Are you hoping to break free from the diet mentality when it comes to exercise, so you can FINALLY experience Joyful Movement, peace with food, and confidence in the body you have?

As a Health at Every Size® Personal Trainer and Body Image Coach in Ontario with over 10 years in the fitness industry, I discovered the 10 Principles of Joyful Movement. Embracing joyful movement is an important step in moving away from the diet trap and catapulting into a space of self-care and body acceptance.

Today I want to talk about the first principle of joyful movement: rejecting the diet mentality. This can be a difficult process as it involves challenging mainstream media messages about fitness and exercise.

Prefer to listen?  Check out this episode of The Joyful Movement Show.

Diet Mentality in the Fitness Industry

There is a societal belief that thinner is better and that if we just exercise hard enough, we can change our weight, shape, and size. In fact, although I am known as a Health at Every Size® Personal Trainer, clients often share that their goal for working out with me is to achieve weight loss. 

This isn’t surprising since 91% of women are unhappy with their body and at any given time, 50% are actively trying to change it. A reality that holds true regardless of size or shape – even for those who are deemed ‘thin’ by societal standards. So isn’t it interesting that despite society’s insistence that thinness is the key to increased happiness and health, 91% of women still remain unsatisfied with their bodies? If that were really true, wouldn’t all of those people who have lost weight or are naturally thin out there be satisfied and happy with their bodies? 

Despite knowing that not everyone who is thin is actually content with their body, there remains a belief in our society that we should all be striving towards “one ideal shape.” As a result of this pervasive diet mentality in the fitness industry, many people live in fear of gaining weight and carry shame and stigma around fatness. This is diet culture. 

Reject the Diet Mentality

Diet culture is a damaging system that preaches thinness as the key to health and moral virtue, causing people to feel broken when they don’t fit its harmful standards. This mentality can be traced back to the roots of patriarchy and racism, making it even more concerning how it has been embedded so deeply into society. However, while most people are not openly dieting, they could still be participating in this harmful ideology without realizing it. Avoiding food groups, measuring portions, and exchanging exercise calories for food calories can still contribute to its toxic effects – any behavior used to control one’s body size is considered part of diet culture.

So when I say that the first principle to embracing joyful movement is to reject the diet mindset- this is what I’m talking about. It’s important that the first step is to reject the concept that exercise is a way to earn food or make up for eating “bad foods.” It’s time to reject using exercise as a way to change or control the size and shape of your body. Let’s all reject participating in challenges, programs, or workouts that feel like torture for the sole reason of chasing the thin ideal.

Why Chasing Thinness Through Exercise Doesn’t Work- The Facts

As a Health at Every Size® Personal Trainer, I know that attempting to lose weight through any sort of restrictive eating plan or exercise regime doesn’t work in the long term. This is because:

• 95% of weight loss attempts fail within one to five years.
• We all have a weight set point range that the body fights to stay in.
• Every time we lose and gain it back, we put our health at risk.
• Losing weight does not always equate to improved health

If you wish to read more research about Health at Every Size®, I recommend checking out The Association for Size Diversity and Health; the founders of HAES®.

Again, 95% of people who lose weight put it back on, and this is because our bodies have a predetermined, genetic set point and we cannot live in a restricted state forever. In addition, every time we lose and gain weight back, we put our health at risk. Not only does weight cycling mess with our metabolic system, making it harder to maintain our weight or lose it the next time, but we’re actually putting ourselves at risk for the exact conditions we’re trying to prevent, such as heart disease, diabetes, muscle loss, fatty liver- these are all results of weight cycling or yo-yo dieting.

But What about BMI (Body Mass Index)? 

It’s a widely held myth, even amongst the medical community, that having a high BMI causes chronic health conditions. There’s actually a lot of evidence to the contrary. In fact, obesity alone isn’t a danger to health. High BMI is correlated to many long-term health conditions, but it doesn’t necessarily cause them. Correlation means the two conditions often exist together. For example, smoking is correlated with alcoholism, but that doesn’t mean that being a smoker will cause you to be an alcoholic. Having a high BMI is correlated with disease, but it doesn’t necessarily cause disease. What is much more causative are the lifestyle factors that sometimes, but not always, accompany having a higher BMI; such as inadequate nutrition, lack of physical activity, smoking, drinking, and stress. But here’s the thing: people with a low BMI who have a similar lifestyle actually run the same risk of disease. Being thin in itself isn’t a protective factor either.

Fatphobia- the Real Reason Diet Culture Promotes Weight Loss

For years, we’ve been misled to believe that thinness was the only path to health and happiness. But it turns out diet culture has brainwashed us about what “healthy” really looks like. Why? Fatphobia. This outdated belief system has created an unhealthy obsession with weight loss, and created a fear of fatness. 

Unfortunately, our society has a tendency to harshly judge those who don’t fit within the mold of what is often championed as ‘ideal’. This type of judgment stems from fat phobia and can make people feel less-than. Instead of using words like overweight or obese which carry negative connotations, you may have noticed I use terms such as ‘fat’ and large-bodied. This is in an effort to destigmatize this language and break free from these harmful stereotypes. It’s not only important for us on an individual level but also collectively that we recognize health at every size and that all shapes are neutral. If you experience any discomfort related to the term “fat” when reading this message, take some time for reflection – could there possibly be elements of fatphobia internalized within yourself?

At the end of the day, the diet industry wants to make money. And since women often make purchasing decisions that are emotional, they have genius marketing tactics to create insecurities around our body image and worth- then sell a product that offers a “solution.” 

You don’t have to buy into the diet mentality to be successful in your fitness journey. In fact, rejecting the diet mentality is the first step to creating a healthy relationship with your body, food, and exercise. Once you’re armed with that knowledge, you can start making changes in your own life to break free from the restrictive mindset that diets promote. Keep an eye out for my future posts about the rest of the Principles of Joyful Movement.