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December 1, 2019

Health at Every Size As a Means to Approach Obesity and Improve a Fat-phobic Society

Living in a Diet Oriented Society| Courtesy of Max Pixel

Obesity. This word is associated with the words unhealthy, fat, and overweight. Obesity has become the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, with 300,000 adults dying of causes correlated to obesity each year, and the numbers are increasing. What Americans have done to address this problem, either as health professionals or as health enthusiasts, has been to advocate for a variety of intentional weight-loss strategies, through dieting and exercise, and even through surgery. But these approaches have little to show for their efforts at addressing obesity. Many have tried diet coaches like Jenny Craig. They have engaged in fad diets like the South Beach Diet or the Keto Diet. They have paid monthly dues to gyms to try to burn off their fat on treadmills and exercise bikes. Undergirding these traditional approaches is the diagnostic height-to-weight tables, which is based on a measurement of body fat called BMI (Body Mass Index), which is used to classify obesity and overweight individuals. Once identified with a BMI classification of obesity, individuals are encouraged to begin regimens of treatment to lose weight by dieting and/or exercising intentionally. The statistics on the success rates for this traditional approach to fighting obesity is alarmingly dismal. Weight regain of about 33% to 50% of the weight lost during weight-loss treatment is common within the first year and increases over time.1 Instead of continuing to engage in these often counterproductive approaches, we should consider the results of a movement called HAES (Health at Every Size). This movement encourages intuitive eating, joyful movement, and promotes the use of sustainable eating behaviors. Many health professionals, including certified dietitians like Aaron Flores, Danielle Bourgeois, and Sonia Rodriguez, have incorporated the HAES paradigm, with remarkable results.

The HAES approach has been applied as an eating disorder treatment. It is used as a methodology that dietitians and nutritionists use on clients of every body size, including those that meet the criteria for being overweight or obese. This paradigm considers more than just becoming physiologically healthier;  it promotes mental health by spreading awareness and acceptance of our bodies, by forming healthy habits, and by creating a safer environment where every body shape and size is welcomed with open arms. This methodology throws out BMI standards, weight-loss diets, exercise regimens, and intentional weight loss. In other words, it throws out most of what health professionals have been taught to think about healthy bodies. What those health professionals then practiced was considered the only way to be considered healthy, successful, and even liked. The weight-loss approach has led to a diet-oriented society, inevitably increasing and normalizing fatphobia and distorting people’s perceptions of what a healthy body looks like. According to the HAES practitioners, healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes, but if practitioners rely on BMI (Body Mass Index) to judge one’s health, they would solely be comparing our body weight to other groups of people using weight to height tables, further engaging in a weight stigmatic approach.2

To understand how health professionals classify obesity and overweight individuals, here’s the story on body mass index. BMI is made up of tables that provide a diagnostic tool for health professionals for assessing overweight, at weight, and underweight individuals. Height-to-weight tables were first introduced by insurance companies in the mid-1800s because of an increase in obesity and poor health; the weight tables were then linked to life expectancy. The reason that health insurance companies attributed life expectancy with BMI tables is that excess body fat and weight are correlated to cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, and musculoskeletal disorders, and therefore, a correlation with higher mortality rates. However, there is no evidence that obesity directly causes these diseases or higher mortality rates. Plenty of studies have been conducted that found a correlation/association with higher disease rates in obese individuals, but obesity is not the sole cause, and there is no evidence of obesity causing these diseases.3 The New England Journal of Medicine claimed to have found an association between body mass index and the risk of death. However, the risk of death is not directly caused by a large BMI (body mass index), but rather death results from other diseases previously mentioned. In an interview with a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator, Sonia Rodriguez stated that people in larger bodies are at higher risk for certain diseases, but instead of further spreading the weight-loss approaches to achieve a healthier and more appealing body, we should screen for these diseases, and give these individuals the proper treatment.4

Body Mass Index Chart | Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

BMI should not be used as a screening tool for obesity and overweight individuals. There is a superficial degree of validity to BMI. The American Society for Nutrition said BMI is a “surrogate measure of body fatness,” which means that it correlates with clinical endpoints (the risk of developing the diseases associated with obesity and/or overweight individuals) but these risks cannot accurately be depicted through a BMI table. The inaccuracy of these BMI tables is attributed not only to the possibility of misclassifications of these obese and/or overweight individuals, but a variety of other factors that are not depicted in these height-to-weight tables. Those factors include an individual’s race or age, the individual’s health during his or her infancy and childhood, and whether he or she is engaging in an athletic sport or has special clinical circumstances. Therefore, BMI can be used to measure the amount of body fat and weight that an individual may have compared to that individual’s height, and even classify that individual as overweight and/or obese, but it should not be considered a method used by health professionals in treating obese and/or overweight individuals.5 

