Weight ≠ Health

I had a revelation. Weight does not equate to health. Skinny is not healthy and being big is not unhealthy. If you’re "fat" by body mass index tables and you eat healthy and are active, you’re much healthier than an inactive "skinny" person. Weight is not the determining factor, LIFESTYLE is. But unfortunately, in this society, losing weight = good, and gaining weight = bad. My sister is constantly obsessing about weight, always feeling the need to reach a specific weight and calling high caloric foods "disgusting" and when she eats them, she’s "naughty." She even has a picture of a skinny, tan woman/model on her mirror to be her goal or ideal body image. Funny thing is that the body type that all women strive to be is only reached by 5% of the women. It’s crazy! There are so little women with that body type but they’re overrepresented on TV.

My mom tells my sister to go to the gym even though she herself doesn’t go. It’s because my sister is bigger than my mom, but just because she’s bigger or a different body type doesn’t mean she’s unhealthy. If anything, I think my sister is pretty healthy. She eats well and exercises regularly.
One of our classmates said she went to Mexico, got sick and got the stomach flu. She ended up losing 20 pounds in 2 weeks. She came back and people told her she looked good! She needs to get sick, vomit and have diarrhea, to look "good"?
What is this obsession with weight and with scales? It’s an obsession!...this need to count calories and exercise to offset the calories that we ate. That shouldn’t be at the forefront of our minds. Our goal shouldn’t be to be skinny or lose weight but just to be healthy, to enjoy exercise, and to have fun.

I went to a Body Positive event, and they were trying to share this concept of Health at Every Size. Genetics determines a huge proportion of your body weight. If you’re trying to lose or gain weight, your body will fight with you to keep your weight the same.

http://www.bodypositive.com/