restriction. In an HAES framework, intentional movement doesn’t exist for punishment or weight loss, but a way to connect to our body and determine what movement is fun, accessible, and enriching.
Lastly, HAES challenges us to stop moralizing our bodies through the food we eat or how much we move. So often, if we eat something “bad,” we are automatically “bad,” or if we don’t exercise, we are automatically “lazy.” Instead, we seek to nourish our bodies and be present with our bodies.
Rethinking Health: From Worth to Trust
When health becomes equated with thinness, it reinforces hierarchies of worth and tells us only certain bodies are acceptable or deserve empathy. This narrative keeps us in a constant cycle of comparison, self-surveillance, and shame. By challenging these narratives, we can reframe health as a presence in one’s body and attending to our bodies’ needs, rather than controlling outcomes. We can move from punishment to trust.
Imagine if health meant:
Eating without guilt
Moving in ways that feel supportive, not punishing
Allowing your body to fluctuate, without panic
Feeling worthy of rest, connection, and comfort, no matter your size
This vision does not require you to absolutely love your body every day. It simply asks for coexistence and a willingness to respect and care for the body as it is, without turning the body into a project that needs to be perfected.
Sources:
Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia by Dr. Sabrina Strings (2020)
Mann, T., Tomiyama, A. J., Westling, E., Lew, A.-M., Samuels, B., & Chatman, J. (2007). Medicare’s search for effective obesity treatments: Diets are not the answer. American Psychologist, 62(3), 220–233.
Puhl, R. M., & Heuer, C. A. (2010). Obesity stigma: Important considerations for public health. American Journal of Public Health, 100(6), 1019–1028.
Wildman, R. P. et al. (2008). The obese without cardiometabolic risk factor clustering and the normal weight with cardiometabolic risk factor clustering. Archives of Internal Medicine, 168(15), 1617–1624.
Interested in working with Emma? Connect with her at Emma@RoomToBreatheChicago.Com