My Changed Perspective on Dieting

Diet is defined as the kind of food that a person habitually eats. It can now also be defined as restricting oneself to smaller amounts of food to lose weight. I myself have been on food restricting diets on and off for most of my life. My purpose was always one thing, to be thin. I never really cared about how it affected my physical or mental health. I have always considered myself FAT, even when I was not, but I was not able to see it at that time. So I did things in the most unhealthy way. I would not eat. Then at night, I would binge. I've tried Fad diets, and those dumb detox teas, pills, you name it, I've tried everything. Except for habitually eating healthy well rounded meals...

Like many of us I have struggled with my self esteem and therefore took damaging actions against myself. And the crazy thing is, I would not or will not ever be like the thin women I see on TV or on the runway. I am curvy, even when I am thin. Now, after having my son, and also that 15 pounds I put on after meeting my husband 4 years ago (that new relationship weight), I am overweight, actually considered obese. And I can't help but feel extremely self conscious about my body, a body that grew a whole human. However, now, unlike when I was younger, I am seeing women in the media that look more like myself. This is really a change from past media and a good one at that. Women can see bodies represented that look more like their own, its a beautiful thing. To remind you that you are worthy at any size and I do believe that is true.

However, with this body positivity movement has also come with the Health at Any Size movement. More and more we see women that are severely obese on the cover of magazines and on social media yelling "you can be healthy and obese! Health at any size!" The facts are, you can not.

In America roughly 42% of people are obese and 18% are considered morbidly or severely obese. So is the representation of different sizes nice to see? Maybe. But is this the right message to send? It seems we have traded one extreme for another. Instead of seeing all thin bodies in the media I am seeing more larger bodies, and people yelling that diets are bad, and health at every size. And for awhile I believed them.

Like I said, I have been through an array of diets and unhealthy mindsets in the past. But now I see the flaws. I still believe that Fad diets are damaging, and restricting yourself to only 1200 calories is ridiculous, but why are we being made to believe the word diet is bad and that being fat is healthy? Being obese, is not healthy. Speaking from my own experience with being overweight, I feel unhealthy. My back and knees hurt, sometimes walking winds me, it feels terrible. I am not a doctor, but I do know that extra fat on your body means extra fat on your organs, and that is Not healthy. There are about 200 different ailments and deceases that come along with obesity. So why is media telling us that being obese is healthy and dieting is so wrong? Why have we gone from one extreme to another? Can't we meet in the middle? Can't we meet at heathy?

This is why I have changed my perspective on dieting. While once I thought it was a dirty word, I realize it is not, as long as you change the narrative. I am now more knowledgeable to diet the right way. To create a habitually healthy eating routine (a diet). And yes, that does mean eating in a calorie deficit, because that is how you lose weight. I know that just like being obese, not eating is not healthy.

Just like I think telling people not to eat it irresponsible, telling people that you can be obese and healthy is also irresponsible. If you put an anorexic woman on a magazine people would be outraged, because that is not healthy or a good representation to other women. So why has it become okay to put a morbidly obese woman on a magazine and scream Healthy? Have we gone to far?