You're probably tired of the endless cycle. The restrictive diets. The weight fluctuations.

Most people approach health like a war against their body. They see weight loss as a battle to be won through punishment, restriction, and extreme willpower.

In my 20s, I did years of yo-yo dieting too, obsessive calorie counting, and making deals with myself about when I could "earn" my next meal. Then I punish myself with very intense exercises whenever I slip.

I shared my personal story in my YouTube channel:

Let's be honest about what's not working:

These aren't signs of health. They're symptoms of an unhealthy relationship with food, fitness and your body.

The fundamental issue lies between these 2 kinds of goals:

Weight-centric goals focus solely on the number on the scale. You often pursue quick results by any means necessary – even if those methods harm your physical and mental health.

Think crash diets, excessive exercise, or unproven supplements that only rely on anecdotal stories and testimonials - not scientific evidence.

Health-centric goals, on the other hand, prioritize your body's overall wellbeing. They focus on sustainable habits like nourishing foods, enjoyable movement, and stress management.

Weight loss might happen, but it's a natural byproduct rather than the primary focus.

When you fixate on weight loss above all else, you're more likely to choose unsustainable methods that ultimately fail.

Consider the typical dieting journey:

Think about the mental toll.

How many times have you felt like a failure because the scale didn't move?

How many social events have you skipped because they didn't fit your diet plan?

How many hours have you spent calculating calories instead of living your life?

To understand just how destructive weight-centric approaches can be, let's look at one of the most famous examples of extreme weight loss.

Remember the show “The Biggest Loser?”

A 6 year follow-up study was done on 14 participants. 13 of them regained the weight they lost after the show.

4 of them became heavier than when they started the competition.

Worse, most of them suffered from abnormally low metabolism for their size, lower than when they started.

What happened?

What about our mental health?

Competitive bodybuilders – some of the leanest people on the planet – often experience high levels of body dissatisfaction, anxiety, and depression. Their entire profession revolves around appearance, yet they're frequently less happy with themselves than the average person.

Another study revealed female bodybuilders had high levels of body dissatisfaction and binge eating.

That's the profound psychological impact of being constantly focused on body transformation and aesthetics.

A lot of people assume that losing weight comes first, then improved health follows. But the way people approach weight loss goals doesn’t really show that health is at the forefront of their minds, does it?

Given the drawbacks of weight-centric goals, here's a radical concept:

Rather than trying to lose weight at any cost and potentially causing yourself damage, you could strive to practice healthy behaviors and let any body composition changes come as a secondary result.

Think of your body like an ecosystem. You don't force a forest to grow. You create the conditions for growth, and nature does the rest.

Instead of asking, "How can I lose weight?" start asking:

These questions change everything.

Imagine an approach where you're not fighting against your body, but working with it. Where health is a celebration, not a punishment. Where your worth isn't determined by a number on a scale, but by how vibrant and alive you feel.

Lasting transformation happens through small, consistent actions. Not grand gestures.

For example:

Shift from restriction to nourishment. Stop asking what foods you should eliminate. Start asking what your body needs to thrive.

Build sustainable habits. Choose one health-promoting action each week. Master it before adding another.

This isn't about perfection. It's about progression. Some days you'll nail it. Some days you won't. And that's okay.

Research supports this approach. One study involving more than 11,000 people examined four simple healthy habits:

The results?

Adherence to these habits decreased mortality rates regardless of body weight.

Let's be clear:

Focusing on healthy behaviors doesn't mean denying potential health risks associated with excess weight. It simply means that healthy behaviors are valuable irrespective of body weight.

It's worth considering whether the risks people commonly linked with obesity are strictly related to body weight or to simultaneous lifestyle factors.

Health is complex, and our understanding continues to evolve.

The goal is not to ignore potential health challenges, but to approach them with compassion, scientific understanding, and a holistic view of wellness.

The weight loss industry wants you to believe that transformation requires punishment. That you need to earn your results through suffering.

They're wrong.

Actually, it baffles me how most (not all) weight loss programs tell you that losing weight is genuinely about health.

But then, why are their diet products usually sold with pictures of half-naked people than anything focused on the health benefits?

Stop putting your life on hold waiting to reach some arbitrary number. Start living now. Your body will thank you by finding its natural balance—without the struggle, without the obsession, without the guilt.

This is your permission slip to prioritize health over weight loss.

The results will follow, but they won't come in the way you expect. They'll come as:

And yes, overtime your body will find its own healthy weight—as a side effect of you treating it well.

Here’s to choosing health over the scale,

Grazelle 🌱