Your Weight Does NOT Determine Your Health

I want to set the record straight today. Weight does NOT actually determine your health and I will tell you why. I’ve seen so many women struggling with their weight and making the mistake in thinking that their weight determines their health. They’re thinking about food and their bodies all the time. They are in a constant battle over what, when, and how much should they eat - and it’s just consuming their lives.

I don’t want that to happen to you.

But I totally get it. If you resonated with that, I've been there and I absolutely understand why you might believe that weight determines health. Because growing up, we are constantly told that we need to eat less, exercise more, and lose weight, and that doing so will lead us to perfect health,happiness, and confidence. We will just be living the dream life, right?

“weight determines health” is a myth we are sold and conditioned to believe.

No wonder if everyone's been telling us this myth our whole life, we are made to believe that weight alone is what's going to lead us to health, happiness, and confidence. Of course, we learn to want that. We're not wrong or bad for wanting that. But if weight really did determine health, happiness, and confidence, then every skinny person would be healthy, happy, and confident. Obviously, we all know that's not the case.

The effects of holding onto this detrimental belief

In fact, if you continue holding on to this belief that your weight determines your health, happiness, confidence, or whatever it is that you believe it determines, you could end up developing very serious mental or physical health issues.

You could pass these habits on to your kids, where your kids are going to think they're not good enough as they are, and that they have to control their food, monitor their weight, deprive themselves, and worry about similar stuff all the time. Is that really what you want to be teaching your kids?

In addition, if you continue holding on to this belief, you could even destroy or damage relationships with the people that you care about. Because you’re worrying and thinking about food and your body constantly, you won't have the mental space or the energy to love those people, to give to them, and to be emotionally, energetically, and physically available.

It's so hard to be in the moment when we are constantly worried about…

“How does this outfit look on me?”
“What should I eat?”
“What shouldn’t I eat?”
“Oh my gosh! I feel so guilty for eating that.”
“Oh my gosh, I need to work out tomorrow to work it off.”

Our relationships suffer when we are thinking and acting in this way.

What does every happy, healthy, confident person do?

So you might be thinking, “What does every happy, healthy, and confident person do? If losing weight, counting calories, detoxing, dieting, and cleansing isn’t the answer, then what is?”
Let me tell you, all of the people who are happy, healthy, and confident focus directly on their health, happiness, and confidence - NOT on their weight. One is empowering and the other isn’t.

I want to ask you…

Do you want to continue being the person who continues to focus on weight?  
The person whom people probably don’t want to hang out with?
The person who is stressed about what, when, and how much all the time?
The person who feels guilty shortly after eating?
The person who feels gross after finishing a meal?
The person who is consumed with worrying about this stuff all the time?

Or, do you want to be the type of person who focuses directly on health, happiness, and confidence and be able to just eat in a balanced way, without guilt or without restriction, and have the mental space and the energy to focus on the things you really care about?

This doesn't mean that you're bad or you're wrong for wanting to change your body or to lose weight. It's more of a matter of shifting your attention. If it stresses you out when you focus on your weight, appearance, diet, food consumption, rules and restrictions, is that leading you to the life that you really want to live? No? Then, why not try something different?

Focus directly on health, happiness, and confidence instead of weight

If you think that a specific weight will bring you more health, then why don't you focus directly on health and how you can engage in activities that will make you feel healthier? Maybe you can try to add some vegetables to your dinner tonight or go on a walk outside with your dog.

If you think a specific weight is going to make you happier, then why don't you focus directly on happiness now? What are the things that make you feel truly lit up and happy inside? How can you start doing more of those things now?

I guarantee you that when you create this shift in your attention instead of focusing on weight, you can now focus directly on the things you think that weight will bring you. It's a hell of a lot more empowering and it actually gets you so much closer on the path to living the life that you want to live that isn't consumed or controlled by the food you eat, your weight, your body, and your latest diet.