Thin Is Not The Same As Healthy

If you’re on a diet right now, you’re not alone. Everyone from your mom to your pediatrician to Oprah will tell you that the key to a long, happy, healthy life is getting your weight “under control.” From all sides, the message is clear: Weight loss is critical to health, and diets will help you get there.

The trouble is that it’s just not true.

There is widespread evidence that diets – restricting calories with the goal of weight loss – don’t work. It’s not that everything you’ve ever learned about the importance of eating nutrient-rich foods and getting regular exercise is wrong. Those things will absolutely make you healthier. What they won’t do is make you thin.

The vast majority of diets do not lead to sustained weight loss. What they do lead to is rampant preoccupation with food and weight, a toxic cultural thin ideal, body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and for 10% of our population, life-threatening eating disorders.

Last week, Weight Watchers announced a program to provide free memberships to 10 million teens. The eating disorder community took to social media to urge Weight Watchers to reconsider, sharing personal stories of the damage that dieting has inflicted. It was powerful. But the problem is bigger than Weight Watchers, or even teen dieting.

The problem is thinking of weight as an indicator of health. As a group of scientists, therapists, diet survivors, and concerned citizens, we’re #donewithdieting. Here’s why.