Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth about Your Weight

I have struggled with my weight my entire life. I have dieted over the years, and after each "successful" weight loss, I have gained back twice as much as the original loss. I discovered the size-acceptance movement in the early '90s and embraced my weight, maintaining it for 10 years, until my doctor discovered sugar in my urine. What followed was a seven-year nightmare of doctors, endocronologists, orders to lose weight, prescriptions of drugs I didn't want to take and a reunion with body hatred and the battle of the bulge. I became obsessed and tortured by my struggle to keep the weight off that I had lost during this time. What started out as a quest for good health resulted in a diet roller coaster like none other I had ridden. I returned to therapy, met with a nutritionist, consulted my medical doctor, none of whom could give me answers as to why I couldn't lose weight. The harder I tried, the easier it was to gain. I panicked as my weight began to creep closer to the original starting point, which was the highest it had ever been, when the supposed health problems began. I began to become suspicious of the common prescription of diet and exercise. I read books and spent endless hours on the internet searching for answers. I created a Meetup group for support. It was through one of the members of that group that I was introduced to Linda Bacon's book "Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth about Your Weight." I finished the book in a couple of days. It was such a good read, and I related to everything she talked about. I soaked up all the information, including the all-important message of size acceptance, something I'd lived and forgotten. The transformation of a diet mentality to self-acceptance, though, began long before I completed the book. I could feel the peace from within, peace I had been seeking for nearly a decade. It isn't my fault. Nobody had every said that before. It had always been my fault. Failure was all I knew when it came to weight, body image, and dieting (despite great success in all other areas of my life). For the first time since the diabetes diagnosis, I feel an enormous freedom from guilt, shame, and failure. By the way, I controlled my sugar with a change in diet, and it came down after only losing 5 pounds. Back then I (and my doctor) attributed the normal sugar readings with the weight loss, not the change in foods I was eating. Now looking back, after reading this book, I realize it wasn't the weight loss that "cured" my diabetes (for which my doctors claim there is no cure) just as it wasn't the weight gain that caused my diabetes. One of the biggest (failed) motivators of losing weight and keeping it off was the diabetes. I no longer fear gaining weight, and ironically since changing my thinking, the gaining has ceased. For the first time in 7 years, I am maintaining my weight. And the most powerful observation is, by listening to my own body for cues as discussed in t

You know this in your heart-of-hearts as truth: every time you diet, you always gain more weight back than you lost, your skinny friend eats more than you but remains thin, you exercise regularly and feel fit, but you still don't lose weight, and that sometimes the craving for food seems completely irrational and irresistible, despite all your will power. But heart-of-heart knowing does not carry the same weight (sorry!) as facts, research, and data. Dr. Linda Bacon uses scientific research to explain, in easy to understand conversational language, the physical mechanisms that cause rebound weight gain after dieting and that work to preserve fat rather than lose fat. She exposes the sources of the inability to recognize natural feelings of hunger and satiety. She explains what 20th Century food additives have done to our ability to process the food we eat. Once you gain this understanding of the science of how your body works, all of your intuitive knowledge about your weight makes perfect sense. Dr. Bacon outlines a do-able plan for replacing artificial dieting with techniques for re-learning to eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full. She emphasizes making healthful food choices, bringing movement into your life, and allowing your body to stabilize at its own unique set point. "Diet" is rescued from being a hateful verb, full of punishing calorie counting, and returned to meaning simply what you choose to eat. Dr. Bacon's "non-diet" encourages healthful, satisfying choices, in order to honor your own unique body, no matter what size you are. I love this book!

As an eating disorders specialist, I see the problems caused by our culture's myths about weight and worth. Dr. Bacon has written a well-cited and persuasive book that teaches us that the real prize is health and well-being, at any size. How can you love the body you have? How can you focus on caring for yourself in your daily decisions and in the way you choose to live in the world? Many of us healthcare providers who understand that diets don't work, and that healthy people come in a range of sizes, now have this terrific book to recommend to our patients. And for the healthcare providers who don't yet know the research about the possibility of health across the broad range of body sizes, the book can educate and guide them in how to provide supportive, collaborative, and weight-neutral healthcare. I'd recommend you have this book in hand next time you go see a new healthcare provider!

This book is the BEST researched book about obesity and weight management I have EVER read. It is extremely well cited and quite eye opening about what science REALLY says about obesity. Very comprehensive, the author covers the history (and politics) of the so called "obesity epidemic", as well as the risks (and non risks) of obesity. She straight talks in the book, and I love that. Finally she presents a plan for being healthy and fit which is doable for anyone regardless of size. This is such a fascinating book, I couldn't put it down. I have read many books on this subject but Health at Every Size is DEFINITELY the best of all the books I've ever read. It's a must read for anyone who is interested in the science of obesity and also in a healthy lifestyle (without having to "lose weight") and a must have as a reference in your library.