Focusing On Health, Not Thinness

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re either on a diet or you’re maintaining weight that you lost whilst dieting. Are your diets just about being healthier? Or are you focused on becoming thin?

Of course, the two aren’t inseparable: if you’re obese, you do need to lose weight (and get thinner) to be healthy. But too many dieters, especially women, prize “thinness” above everything else – including their health.

This is a dangerous mindset to fall into, for several reasons. Being underweight is actually worse for you than being overweight; an equation between “thin” with “good” and “thinner” with “better” can lead to anorexia; and for some people, other health issues may mean that they need to settle for being a greater weight or size than they’d like. I’ll tackle these issues one by one.

Being Too Thin Is Unhealthy

If you want to live a long and healthy life, focus on being fit – not being thin. It’s healthier to be a little overweight (a BMI of 25-30) and exercise regularly than to be underweight (a BMI below 20). Studies have shown that you’re no more likely to die young if you’re moderately overweight than if you’re a normal weight:

After analyzing the results from dozens of published reports on the impact of body weight on death rates, encompassing more than 350,000 men and nearly 250,000 women, the researchers found that moderate obesity (no more than about 50 pounds in excess of the so-called ideal body weight) increased the risk of premature death only slightly in men, and not at all in women, during follow-up periods lasting up to 30 years.
(from Obesity, Health and Metabolic Fitness)

In 2005, a study found that being moderately overweight might actually be beneficial, and that being too thin is dangerous. The New York Times concluded that:

With so much uncertainty, health-conscious Americans will want to keep their weight under control but perhaps not fret too much if they miss their weight goal by a bit.

The bottom line? If you’re ten pounds over your “ideal” weight (especially if you’re shooting for a BMI of 20 or 21), then don’t worry about it. It’s not making any difference to your health, and in fact you may even be healthier than you would be if you struggled to eat less and less to lose that weight.

Focusing on Being Thin Can Lead to Anorexia

One of the dangers of dieting for thinness – for men as well as women – is that it can lead to anorexia. Many anorexics start off with a harmless diet to lose a few pounds; as Brown University’s student advice explains:

Anorexia often begins with a diet or an intent to shape up physically. You don’t start this with the intention of developing anorexia.

Anorexia is a serious and potentially deadly condition. Obessive control of food and excessive restriction of calories can lead to a host of health problems, from hair loss and dry skin up to kidney failure and dangerously low blood pressure.

Diet Blog set priorities straight when they took a hard look at dieting and anorexia and explained:

What price would you pay – when all you end up with is a weak, skinny, and unhealthy body?
The alternative is to be strong, fit, and full of vitality. Neither skipping meals nor anorexia will achieve this.

If you feel that your diet is controlling you, and that it’s making you anxious, obsessive, miserable or hungry, then stop. Talk to your doctor. Don’t leave yourself at risk of developing a serious eating disorder.

Put Your Health First

This leads me on to my third point – that the purpose of dieting is to improve your health, and that this should come first. In our size-zero-obsessed culture, many women in particular have come to prize being extremely thin as the ultimate goal. Reaching for this is likely to cause real physical and mental health problems.

In some cases, a medical condition may affect your ability to lose weight. Perhaps you can’t exercise strenuously, or perhaps you have a thyroid or other hormonal disorder that makes it especially difficult for you to lose weight. In all cases, you should be putting your health first. If that means settling for a larger waist size, then do.

And whilt dieting, don’t forget all the healthy but higher-calorie foods. Your body needs good nutrients, and you shouldn’t be depriving it of these because you’re too focused on every calorie that passes your lips.

Are you dieting to be thin, or for health reasons? For many of us, it’s a bit of both. How do you stay focused on keeping your body healthy, strong and fit – rather than on making it thin?

Written by Ali Hale

Related posts:

1. What Are Eating Disorders – And What Causes Them?
2. Can the Kind of Meat You Eat Affect Your Health?
3. Weight Loss Motivations: What Doesn’t Work?