Now that we have addressed the classification of obesity/overweight individuals and how it contains a superficial degree of validity when faced with various factors that have led to misclassifying obese and/or overweight individuals, let me explain further why BMI should not be used even as a screening tool for obesity. BMI as a screening tool has led to a traditional treatment approach for obesity and overweight individuals that includes reducing body fat and/or weight as a means of reducing the risk of disease and mortality rates. These approaches include dieting through restrictive food intake and exercising with the intention of weight loss. However, if weight loss is what health professionals are aiming for, there are several other ways to do it. Weight loss can be achieved by developing healthier eating habits and by including exercise patterns that are independent of intentional weight loss.

Promoting Intentional Weight Loss | Courtesy of Public Domain Pictures

Exercise has been proven to be beneficial for every body shape, size, and type, but it doesn’t directly lead to weight loss. According to Linda Bacon, author of the book Health at Every Size, “the same people who exercise may also eat their leafy green vegetables, have better stress management skills, or maintain other habits that may explain some or all of the weight difference,”making it difficult to fully attribute weight loss to the activity of regularly exercising.6 This approach has been adapted by HAES not only to improve physiological health in obese/overweight individuals but also in anyone willing to live by this paradigm. A clinical study was conducted using thirty-one obese premenopausal women who exercised for ninety minutes four to five times a week for over six months. There were two group outcomes: the ones that lost body fat, and the ones that gained it. The results suggested that the difference in both groups was not outstanding.7 This data shows that exercise did, in fact, improve the health of all of these women, and although those who lost weight may have seen a larger increase in health, it was not necessary to start noticing a trending improvement. Therefore, regardless of weight loss or gain, exercise promotes healthy habits and increases health independently of weight loss measured by an improvement in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism.

As previously stated, weight loss is often targeted through dieting (restrictive eating), but a majority of individuals do not maintain the weight they lose long term, which in turn frustrates the weight-loss goal for health professionals. There is a problem with our weight loss industry. As a whole, we are spending about $59 billion per year on these programs and products, yet the United States is still increasing in obesity rates. This is because everyone has a natural set-point weight, which is every individual body’s preferred weight. When an individual loses weight, they fall under their natural set point. This decreases the production of the hypothalamus hormone called leptin, an appetite-suppressing hormone, as an individual diets’. Dieting leads to an appetite increase, and it decreases our metabolism, inevitably leading to weight gain.8 It is important to note that a hyperfocused view on achieving a certain body shape, size, or type can trigger psychological disorders, including a variety of eating disorders. There is evidence that dieting leads to fluctuation in weight, called weight cycling and yo-yo dieting. This has shown a link to depression, decreased self-esteem, and binge eating behaviors.9 Evidence begins with environmental factors. Eating disorders are more prevalent in upper and middle social classes, where dieting is common. Groups with a lower concern for weight loss, including that of lower socioeconomic classes, diet less and have fewer eating disorders. A study performed by Patton, Johnson-Sabine, Wood, Mann, and Wakeling examined the predictors of eating disorders in adolescent girls. The results showed that twenty-one percent of dieters developed eating disorders.10 

We should be working with our bodies, instead of against them, but this is extremely difficult to achieve as we continue to engage in every-day fatphobia. Our society is obsessed with fatphobia, whether we would like to admit that or not. We are constantly being told by health professionals that a certain weight, body size, and type is wrong when compared to the mean BMI of other individuals. This constant comparison is the problem. We cannot compare our bodies with others because there are factors other than weight and percentage of body fat that makeup how an individual looks. Genetics falls into this category, along with sleep, stress, exercise, and eating habits independent from dieting. A prime example of fatphobia comes from a study of eight obese persons who had gastric restrictive surgery (a weight loss surgery). These individuals had success with keeping off one hundred pounds of their weight loss for more than three years, and were asked if they would prefer being obese again or rather have several other disabilities. “Ninety-two percent of these patients preferred leg amputation, and eighty-nine percent of them would rather be legally blind than obese.”11

