What Does Health At Every Size (HAES) Mean?

Maybe you've heard of the movement "Health at Every Size" but aren't quite sure what people are talking about. I thought we could take some time to talk about it because there are a lot of misconceptions about what it is and what it isn't.Health at Every Size is an approach that proposes that anyone, at any body size, can be healthy and that health isn't directly correlated to someone's weight as we're so often led to believe.Why does this matter? It matters for people in larger bodies because the focus is taken off of trying to lose weight and instead focus on healthy lifestyle modifications. Focusing on weight loss as the main goal often leads to body dissatisfaction and poor body image, eating disorders, and weight cycling. It matters for people with smaller bodies because there is less fatphobia that can lead to the same negative results.We are all influenced on a daily basis by our culture's preoccupation with weight and health. And the result hasn't been us as a whole getting healthier. It leads to more stress, more body dissatisfaction, more comparison, more unhappiness, and contrary to the intent, less health as a population.I love what I read in one particular article...with a Health at Every Size Approach, the focus shifts from "weight-focused to health-focused".  Ahhh, that just sounds so much more freeing, doesn't it!?Just think...what would it be like to not worry about your weight and just do what makes you happy and feel healthy. Imagine having a relationship with your body where you aren't at war with it, always fighting to drop 5 or 10 pounds (or on the flip petrified of gaining weight), and you just eat, move, sleep, be according to what your body is needing and telling you.The HAES approach was first created in the early 2000s, so this is a relatively new approach. It was initially started due to practitioners noticing a lack of success for people when the focus was on weight loss.Ok, I know you probably have questions like "Doesn't being overweight lead to more health complications?" The truth is, no. Lifestyle and environment play a much greater role in disease risk, not the fact that someone is in a larger body than someone else. Just like someone can be in a smaller body and have poor health, someone can be in a larger body and have amazing health. You probably learned about correlation not being causation in school back in the day. This is the case with weight and health. Though weight can be correlated with poorer health due to the lack of a healthy lifestyle and environmental factors, that doesn't mean that weight causes someone to be in poor health. And it doesn't mean that everyone in a larger body is unhealthy.What does this mean for you? No matter your body size right now, you can take steps towards better health that don't have anything to do with you losing weight.Now, I know that this doesn't address or make better the fact that our culture puts so much pressure on being thin. The media, our communities, and even our health care practitioners talk more about being a certain size than they do what it actually means to be healthy. But here's a great place to practice believing and doing what is best for you, being your authentic and true self. You don't have to conform to what culture tells you you have to believe. You can choose to be confident where you are right now.So what now? Maybe you are in a larger body and you've heard over and over again from family in their passive comments and from doctors when you go in for your yearly checkup that you need to lose weight. Maybe you're in a smaller body but afraid of gaining weight and that's led you to fall trap to controlling everything you eat in an unhealthy way.First off, if this is something you want to learn more about I highly recommend reading either the book Body Respect or Health at Every Size by Lindo Bacon, one of the leading people behind the HAES movement. In these books you'll find lots of data and research to back up all that we've been talking about here.Second, let yourself take some time to think about and research this philosophy on your own. Talk to health professionals (feel free to email me!) and share your concerns and things you struggle with.And lastly, I want to just encourage you to seek out what is true for you. The most amazing thing is coming to a place where you are confident in yourself and what you believe is true and good for you. This doesn't have to be what everyone else believes and is doing. Step out in faith, in courage, and be bold. OK, I know this doesn't even begin to fully scratch the surface of all that we could talk about here. But I'd love to know...what questions do you have about the Health at Every Size movement? What hesitations or concerns do you have? I'm here for you! And if you're looking for a health at every size health coach to help you along your journey, I work with women just like you...women who are sick of dieting and ready to finally feel healthy and have a kind and trusting relationship with themselves. Check out stories from other women I've worked with.