Can I Pursue Weight Loss And Avoid Falling Prey To "Diet Culture"?

Now I'm sharing what I know with you fitness , nutrition and all the deeper stuff to help you discover your strongest body . Hello , hello , welcome back to another episode of your strongest body .

I don't know if you noticed it , but on my most recent episode I started recording and if you're listening to the episode , it jumps into , like me talking , because I said the name of my old podcast in the intro and I was like , oh , I got to take this out , so it kind of jumps into the conversation .

So that is an insider tip on listening to the podcast . I had a previous podcast , coach's Chat that was geared toward trainers and I did so many episodes . Sometimes I fall back into that . But welcome to your strongest body . This is about you .

This is about folks who are looking to build their strongest body , looking to learn about fitness , nutrition , body image , mindset , the way to really transform their bodies , their commitment and experience joy when exercising and also maybe have some fun doing it , so you can do it for the long haul . So , yes , you are listening to your strongest body .

Today we're talking about a topic that's pretty near and dear to me as a coach , and one that requires a lot of critical thought and nuance , so I want to get into it right away , so we have enough time , and I also want to say that there is no way in the kind of podcast episode length that I'm trying to accomplish here that I can really talk about the

full breadth of this system , these challenges , this topic in general . So I'm going to do my absolute best today and we can determine whether or not we want to talk about this again , or I can point you to some other resources if this topic is important to you . So let's get started .

This comes from a question that I have received from clients who have hired me , as well as clients who are looking to hire me , and they want to know the answer to this question , and it is can I pursue weight loss and avoid falling prey to diet culture ?

This is a great question , and , if you know me and you know my content , I am pretty adamant about fitness , nutrition , strength in a space that exists .

To push against existing diet culture , to question what we've come to believe about bodies , about different kinds of bodies , different abilities , and discover something that feels great for us , both from a performance standpoint and an aesthetic standpoint , that is also existing , to shake up the status quo . So that is where I come from .

This is going to be a really nuanced conversation and I'm going to present some very factual information that is born out of existing research , as well as speak about anecdotal experiences .

But no matter what I present here , when it comes down to my final answer or to sort of where I land , that is an opinion and any coach who also shares their information or their answer to this question or their philosophy in coaching , it is going to maybe be built on evidence , built on existing research and existing experience through a critical lens , but it

is going to be an opinion . So you have to take my opinion for what it's worth and determine what is going to be best for you . Other coaches are going to have other answers or do other things , and I'd like to say that also .

My opinion on this has evolved and my opinion on many things about training and about nutrition and about bodies has evolved , and I really value that highly .

If I think about sort of values that are important to me , the ability to change your mind and to be able to allow your thoughts to evolve , to question what you were doing before and change it is really important to me . So this episode is going to be a moment in time . Who knows if in five to 10 years , I have a very different opinion .

If I do , I will acknowledge that I had a different opinion five years ago and two years ago , and now this is where I stand . So in this moment in time , I'm going to provide that answer for you .

I would encourage you to seek out people who are willing to question what they've been doing and do something differently if it's going to be the right choice to make . So , of note , I also think as I start this kind of conversation , I need to say that I am not a person living in a larger body or a fat body . No-transcript .

Fat bodies sometimes choose to call prefer to use the term fat bodies . Some prefer to use the term larger bodies . For my sake , I'm probably going to use the term larger bodies today , as I'm sort of outside of that community and that's what feels comfortable to me . But someone could always change that or encourage me to change my language around that .

But it's important to note when I have this conversation , I have privilege that comes from being in a conventionally small and conventionally fit body .

So everything I say here , I am granted in some ways in our society the permission to say these things and then , as someone who doesn't experience the kind of discrimination and or oppression experienced by people in larger bodies , I think you got to take what I say with a grain of salt as well . So that's an important thing , I think , to get out there .

Now , when it comes down to the question , do I believe that you can pursue weight loss and still actively fight against or not fall prey to diet culture ? And I put diet culture in quotes because we're going to talk about that concept .

I think it's gotten sort of as in anything in popular culture , we like , beat it to death and we start to lose what it's really about at some point . But my answer is yes , I believe you can . I believe that I can , and I work with coaches .

