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Modified May 11, 2023 05:08 GMT
Mikey Musumeci went in front of the cameras to share his food and dieting philosophy this week.
The grappling champion is famously known to be on a strict regimen that consists of eating only pizza and pasta once daily. The fact that he relies on this diet alone, continues to stun fans and athletes alike to this day as he swears it helps him refuel cleanly after training.
This week, he took fans to the kitchen to explain his all-carb diet while making his favorite Italian pasta dinner.
ONE Championship released the preview on Instagram with the caption:
Last Friday, Darth Rigatoni made splashing headlines yet again after shutting down IBJJF no-gi world champion Osamah Almarwai. The New Jersey native accomplished what he set out to do to a tee, and was ecstatic when he got the choke after 8:03 of grueling action.
Osamah Almarwai for his part, did well to subvert Musumecis leg lock attempts early but every time he would scramble free, Musumeci would take control once again. Indeed, it was a masterful performance by the defending flyweight king.
As a result, the unforgettable submission improved Mikey Musumecis record to 4-0 in ONE Championship and earned him a well-deserved US$50,000 performance bonus.
Watch ONE Fight Night 10 on replay for free on Amazon Prime Video in North America.
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Mikey Musumeci shares his food and dieting philosophy - Sportskeeda
A survey has estimated 42 per cent of dogs are overweight and there are a range of simple lifestyle changes you can make to shed those excess doggy pounds.
The worrying numbers were revealed by pet nutrician experts http://www.tails.com, who estimate that obese dogs on average live a year less than pups of an optimum weight.
We can all be guilty of a little overindulging now and then, whether its an extra biscuit or an extra helping of dessert, but when those over indulgences lead to quite a bit of weight gain, we can put ourselves at risk of damaging our health.
Just as it is for humans, obesity in dogs is also a health risk with associated problems including, but not restricted to, arthritis, diabetes, heart problems, high blood pressure, respiratory issues, an increased risk of developing certain tumours, and a lower quality of life.
So, if you think your dog needs a little help to get back into shape, heres what you need to do.
First of all, everyone in your house needs to be on board. Its no good if only one of you is taking the diet seriously, whilst others continue to feed treats. Try creating a feeding chart so that when your dog has been fed their meals and daily treat, everyone in the house knows too. Photo: Canva/Getty Images
A good rule of thumb to remember is: treats shouldnt make up more than 10% of a dogs daily calorie intake. The occasional treat can be good for your dog when combined with training or if given for a nutritional benefit. Photo: Canva/Getty Images
If your dog is already fairly active, try changing their usual exercise routine and adding other exercises like swimming. Swimming is a great way for a dog to exercise without putting any excess stress or strain on their joints, although remember not all breeds are built to swim - the likes of Bulldogs, Pugs, French Bulldogs, and Corgis generally prefer to stay on dry land. Photo: Canva/Getty Images
When treats become too much of a regular occurrence, they can contribute to weight gain and for many dogs, its actually the attention that they appreciate more than the treat itself. So when they turn those puppy dog eyes on you, swap the usual treat for an affectionate scratch, cuddle or play time session. Photo: Canva/Getty Images
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Dog Dieting: Here's how to help your lovable dog lose weight and ... - The Scotsman
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Renewed warnings about a toxic dieting trend that's all over some social media platforms. Almond mom is code for potentially dangerous dieting.
It started on reality TV and has trended on TikTok. Experts call this unhealthy eating advice from celebrities.
One mom suggested an almond to quell hunger. Tiktoks with the hashtag #almondmom have almost 360 million views.
"The term almond mom is used to describe parents whose beliefs and behaviors are deeply rooted in diet culture," Diana Winderman said.
Winderman with the Renfrew Center for eating disorders says conversations about restrictive eating can be harmful whether it comes unintentionally from celebrities or parents.
"These behaviors are really serious and it can be hard to break that cycle without help," Winderman said.
"I think it's so scary," Danielle Reitinger said.
