Weight Loss Won't Fix Your Health
Every day, in medical offices across the country, doctors write the same prescription: lose weight. They prescribe it for diabetes, heart disease, and joint pain. They recommend it for cancer prevention and treatment. They suggest it for everything from migraines to mood disorders. The message is clear – if you want to be healthy, you must be thin.
There’s just one problem: there’s no evidence that weight loss prevents, improves, or cures any medical condition. None. And it definitely doesn’t make you live longer.
This isn’t a fringe theory or a controversial take. It’s what the research actually shows when you look beyond the headlines and examine the data. When you ask basic questions like “Does this treatment work?” and “For how long?” and “Compared to what?” the foundation of weight-centric medicine crumbles.
Think that sounds impossible? You’re not alone. The belief that weight loss improves health is so deeply embedded in our medical system that questioning it feels almost heretical. But that’s exactly what we’re going to do. We’re going to examine the evidence – or lack thereof – behind weight loss as a medical intervention. We’re going to look at what the research actually tells us about weight and health. And we’re going to explore what happens when we stop trying to solve every health problem by making bodies smaller.
It’s time to separate fact from fiction. Time to understand what the science really says. Time to imagine what healthcare could look like if we stopped prescribing weight loss as a panacea and started looking at the whole picture.
Your health is too important for anything less than the truth.
Look Beyond the Headlines
How to Analyze Medical Evidence
When you hear “studies show” or “research proves,” it’s easy to assume the science is settled. But not all evidence is created equal, and when it comes to weight and health, the devil is in the details. Here’s what you need to know to evaluate medical claims about weight:
Start With the Basics
The first question shouldn’t be “Does weight loss help?” It’s “Does this condition even correlate with weight?” Many conditions blamed on weight affect people across the size spectrum. If thin people get the same condition, weight can’t be the only – or even primary – cause. Yet medical professionals often skip this fundamental step, assuming weight must play a role simply because a patient is fat.
This bias leads to dramatically different treatment based on body size – and then these same medical professionalsact surprised when fat people show poorer health outcomes. One could go as far as to say that doctors are creating the very health disparities they then use to justify their weight bias.
Correlation Is Not Causation
Yes, it’s a cliché. It’s also crucial. When researchers find a relationship between weight and a health condition, they often leap to assuming weight causes the condition. But what if the relationship runs the other way? What if both weight and the condition are caused by something else entirely? These aren’t theoretical questions – they’re essential to understanding health.
The Million-Dollar Question
Even if weight is correlated with a condition, and even if we assume it plays a causal role, we still haven’t answered the most important question: Does weight loss actually improve or cure the condition? This is where most of the evidence falls apart. Studies may show correlations between weight and health conditions, but remarkably few (if any) demonstrate that intentional weight loss leads to long-term health improvements.
Quality Matters
When evaluating research about weight and health, consider:
- Follow-up time: Most weight loss studies end at six months or a year – exactly when most people start regaining weight. Studies that follow participants for two years or more tell a very different story.
- Data reliability: Self-reported weight loss numbers are notoriously unreliable. Studies using verified measurements often show much smaller effects – or none at all.
- Selection bias: Who’s included in the study? Who dropped out? Often, the people who stick around for the entire study are systematically different from those who don’t, skewing the results.
- Funding sources: Research funded by the weight loss industry often finds benefits to weight loss. Independent studies tend to be less optimistic.
Drawing the Right Conclusions
Even when a study is well-designed and shows positive results, we need to ask: What exactly did it prove? If a study shows that people who maintain a certain weight are healthier, that doesn’t prove that losing weight will make anyone healthier. If exercise improves health markers regardless of weight changes, is weight really the relevant factor?
The Missing Piece
Perhaps most importantly, we need to ask what isn’t being studied. Most weight-related research fails to account for:
- The health impacts of weight cycling
- The role of weight stigma
- Social determinants of health
- The long-term effects of dieting
- Quality of life measures
Understanding these gaps in the evidence is just as important as understanding what the evidence shows.
Beyond Simple Stories
What Medicine Gets Wrong About Weight
When confronted with evidence that weight loss doesn’t improve health outcomes, medical professionals often fall back on a set of familiar explanations. Let’s examine these standard arguments – and what they’re missing.
