Dieting

During this weeks lecture and reading, we learned about weight management. We learned that most people who diet do so for cosmetic reason and not to help themselves live healthy lifestyles. Being skinny or in shape is something that everyone would like to be, but there is a healthy and unhealthy ways to loose weight. You have to be careful when your dieting and make sure you are loosing weight or dieting the healthy way.

The reading talked about the HAES model which I agree is a great method over the BMI method. BMI does not give an accurate estimate of body fat. It also does not account for stage of growth, bone density, or body type. BMI was devised to compare norms in different groups, and should never be used to calculate the ideal weight for an individual. The reading tells us that, “HAES model tries to untangle the effects of weight stereotyping. It asks us all to focus on the day-to-day self-nurturing behaviors that result in physical and mental health improvements, and to challenge the pursuit of weight loss so that our bodies can settle at the weight they do when we are living in a healthy way. HAES is weight- neutral.” HAES asks a anorexic or obese person to allow their bodies to find their healthy weight, just as they would tell an “average weight” person to do. HAES is not stereotypical it’s intention is to help every be healthy, rather than measure BMI and tell you off a chat your too skinny, to fat, or just right. HAES enhances healthy behavior. They support you whether your weight stays the same, goes up, or goes down. The goal is to love yourself and loving yourself includes loving your body.

It is important that we as college students make sure we are engaging in healthy lifestyles. There are so many obstacles that get in our way. Our mental models tell use that skinny people are happy, while on the other hand fat people are miserable. This could lead us to excessively working out or even forming eating disorders just so we look skinny and