Reitinger was treated at Renfrew for an eating disorder.
"I would never want my children to have those struggles and issues I have been through," Reitinger said.
The Montgomery County mom of four gets emotional talking about needing to be healthy for her children.
"I knew I had to be strong for them and show them I can take care of myself," Reitinger said.
As a constant reminder, she had the word love tattooed on her wrist.
"It's about loving myself," she said.
Reitinger says her eating disorder was about control, not food.
"I was scared," she said.
Experts say low self-esteem often instigates eating disorders and that the almond mom trend is of special concern in mother-daughter relationships.
"It's not just about eating an almond or what food you're choosing it's really about restricting your whole world," Winderman said.
In addition to getting professional help, Reitinger got rid of social media which can glamorize unhealthy behavior.
"It's been freeing and very cathartic to live life outside scrolling," Reitinger said.
People with eating disorders are often advised to limit social media.
Doctors say about 30 million Americans will have an eating disorder at some point. There's a special concern with 57% of adolescent girls who engage in crash dieting.
Stephanie Stahl is an Emmy Award-winning health reporter. She can be seen daily on CBS3 Eyewitness News and The CW Philly.
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Experts warn restrictive eating with diet trend almond mom - CBS News
The dieting program is closing after 40 years. That doesnt mean were moving towards body acceptance
I was 10 years old when I learned what bodies should and shouldnt look like. Kirstie Alley was on TV, pointing to a paparazzi photo of what her pudgy stomach looked like before she tried Jenny Craigs weight loss program. But after testing the brands signature mix of dieting, meal plans and personal coaching, Alley showed off her new physique: smooth, with no bumps peeking out from her body-con dress.
Sitting cross-legged in front of the television, I peered down at my own stomach. It felt soft when I poked it. I decided it could be slimmer. That night, I went upstairs to my mothers scale and weighed myself. It was the first time I ever knew my weight.
Jenny Craig was not the first weight-loss program to take America by storm, but it was the most ubiquitous in the 1990s and 2000s. It billed itself as a community, with personal consultants who helped clients achieve the kind of dramatic transformations seen among spokespeople like Alley, Valerie Bertinelli, Queen Latifah and Jason Alexander. (Though viewers would have been wise to lower their expectations. Alley may have lost 75lb through Jenny Craig, but the ads fine print reminded us that those results are not typical.) In 2003, Jenny Craigs revenue totaled $280m.
The company, founded by its eponymous weight loss guru and her husband in 1983, owned more than 600 centers across the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Clients bought low-calorie prepackaged meals and one-on-one coaching to help them reach their goals. But this week, Jenny Craig announced that it plans to close after 40 years in business.
Eulogies placed blame on two opposing trends. The Washington Post suggested Jenny Craig ended because of the body-positivity movement and a rejection of diet culture last year, Bertinelli even apologized for being the face of Jenny Craig. No, said CNN, actually, its because buzzy weight-loss drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic (licensed as a diabetes medication) are changing the weight loss game.
So which is it? Only the naive could believe that the fashion industrys tepid embrace of body positivity killed dieting. Thinness will always be fetishized by fashion, even as it takes performative steps to diversify. And castings of ultra-thin models have recently surged on runways after a few years of better plus-size representation.
But I do believe that the type of dieting Jenny Craig sold, which was loud and obvious and indiscreet, may be off-putting these days. The brands slogan, screeched by Alley at the end of each ad, was the rather desperate Have you called Jenny yet?!
And if that wasnt blunt enough, consider this intro from one of Alleys spots: Hey! Youre chubby, too. Lets lose weight together.
Advertisements that did not feature former television stars were even more confessional: real women shared their stories of humiliation at seeing their bodies in family photos, or struggling to fit into a wedding dress.
In the early aughts, dieting was an unquestionable part of life. The culture was steeped in skinniness. Magazines had yet to be called out for airbrushing covers. Tyra Banks humiliated plus-size contestants on Americas Next Top Model in the name of building character. Movies like Shallow Hal treated weight as a punchline. Fatness was seen as failure.
