Since we’ve been talking a lot lately about the negative impact of diet culture and leaving diets in the dust, I think it's also vitally important to talk about weight loss. Obviously, dieting is mostly about weight loss and shrinking our bodies, so how can you step away from diet culture without looking at your desire for weight loss?

You can't.

So of course we have to look at this goal when we're thinking about no longer dieting. And in today's podcast, we're talking about why it's so hard to stop wanting to lose weight.

We start with a discussion on the messages that women get about their bodies. Specifically, that our bodies are our most important asset. I know that I certainly got that message from society at large and also directly from my parents. Appearances meant a lot in my house, and I was expected to dress and behave in a certain way. My dad also teased me about my weight, and, I'm realizing now, my mom constantly commented on other women's weight.

The message that our bodies are the most important thing about us is everywhere. It's impossible not to take it in.

So of course most of us have dieted at some point in our lives. Of course we've tried to shrink ourselves to fit the expectation. And of course, for the vast majority of us, it hasn't worked.

Letting go of the goal of weight loss is hard. Here's a few other reasons for why that is that we talk about on the podcast:

It's just downright safer to be a thin woman in our society
Weight loss is one of the few things that women consistently get praised for
We may have lost weight in the past and felt better
It's hard to give up the fantasy of life in a smaller body
We're constantly being told that weight loss IS possible if you try hard enough

All of that is really hard to let go of. But it's not impossible. So on the podcast, we're talking about how to start letting go of this goal. It takes a lot of reminding ourselves that the messages we received about our bodies, weight, and weight loss were just plain wrong. Absolutely, positively, unequivocally, wrong.

And it also takes sitting with the feelings of grief that very well may arise when you think about giving up on weight loss. All of those feelings make sense. And they all need to be validated.

Click below to listen!

Episode 16: How to Finally Let Go of Your Weight Loss Goals.