I coach clients who want to lose weight as well as not participate in a system that actively values smaller bodies over larger bodies and sells health and wellness trends in a way that is meant to continually further oppression . I think we can do both of those things .

There are coaches who would 100% disagree with me and say that anyone who is seeking to lose weight or anyone who is coaching someone specifically to help them lose weight is participating in diet culture , and that is where I stand on the side , where I say yes , you can . You may choose to listen to and or feel more comfortable with someone who doesn't .

Let me explain to you why . Let's look at it from a few angles and then you can decide whether or not you feel like your thoughts and beliefs align with mine , or if you feel like they are maybe different , or maybe you're not there yet in terms of whether this matters to you or not . So I'm going to present that .

I'm also going to say that there is a ton of literature , a ton of people whose entire careers are on the study of body image , the study of bodily oppression , the study of wellness culture and how it evolved . So , again , I think you could spend a ton of time in the depths of research to better understand this .

I'm going to try to take this and kind of boil it down to some big points . So if I miss anything , you're more than welcome to share it with me or I'll send me an email or something like that , but realize we're only going to be able to cover so much . So I totally understand those coaches who choose that .

I am a coach that allows clients to pursue weight loss With any of my clients . My main goal is not putting my goals on them , but them coming to me with their goals .

Then I provide my expertise in terms of giving them all the information they need and they can choose whether or not they feel like that goal that they started out with is still the best goal for them .

And that is because and I'll talk about it later in this episode too I believe that bodily autonomy , your right to choose what you do with your own body , is really important , really important , especially and only if it doesn't oppress other people or cause harm to others .

But you have the ability to choose what is right for you , and in training I think that as well I think a lot of people in health and fitness , as in any sort of industry when you reach an expert level or when you have studied enough , you like to take your level of knowledge and put it on someone else . Tell them what they need to be doing .

I really try to work in the opposite way , in that I am asking someone to tell me what they want and then I'm going to provide what they need for their individual goal , their individual history , all of that . So let's look at diet culture as I'm defining it . You know what ?

I read a lot about this and have done a lot of accumulation of information and I thought I would break it down . I did not go and Google the . Whatever Google's definition is , this is my definition .

When we're looking at diet culture , we're looking at the systemic oppression and prejudice against people who live in larger bodies and the industry and nutrition and wellness culture that has been built out of that , that uses that oppression , that uses that prejudice to profit from the spread of oftentimes , misinformation in the name of health .

That is how I would describe it . Over time , especially in the age of social media and the age of quick clips , we tag something as diet culture or we tag something as orthorexia , meaning the pursuit of health in a out of control way , obsessive way . In any of these cases we sort of tag it because it helps us fit into a category .

But so many things in life don't fit into a category . If you meet me and we ever get into a philosophical conversation , you will understand that if there's anything that's at the crux of everything , I believe it's that there is so much gray area and it is not black and white for so many things . For all of the world . We live in duality .

At all times we live in duality and that's what this is going to come down to as well in this conversation . This is systemic and we see it in so many institutions in our culture as it exists . It's born out of deep hatred and deeply rooted cultural racism that exists in our society . All of these things have helped to create this .

Maybe it's not the exclusive reason , but it is one of the reasons , one of the reasons that we experience or have so much inequity , inequality and oppression in our world in so many different things . Oftentimes , diet culture appears in health messaging , in marketing , in order to almost scare people into choosing these quote-unquote healthy behaviors .

The fear of being fat is weaved into everything in our entire society . Maybe that is changing to a certain extent , but I think for us to see real , measurable change is going to take much longer than where we are now . In the same way that people say to me oh , women lift weights now and I'm like , yeah , but we got a lot of work to do still .

So it's weaved into our culture and it is so fundamental to the human experience , this fear of being larger . Why ? Well , for many reasons . One of the reasons is the medical obesity epidemic .

Now , again , I'm going to point you , I'm going to share some resources in the show notes from people whose whole profession is explaining and can do a better job at explaining some of these more nuanced topics for you , based in the history of how they evolved and how they exist now .

