Health At Every Size

[Gemini2874]

I thought this was a very good article that others might find interesting. I, particularly, love the focus on enjoyable movement as opposed to "forced" exercise. Now, every time I exercise, I ask myself if I am REALLY enjoying this exercise and doing it because it makes me happy or if I am just doing it for some other reason. It's been a game changer and very eye opening.

Link: https://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind...very-size-haes

[Laura S.]

That is a good article. I wish more health care people would operate on the HAES basis. I'm feeling validated about my workout mantras below...

[Gemini2874]

Yes, I agree about the medical profession. Lol...good mantras too!!!

Our society has been conditioned to believe that thin equals healthy and that is not always the case. You can't tell how fit someone is by looking at them. I have a much thinner friend who can't even walk up the stairs without needed to stop several times but everyone always assumes she is SO fit! Likewise, last year I cheered on a 300+ runner who finished the Boston Marathon who people would assume isn't fit! When I started following athletes that came in all shapes and sizes on social media, it was so refreshing!

But, some people can't exercise due to chronic illness or being a person with a disability. So, I think all people deserve to be treated with respect whether they weigh a lot or a little. It's not that hard to just treat people with kindness. Bodies come in all shapes and sizes and they are all good!

Things like HAES really opened up my eyes to focus on what my body can do and not what it looks like or whether it matches some unrealistic standard created by advertisers to sell products. Hey.....If they don't make us feel bad about ourselves then they can't sell us products and make money off of us, right. HAES also made me focus on my workouts. I was using exercise to try to shape my body instead of just moving joyfully in the body I was in. The shift from body shaping to joyful movement that makes me feel good coupled with heart health, functional strength, balance and flexibility as I age was so important. That was a game changer for me. I started switching away from high intensity/multiple strength training sessions a week to things that left me feeling happy and calm afterwards. I tried some stuff at Joyn fitness which was wonderful. Then Ellen. Then Walking Online Workouts. Now, I have settled on Leslie and am enjoying myself. I even stopped wearing my Fitbit. I have never really given her a chance before because I thought she was "too easy". I laugh at my thinking now because it's only in hindsight that I realized how INSANE that was that I couldn't even allow myself to do movement that I enjoyed! But, it's all a journey. I still have good days and bad days but all you can do is keep on plugging. Luckily, the good days outweigh the bad!

I read this fiction book called Dietland by Sarai Walker that changed my life. OMG. It Absolutely blew my mind!!!!! Then, I added in The Body is Not An Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor, Happy Fat by Sofie Hagen, Things No one Will Tell Fat Girls by Jessica Baker, The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf and Women Don't Owe Pretty by Florence Given to name a few. It's been interesting dismantling my conditioned beliefs as they are very ingrained. But, it is so very worth it!

[alisoncooks]

I really enjoyed Dietland, so I’ll have to look into your other book suggestions.

[hch]

Thanks for starting this discussion! I'd like to talk more about it, but probably not before next week.

In the meantime, here are some related words that always impressed me about the VF guidelines, which had taken at least this basic form by 2001:

Video Fitness prefers to focus on exercise for health and improved self esteem. Though many VF readers are trying to lose weight, we feel that keeping the focus on exercise and performance goals, rather than on diet or weight loss goals, is the best way to help our community members achieve success and stick to their workout programs.

Though VFers discuss every aspect of their videos and video instructors, we ask that posters stay away from criticism of a particular instructor's (or cast member's) physique or other qualities that have no bearing on the quality of the workout. Everyone has their own definition of physical beauty, and fit women and men come in all shapes and sizes. Such criticism undermines the inclusiveness of this Forum.

(If more instructors didn't criticize people's bodies, the world would've been a different place! )

When I started reading VF, shortly after the current forum was new, I found a refreshing difference from other forums.

[toaster]

This stood out to me from the article:

Health at Every Size comes down to providing inclusive, respectful care, being accepting of what people look like, and not treating people as if their weight is their entire identity, says Spence. "I think that's one of the biggest reasons why I think HAES is so important — you need to start looking at someone as a person, and I can't believe I have to say that," she says.

I can't believe she had to say it either. I have heard horror stories about poor medical treatment that people in bigger bodies often receive.

As an aside, did anyone else notice that SHAPE seems to be trying to go for a younger demographic via their writing style? For example, they threw in NBD for no big deal and FTR for for the record (the first I figured out, the second I had to look up).

