For more than a century, men and women have been pawns in the weight-loss industry.
The idea of restricting calories or certain foods has become a hot topic on social media, with 130 million posts with the words “diet” and “weight loss,” according to TodaysDietition.com.
International No Diet Day was May 6, and can serve as a reminder to Pierce College that it can serve a role to bring awareness to the impact this issue has.
People are easily manipulated when it comes to seeing a person post about how much weight they’ve lost. Seeing those results and how different they used to look sometimes makes people feel envious about how they were able to change their bodies.
The idea of needing to count calories to be a certain size and feel good enough to be accepted has turned into a cycle of repeating patterns.
This can cause someone’s confidence to plummet and become self-conscious of how they look.
Reminders of weight loss goals have a negative impact that can cause body dysmorphia, no matter the gender.
According to Dr. Louise Metz, people who go on diets are more likely to gain back the weight, if not more than they had previously lost.
Bodies are not meant to go on extreme diets because of how easily it can affect vital organs.
Once a person goes on a restrictive eating pattern, the body automatically defines the lack of calorie intake as starvation, making it easier for one to eat longer when presented with food.
But that hasn’t stopped people from going on fad diets that aren’t tailored to their body’s needs.
This can result in it being unsustainable and cause more harm than good as opposed to going to a healthcare provider who can help with their specific goals.
Women, by far, have become much larger targets to these issues when it comes to needing to look a certain way to be more appealing.
These harmful tactics have caused an increase in eating disorders, with more than 75% of women reporting these behaviors or symptoms while 53% of healthy dieters are still trying to lose weight, according to eatingdisorderresources.com.
But men have also fallen into the same category.
According to nationaleatingdisorders.org 4.07% of men have experienced eating disorders. These can manifest as switching foods with much denser ones or eating more when it comes to putting on muscle.
Men are often unhappy with their bodies and sometimes decide to go for a bigger and leaner physique.
This can cause muscle dysmorphia, which can lead them to feel self-conscious about their strength and the lack of muscle. The comparison to celebrities, MMA fighters or any form of bulky appearance can be damaging to their mental health.
This can lead to an obsession with gaining weight and trying most things from steroids to heavier lifting, according to an article by greatness.com.
It is important to remember that no matter the gender, everyone is a target of the weight loss products, medication and diets that can lead to consequences.
Spreading body positivity is an ideal way to separate the mindset of dieting. Body positivity isn’t about the physical aspect but appreciating how someone feels about being in their skin.
Sometimes it’s hard to realize how often people can lose themselves in their mind and nitpick little things that are wrong with their bodies.
No one will look like someone else; that’s why inner-worth and self-acceptance is the key to regaining confidence.
Pierce can bring awareness by providing more resources and nutritionists to students who are dealing with eating disorders and body dysmorphia.
Advocating for intuitive eating as opposed to counting calories can go a long way. This helps people focus on how full they feel compared to using an app or a food scale to measure everything they eat.
Having an open conversation about how much these concerns affect most everyone can lead to a better outcome and give them a sense of support.
