The reason I can’t help you lose weight.
I run a weight-inclusive practice, because to me, this is the only ethical approach to take in nutrition care. Not only do fantasies of weight loss get in the way of health goals and often do harm to clients, all the best research on weight loss shows that dieting is ineffective and usually counter-productive. To me, weight-neutral practice is the only ethical approach to take because based on the evidence, it’s very unlikely that anyone can help you lose weight (in the long run).
Most people assume that health and weight are closely related, and that to be healthy, they’ll need to lose weight. When I explain that I don’t set weight goals with clients, but instead set health goals, this often confuses clients because they assume they’re tightly linked.
Everywhere you look, size bias and diet culture tell us that we should be thinner, that we should never eat freely, and that our health is at risk if we gain weight. But these assumptions aren’t backed by the research of the past 50 years or more. Restricting food tends to lead to binges (the “restrict-binge cycle”), 95% of weight-loss attempts fail in the long run, and most people regain more weight than was initially lost (“weight cycling”).
Many (including healthcare providers) are hesitant about this conclusion, because we assume that the message “diets don’t work” means “giving up” on our health. This isn’t the case at all! Making healthy dietary changes can improve markers like blood pressure, blood sugars, fitness level, strength, endurance, mental health and more, even if you don’t see any changes to your weight or size. Nutrition supports your health no matter what size you are (the same goes for movement, by the way).
Giving up on the fantasy of weight loss can be a long process (including for me!). However, on the other side of this acceptance is a freer life that includes taking more pleasure in food and being less self-critical. An intuitive eating approach can be extremely helpful on this journey.
We’ve all (maddeningly) internalized the assumptions that being thin is important for our health and happiness, that weight loss is simple and achievable, and that we should measure our self-worth based on our body size. We can let all of this go and learn to accept (or at least tolerate) our bodies as they are.
If you’re still skeptical (completely understandable, since we’ve all been swimming in diet culture for our entire lives), I recommend looking at the resources below to dip your toes into body acceptance:
10 Principles of Intuitive Eating
Ragen Chastain’s excellent Substack
Christy Harrison’s podcast, Food Psych
And of course, I’m here to support you with intuitive eating—you can book a free phone consult or initial assessment whenever you’re ready to get started!
One last thing…
In occasional, specific cases, I do ask for or track weight. For example, unintentional weight-loss can be a red flag, especially in pregnancy or for kids. This is part of our collaborative agreement about what would be most effective, and always in the context of your relationship with food and your body.