New Year Resolution

What are your new year's resolutions? Is it to lose weight? Exercise more? Go on an extreme diet? Well, you wouldn't be the only one. Roughly about 55% of people's New Year revolution was related to losing weight. According to a study by the University of Scranton, just 8% of people reached their goal and 80% gave up before February. So how can someone have a more realistic and healthier resolution?

Diet culture is everywhere we look: on signs driving down the highway, on benches, girls shaming each other on the internet for eating at McDonald's, it's everywhere. I speculate something that slips most minds is that everyone is dominated by diet culture. Underweight people are “too small” and people who weigh more than the person next to them are labeled “lazy”. There comes a point, as we fall down the rabbit hole of an ever-shrinking waistline when we ask ourselves ‘when will it finally be enough?’

“As a culture, we continue to equate thinness with wellness and weight loss with effort. Thin = healthy, fat = unhealthy. Losing weight = accomplishment, gaining weight = laziness.”

https://greatist.com/live/toxic-diet-culture#1

There are a few individuals who lose weight because of health reasons, but most jump on the diet wagon because of body image issues, or simply their favorite influencer created a new diet that ‘made them lose 50 pounds in two months’, but there are better options. Instead of making your New Year's resolution to lose weight, first, think about ‘What does it mean to love yourself.’

One study reports that at age thirteen, 53% of American girls are “unhappy with their bodies.” This grows to 78% by the time girls reach seventeen. This study also showed that 46% of 9-11 year-olds are “sometimes” or “very often” on diets, and 82% of their families are ‘” sometimes' ' or “very often' ' on diets. (https://now.org/now-foundation/love-your-body/love-your-body-whats-it-all-about/get-the-facts/)

https://www.besthealthmag.com gives the steps to lose weight. Step 5: Sweat the small stuff. They say “A free sample of pizza at the grocery store. A nibble of the cookies your colleague brought into work. A bite of your son’s grilled cheese sandwich at the diner. Yes, it may just be a taste here and there but the calories from those BLTs — bites, licks, and tastes — really do add up.” Now, https://wanderlust.com/journal/10-steps-to-self-love-success/ gives advice on how to love yourself to lose weight. Number three on their list is “forgive yourself”. They say “How can you expect to move forward in your life if you’re being weighed down by anger and resentment? It’s simple. You can’t. It’s time to forgive. Forgive yourself, and forgive others.” The two statements are completely different. One explains that every single nibble is terrible and the other explains the guide the self-love is to forgive mistakes and learn from them. Beating yourself up over everything just causes resentment that leads to never being truly happy, even if you lose those 20 pounds.

A healthy way to lose weight can be achieved in many ways, but this is the simplest way to put it: learn to love yourself first. In a world that revolves around the internet's perspective on the body, we are taught: flat stomachs, no double chin, clear skin, small noses, and white teeth. We as a society fail to realize that social media is a toxic mirror, criticizing every flaw and anything ‘abnormal’.

Not only is self love an important part of healthy weight loss, what we put into our body can have a tremendous impact. Making a diet that works for every single person is impossible because everyone's body works differently, so creating eating habits that work for you can take some experimenting. A key point though is making sure your body is getting enough food. Being in high school, the temptation and desire to drop a meal or two out of your diet is increased and more common with young minds. In reality, skipping meals and starving yourself makes you gain weight. https://lifesum.com/ says “Additionally, your body's natural response to a decrease in food can lead to your body's metabolism slowing so that your body can conserve energy. In the long run, this slowing metabolism can lead to weight gain.” Instead of reducing the amount of food you eat, think about alternatives to the food you already eat. For example, attempt trading soda for sparkling water or try tofu for the first time.

Even if your new year resolution isn't related to losing weight or if you simply do not strive for weight loss, it is always significant for all of us to work on self-love and what we put into our body. We're all dominated by diet culture in some aspect or another, it's our responsibility as a community to change the way we see each other. No one should be shamed or put down for their looks, and acknowledging that we are all different is the first step we can take in a positive direction.

Top Five Body Empowerment Books

The Princess Saves Herself In This One-Amanda Lovelace

Big Girl: How I Gave Up Dieting and Got a Life- Kelsey Miller

The Gifts of Imperfection- BRENE BROWN

Beautiful You- ROSIE MOLINARY

Health At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight- LINDA BACON