But a crude explanation is that we blame health outcomes on weight , and while I think it's important to note that we , in so many cases and I'm going to go through why , yes , the weight could be the contributor to the health problem for sure , there are also other contributing factors or other variables that we are unfortunately unable to separate , and so we have

to think critically about that and use the information that we have to determine whether or not the weight alone is the contributing factor to the health problem and are we neglecting people's health who live in larger bodies , because we have decided that it is the contributor to all of their problems ?

So one of the ways obesity is measured is with the BMI Body Mass Index . There is enough information now to firmly suggest that the Body Mass Index measurement is total crap . Okay , takes weight , takes height , gives you a number , and there is a number that you are over and you are either mildly overweight or obese

. I can't exactly remember what the categories are , because the last time I looked at one of those charts I said this will be the last time I ever look , but it was rooted in oppression when it was created . It also does not give you a picture of health .

Do you know that almost all of the professional athletes at the top of their sport , at the pinnacle of performance and pinnacle of performance doesn't equate to pinnacle of health . I will acknowledge that , but they are all over the normal range because of their muscle mass . Their muscle mass makes them weigh a lot and they are over that .

We also have folks who are experiencing health problems because they are underweight , but we have not valued that or put as much sort of focus or energy to it . So that's just one of the pieces that makes this challenging . Again , I'm not saying something is wrong .

I'm saying I can say that the BMI is not a good measurement , but I'm saying that the tool we're using to base all of our medical that's not maybe the right phrase Societally . We have put a lot of stock in the obesity epidemic on a tool that is maybe not giving us the full picture .

Now there are many other tools that are being assessed and there are many studies to look at this . But what I think is also important in this is understanding that weight separated from the socioeconomic status , income inequality and years of systemic oppression of poor individuals , is hard to be able to isolate weight as the contributing factor .

Just think about it in these terms . And again , it's just about thinking critically . It's about questioning where we have gotten so firmly under the belief that being bigger is worse . Folks who are larger and who have lower income also have lower access to more expensive foods , more whole foods , because they tend to be more expensive .

They have worse commutes to work . They have worse living wages . They have living environments where they're greater access to things like secondhand smoke or actual smoking . First hand smoking , I guess is what it is . It is more complicated than you are fat and you are unhealthy . That is what I want you to understand here .

I don't want to make any gross claims . I want to say that it is more complicated than that , and that is what the study of diet culture and the oppression of people in larger bodies is aiming to do is to unpack how we have built an entire medical system as well as an entire culture around blaming larger people for their health problems .

And we just know we now have information and research to point directly at the mistreatment of larger bodies by medical providers , because so many individuals who are classified as overweight or classified as obese , their medical concerns aren't listened to .

They are treated for their size versus treated for underlying conditions and or the things that someone is just simply not looking for , and so there is real mistreatment . And then you look at , just from a societal and cultural lens in media , how we value bodies , how we commodify body parts , how we set beauty standards around certain kinds of bodies .

I say all of this because what I'm saying is we have a society that values people in smaller bodies more than people in larger bodies . You can't argue that . You can't argue that that is what exists . So no wonder every person in some way shape or form or not . Every person , many people , want to be smaller .

The idea that you could be treated better , the idea that it could be easier for you to live your life , no wonder , and we are human beings . We are human beings and we can understand intellectually that that isn't the case , that there isn't a value more to people in smaller bodies , but we're living in a world that's suggesting otherwise .

I also think it's important to note that what isn't taken into account when we look at these things like BMI or we look at these things about body weight , is that human beings genetics there's body diversity . There is body diversity in the real world , whether or not we see it on screen or see it in magazines or see it in literature .

There is body diversity , and so some people's metabolic set point meaning where their body reaches homeostasis is likely just naturally more than another meaning there are going to be some people that weigh more than other people . We just haven't made a lot of space for it in our society , and so that is also a reason why someone might want to lose weight Now .

So that's just the societal stuff that just exists . We can't unless you're living in a cave somewhere . You're not being able to avoid it entirely . You can certainly do the work to get curious about it . You can really set your root , your principles and your values in these beliefs . You just also have to know that you are a human being as well .

