Your Weight is Not the Problem: Dietitian and nutritionist Lyndi Cohen debunks common myths about weight, BMI

Being healthy has become synonymous with being thin. As a result, it’s hard to distinguish the difference between health advice and weight-loss advice. This is a problem because a lot of weight-loss advice is really (and scarily) eating-disorder advice in disguise. Just consider how most diets require you to sacrifice your wellbeing or give up your social life in the pursuit of weighing less. Myth #1: BMI is a measure of health There are plenty of slim people with so-called perfect bodies who wake up fatigued, grumpy and losing their hair from not having enough nutrients in their diet. And others who smoke, drink a lot of alcohol, eat mostly takeaway. Old-school nutrition will tell you that you need to fall within the “normal” weight range according to your Body Mass Index (BMI) to be considered healthy. But if you are looking for the answer to “how healthy am I?”, scrap the BMI. What fires me up more than any other thing when it comes to health is how many scientifically incorrect myths are peddled as fact. BMI doesn’t take into account muscle mass, diet quality, mental wellness, sleep quality, fitness or any other metric. Some people may fall within a “healthy weight range”’ according to the BMI but have a non-ideal body fat percentage, while those with greater muscle mass may appear to be overweight or obese using the BMI. There are many scientifically valid ways to measure health, such as checking in on your blood pressure, cholesterol levels, fitness or blood sugar levels. When looking at a patient’s health, the entire person needs to be considered. Some healthare professionals can get preoccupied with BMI, failing to address the patient’s concerns or assuming this number automatically indicates poor health. And that’s just wrong. Myth #2: It’s always better to weigh less There is a point when excess body weight can place a strain on the body. When joints strain from the extra load. When your body can’t produce enough insulin for its needs. The fat to be mindful of is visceral fat that collects around your core organs. It’s this fat that can increase your risk of heart disease, cancer and diabetes. But the point when a body reaches this zone isn’t always measurable by the BMI. There’s so much noise about the perils of excess weight, but it’s important to remember that a certain amount of fat on your body is healthy for you. Fat is essential for our bodies to function, while also providing cushioning for injury prevention and a layer of insulation to keep us warm. If you become sick, having fat can help with recovery and ensure you’ve got the energy reserves to fight it off. There is a protective role of obesity that gets swept under the scientific rug. Older people or those with several chronic conditions who are obese fare better than those who are slim. They have a lower mortality (death) rate. And obesity may help curb the disease state or assist in recovery. In cancer patients, obesity seems to be linked with smaller tumour size, less aggressive forms of cancers and less progressed stages of the disease. And research has shown better survival rates among those who are obese and have chronic heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or have a stroke and end up in intensive care. The research points to better survival rates after some surgeries and fewer post-surgical complications. Sounds confusing? That’s because it is. It goes against everything we’re ever told: that “fat is bad”. In fact, scientists — those very cool nerds who fuel us with valuable information — are themselves perplexed. They can’t rationalise what the research is saying, so they just called it “the obesity paradox”. Myth #3: Weight loss is the only way to get healthy Have you ever had the experience of going to your doctor to explain something you need sorted, only for your symptoms to be ignored because the doctor has one thing on their mind: weight loss. Your doctor might not be across this just yet, but get this: moderate to high levels of exercise can markedly reduce or eliminate the mortality risk you so often hear is linked to obesity. The truth is, weight loss isn’t consistently linked with increasing your life span. Exercising (regardless of whether or not you lose weight) can positively impact your heart health, helping those oh-so important biomarkers (think blood pressure, cholesterol, heart rate) improve. This boost to heart wellbeing can be equivalent to a weight-loss program, though such programs are often touted as the only solution. Myth #4: Your goal weight is your healthy weight For my wedding day, I got down to my goal weight. I’d lost enough weight that my dress kinda hung off me and my boobs were deflated (a symptom of stress and probably feeling the pressure to look the part). Yet, according to my BMI, I was in the middle of the healthy weight range for my height. Everyone told me how amazing I looked. But was I living my healthiest life? No. I was exercising too much, not eating enough and lying in bed for hours at night with insomnia caused by anxiety. But to the outside world, everyone would have considered this goal weight my healthy weight. Myth #5: Extreme, fast weight loss is aspirational Making rapid weight loss aspirational is incredibly misleading and damaging. These “inspiring transformations” glorify extreme action. Under-eating and overexercising; fasting-style diets or cutting out whole food groups; weighing out your food. If we were a little more honest with ourselves, we’d look at our past failed diet attempts and recognise that every diet we’ve tried before has failed us. Why would this one suddenly be different? Myth #6: Losing weight will stop you hating your body Perhaps you’ve been at this point or you’re there now? You feel deeply uncomfortable in your clothes, that roll of fat that creeps over the top of your jeans is a constant niggle, making you feel like you need to fluff your T-shirt over and over again to prevent others from noticing it. The desire to lose weight is so strong and not to be underestimated when you recognise it’s tied to your very sense of self-worth. You convince yourself that “this time will be different”’ even though it’s always ended the same way. But focusing on weight loss can often be the very thing setting you up for failure. This is an edited extract from Your Weight is not the Problem by Lyndi Cohen, Murdoch Books, $32.99.