So if you had to lose weight, Jenny Craig would try to make it fun. Whats more, clients didnt have to give up the things they enjoyed to get in on the program, which nixed carb-counting for a more curated plan tailored to their preferred food choices and level of activity.
I was a size 18 carb-craving diva, one woman said in a 2004 television commercial. Im still a carb-loving diva, just 48 pounds thinner.
Do dieters need to reveal all of that today? Not if they can afford to. Drugs like Wegovy, which are essentially very expensive appetite suppressants, allow the rich and famous to lose weight via weekly jabs. Celebrities dont admit to it, but everyone is on it. Thats the quiet luxury that comes with this new class of drugs. Brands like Jenny Craig, which rely on a bit of visibility, cannot compete.
And how will the rest of us afford to lose weight? Subscription-based, calorie counting apps like Noom and My Fitness Pal are cheaper than Jenny Craigs model, and very popular for young people who would rather track their weight loss entirely on their phones.
Jenny Craigs demise doesnt mean were moving towards body acceptance. And while I am happy for anyone it helped during its four decades of existence, Ill only remember it as the first institution that told me to feel bad about myself. After learning how much I weighed that night at 10 years old, I havent gone a day without stepping on a scale.
This article was amended on 7 May 2023 to clarify that Wegovy is a weight-loss drug while Ozempic is a diabetes medication with a side-effect of appetite suppression.
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Jenny Craig made me worry about my weight. Now the companys gone but skinny culture remains - The Guardian
Dubai: The celebration of International No Diet Day today has put the focus back on weight discrimination, sizeism and body shaming, with dieticians warning against the dangers of irresponsible dieting and consumption of unhealthy foods.
First observed by Mary Evans, founder of Diet Breakers and a victim of anorexia in 1992, International No Diet Day aims to tackle serious issues concerning diets and body awareness. Celebrating the diversity of people of different shapes and sizes, International No Diet Day is marked by taking a one-day break from diets, to pause and review the reasons and methods for observing various diets.
Nutritional deficiencies
Sakina Mustansir, Clinical dietician, Prime Hospital Dubai, said, A cure for quick weight loss and health changes is what fad diets have grown popular for. They are extreme diets restricted in major food groups like fruits, grains etc which would keep us at risk of nutritional deficiencies but still widely accepted by our population due to the dramatic results they promise.
But as she cautioned, What most of us dont realise is these extreme restrictions do help us lose weight but they also elevate stress, depression, anxiety, emotional disturbances and the worst is - after going through all of it, most people regain weight once they resume their natural lifestyle and eating pattern as these plans are not sustainable at all.
Weight discrimination
Mustansir weight discrimination and body shaming are unfortunately quite prevalent in society.
They can have serious negative consequences for those who experience them. This can include being treated unfairly at work, being a target of negative comments, teasing or bullying because of ones weight which could lead to poor body image, low self-esteem, risk of developing eating disorders like anorexia or binge eating, depression, anxiety, social isolation which could exacerbate physical and mental health problems, she explained.
As such, she said it is extremely important to recognise that weight is not a symbol of health or beauty. Weight discrimination, body shaming are unacceptable behaviors. Everyone should be treated respectfully and with dignity, regardless of their shape and size.
Lubna Abdussalam Dhalani, Dietician at Aster Clinic, Bur Dubai, said, A fad diet involves eating high-fat, low-carb or high-protein foods that promise a quick fix, such as one magic food or combination of foods that can change your body chemistry. However, fad diets are not balanced, too restrictive, expensive, not sustainable, and can actually cause weight gain.
According to her, fad diets can be tempting because they promise a quick solution to a long-term problem. However, restrictive or extreme diets that lack scientific basis can put your health at risk. Following a fad diet may result in a cycle of weight loss followed by weight gain.
Fad diets do not promote healthy and sustainable diet and lifestyle habits, and therefore will not result in long-term weight loss.
