Why looks aren’t everything

I came across a startling, yet unsurprising statistic shared by a coach who I follow on Instagram, 

That over 50% of exercise professionals exhibit disordered eating symptoms.

That’s a MAJORITY of personal trainers, fitness instructors and online coaches.

It’s quite terrifying to think about, but I can totally see it.

I used to have very unhealthy relationship with food, 

Which was at its worst during my first few years as a personal trainer.

I’ve actually been tentative to talk about it for such a long time because I didn’t want it to take away my credibility as a nutritionist and coach.

However - it’s also a big part of the reason why I am so passionate about shifting our perceptions around what healthy eating and health in general looks like, and emphasising the importance of a positive relationship with food.

If you had seen photos of me from 10 years ago, I would not have been significantly heavier or lighter than I am currently. I didn’t have some sad, sickly look or skittish personality that gave it away. 

But - I would struggle with binge eating, emotional eating, eating in secret, eating at night time and obsessing over junk food even though from the outside I was ‘the picture of health’. I compensated for these habits by being highly restrained with my eating the rest of the time.  

I wasn’t healthy. I had digestive issues, mental health issues and body image issues. I was unhappy - for other reasons - but I used dieting and binge eating as a way to blunt, bypass, ignore or redirect my unhappiness.

I thought I was unhappy because I struggled with food. But struggling with food was a symptom of other things that ran a lot deeper. 

Looks aren’t everything.

The toned, glowing fitness models you see online, there is a 50% chance that they share a similar experience to what I did. 

Yet we still assume that all overweight people are unhealthy, lazy and unmotivated. We never seem to question whether a thin person might be.

Of course, gaining body fat results from eating excess calories for an extended period.

Oftentimes, this can be due to experiencing binge eating or emotional eating.

However, the reason why somebody binge eats isn’t because they’re inherently gluttonous and greedy. 

One of the biggest predictors of binge eating is dieting.

Most people with larger bodies are more than aware of the health consequences of excess adiposity and a poor diet. They’ve likely been on the receiving end of not-so-subtle remarks and comments about their food choices and body size. They’ve likely done a lot of research themselves into dieting. They’ve likely tried to diet numerous times already.

But the statistics related to dieting aren’t promising. The majority of people who lose weight through dieting will gain it back within two years.

People become overweight not due to any lack of trying, but perhaps due to how hard they have tried. To try yet again can feel discouraging, pointless and even embarrassing. This is part of the reason why we can develop resistance when it comes to behaviour change around eating. 

Weight loss can still be achieved and maintained through sensible and well-planned dietary adjustments, but we must first assess and work through the root cause of our weight gain before we attempt to do so - otherwise we perpetuate the yo-yo dieting cycle for even longer.

I understand the pain that comes with feeling unhappy within your body, and the desire to try and change it. My intention is not to tell you that you’ll never be able to or that you shouldn’t ever try to. 

But rather, to encourage compassion for people in all bodies - including yourself. To 

challenge the associations that we have about people in different body sizes. And actually - to make our weight less of a big deal, because really - shouldn’t we be more focused on living meaningful, rich and satisfying lives instead?

This time of year can feel like a LOT of pressure to set ambitious goals and implement a million new habits.

I encourage you to slow. down. 

Breathe into your body, and acknowledge what it is you really desire.

If you are seeking to feel more confident, more healthy, more balanced - how can we inject activities that promote those feelings into our rituals, in a way that feels like self-nurture, rather than self-punishment?

Spend some time writing down your thoughts or chatting with a friend - or even replying to me directly to help you process and ponder. Would love to hear x

Hope your 2025 is treating you well so far!

Lx