Health At Every Size

Increasingly more individuals are trying to lose weight. Indeed, many women, regardless of their size, experience a life-long battle and preoccupation with their weight. Despite the attention to weight and the increase in diet behavior, the incidence of obesity continues to rise. There is little data to show improved long term success for the majority of participants who engage in weight loss behaviors.

The specific aim is to improve the psychological and metabolic health of obese women with a history of chronic dieting through encouraging “Health at Every Size” (HAES). This treatment model emphasizes “intutitive eating,” i.e., internal regulation of eating (responding to cues of hunger, appetite and satiety). The HAES model is being compared to the current standard of care in obesity treatment, energy restriction dieting, which encourages cognitive control of eating and weight reduction.

The Council on Size and Weight Discrimination promotes Health At Every Size (HAES). The basic principles of this philosophy are:

1. Total Health Enhancement and well-being, rather than weight loss or achieving a specific "ideal weight."



2. Self-acceptance and respect for the diversity of bodies that come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, rather than the pursuit of an idealized weight at all costs



3. The pleasure of eating well, based on internal cues of hunger and satiety, rather than on external food plan or diets.



4. The joy of movement, encouraging all physical activities rather than prescribing a specific routine of regimented exercise.

• Human beings come in a variety of sizes and shapes. We celebrate this diversity as a positive characteristic of the human race.



• There is no ideal body size, shape, or weight that every individual should strive to achieve.



• Every body is a good body, whatever its size or shape.



• Self-esteem and body image are strongly linked. Helping people feel good about their bodies and about who they are, can help motivate and maintain healthy behaviors.



• Appearance stereotyping is inherently unfair to the individual because it is based on superficial factors which the individual has little or no control over.



• We respect the bodies of others even though they might be quite different from our own.



• Each person is responsible for taking care of his/her body.



• Good health is not defined by body size; it is a state of physical, mental, and social well-being.



• People of all sizes and shapes can reduce their risk of poor health by adopting a healthy lifestyle.