Keto. Whole 30. Intermittent fasting. Cleanses. Detoxes. The list of diets and quick fixes that are "guaranteed" to help you lose that final pound goes on and on, and it seems as though more ideas for weight loss continuously hop on the list. It's never-ending.
In this day and age, society has developed an obsession with diet culture.
What is diet culture? According to Christy Harrison, diet culture can symbolize of variety of things. It idolizes a thin body and leads people to believe that a healthy body is only healthy if it's also a skinny body. Diet culture endorses fast weight loss to achieve not only the ideal body but the ideal social status. It means a hyperawareness around food and food-ridden guilt, it is a discrimination against those who are anything but thin, and it destroys the concept of positive body image.
Diet culture gives people, especially women, the impression that the number on the scale really matters, but in reality, it doesn't.
This fear of gaining weight has overtaken the minds of women starting at a shockingly young age. We are terrified to see that number on the scale shift, even in the slightest way.
SEE ALSO: 25 Percent Of Women Worry About Food Every Half Hour, So Kindly Shut Up About Your Newest Diet
Your weight fluctuates all the time, every single day. If you're feeling sick and don't have an appetite, your weight will be off. If you're on your period and experience bloating, your weight will be off. Your weight is different in the morning when you wake up compared to when you're going to bed at night. Your body is changing constantly, so your weight will change with that. And that is normal! The one person who truly pays attention to your body is you, which is why you hold the responsibility to take care of your body.
If you don't respect yourself or your body, then no one else will.
Instead of constantly weighing yourself to determine whether or not you've achieved a healthy lifestyle, take the time to go and do things to manufacture a healthy lifestyle. Exercise the beautiful body that you have, because you only get one in this life. Fill your body with nourishing foods, treat your body to something sweet every once in a while, and dress it in clothes that make you feel confident. The more you take care of your body, the better you'll feel, which will ultimately help you reach the goals you've been looking for.
Each body is different, with its own set of characteristics and features. We were created with distinct aspects to our bodies because we were made to embrace our differences, not conform.
We need to celebrate one another and the bodies that we have, because one day, we won't be able to move the way we used to, back when we didn't realize the advantages we were too busy critiquing ourselves.
Break the diet culture. Though the change can be difficult after hopelessly stressing over how your body looks or moves, it is well worth your time to keep moving forward. Stop weighing yourself and start loving your body.
