3 Reasons why I stopped celebrating weight loss
Have you ever noticed that when someone loses weight, the default reaction from people around them is to congratulate them?
When I returned to work from my maternity leave I was introducing myself to someone who started while I was away. His reply to me was “well, congratulations! Looks like you’ve lost all the baby weight”. This man had never seen me before - what was he thinking?
While this well-intended “congratulatory” response seems innocent enough, I’ve stopped doing it. In fact, I’ve stopped commenting on weight altogether and it’s improved my practice as a dietitian. There are so many reasons not to celebrate weight loss but I’ve chosen these 3 to share with you in hopes that you reconsider how you react in similar situations.
I don’t care how much people weigh - and I don’t want them to think that I do.
Weight stigma is a real problem. We need to practice body acceptance and part of that practice is the concept that a person’s weight is the least interesting thing about them. I don’t want my clients - or anyone for that matter - feeling like I’m passing judgement on their bodies. I truly do. not. care. how much you weigh.
Removing weight from the equation helps clear a pathway for a more meaningful conversation around food without the pressure of diet culture. This way, I can make a bigger impact with the time I spend with my clients.
Weight loss is not always a good thing
I remember when there was a gastroenteritis outbreak at my daughter’s daycare and my husband lost 20lbs in 4 days. Without going into too much detail - he was MISERABLE. I certainly wouldn’t congratulate him on the suffering that he endured from that virus.
People with eating disorders, parasites, addictions and illnesses don’t need to be congratulated on the fact that their bodies are shrinking. They need a community of support that cares about their health - not their weight.
i don’t want to contribute to diet culture
Diet culture is a fat-phobic and food-phobic system of beliefs that conditions us to stigmatize people in larger bodies and value people in smaller bodies.
This is the biggest reason why I stopped celebrating weight loss. Until recently, I didn’t understand what diet culture was. I understood that society’s standards of beauty (particularly imposed on women) were unrealistic. I understood that there was an absurd amount of pressure to adhere to those standards of beauty. However, for the most part, I fit into many of those standards simply from my demographics as a cys-gendered, heterosexual white woman in a smaller body. Weight was never a barrier at my doctor’s appointments, I fit comfortably in seats on public transit, I have always been able to shop in mainstream clothing stores. Diet culture was always there but it wasn’t detrimental to me.
What I didn’t realize was the role I played in diet culture. I worked at a gym for 6 years promoting exercise as a means to “lose weight to improve your health”. My career as a dietitian involved many people seeking weight loss advice to “improve their health” - AND I GAVE IT. I played along knowing full well that you can be healthy in your body regardless of your size. Diets don’t work, exercising excessively to lose weight is temporary and ruins your relationship with movement, food restriction almost always leads to bingeing. I had become a pawn to perpetuate the pursuit if thinness so I decided to stop. No more meal plans, no more portion control, no more fad diets and no more commenting on people’s weight.
Instead, I will use my voice as a registered dietitian to contribute to body positivity, improving people’s relationship with food and changing people’s understanding of health and wellness.
Letting go of the expectations of diet culture can help you live in the moment. Enjoying movement for what is is rather than a punishment for how much you weigh. Enjoying food for its flavor and the effort that went in to preparing it rather than forcing yourself to eat something you hate or refraining from eating something you love. Welcoming a colleague back from maternity leave knowing they just made a person and kept them alive without the expectation that their body should look exactly as it did before.
People are more than their bodies, your weight is the least interesting thing about you.