Weight loss goals
What are you hoping will change if you lose weight? Some of the common responses we hear when we ask our clients this question are:
- I want to have more energy to play with my kids
- I want to feel fitter
- I find it hard to buy clothes
- My doctor told me I need to lose weight for my health
- I don’t feel attractive
- My body wasn’t like this before I had my baby
- I felt happier when I weighed less
Sound familiar? Maybe you have some of the same responses yourself. Whether you’re worried about your health or you’re unhappy with your body, diet culture tells you that achieving a smaller body will fix things.
Dieting isn’t the answer
When it comes to losing weight, evidence shows that about 95% of people who try to lose weight will end up regaining all the weight they lost, and many of those people will gain back more weight than they lost in the first place. A lifetime of dieting will likely mean you’re at a higher weight than when you first started dieting. People don’t fail diets, diets fail people.
We often get asked about how to lose weight in a healthy way. The reality is that there isn’t a healthy way to lose weight. Any dieting (eating less food than your body needs) comes with risks, but not many people know about these.
Physical health risks
- Osteoporsis (weakened bones)
- Reduced muscle mass
- Gallstones
- Impaired immune function
- Impaired digestive function eg. constipation, loss of hunger cues
- Dysregulated cortisol (stress hormone)
Mental health risks
- Negative body image
- Lower self-esteem
- Worsened symptoms of depression
- Worsened symptoms of anxiety
- More extreme mood changes
- Loss of enjoyment in normal interests
- Difficulty concentrating and paying attention
People who diet to lose weight are significantly more likely to develop an eating disorder. Eating disorders are serious, potentially life-threatening conditions. People of any gender, body size, and ethnicity can develop an eating disorder.
What we do differently as non-diet dietitians
Wellbeing goals
You and your dietitian will come up with a plan to work on your wellbeing goals directly, whether you lose weight in the end or not. This might include working alongside other trusted health professionals, such as an exercise physiologist to help you with your fitness or a physiotherapist to assess your back pain.
Body image
Your dietitian will guide you through body image work to help you move from a place of body negativity to body neutrality, and maybe even body positivity. Doing this work will allow you to accept and care for the body you have, no matter what shape or size it is.