They tend to appeal more to peoples vanity than to their desire to stay healthy. The focus is on inches and pounds, rather than reducing the risk of diabetes or heart disease. Those who follow fad diets are more motivated by their desire to change their appearance than their health.
Aim of International No Diet Day
Help end weight discrimination, fatphobia and sizeism.
Understand the inefficacy of commercial diets and learn about the diet industry.
Embrace body diversity and challenge the idea of one right body shape.
Declare a day that is free from dieting and obsessing about shape and weight.
Compliment people on contributions, achievements and skills, rather than focusing on appearance
Source: Daysoftheyear.com
When embarking on a weight loss journey, we are led to believe that following strict diet with absolutely no junk food is the best way to slim down.
But one Scottish weight loss expert wants dieters to know that you can still enjoy your favourite treats, while also losing weight. Graeme Tomlinson, AKA the The Fitness Chef, is an "evidence based" health coach who focuses on losing weight in a realistic way for long-term results.
The Aberdeen native, who is the author of three books including Still Tasty: Reduced-calorie versions of 100 absolute favourite meals and Eat What You Like & Lose Weight For Life, took to YouTube to explain the practice of "flexible dieting".
The diet specialist, who has 1.2million followers as @thefitnesschef_ on Instagram, explained how you can enjoy occasional treats and still lose weight, as long as they fall into your daily calorie limit.
Speaking to the Record, Graeme explained the benefits of the eating plan: "Flexible dieting is usually a better idea for fat loss because because instead of restriction you are able to include all your favourite foods. If done properly with knowledge on the food you are eating, you can enjoy your diet and adhere to the fat loss goal.
"Enjoyment is the number one aspect anyone should consider before changing their diet to lose weight. If its miserable or extreme its unlikely to be sustainable long-term."
According to The Fitness Chef, flexible dieting involves eating a highly nutritious diet full of fruits and vegetables, but doesn't cut out junk food treats. Most diets require slimmers to follow a calorie deficit, which means eating less than you burn in total each day.
He says that the idea behind flexible dieting is that you can still enjoy the occasional chocolate bar, bag of crisps, or slice of pizza as long as you don't go over your calorie deficit. There is no one amount of calories that everyone should be eating to shed pounds, as this depends on a variety of factors including gender, lifestyle, schedule, age and height.
"In short it's allowing inclusion of less nutritious, calorie dense, ultra processed foods into your diet," he said.
Luckily, Graeme has developed a free calorie deficit calculator to help determine your daily caloric needs. Using a daily intake of 1800 calories for reference, he explained that as long as you don't go over this number you should still lose weight, even if some of them come from junk food.
"Technically, as long as you don't exceed 1800 calories per day over weeks and months, you will lose body fat," he said. "So effectively, a flexible diet is simply fitting these non-optimal foods into your overall diet and aligning them with your calorie targets."
But people often take this to mean they can eat a diet that heavily features junk food and still lose weight, as long as they don't go over their calorie deficit. According to Graeme, not only does this kind of eating offer little to no nutrition, it also doesn't follow his flexible ethos.
He explained: "While you would technically lose weight, this isn't what flexible dieting is supposed to be. A flexible diet is supposed to add inclusion of non-optimal foods, not be saturated by them."
Instead, he says a flexible diet should mainly consist of "large amounts of nutritious, satiating foods you enjoy which drive satiety - or in other words make you feel fuller for longer."
"A top-up on nutrients that generally give you lasting energy throughout the day. But it still allows room for less nutritious foods in smaller quantities - like snacks."
Lastly, Graeme stressed that a successful flexible diet requires a "flexible mind". If you feel like you've gone over your calorie deficit, shake it off and start fresh the next day.
"Some days life will throw things at your, or, you'll have a special occasion," Graeme said. "On these days you'll eat fewer nutrients and excessive calories and being flexible with your mindset allows you to accept these days for what they are - single days in your life.