[hch]

Originally Posted by Gemini2874

Our society has been conditioned to believe that thin equals healthy and that is not always the case. You can't tell how fit someone is by looking at them. I have a much thinner friend who can't even walk up the stairs without needed to stop several times but everyone always assumes she is SO fit! Likewise, last year I cheered on a 300+ runner who finished the Boston Marathon who people would assume isn't fit! When I started following athletes that came in all shapes and sizes on social media, it was so refreshing!

I found this 2014 article for a different post, which I haven't posted yet:

Things you get away with by being skinny

If I had no concerns about copyright, I'd quote so much of this article here.

When I moved to New York City, I was out of breath by the time I got halfway up the steps at my subway station. And there were a lot of steps. This isn't great, I thought. But I'd been told so very many times, right after responding, "Nope, I don't go to the gym," "well, you clearly don't need to!" It was stuck in my head without examination that going to the gym, exercise of any kind, was for people who "needed to." Which means, of course, people who worry about their weight.

[Erica H.]

Originally Posted by toaster

I have heard horror stories about poor medical treatment that people in bigger bodies often receive.

This is something I wanted to address but haven't had time. It's horrible the way people in larger bodies are treated when they seek medical treatment. Everything is blamed on their weight. I had a serious medical issue and then a serious injury the past several years when I was very thin and I know without a doubt if I had been heavy my doctors would have blamed those conditions on my weight.

I've been everywhere from underweight to obese as an adult and there is a huge difference in how I'm treated by doctors depending on what that number on the scale is. The amazing thing is that I was much healthier when I was larger and my low body weight/body fat was causing health issues and my doctors didn't seem to care/notice. Yet, when I was larger the first thing I was always told was to lose weight and exercise (even if I told them repeatedly I exercised and had a history of eating disorders).

I could go on and on about this. It's sad and scary because people avoid medical care knowing that they will be lectured about their weight and not get good medical treatment all based on the number on the scale or the stupid BMI.

Hope this makes sense. It's the middle of the night...

Erica

[Jane P.]

I don't know. I'm about to have gall bladder surgery in May. It's a routine operation, but I'm sure that if I had a lot of fat deposits in my midsection that the surgery would be harder to do, and the recovery would take longer. I am not super thin by any means, but exercise has kept me out of the obese category, and I think it's better not to be in that category. However, I do think that everyone should be treated with respect regardless of their size.

[Gemini2874]

Originally Posted by Jane P.

I don't know. I'm about to have gall bladder surgery in May. It's a routine operation, but I'm sure that if I had a lot of fat deposits in my midsection that the surgery would be harder to do, and the recovery would take longer. I am not super thin by any means, but exercise has kept me out of the obese category, and I think it's better not to be in that category. However, I do think that everyone should be treated with respect regardless of their size.

I learned that "obesity" was a made up concept. In fact, the scientist that came up with the BMI said it should never be used for actual comparisons between people. Likewise, the medical profession first voted against the BMI but it was used anyway. Then, years later, they decided to change it and millions of people became overweight or "obese" over night. In fact, the term "obesity" was later accepted by the AMA (American Medical Association) at this time. Interestingly, during this process, two major pharmaceutical companies were lobbying to try to get their weight loss drug approved. Pretty shocking when you consider that in 2012 AMA’s own Council on Science and Public Health said that there was not sufficient data to support calling obesity a disease. Thus, "obesity' didn't become a societal problem until two drug companies needed to create it as a problem to be able to sell their weight loss drugs. I learned all of this from the FREE podcast called MAINTENANCE PHASE by Aubrey Gordon and Michael Hobbes. It is one of the top rated Health and Fitness podcasts (currently sitting at 3rd on Apple podcasts/13th on Spotify). The podcasters are Aubrey Gordon and Michael Hobbes. Aubrey Gordon is a writer featured in major publications writing under the moniker Your Fat Friend. She also wrote a fantastic book called What We Don't Talk About When We talk About Fat. I should have recommended it earlier because it is FANTASTIC. Michael Hobbes spent his career as a Human Rights investigative reporter and wrote for the Huffington Post. I urge everyone to check out the podcast. Some of the Episodes: The Body Mass Index, The Obesity Epidemic, Weight Watchers, The Keto Diet, Oprah Winfrey and the Wagon of Fat, Eating Disorders, The Master Cleanse, The Biggest Loser, Fat Camps, Pen Phen and Redux, The President's Physical Fitness Test to name a few. Both Aubrey and Michael are excellent researchers and back up everything they say. Research is kinda their thing! They list sources on every episode. Please check it out!