“It’s Where You Carry It”
Doctors love to talk about central fat distribution and the dangers of visceral versus subcutaneous fat. But this hyperfocus on fat location ignores a crucial reality: stress hormones influence where bodies store fat, and chronic stress from trauma, poverty, discrimination, and yes – weight stigma itself – can alter fat distribution patterns.
“It’s All About Inflammation”
The medical establishment points to inflammation as the smoking gun linking weight to poor health outcomes. What they rarely mention? Weight cycling (the repeated loss and regain of weight from dieting) causes inflammation. Social isolation causes inflammation. Experiencing discrimination causes inflammation. Poor sleep causes inflammation. Living in food deserts causes inflammation. The relationship between body size and inflammation isn’t nearly as straightforward as they suggest.
“It’s In Your Genes”
While genetics influence body size and health conditions, medical professionals often use this fact to oversimplify complex relationships. They’ll acknowledge genetic components but still prescribe weight loss – as though we’re somehow able to will ourselves beyond our biological blueprint. Not only that, but they fail to acknowledge the way environmental factors, social conditions, and lived experiences shape how genes express themselves.
“Your Hormones Are Out of Balance”
Yes, hormones affect weight and health. But what affects hormones? Weight cycling disrupts hormonal balance. Chronic stress alters hormonal patterns. Poor sleep impacts hormonal regulation. Environmental toxins interfere with hormonal systems. By focusing solely on weight, we miss the broader picture of what influences hormonal health.
“Just Diet and Exercise”
This oversimplified prescription ignores mountains of evidence about what really shapes our health:
- Social determinants like income, education, and neighborhood safety
- Environmental factors including pollution and food access
- Childhood experiences and trauma
- Chronic stress from discrimination
- Access to healthcare
- Quality of social connections
- Work conditions and time for rest
The Reality Check
What if we’ve been looking at this all backward? What if:
- Weight cycling from repeated diet attempts causes metabolic problems
- Weight stigma leads people to avoid preventive care
- Trauma responses shape eating patterns
- Poverty limits access to health-supporting resources
- Chronic stress from discrimination affects hormonal balance
- Social isolation impacts inflammation markers
These factors explain the correlations between weight and health outcomes far more convincingly than simplistic narratives about fat tissue. They also point to solutions that don’t require making bodies smaller – solutions that could improve health for people of all sizes.
Be Part of the Revolution in Medical Care
You’ve just read about the problem. Now, let me tell you about the solution I’m creating – and how you can be part of it.
For over fifteen years, I practiced medicine the way I was taught. I believed the lies about weight and health. I prescribed weight loss, thinking I was helping. And I was wrong.
Over the last few years, I’ve dedicated myself to unlearning those falsehoods. I’ve sifted through mountains of research, separating fact from fiction. I’ve listened to hundreds of stories from people who continue to face weight stigma in medical offices. And now, I’m turning all of that knowledge – and all of that righteous fury – into a book that will change medicine.
This isn’t just another book about weight and health. This is a thorough dismantling of weight-centric medicine, backed by evidence and fueled by the experiences of people who’ve been harmed by it. It’s a clear, uncompromising message to healthcare providers: We must never prescribe weight loss. No exceptions.
Join Me on This Journey
I want you to be part of this transformation from its inception. Through the No Weigh Course, you’ll get:
- A new chapter every month, diving deep into the evidence
- Monthly live presentations where we explore these ideas together
- Q&A sessions where your voice matters and your experiences count
- A community of people who understand and share your passion for change
This isn’t just about learning – it’s about being part of a movement. Your experiences, your insights, your questions, and yes, your anger at the system will help shape this book. Together, we’ll create something powerful enough to change how medicine treats fat patients.
Why This Matters Now
Every day, in medical offices around the world, people are being prescribed weight loss instead of receiving actual care. Every day, medical professionals are perpetuating harm while believing they’re helping. Every day, we lose another opportunity to provide real, evidence-based healthcare.
We can change this. But we need voices like yours. We need your passion, your perspective, and your lived experience to help create the kind of resource that can’t be ignored.