"The reason you accept these days is you have knowledge that you can adjust your diet the next day to get back on track - you simply, move on."
As well as being an author, he also runs his own weight loss app called The Fitness Chef and has this month moved onto YouTube to share his expert knowledge.
Graeme Tomlinson is the author of three weight loss books, which include "Eat What you Like and Lose Weight for Life", his latest release "Lose Weight without Losing your Mind" and "Still Tasty: Reduced-calorie versions of 100 absolute favourite meals".
Follow the Fitness Chef on Youtube here or on Instagram for more sustainable health tips. You can also learn more about The Fitness Chef app here.
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Scots diet expert explains how to lose weight without giving up junk food - Daily Record
With the world obsessing over dieting and getting in shape, International No Diet Day reminds us that we do not need to subject our bodies to a painful diet to achieve some impossible goal of changing our body. The day promotes body positivity and self-love. It encourages us to take care of our physical and mental health. It aims to raise awareness against the toxic diet culture.
On this International No Diet Day, know 7 ways in which you can lose weight without dieting:
1.Be mindful when you are eating
Research shows that those who are unmindful while eating food, that is, they do concentrate on their food, and end up consuming more calories than they need to. You must enjoy the taste and texture of your food.
2.Track your eating habits
Record what you eat, when you eat and how much. This will help you find unhealthy patterns in your eating habits.
4.Proper Sleep
Good sleep will increase your metabolism, whereas lack of sleep will decrease it. More the metabolism, the faster you lose weight.
5.Regular exercise
Exercising regularly for at least 30 minutes will help you burn calories and keep you fit. Walking, jogging, swimming or cycling Choose your favourite activity and work out daily.
7.Portion Control Method
Controlling the food portions is one of the best methods to lose weight. Use smaller dishes while eating.
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Want to lose weight without dieting? Here are 7 easy and fast ways to be fit - Asianet Newsable
Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence is an inspiration to all. From being bold to speak up about numerous taboo subjects to not being afraid to show her real self, she is well-cherished by many, especially young girls. Once again Lawrence proves she deserves every bit of praise and admiration as she spoke about being asked to lose weight.
If you know Jennifer Lawrence, you would know how vocal she is against unhealthy food diets and trends. Narrating an incident from her early career she expresses how she isnt afraid to tell anyone to go f*ck off when told to lose weight or diet.
Also Read: You dont have to be here, you can go home: Without Any Hesitation Robert De Niro Left Jennifer Lawrences Wedding Rehearsal Dinner
Also Read: I had a miscarriage alone in Montreal: Jennifer Lawrence Revealed She Intented to Have an Abortion Before Suffering Miscarriage
From Katniss Everdeen to Mystique, Lawrence has earned praise and acclamations for her phenomenal acting. Even more praiseworthy is how she stood up for herself and dealt with a horrid experience in the starting days of her career. The X-Men actress was told to lose about 15 pounds in just 2 weeks for a role after being forced to stand next to much thinner actresses in a n*ked line-up.
When I was much younger and starting out, I was told by producers of a film to lose 15 pounds in two weeks. During this time a female producer had me do a n*de line-up with about five women who were much, much, thinner than me. We are stood side-by-side with only tape on covering our privates.
Jennifer Lawrence went on to disclose how humiliating it felt, to be told to compare herself and to lose weight by drawing inspiration from n*ked photos of herself.
After that degrading and humiliating line-up, the female producer told me I should use the n*ked photos of myself as inspiration for my diet.
When she later went on to complain to a male producer about her experience, she was told that he found her perfectly fine, as in perfectly f**kable.
Also Read: It was hell: Jennifer Lawrence Described her Misery While Filming with Leonardo DiCaprio and Timothee Chalamet
The Silver Linings Playbooks actress is never one to share her thought-provoking and strong views, be they about s*xism in Hollywood or deleterious dieting trends. Jennifer Lawrence has always been vocal about trolls and hates the dieting culture that preys on young and amateur actresses in Hollywood.
