Debunking Diet Culture

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, nutritionist, or anyone who specializes and is certified to give correct medical advice to anyone. If you have questions about dieting or weight loss, please consult a doctor or medical professional.

The social desire, mostly aimed towards women, to be as small as you can has been and continues to be incredibly harmful. Whether it is spreading misinformation about “Easy hacks to lose 10 pounds in 1 day” or capitalizing off of women’s insecurities by shaming them into buying useless products, diet culture has proven to be problematic. 

What is worse: there are usually women who want/need to lose weight for health reasons, but aren’t able to because of the social pressures and toxic diet culture information spread around. I’ve wanted to write this article for a while, but know that weight loss is such a sensitive topic, so I wanted to approach it with grace and practical knowledge.

I have been meeting with a certified nutritionist who works at my university to gain a solid understanding of the science and psychology behind diet culture. Surprise surprise: it is mostly centered around the individual’s thoughts and mindsets being misled and causing them unnecessary distress while trying to achieve any weight goals. 

1. Being “fat” is not determined by a scale.

Beyond the loaded word, it is so easy to see a number on a scale and attribute it to being unhealthy and needing to get smaller. If you truly desire to lose fat, consider that muscle, water, recently consumed food, pee, clothes, your menstrual cycle, and so much more are attributed to affecting your weight. The best time to weigh yourself is right after you wake up and go to the bathroom.

2. The key to losing weight is not by being miserable. 

Starving yourself, over exercising, taking fake pills and supplements, purging, taking laxatives, none of these work long term. When you are in a significant decrease of energy from food, your body goes into a panic mode and makes all of your thoughts centered around food, makes any food consumption feel euphoric, and makes you so hungry until you have to feed it. AKA: you binge. 

 This idea of “self-control” when it comes to dieting is beyond harmful and entirely mislabeled. When you have restricted and you start indulging again, it is not poor self-control, it is your body doing everything it can to not die of starvation. 

Losing weight properly involves more portion control: eating what you want in moderation, and being in a slight deficit of your body’s maintenance calories. It is normal to find yourself being a little more hungry than normal, but it isn’t nearly as extreme. Technically yes, if you are eating less, your body goes into starvation mode and takes energy stored by fat to make up for the lost energy. So, having a cheat day every once and a while can help your body and metabolism regulate itself again.

3. Losing weight may never feel like enough.

While yes, when you are at a health risk and finally reach a weight that is healthier for you, that may be enough. However, when losing weight with the mindset of minimizing insecurities, you may find yourself never satisfied. 

4. Weight loss locations on your body are random.

When losing weight, you may want it to be in your legs, but it could start in your face and arms. Sometimes women even go down a bra size before the weight loss reaches their stomach. All these workouts that say, “Lose Tummy Fat with These Workouts” are not true.

Now, you can choose to workout and build muscle in certain areas, but you cannot control where weight loss happens on your body. Cardio is used for burning calories, while weight lifting is used for building muscle in certain regions (which is an important factor to remember in overall body weight gain). 

5. Life is too short.

Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that even if we have a higher weight, we can still live long ,happy and meaningful lives. Eating gives us energy to enjoy moments and memories that last far longer than our overthinking. 

Some of the risks with weight loss can be more dramatic than one may realize. Your brain, heart and intestines can be chipped away in small amounts as your body starts to eat itself. The quality of your hair, skin and nails decreases. Focusing on anything becomes much more challenging. Muscle mass and estrogen levels decrease. 

I don’t mean to say these things to scare anyone off from weight loss. Like I’ve said before, sometimes weight loss is necessary and, when done properly, does not carry a high percentage of these risks. 

To conclude, losing weight can be a worthwhile effort that only really works when you aren’t putting yourself through hell. This almost unanimous desire to be lighter has tormented women for centuries. If you or a loved one wants to lose weight, please consult a doctor or nutritionist first before creating your own plans.