Being told that “extra weight is the worst thing” messed with my head more than my health
By JugglingNothing on
I keep hearing this idea everywhere that carrying extra weight is the worst thing you can do for your health. Doctors, media, social posts, even well-meaning family members repeat it like it’s an unquestionable fact. And honestly? That message has done more damage to me than my body ever did.
Living with an eating disorder, that kind of thinking gets dangerous fast. It turns health into a moral judgment. It makes you believe that thinner automatically means healthier, happier, more disciplined and that anything else is failure. I spent years chasing weight loss because I thought I was “fixing” myself, when in reality I was wrecking my relationship with food, my body, and my mental health.
What no one talks about enough is how stress, restriction, obsession, guilt, and shame affect health too. Constantly monitoring every bite, fearing weight gain, and punishing yourself for eating doesn’t make you healthier. It just makes you exhausted and disconnected from your body.
I’m not saying health doesn’t matter. It does. But health is complex. It includes mental stability, hormones, sleep, energy, and whether you can eat a meal without spiraling. For me, healing has meant learning that being “lighter” didn’t make me healthier being kinder to myself did.