If anybody even tries to whisper the word diet, Im like, You can go f*ck yourself.'
Rather than dieting the No Hard Feelings actress believes in having a healthy relationship with food. Unlike others, she loves to munch on pizza, cookies, Doritos, ice cream, and burgers and is never afraid to show off her love for food.
You can catch Jennifer Lawrence in No Hard Feelings, set to be released on the 23rd of June this year.
Source: CheatSheet
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"You can go F*ck yourself": Jennifer Lawrence Recalls Executive ... - FandomWire
Getting in good shape is something every fighter struggles with at some time or another. Whether on the mats of AEW, or theOctagon in the UFC, the battle of the bulge has troubled fighters throughout history.
From Chael Sonnen to Paul Wight, Conor McGregor to Mick Foley, weight loss journeys in combat sports have been well documented. Wight, aka The Big Show, is one of the most famous, losing more than 100 pounds for his return to AEW. Sonnen fought for both the UFC Light Heavyweight and UFC Middleweight Championships but once had to cut more than 36 pounds of weight in just three weeks.
How did they do it, and what can aspiring fighters and wrestlers learn from their journeys?
The first thing a fighter must have is the motivation to cut the pounds, and that was certainly the case with Sonnen. He was offered a fight against Dan Miller at UFC 98 but at a weight limit of 186 pounds. At the time, Sonnen was 222 pounds, meaning he needed extreme weight loss. Whilst that is a drastic example ofweight loss motivation, Wights was a little more identifiable. He was challenged by fellow wrestler, John Cena, and it led him to seek a body shape he was more comfortable with. Thats a common driver for many people outside of professional sports, but it was especially important to Wight, as he explains.
I made the comment about a giant with abs, Whod want to see that? And John Cena looked me square in the eye and said, Yeah, a giant with abs. Who would want to see that? And he walked off. But the way he said it, he challenged me that I
couldnt do it. That comment left Wight upset at his 500-pound frame and motivated to start loving his body again. Now? Hes a seven-foot giant with abs.
Once the motivation is in place, the next step is diet. Going on a fad diet is not the approach to take, especially not for athletes. The body needs nutrients and the like to function properly, which means a rounded approach to diet. As Sonnen explains, he didnt understand that properly. I didnt understand how eating certain foods can enhance ones metabolism. So, I kicked off my weight cut by making a tremendous mistake. I began my short training camp with a two-day fast. That led to his body cannibalizing itself and leaving him short of the correct nutrients. Sonnen did still win the fight.
Mick Foley, another big name in the wrestling world, also dropped 100 pounds or more. He had themotivation for weight lossby being challenged by Vince McMahon in 2016. McMahon promised to hold Foley to a set target, and Foley achieved it by adjusting his diet. It was that voice in my head late at night when the refrigerator would be saying, come here, come to me! And then I would hear that voice say, Im going to hold you to that. And so I dropped 80 pounds, he said.
All fighters exercise and train; thats part and parcel of the profession. It means many who wish to lose weight only truly need to focus on their diet and motivation, rather than getting extra calories burned off. Indeed, Sonnen should ideally have been eating more as he prepped for his fight, and he has since warned of the dangers of extreme dieting to cut weight. In the case of Foley and Wight, they had plenty of calories they needed to burn off and hence turned to the gym.
Get your diet in order, then make the commitment to get your cardio in, he said in a2022 interview. That underlines how what you put into your body is the first stop,
but that to shift the excess, you need to burn more than you consume. Thats where Sonnen went wrong he put too much focus on the exercise and not enough on a balanced loss. Overtraining, lack of sleep, and extreme calorie deprivation increased my risk of illness and injury, he said. That meant I was risking my ability to even show up for the fight.
Indeed, not crashing dieting is something Foley also touched upon. He shed 100 pounds in a year but concluded it was better to drop 20 pounds in a year, every year, for half a decade, ensuring a balanced and healthy approach to weight control.