People are afraid of gaining weight, afraid they will become fat, obese, and overweight. This stems from weight stigmatization and discrimination. Whether you grew up to believe that fat people are ugly, lazy, unintelligent, or unhealthy, these are all examples of weight stigmatization. Part of a study conducted by Linda Bacon and three collaborators Nancy Keim, Judith S. Stern, and Marta Van Loan recounts several stories about weight discrimination. They were looking for seventy Caucasian women between the ages of thirty and forty-five who were non-smokers to compare a traditional weight loss treatment with treatment using the HAES approach. The number of people she encountered lying about their age, due to a desperation for any chance at weight loss, was overwhelming. Linda Bacon recounted several of their confessions in her book. A woman was being threatened to get fired by her boss unless she lost weight, and another woman said that she would lose her job working at a fitness center if she didn’t lose weight, and one was even threatened with divorce.6 We often hold a stigma towards fat people. Many tend to believe that fat people have no self-control, or that they shouldn’t wear certain clothing in public. Some individuals are even criticized for stepping into a gym at a certain weight. According to a study made by Tatiana Andreyeva, Rebecca M. Puhl, Kelly D. Brownell, and data from the MIDUS (Midlife in the United States) study, weight/height discrimination in adults from the US increased by sixty-six percent from 1995 to 2006. Reports of weight discrimination were more prevalent in interpersonal relationships than in professional settings, but there is a rising trend in both.13

Love the Body You Have | Courtesy of Pixabay

Getting rid of these stigmas and becoming educated over higher body weights, eating disorders, and disordered eating is the only way the HAES movement will be encouraged and continued to be supported by nutritionists, dietitians, and eating disorder associations. Society needs to change these judgmental perspectives about individuals. These individuals are suffering and it’s not just from obesity-related diseases. HAES promotes self-care and acceptance for every body type and continues to counteract the societal norm that is a “weight-loss at any cost” society. In a personal interview with a registered dietitian and HAES advocate, I asked Aaron Flores how we could, as a society, decrease the amount of fatphobia we see in the media and in our environment today. He stated that there have been fat people throughout history, and that it is inevitable. We are not going to live in a one size fits all world and the sooner we accept that we all come in different shapes and sizes, the safer people will feel and the more people will engage in self-care and healthy behaviors towards themselves and their bodies.14

  1. Naomi R. Reyes, Tracy L. Oliver, Alicia A. Klotz, Caitlin A. LaGrotte, Stephanie S. Vander Veur, Amy Virus, Brooke A. Bailer, and Gary D. Foster, “Similarities and Differences between Weight Loss Maintainers and Regainers: A Qualitative Analysis,” Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (2012): 499, 504-505.
  2. Wayne Miller, “The Weight-Loss-at-Any-Cost Environment: How to Thrive with a Health-Centered Focus,” Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior 37 (2005): 89-93.
  3. Wayne Miller, “The Weight-Loss-at-Any-Cost Environment: How to Thrive with a Health-Centered Focus,” Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior 37 (2005): 89-93.
  4. Sonia Rodriguez, interview by the author, Vanessa Quetzeri, San Antonio, TX, November 8, 2019.
  5. Robert Malina and Peter Katzmarzyk, “Validity of the body mass index as an indicator of the risk and presence of overweight in adolescents,”The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 70, 1, (1999): 131, 135-136.
  6. Linda Bacon, Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight (Dallas, Texas: BenBella Books, INC., 2008), 161, 192-193.
  7. Benoit Lamarche, Jean-Pierre Despres, Marie-Christine Pouliot, Sital Moorjani, Paul-J. Lupien, Germain Theriault, Angelo Tremblay, Andre Nadeau, and Claude Bouchard, “Is body fat loss a determinant factor in the improvement of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism following aerobic exercise training in obese women,” Elsevier 41, 11 (1992): 1249-1255-1256.
  8. Francine Grodstein, Rachel Levine, Lisa Troy, Terri Spencer, “Three-Year Follow-up of Participants in a Commerical Weight Loss Program: Can You Keep It Off?,” Arch Internal Medicine 156, no.12 (1996): 1302,1305-1306.
  9. Linda Bacon, Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight(Dallas, Texas: BenBella Books, INC., 2008), 11, 42-43.
  10. Simone French and Robert Jeffery, Health Psychology (American Psychological Association, 1994), 195, 211-212.
  11. Lucy Aphramor, “Validity of claims made in weight management research: a narrative review of dietetic articles,” Nutrition Journal 9, no. 30 (2010): 1475, 2890-2891.
  12. Linda Bacon, Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight (Dallas, Texas: BenBella Books, INC., 2008), 161, 192-193.
  13. Tatiana Andreyeva, Rebecca M. Puhl, and Kelly D. Brownell, “Changes in Perceived Weight Discrimination Among Americans, 1995-1996 Through 2004-2006 Obesity 16 (2012): 1129, 1133-1134.
  14. Aaron Flores, Interview by the author, Vanessa Quetzeri, San Antonio, TX, November 7, 2019.

