Slimming World member, Fay Marshall, has explained how she lost over eight stone in two years, making people aware that diet words can be harmful however being overweight can have huge consequences. Phrases, such as ‘strong not skinny’ have been reworded to award body positivity and prioritize your mental health as well as physical health.
Marshall explains how being overweight can cause many barriers and you can miss out on huge opportunities. Many people want to lose weight and Britain has become the ‘sixth fattest nation’. Weight watchers has announced that they will be changing their company name to WW and ditching the word ‘weight’ to look further on wellness rather than diet. Wellness is the new crave to promote both health, physically and mentally which is much more important than what your dress size says. According to a recent survey by Mintel, an energising diet is just as attractive to people as someone with a healthy weight. Moving forward into society, fat shaming, bikini bodies and shedding pounds are out of the question, while motivational hash tags such as ‘fit not thin’ are being praised.
American model, Tess Holiday, was chosen for this month’s Cosmopolitans front cover magazine who demonstrates that all bodies come in all shapes and sizes while promoting body positivity, but some say it is encouraging obesity.
Dr Matthew Capehorn, a GP in Rotherham said that if someone is overweight then they just need to lose weight to become healthier. Controversially, mental health dietician, Helen Barrett, justifies that ‘diet’ words have become very harmful and can have negative effects but by changing the way diet is promoted it can have a different outlook. Working with her patients, she focuses on what they will achieve by losing weight rather than just the weight itself.
Along with the ‘weight problem’, it isn’t just about weight. Studies have shown that when many people lose weight they are unhappy still and this is because behind the weight problem there is physiological problems that cause you to reach out for the extra food and calories. Slimming World consultant, Matt Briggs, suggests in his weekly meetings to discuss what they have done that week rather than the weight itself.
Another term used in slimming world is named ‘body magic’ instead of exercise which can be daunting to new members as well as food items named as ‘syns’ and not calories. This type of marketing skill has been shown to be effective but only if it is attempted properly to deal with the problem long term, otherwise it will just be another diet.
