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There has been no study to show that losing weight will increase health, yet many studies which has shown that yo-yo dieting is very unhealthy. Considering up to 98% of diets fail, yo-yo dieting is what most Americans have been forced into. There are reasons these diets do not work. I think it is good for people of all sizes to try to live a healthy lifestyle, but that does not mean weight loss. At my healthiest I was biking over 15 miles a day and other activities, and I have been eating a relatively healthy vegan diet for over 12 years. I have always been fat and did not lose any weight no matter how fit I was. That's the thing though, I was fit and fat. If I tried to lose weight, it would have compromised my health.

There are always health concerns for people to have. This is not due to your body size, but other factors such as your blood pressure, cholesterol, energy and more. These are things that every body size should watch for. In fact, studies have actually shown there are more health risks with being underweight than overweight or obese. There are reasons this is not discussed as much, since being underweight is something our culture encourages.

The truth is, regardless of a person's size or health, the obsession with weight is hurting everyone's health. Women especially are growing up learning to hate their bodies and this hurts everyone. Hiding behind hating fat because of health is not the whole truth. Regardless of how much medical costs are "associated" with being overweight, the cost to the younger generation is something we can never recover. We need to be promoting respect for every person and health at every size. Children need to grow up loving their bodies no matter what, not creating a culture of judgement.

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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