So that's where I get to the point now of like so you want to lose weight . I never want you to feel , nor do I want any of my clients to feel , like they're a bad person for wanting to lose weight .

Sometimes we present this information that is so blatantly skewed in a way that's like skewed isn't the right word , sorry blatantly in favor of smaller bodies , and we can again understand it from an intellectual standpoint . You're like whoa , that really is so biased or that really is so unfair . But I kind of still want to lose weight .

I don't want you to feel bad for that . You're a human being . You're a human being . You live and exist in this society . You're also just an individual . You're a person and you may want to lose weight both because of these things underlying , but also because of your own desires .

And listen , weight loss can be separate from some of these things because if you believe that your behaviors oh that's what I need to go back and say I'll get back to it in one second If you believe that your behaviors could be different and you might lose weight and you would be happier there , then why not work for it ?

And feeling comfortable in your body and in your clothes and in how you present yourself impacts your outlook on life . It impacts your enjoyment of things .

It impacts your performance at work , your interaction with your friends , your mental health , your sexual health All of those things are influenced by the way you feel about your body , and so we can do the work to do that , regardless of your weight .

We can also Thanks for watching , maybe simultaneously , maybe afterward work to lose weight and see if that is also a part of this experience for you . That's what I believe . I want to go back really quickly because I had it in my notes and I forgot to say it .

We actually know from research that there are individuals when implementing we've studied implementing health behaviors maybe walking more , exercising more , changing your diet where individuals have improved their health markers and not lost any weight .

There are many people who don't lose weight and are still healthier because they participated in health behaviors and they would be classified , still in that , overweight . That's an interesting thing to look at and should be considered when we think about weight as the number one thing that is a contributor to your health . So that's just my side note .

Now , going back to you if you want to lose weight , I am here to help you lose weight . Let's talk about how you do that , as well as still staying vigilant about not falling prey to this marketing machine and also not being a pawn in the mistreatment of others and being thoughtful about how you benefit from this system and this society .

So , personally , we got to do the work to separate your worth from your size , that separate the worth from your aesthetics in general , and this is an ongoing process . You don't flip a switch , you don't hit . You don't reach a point where you are like there . You don't . You don't reach it .

Every single day I do the work to separate my worth from my physical appearance and I am in a wildly improved place than I was years ago , but I still got to check in as someone who spends a ton of time in the gym in front of mirrors , with physical goals that are about changing shape of my muscles and things like that .

I have got to do the work to separate my worth from my body size , from my body image , and that is important for all of us and that's an ongoing thing and that is a real contributor to your overall health . So on a weight loss journey , we're still going to work on being able to lose weight and separate that weight loss from our value as a human being .

We are going to constantly be curious about why we feel the way we feel and I think people don't love this because people don't love to question their beliefs . But like when you have a gut reaction to seeing someone and going like , oh , why do they look like that ?

Or seeing yourself getting curious about like , oh , I don't think I could have that food , that's not good for me . Or if I could lose X amount of pounds , that would be perfect . We got to get curious about why that food , why that amount of pounds , why , why , why ? Once we get the answer , we can still move forward with it .

I'm not saying that it's always the answer that's like , oh , okay , and then maybe that's not worth it . You may still decide that like that food , I don't want to have it because blank , blank blank , but I want you to think about it beforehand .

We have to wonder where our ideas about our bodies and about other people's bodies come from , because you are also a human and I want to acknowledge that you are making you have thoughts about other people's bodies .

Hopefully you have the awareness to either , you're not dwelling on it and you're not attaching judgment to it , but we are people observing other people , and so we've got to get curious about why we have , if we have , a certain reaction or feelings to someone else's body .

We need to get curious about that and our own and about the choices that we're making , just constantly wondering like oh , am I doing this because I think it's going to make me feel happier , or am I doing this because I feel some sort of outside pressure ?

Again , then you make your choice , because bodily autonomy is the best thing that you can have your choice to do with what you want with your body . The next thing when we're looking at weight loss , we got to find multiple measures of success . If you're going to have a weight loss goal , I'm happy to help you with it .