Vanessa Quetzeri

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Recent Comments

25 comments

  • Anissa Navarro

    This article had shed nothing but truth in how society views body’s. It is has constantly been the stigma that if you were not a certain weight, size or body type then you are displeasing. Body image issues in my opinion have definitely gone up, I had no idea that health professionals aside from dietitians were at fault as well for these image issues. In present days I think social media had influenced body image issues and eating disorders, although I agree now that health professional take part in this, I think social media deserves most blame in present times. The “influencers” people follow religiously for exercise and diet tips are the cause for most issues in the adolescent age, as a lot of things can be fake or altered online.

  • Ruben Becerril

    This article has helped me gain insight into the severity of how fat-phobic society is. Social media has caused people to want to strive for status, this usually happens through showing off. This is unhealthy as it can lead to an “ideal” body that someone is constantly striving for but will never achieve since they will want to become better and better. Another unhealthy effect of social media occurs when high status is achieved as when a following is gained discrimination to outgroups occurs.

  • Aaron Sandoval

    I really enjoyed reading this article as it was very relevant to the times and the discussion on body image and what is considered healthy. I really enjoyed how this article started by covering how many of the norms that are pushed may not have positive outcomes, and how the author introduced an alternative that has the potential for not only improving physical health but mental health as well.

  • Alicia Martinez

    Although body standards change overtime, they promote unhealthy societies both physically and mentally. According to the article, although Healthy at Every Size encourages the use of sustainable eating behaviors to combat obesity, I believe there are too many factors that prevent people from maintaining a healthy weight. Factors such as fast food industries and pharmaceutical companies profit off the publics desire to fit a “perfect” image. Although these corporate giants can help to represent body positivity, encouraging the public to stay active needs to not only start at a young age, but continue through adulthood. Unfortunately the stress and responsibilities that come with being an adult often surpass this importance of a healthy society.

  • Hailey Lechuga

    Body image standards in America seem to be always changing yet they all end up being highly unrealistic for the majority of people. I do think that obesity in this country is something that needs to be addressed, but we must do so with more acceptance. There are always new diets surging that teach people how to do the wrong things to lose weight. We must approach this issue using the inclusive science of how each body works, understanding that literally every body functions differently than the next and that there are healthy ways to stay in shape. The single and utmost important thing is that we keep our society healthy both physically and mentally.

  • Sehar Sohail

    I really liked this article because it talks about the reality of today’s society and I agree with almost all of it. A lot of people are trying to maintain a standard of looking some type of way just because that is how they see others on social media. Many people do not know that all those are mind games because many people use different apps just so that can look that way. I know many people who have gotten nose jobs they just got it done because after looking at people noses through social media, they just wanted to change theirs as they thought their nose started to look weird. Many people are getting surgeries done too so that they can look slimmer not knowing that it can really harm them in the long run.

  • Maria Moreno

    Social media has become a big fat-phobic platform. You see people photoshopping they’re pictures or shaming people who show they’re belly roles, etc. This article states facts, just because you have a greater weight than others does not mean you’re not healthy, you could exercise everyday and you might not be what is considered the normal “skinny”. People try a lot of remedies to have what society tells them is the right body but to be healthy, I believe you have to love yourself, be at peace with your mind and body. The HAES movement should be recognized more, when you go to a nutritionist instead of them just taking your measurements and giving you a diet to make you look “normal” they should give you a guide on self-care.

  • Alyssa Vasquez

    Nowadays I feel like everyone is so obsessed with looking a certain way and if they don’t look like that they will do whatever they have to do to look how they want. No matter if it’s healthy or not we’ll do it. We shouldn’t judge people foreign overweight because you never know what they go through. They could have a medical condition where they can’t loose weight like everyone. We shouldn’t judge because if we looked away we didn’t like we wouldn’t want someone judging us.

  • Janie Cheverie

    In today’s society, people are constantly looking for the easiest and most convenient solution to any issues they face. This is especially prominent in this area as individuals don’t develop a healthy relationship with food and exercise by focusing on a lifestyle change. There is an obsession with appearance and to fit into the standards these diets and supplements are heavily relied on. This article did a great job highlighting this issue and the “fat-phobia” mindset present in society.

  • Alyssa Ramos

    Our society shows constant fear of being overweight. Social Media influencers constantly show off their super fit bodies and promote skinny teas and diet supplements. Younger generations are trying to fix how society views “thicker” members of society, but we still have a long way to go. The statistic showing that 92% would rather cut off their leg than be obese is upsetting. It really supports how scared our society is of gaining weight (fat phobia). Thank you for writing this article.

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