Body Image
Body Dissatisfaction, Preoccupation With Body Size, Shape & Weight & Body Shaming
Unfortunately, body dissatisfaction and preoccupation with size, shape and weight is very common. Unrealistic socio-cultural standards are heavily reinforced by mass media saturation and diet/health/fitness/beauty/wellness industries who have a vested interest in keeping people dissatisfied and preoccupied with their bodies.
Thin/fit privilege, weight prejudice and fear of fatness is endemic and many people wrongly assume that fatness is the primary indicator of health status, which makes it easy to medicalise, pathologise, stigmatise and make moral judgments about bodies that do not reflect thin/fit cultural ideals (most people). It is true that westerners are fatter than previous generations but there are complex reasons for this that are not necessarily under an individual’s control.
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Fatter people experience unrelenting criticism, shaming and discrimination, often cloaked as “health” concerns. Thinner people are idealised and experience unjustified praise and privileges but are also bullied and accused of having eating disorders due to envy/jealousy. Average sized people often mistakenly believe they are unhealthy because they are not thin or fit enough. Women and girls are particularly vulnerable due to their value traditionally being based primarily on physical appearance but men and boys are increasingly vulnerable.
The Truth About Diets, Weight & Health
Even well-meaning health and medical professionals can be weight prejudiced, make weight a primary focus and recommend weight loss diets. HOWEVER, substantial, peer-reviewed scientific research indicates that:
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- Restrictive weight loss diets DO NOT WORK in the long-term for the vast majority of people.
- Restrictive dieters may lose weight initially but this is not maintained over time. Most regain the weight and many gain even more weight so end up heavier than when they started.
- Chronic weight loss dieting causes serious physical and psychological harm, such as depression, anxiety and eating disorders, and appetite dysregulation, increases in appetite and decreases in metabolism that leads to weight gain over time.
- Body Mass Index (BMI), is not an accurate health measure. People categorised as “underweight”, “overweight” or “obese” can be healthy.
- There are many indicators of physical and mental health. You can’t judge a person’s overall health status by their weight.
- Smoking, drinking too much alcohol and inactivity have a greater impact on overall health and mortality than weight.
- On average, according to BMI categories, “overweight” people actually live longer than “normal” weight people.
- There is a protective effect of fatness and fat is an exaggerated health risk.
- Weight and body related criticism, shaming and discrimination are seriously physically and psychologically harmful and DO NOT promote desired behaviour or weight changes.
- Health improvements can occur in people of all sizes, independent of weight changes.
- The pursuit of weight loss is more likely to lead to health decrements in most people over the long-term.
The Non-Diet/Weight Neutral Approach
I have a holistic view of health and well-being, which recognises that there is a lot more to a person and to health than body size, shape and weight. I accept the natural diversity of body sizes, shapes and weights and view cultural idealising and pathologising of particular body types as problematic. I use a scientific evidence-based, non-diet approach to assisting people with body image and weight concerns. This is a gentle approach that encourages flexible thinking and behaviour changes: teaching people mindful and intuitive eating to enjoy a wide variety of foods, honour internal cues of hunger and satiation, and meet nutritional needs; joyful physical activity, self-respect and acceptance; compassionate self-care; and resilience.
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This approach recognises that not everyone’s weight is healthy, but it shifts the focus away from weight control (because research shows this doesn’t help and is more likely to cause harm), and towards enhancing overall physical and psychological health, well-being and quality of life.
Most non-diet approach interventions have shown positive physical and psychological outcomes and stable or decreased Body Mass Index (BMI) after treatment. Health and medical professionals are becoming more aware of the scientific evidence and are starting to use this approach. However, the promotion of weight loss is still a big problem due to the influence of the diet industry and weight prejudice that is endemic in mainstream society.
For more information about non-diet approaches, scientific evidence, and body size diversity see:
Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out And Just Plain Fail To Understand About Weight (2014) by Professor Linda Bacon & Lucy Aphramor.
Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat: How To Break Your Eat, Repent, Repeat Cycle (2013) by Dr Michelle May.
Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program that Works (2012) by Evelyn Tribole & Elyse Resch.
Health At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight (2010) by Professor Linda Bacon.
If Not Dieting Then What (2004) by Dr Rick Kausman.
To address your body image and weight concerns using the Non-Diet Approach, contact Lesley Russell on 0412 638 749, email lesley@lesleyrussell.com.au or complete my enquiry form.
Endorsement
Endorsement by the Australian Health
Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA)
Area of Practice: Clinical Psychology
Registrations:
> Psychology Board of Australia
> Health Insurance Commission (Medicare)
Credentialed Eating Disorder Clinician
Contact Me
8/294 Sydney Rd, Balgowlah NSW 2093
P: 0412 638 749
Email me:
or complete my enquiry form.
Professional Memberships
> The Australian Psychological Society (APS)
> The APS College of Clinical Psychologists
> Australia & New Zealand Academy for
Eating Disorders (ANZAED); National Eating Disorders Collaboration (NEDC)
© Copyright Lesley Russell 2024.