Most of us step on the scales to lose weight or prevent them from gaining weight. We believe that scales provide important information about our body and health.
We are wrong.
Yes, the scale shows our weight. However, it turned out to be of little use, as it wasn’t really important information. In fact, it’s far more harmful than useful.
It’s time to throw away your scale — that’s why.
Pop Quiz: Which of these statements is wrong?
- Weight is an indicator of health.
- Losing weight is good for our health.
- Dieting helps us lose weight and become healthy.
Answer: All of them.
It’s shocking, isn’t it? Most of us are under the false assumption that with all our efforts, all of our bodies can become thin, and it is healthier to make them thinner.
In fact, just as body height and color are different, so is body weight.
It is called body diversity. A fat person does not “fail” to be a lean person. Our weight is much more determined by genetics than we choose to eat or not. Our environment, age, gender and personal history also play a role.
Trying to change our weight is not as realistic as the “calorie-in Another fact is that we cannot judge someone’s health by weighing them. A fat person can be healthy and a lean person can be unhealthy. In fact, studies have shown that people in the “overweight” category have a longer life expectancy than people in the “normal weight” category (the names of these categories themselves contribute to weight bias. , Need to be changed). Another surprising fact is that there are no research studies showing that weight loss improves health and life expectancy. The health improvements found in these studies were not due to changes in body weight. Literally, there is no evidence that losing weight leads to improved health, but we just go ahead and try every conceivable way to lose weight. Ironically, the more you focus on weight loss, the longer you will gain weight. More importantly, the more we focus on weight loss, the worse our health deteriorates. That’s why I want you to throw away your scale. We believe that you can control your weight by controlling calories, so reduce calories more than you need and check your scale to see if it succeeded or failed. This will prepare you for both mental and physical health problems. Initially, if we can stick to it, the diet will be “successful.” You will lose weight and feel better. Then it gets harder. Eventually, your weight will return to normal, usually in a few years. We are really sick about this. Even dieters and doctors tell us that losing weight is not only healthy, but completely realistic for everyone. So when it doesn’t work, we blame ourselves. Frankly, society is also blaming us. We feel embarrassed, embarrassed, and mistaken. Our self-esteem declines, depression rises, and our body image becomes major depression. I was told that I could lose weight just by trying it, so I’ll try again. The numbers on the scale can be very meaningful. The obsession with that number can be subtle. People believe that it makes perfect sense to weigh themselves every day. How many times did that number ruin your day? How many times have you punished yourself for gaining or not losing weight in any way? Our focused focus on weight loss robs us of our joy. Our stress levels increase, our focus on food, weight and movement increases, and our meaningful activities decrease. We are at increased risk of developing eating disorders. Dieting is terrible for our mental health. We continue on a diet after a diet because we believe that losing weight is important and necessary for health and general acceptance. That is what we are told. Two-thirds of us will regain more weight than we initially lost. In fact, diet is the best way to predict future weight gain. The diet doesn’t work. If they worked, it would be a one-time situation. Instead, the average adult will continue on 126 diets throughout his life. Women spend an average of 17 years on a diet. advertisement Improve your mental health in the most convenient and affordable way with Talkspace.com’s online therapy! Click here to chat with the therapist. The diet obviously doesn’t work. A diet doesn’t fail just because you don’t have enough willpower or you’re wrong. Diets are unlikely to be successful in the long run, as our bodies are designed to lose weight and resist losing weight. We are wired to resist hunger. Biology is real. Dieting is not only a waste of time, money, joy, energy and self-esteem, but it can also reduce bone mass and increase cortisol, which causes inflammation. And that creates weight cycling. The more diets we continue, the more our weight cycle, the yo-yo. Weight cycling also causes inflammation and puts you at risk for many chronic illnesses, as well as high blood pressure, insulin resistance, poor heart health, and increased mortality. Being “not lean” or fat is not a real health problem, but dieting and weight cycling are. I am confident that the diet will continue this time. We lose weight and stay low. And if not, that’s not the case for the majority of us, but we are putting our health at even greater risk. This is the problem I have on the scale. If you are interested in health, get off the scale and throw it away immediately. Instead, increase social connectivity, generally adequate fruit and vegetable intake, physical activity, getting enough sleep, reducing stress, quitting smoking, moderate alcohol at best, and weight and weight loss as health factors. Not focused. Abandoning the scale is the first step to improving your health. Suzanne Manser, PhD, is a qualified psychologist specializing in eating disorders and body imagery. For more information on her body acceptance and self-acceptance, visit her blog and join her on her Instagram: @drsuzannemanser.What Happens: We deliberately have some kind of diet to lose weight.
What isn’t said is that 95% of diets fail in the long run — we will regain weight within 1 to 5 years.
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