#additional obligatory disclaimer that i'm not saying people ~should~ be depressed or mad at themselves for gaining weight

[firelord-frowny]

!!!!!!!!!!!!! one of the things that Disturbs me most about ~weight loss culture~ and fatphobia and whatnot is that like... 

ok, so there are some negative health conditions for which a lot of body fat can be the cause of, or a symptom of. true, i guess. 

but simply “losing weight” is not automatically a healthy thing. 

people can and do lose weight all the time in ways that can be MAJORLY detrimental to one’s health. Duh. We know this. Anorexia, for example. People can DIE from that disease. people can lose weight because of depression. weight loss can be caused by or symptomatic of malnutrition. cancers and other diseases. 

So like... simply “being thin” isn’t the thing that’s healthy. Being in good cardiac health via healthy food choices and regular exercise is the thing that’s healthy. And if you commit to eating healthy foods in healthy portions, and getting a daily bit of exercise, that may very well translate into weight loss for people who weren’t already making healthy choices. 

But like. Simply ~losing weight~ doesn’t make you healthier. Starving yourself or purging or exercising to the point of physical injury does not make you healthier. DUH!!! Cancer obviously does not make anyone healthier. Having no appetite because of depression does not make you healthier. 

so WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY do people hyperfocus on ~weight loss~ as a way to improve health??? 

If you lose 20 pounds by eating nothing but one single order of mcdonald’s large fries every day for a month.... sure, maybe you’re 20 pounds lighter, BUT YOU’VE ALSO ONLY EATEN THE WORLD’S MOST NUTRITIONLESS GARBAGE FOR A MONTH!!! maybe your judgmemental grandma who always makes flippant comments about your weight is happy, but your arteries sure as fuck ain’t. maybe you’re thrilled that you can ~fit into your favorite pants from high school again~, but your blood pressure is fixing to fuck yo ass up. 

OOOOBBBBBVIOUSLYYYYY i am not a Professional in matters of diet and exercise and health and nutrition. 

but it seems from my layman’s point of view that if you’ve made unhealthy choices that contributed to weight gain..... why even bother ~trying to lose the weight~ if you aren’t going to be healthy about it?? If you’re unhealthy in your current shape and you change your shape through EVEN MORE unhealthy stuff... then why not just stay in your current shape until you’re ready and willing to make the kinds of lifestyle changes that would actually improve your health? the kinds of changes that would INCREASE YOUR LIFE EXPECTANCY!!! Decrease your chances of developing serious health problems! Improve your chances of SURVIVING any serious health problems that you do develop. 

don’t just try to be thin omfg that’s so STUPID!!! being thin doesn’t make you healthy!!! LIVING A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE MAKES YOU HEALTHYYYYYYY!!!!!!! 

Obligatory Disclaimer that i’m SUUUUUUUUUUUURE that even if my thoughts about this are true, there’s probably a fuckin lot of exceptions and nuances that I’m not educated enough to understand. I KNOW that when it all comes down to it, only a health care professional is qualified to help a person figure out what kinds of changes they need to make for their health, if any. 

but I’m sitting here thinking about the 15ish pounds that i rapidly lost and then rapidly gained back when i was emotionally breaking down bc of The Plague, and how my actual health was a trainwreck the whole way through. And I was thinking about how for yeeears I’ve been wanting to Stop Gaining Weight via healthy lifestyle changes, and how I’ve always felt kinda pathetic for not being able to muster up the will power an discipline to commit to those changes, and how seeing myself gain weight was like a reminder that I don’t have the resolve to treat myself better, 

and then i saw myself suddenly 15 pounds lighter and i STILL felt like shit because I knew that those 15 pounds weren’t a result of healthy choices - it was the result of clinical fucking depression.