
Take a look at these questions and choose one to answer yes to.ĭo you want to lose weight so you can feel accepted?ĭo you want to lose weight so you can look more physically attractive to others?ĭo you want to lose weight so you will feel mentally and physically healthier? Determining If Weight Loss Is Right For Youīefore going on a weight loss journey, think about why you want to lose weight. While it’s difficult to ignore diet culture, try your best to love, nourish, and care for your own body regardless of what society’s (current) idea of an ideal body is. al, the authors express that “iet culture's emphasis on impossible body standards contributes to the body dissatisfaction that has become the norm for American women and that is associated with an increased risk of depression and suicide … In addition, women are more likely to experience diet culture pressures during times of significant change, like the transition to adulthood” ( 1). Trying to change your body to look like someone else is unhealthy, unsustainable, and damaging to your health. The authors of this article make a good point about how diets almost always result in short-term weight loss because our bodies need different amounts of calories and needs in order to be healthy and at our personal set-point weights. al, where authors state that “he concept of a body weight set point, determined predominantly by genetic mechanisms, has been proposed to explain the poor long-term results of conventional energy restricted diets in the treatment of obesity” ( 2). The definition of set point weight was explained well in an article by Michael Agus et. All of us were born with different bone structures and have different set point weights (certain weights or weight ranges our bodies were naturally and genetically intended to be at). Why You Should Ignore Diet CultureĮvery single body is different, and trying to attain a body that society idealizes can be nearly impossible. But that doesn’t have to be your story – you can reclaim your power! Don’t let diet culture be the reason why you want to lose weight. The emphasis on dieting and weight loss has resulted in a culture with a strong desire to lose weight, an unhealthy relationship with food, and poor body image. According to an article by Meara Faw et al., diet culture consists of “Pervasive cultural norms that emphasize thinness, control, and restriction around eating and exercise behaviors, and the moralization of food” ( 1). With all these ridiculous diet trends and ever-changing body ideals shown on social media, in magazines, online, on billboards – basically, everywhere you look – society has created a diet culture focused on unsustainable fad diets. Additionally, slim, curvy, and slim-thick are just a few of the body sizes that our society has idealized at one point in time, although body ideals are constantly changing. Though they have a platform, they are, more often than not, uneducated in the field of nutrition and dietetics.


Influencers, magazine writers, nutritionists, and personal trainers are just a few people who constantly promote new diets and share weight loss tips.

Trigger warning: if you have experienced or are experiencing an eating disorder or disordered eating and you don’t feel this article will serve you, please skip over it. Let’s learn more about finding a way to lose weight healthily amid the diet culture. Diet culture and weight loss myths are constantly pushed, and they’re often difficult to ignore. Unfortunately, the latter isn’t always promoted in our society. On the contrary, a balanced diet and a healthy relationship with food results in weight loss that is sustainable and long-lasting. Let’s be real … going on a strict diet or calorie deficit only leads to short-term weight loss.
