A lot of people believe you can’t be healthy if you are overweight, but that assumption simply isn’t true. Health isn’t just about your physical well being; it is about your whole life, your whole being. Everything that comes together to make you who you are as an individual contributes to your health, and that combination is different for every single one of us! What is healthy for you might not be healthy for me because we don’t all fit into a single mold. For example, if you are lactose intolerant or I have a long term illness, our needs to be healthy aren’t the same. And since we are all different, our approach to our health needs to reflect those differences.
One way to address our differences is by practicing a way of thinking called Health at Every Size (HAES). HAES focuses on self-care and self-appreciation rather than some number on a scale. Weight isn’t the main issue for having a healthy lifestyle, self-care is the issue. Self-care includes things like regular enjoyable movement (maybe rollerblading with your friends, dancing, or riding a bike), a balanced nutritional intake that meets your individual needs, reducing stress and increasing relaxation (kicking back and chilling out when you need to), attending to your emotional needs (knowing when you are sad and how best to deal with it), and enjoying time with your friends and family. All of the things that contribute to your happiness, in turn, affect your health.
Losing weight is never the priority, or even the goal, when practicing HAES, which is something we don’t come across very often in our weight obsessed society! When I recently joined a gym I told the trainer I wasn’t interested in being weighed or measured because these things aren’t the reason I exercise. Instead, I want to increase my strength and endurance levels. I want to find a physical activity that I enjoy, that I can keep up with on a regular basis, and that will improve my overall well being. I don’t want my exercise habits to become about arbitrary weights and measurements, and I certainly don’t want it to be a punishment I inflict on myself because I ate a cupcake or two!
In order to be healthy, we must accept ALL body sizes—be they small, medium or large! We all deserve to be able to eat well, enjoy physical movement, and care for our personal well being, no matter how much we weigh. Because that is what it means to be healthy at every size.
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