Debunking Weight Loss Myths
A really good friend and HAES-friendly dietitian recently passed this amazing article onto me. It's called Everything You've Been Told About Weight Loss is Bull Sh!t. And, I got to admit, it's really good. It's really good because the authors, Louis Adams (Clinical Psychologist) and Fiona Willer (Accredited Practising Dietitian) did an excellent job of including supportive research in debunking these common diet myths.
Below, I have summarized their 10 diet myths but I highly encouraged you head over to the Untrapped website to download your own copy of their e-book, which includes all the great references they have provided in debunking these myths.
Without further ado, here are 10 Diet Myths Debunked:
Myth # 1: Losing Weight Is Easy
- Despite what diet culture wants us to believe, losing weight and keeping it off is actually very difficult. Any initial weight loss from a diet is due to calorie restriction, regardless of the diet. With calorie restriction, most people notice weight loss for a maximum period of about 6 months. After that period, almost everyone starts to regain the weight, and by 2-5 years later, the majority (95%) are back to their pre-diet weight, with about one-to-two thirds of the dieters ending up heavier than they were before the diet.
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Myth # 2: You Can Pick Your Goal Weight
- A review of 21 long term weight loss studies found that, on average, people who dieted were able to maintain an average weight loss of .94kg (2lbs) after 2 years. One of the most significant factors that determines weight is genetic inheritance. There are other factors that influence weight -- see Myth #5.
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Myth # 3: Being Even A Little Bit Fat Will Kill You
- It's actually behaviours that influence mortality rates more so than weight. Inactive thin people have a higher risk of dying sooner than an active heavier person. One study found that the following 4 health behaviours: Eating 5 or more fruits and vegetables daily, Exercising regularly (around 3 times per week), Consuming alcohol in moderation, and Not smoking, were better predictors of increasing lifespan than a person's Body Mass Index (BMI).
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Myth # 4: Weight Loss Will Make You Live Longer
- There is extensive research (again, download the article listed above for the full references) that demonstrates that weight loss is associated with an increased risk of early death. It seems that being on the extremes of either end of the weight spectrum (i.e. people who are very thin and very heavy -- BMI above 35) have a higher death rate. The lowest mortality rate shifts towards heavier BMIs (25-30) with increasing age, which according to the classification system of the BMI, is someone who is "overweight".
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Myth # 5: It's Just Calories In, Calories Out
- It's not just food that is shaping our bodies. Check out this map that lists over 100 factors that contribute to weight. Genetic inheritance was already mentioned as largely determining weight. Other notable sources that contribute to weight are stress, sleep deprivation, socioeconomic status, experiences of oppression and trauma, and dieting. As mentioned above, dieters tend to gain more weight in the long-term due to dieting.
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Myth # 6: Weight Loss Will Make You Healthy Just Like A Thin Person
- Again, it's people's behaviours (such as those listed above: eating more fruits and vegetables, exercising, not smoking, etc.) that are responsible for improved health, not the weight loss in itself. If it was just removing fat, liposuction would improve health factors but lipo doesn't contribute to any meaningful health changes.
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Myth # 7: Weight Loss Is Harmless
- The majority of dieters tend to yo-yo diet and weight cycle (i.e. gain weight, go on another diet, lose some weight, gain back, go on another diet). There is research to suggest yo-yo dieters that weight cycle, by around 8lbs, were found to be at a higher risk for strokes, heart attacks and shortened life expectancy than those who experience weight stability or minimal weight shifts (around 2lbs).
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Myth # 8: Weight Loss Will Make You Feel Better About Your Body
- Weight loss is not the solution for improving self-esteem. While short-term weight loss has shown to temporarily improve self esteem; when the weight is gained back on, self-esteem is impacted again. It is possible to feel good in your body regardless of size. Check out MeHealing's Trifecta for ideas for improving body image that doesn't involve weight loss.
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Myth # 9: Weight Loss Will Make You Sexy
- What is sexy today will change in the future. "Beauty" and "Sexiness" are culturally constructed concepts. Meaning the concept of beauty and sex is shaped by what is considered to be desirable by the dominant culture at the time, rather than as an universal truth. Unfortunately, diet culture persists in convincing many people that thin is sexy and fat is unattractive. However, an interesting research study found that male villagers in an isolated Peruvian village, upon being shown pictures of Western supermodels, described the models not as sexy but rather as "pale, almost dead"...and...looks like they [the models] "had diarrhea a few days ago".
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Myth # 10: It's Not A Diet, It's A Lifestyle / Healthy Eating Plan / Clean Eating / Way Of Life
- Anything that is promoting a set of rules, guidelines, or restrictions with the intent of changing your appearance is a diet.
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Now it's normal to feel very discouraged when reading these myths debunked. Diet culture continues to persist throughout many societies. Many people want to lose weight and keep it off. It can be very difficult to look beyond the scale and feel good regardless of size.
Diets try to convinces us that we can't trust our intuition or know what our body's need for a healthy life. But you can feel sexy and confident regardless of weight! It is possible! There are ways to enjoy life and improve health without abiding to another diet.
It takes small steps and hard work to reject diet culture. It starts with you. And it starts with looking at your behaviours. Maybe it seeking counselling, learning more about intuitive eating, or finding ways to increase activity. The point is that it's about doing something other than dieting. All diets are the same: distrusting your body and following rules that lead to calorie restriction.
And as Louis Adams and Fiona Willer point out: "The truth is, nothing is wrong with trusting your body. People who do trust their bodies - those who eat intuitively - are just FINE".
