What is Health at Every Size?

What is “Health At Every Size”?

For many years, I believed that if you’re thin, that means you’re healthy, and if you’re fat, that means you’re unhealthy. Simple as that.

When I completed my training to become a certified fitness instructor, that’s essentially what all the textbooks said. Thin: good. Fat: bad. End of story.  

But according to new research that has come out in recent decades...

It’s not quite that simple.

What researchers are discovering is that you can be mentally and physically “healthy” at any size—just like you can be “unhealthy” at any size.

For instance, you can be thin and be very unhealthy—smoking cigarettes, drinking excessively, sleeping poorly, sedentary lifestyle, wracked with self-loathing thoughts.

Conversely, you can be in a larger body and be very healthy—excellent cardiovascular health, plenty of energy, strong muscles, awesome attitude about life, confidence and great self-esteem.

What makes you “healthy” is a combination of many factors—including your lifestyle choices, your genetics, the quality of the air, soil, and water where you live, and your daily stress levels, to name a few. Your weight/size really has very little to do with how “healthy” you are—unless your weight falls on an extreme end of the spectrum, for instance, if you’re extremely skinny (you’re starving to death) or extremely large.  But most people fall somewhere closer to the middle of the spectrum—in a zone where your weight doesn’t actually have a big impact on your health one way or another.

There’s a new movement sweeping through the health and wellness industry called Health At Every Size.

If you hear a life coach, fitness trainer, or physician say that they promote Health At Every Size (or HAES, as it’s sometimes abbreviated), this means they recognize that good health comes in many shapes and sizes—and they recognize that your weight is not the #1 predictor of health and longevity, as many people erroneously believe.

I am proud to be part of the Health At Every Size movement. It’s something I passionately educate my clients about.

If you’re curious to learn more about HAES—if you’re intrigued, relieved, or maybe even skeptical to hear about all of this—I encourage you to visit the HAES website or read this book: Health At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight. Those are good places to begin.

Also, I encourage you to ask yourself, “What does ‘health’ mean to me, personally?” Does it mean having enough energy to chase your kids around the playground? Does it mean feeling confident and worthy of love? Does it mean getting a good night’s sleep and waking up feeling rested?

Make a list of how you define “good health.” As you compile your list, I suspect you’ll discover that “feeling healthy” probably has very little to do with your clothing size. Health is ultimately about how you feel, your stress levels and your oeverall quality of life—not what size clothing is hanging in your closet. There are practical measures like blood pressure, blood cholesterol and blood sugars that can also help you ascertain your true health.  The sooner we recognize this, I believe, the healthier and happier we will be.

xoxo,