I'm going to encourage you to have two or three other kinds of goals in which we can measure success , because one your body might have a set point that wants to be larger than you want it to be , and then you are pushing against resistance . That is going to be really hard to achieve Not saying that you can't , but I want to be realistic about it .

I want you to know it's going to take time , and I also want you to be able to experience success that isn't attached to the scale or attached to the calipers or the circumference measurements or whatever that may be . I want you to be able to experience that . So we're going to have multiple measures of success that allow you to see improvement .

That is not just weight loss we can still be working toward it , but we're going to have multiple measures . I am going to encourage you to be gentle with yourself

. Listen , I was thinking about this . My husband and I were talking about my daughter and she was super excited about something at school and we both were very happy for her . But also , in that same moment , I get a deep gut feeling .

We both did of like oh , if somebody makes fun of her for this , it's going to change that for her and there's a loss of innocence . And I'm telling you , being a mom , the hardest thing is watching your kid Like their joy disappear . You know life is so short . I'm sorry I'm getting a little emotional , but life is so short .

We have got to find ways to experience our joy that isn't attached to the weight on the scale , and I want you to have as much joy as you can . I don't want anybody to take it from you . I don't want anybody to take it from you . So we are going to be gentle with ourselves and we're going to be thinking about this in the long term .

If we're thinking about our lives and the best experience we can get , then we're not rushing anything . Let's experience a joy today . Be gentle with yourself . Life is too short to spend your time hating your body Truly . So that's part of it too is working on kind of cultivating some body love .

I know that body neutrality is very popular and I agree in some ways with body neutrality . I think again , life is too short to just be neutral about stuff all the time . I want you to feel more than neutral about this incredible sack of cells . That is like doing awesome shit all the time . That's doing awesome shit . Sorry , I cursed yeah .

So be gentle with yourself and cultivate some love for who you are right now . And lastly , if you are pursuing weight loss , one of my big , big , big asks of you is to not put your desire to lose weight on anybody else . So that is entirely acceptable and fine for you to choose weight loss .

It may be a really great goal for you if it's the thing you want , but we can't expect our goals from other people and we can't expect or put values and judgments on people who are choosing not to lose weight , and that's really important for me , same thing that I don't put judgment on people who choose not to work out or do any other kinds of behaviors

that aren't harming other people , because it's not my place Now . If your behavior is harming someone else or putting someone else in harm , I reserve the opportunity to judge , but if it's not harming other people and it's a health behavior that you have decided is not of a high value to you , who am I to say that is important ?

And if we talk about weight loss , who am I to say that I have no say on your body , my opinion doesn't matter , my thoughts don't matter , my beliefs don't matter about your body . So just beware .

Sometimes we can get on our high horse about our own success or our own strength or our own whatever , and then let those beliefs seep out as if someone else needs to hold those same beliefs or values .

That was kind of a long one and again , I can't talk about it all in this , but what I want you to get from me is that I believe that we live in duality and we live in a world where people shouldn't be treated differently for their size , and if you want to be a different size , that's also okay .

Those things can coexist and we can do our absolute best to question the things we believe are wrong and work against them and also make choices that are in line with what we need as a person .

And that's an uncomfortable thing to sit with , and I think that is why people choose one thing or another , because I think sitting in the uncomfortableness of opposing beliefs or not even opposing beliefs , but just stuff that doesn't gel entirely I can't say this is good and this is bad . It's just , it is it's gray area . People don't like the gray area .

It's an uncomfortable thing , but as a coach , I feel like I can help you with that , get more comfortable with it , continually question and also help you reach your goals . So that is where my beliefs are and you can choose what to do with it .

I am going to put a bunch of resources in the show notes so you can take that information and do with it what you will , and if you have any questions , I would be happy to help point you in the right direction or , if I have the knowledge , I can answer them for you . Thank you , as always , for listening .

If you want to chat further , you can send me an Instagram DM at foster underscore strength , or you can send me an email , betsy , at be foster strong dot com . Let's get you living your strongest life in your strongest body . Until next time , bye .