The health at every size (HAES) model says it’s ultimately about promoting better self care – which I’m all for.

In fact, self care is EXACTLY WHAT I’M FOR.

The fitness industry is often accused of being biased and ‘hating on’ fat or overweight people. But I disagree. The industry is full of people that used to be overweight themselves or that spend most of their time helping those that are (or were).

While I agree that you can have many healthy behaviours in place even if you are overweight, I tend to disagree that you can be truly healthy in that overweight state.

Because many of the signs of health degradation and disease caused by obesity don’t show up as soon as you’re overweight, many people put off doing anything about their excess body fat till those signs appear.

It’s kind of like smoking. You don’t get lung cancer and die 5 minutes after your first cigarette. But none of us would dispute the bad effect on health that continuing to keep this habit would bring.

And because the effects don’t show for some time and we’re now being told you can be healthy at any size, many are putting off doing something about their condition till it’s too late.

Not to mention that the sooner you deal with it, the easier it is. Losing excess weight can be hard and the longer you’ve been overweight and been following the habits that got your there, the harder it will be.

Emerging research is suggesting that staying overweight for a longer time is causing the overweight state to become hard-wired into our brains. It’s becoming your body’s ‘normal’ and therefore it will fight back even harder to maintain the excess weight you have gained and kept on.

Ignoring the signals your body gives you to avoid overeating means that eventually, those signals will stop and/or you’ll become resistant to them. This makes weight loss in the future even harder.

When basic advice like ‘eat less and move more’ is given, it often doesn’t results in the results you thought it would. This is likely of the metabolic affects of long term obesity. Early intervention is the best way to tackle obesity and an even stronger recommendation is to prevent obesity in the first place.

Weight management strategies must be used carefully and individually so that they don’t lead to other eating disorders or other outcomes like low self esteem or despair. You must be ready to make changes and really want to make those changes before anyone can help.

So while I understand the concept behind the HAES movement, I think it’s giving people a sense that obesity isn’t a risk factor as long as. you have some healthy habits.

In the UK there were over a million hospital admissions where obesity was a factor in the 2019/20 study.

A million where obesity was a factor!!! You don’t get admitted to hospital for fun people. This is serious and only getting worse.

The only better time to start tackling your excess body fat in a healthy way has passed. So start TODAY instead.

Contact us for online or in person (or a combo) programs that combine fitness and nutrition to achieve a healthier body for your future.

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Ref: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/statistics-on-obesity-physical-activity-and-diet/england-2021