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Let’s start with the truth bomb no one asked for but everyone needs: You can be overweight, or even obese, and still be metabolically healthy. Yup. I said it.
Take a sip of that coffee, friend, because we’re about to blow up some myths that have overstayed their welcome.
Diet culture is a master manipulator. It tells us that health comes in one size (spoiler: it doesn’t), that weight loss is always the answer (it isn’t), and that your body is a “before” photo just waiting to become the “after.” It’s loud, pushy, and dressed up like “wellness.” And women, especially busy, burned-out, doing-all-the-things women, have been its favorite target.
From skinny teas to “clean eating” obsessions, diet culture rebrands itself every few years. But the message stays the same: Shrink yourself to be worthy.
And let me be clear. That’s garbage.
Let’s talk science for a hot minute. Don’t worry, I’ll make it quick. You can have stable blood sugar, healthy cholesterol levels, normal blood pressure, and a thriving gut microbiome at a size that doesn’t fit into “straight sizes.” There’s a growing body of research showing that metabolic health can exist across a range of body sizes.
Yes, there are people in larger bodies who are unwell. Just like there are people in smaller bodies who are also unwell. Health is nuanced. Your weight is one data point, not a diagnosis.
So, can we stop pretending BMI is a crystal ball? Because spoiler: it was created in the 1830s by a Belgian mathematician who wasn’t a doctor and wasn’t thinking about women’s bodies when he came up with it.
Ever left a doctor’s appointment with zero answers about your fatigue, bloating, blood sugar control, or anxiety, and only left with a lecture on weight loss? Yeah, me too. And it’s infuriating.
Weight discrimination in healthcare is real. Studies show that patients with larger bodies are often misdiagnosed, dismissed, or under-treated. Instead of getting labs run or questions answered, they get blanket advice to “just lose weight.” Because that’s soooo helpful when your thyroid is out of whack or you’re deep in perimenopause, right?
This kind of bias doesn’t just hurt feelings. It delays treatment, worsens health outcomes, and erodes trust. Unfortunately, I hear this from clients all the time when they are spoken down to by their physicians or their concerns aren’t addressed, but are told to “just lose another 20lbs.”
Let’s not forget the soul-sucking loop of diet cycling. That exhausting ritual where you restrict, lose a few pounds, feel good for five minutes, fall off the wagon, feel like crap, and start all over again on Monday.
It’s not your lack of willpower, my friend. It’s biology.
Restrictive diets trigger survival mechanisms. Hunger hormones surge, your metabolism slows down, and your brain fixates on food. Ever find yourself researching cookie recipes during a juice cleanse? That’s not a moral failing. That’s your body trying to survive. You need CARBS, it is your body’s preferred source of fuel.
Over time, this cycle damages more than your metabolism. It chips away at your self-worth, which, in my opinion, is much worse.
What if we started measuring health by things like:
And what if we started respecting our bodies instead of trying to constantly fix them?
What if we saw movement as a celebration, not punishment?
What if we realized food isn’t the enemy, but also not our therapist?
What if we got honest about the fact that self-care doesn’t come in a “before and after” photo?
You deserve better than a lifetime of kale penance and self-hatred.
You deserve doctors who look at your labs, not your jeans size.
You deserve to feel good in your skin without having to earn it through restriction.
You are allowed to take up space, in every possible way.
So let’s call out the BS, embrace our individuality, and stop equating health with a number on the scale. Let’s trust our bodies, nourish them, move them, rest them, and most of all, respect them.
Your body isn’t broken. Diet culture is.
The fact is, you CAN make changes that you feel good about to get to a place where you feel healthy and comfortable in your clothes, but shaming yourself, is NOT the way to sustain those changes.
If this resonates with you and you need help escaping the diet spiral and tuning into what actually makes you feel better? I would love to help you. That’s exactly what I help women do in my Chaos to Clarity program, where we focus on real health, not shrinking bodies. You can get more information here.
Always in your corner,
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