Fighters need to drop weight, whether for a specific weight class, as with Sonnen, or for performance levels, as with those in the sports entertainment industry. However, the examples weve listed here hopefully provide a blueprint for the right, and wrong ways to go about both, should you need to reach a target weight.
Excerpt from:
Losing Weight For Combat Sports: How The Stars Did It - Grappling Insider
Warning: This article mentions eating disorders, disordered eating and restrictive eating practices.
I grew up surrounded by fatphobia, and deeply enmeshed in diet culture.
Looking back now, it's entirely unsurprising to me that I developed disordered eating habits by the tender age of 13.
And it makessense that I took it too far whileforcing myself through thepunishing exercise regimes I'd trawl for through teen magazines.
These actions were affirmed by everything I read and consumed, much of what I heard and was told at home, and many of my school friends.
Two decades later, I no longer restrict food, exercise for weight loss or hate my body.
Instead, I nurse feelings of bitterness over the fact I spent so many years of my life believing in diet culture ditheringbetween furiously obsessing over adhering to the rules around it and feeling immense guilt for failing to.
But, even though I know the truth about diet culture and fatphobia now, I've still struggled to keep their influence out of my head.
"What would you tell your inner child about all this if you could talk to her?"
When my psychologist asked me that question a few months back, I baulked.
But then I indulged her, closed my eyes at her instruction and thought of the little girl that was once me.
Her question helped me realise part of the reason I've struggledwith this is that the needs I had as a child that any child has, really around learning about food and hunger and my body and its relationship to movement, weren't met.
Through sitting with that, I found it easier to give my past (and by extension, current) self-compassion for the things I once believed about food and weight and exercise.
She then asked how I might now meet those needs and help the adult version of me keep fatphobia and diet culture's ugly influences out of my mind.
I realised the answer was doing what she'd gently suggested: telling that symbolic inner child version of me all the things I wish I'd grown up being taught about food and my body.
ABC Everyday's Perspectives is all about giving you a chance to share what you're going through. Chances are there'sothers facingthe same highs, lows and life experiences. In a short paragraph, email us your pitch: everyday@abc.net.au
Here goes nothing.
You don't need to lose weight to be accepted, to be loved, to wear certain things, to be photographed, or to feel better about yourself. You don't need to lose weight, period.
And you don't have to try and hide your fatness from others. First of all, if you're fat, people know. But, most of all, there is nothing inherently wrong with weight gain or being fat. You'll truly believe and understand this one day, I promise.
There is, on the other hand, so much wrong with diets. Dieting is dangerous. And what's more, diets embarked on for diet culture reasons don't work.
So stop spending your pocket money on those aforementioned awful teen magazines for the sake of finding out what Zoe Kravitz (who hadan eating disorder at your time of obsession, BTW) consumes in a day, OK??
Likewise, calorie counting is never a good idea. In fact, it's an eating disorder warning sign.
Years from now, you'll wish you'd spent your time doing absolutely anything else.
Intuitive eating the practice of consuming what you want when you're hungry and stopping when you're full is so much better than dieting and counting calories.
You deserve to listen to your body's cravings, to learn its hunger and satiety cues. You deserve to enjoy multiple servings of Grandad's curry goat because it makes you feel warm inside.
Learning to eat intuitively will help you experience these things AKA what actually matters to you and move away from dieting and binge-eating behaviours, too.
Doing heaps of cardio for the purpose of becoming thin, as punishment or compensation for things you've eaten also sucks, so please stop that ASAP too.
Look for ways to move your body that bring you joy instead, and you'll eventually find them. The gym might work for some people, but it doesn't have to be it for you.
Because the adult version of me deserves to hear it and be reminded of it as much as the child version of me did.
Every time I re-read these notes, those gross food/body/exercise feelings dwindle enough for me to see them for what they are.
I carry on being fat, eating my favourite foods (and some) and engaging only in movement that feels good.
And it feels glorious.
Excerpt from:
Diet culture warped my childhood. I'm not letting it take over my adulthood as well - ABC News
