The problem is that we associate certain “looks” with certain behaviors.

I use my sister (who’s my best friend and whom I love and adore, by the way) as an example often. She always has been and always will be thinner than I am.

And there was a long stretch of time where I resented her for it. Now I can look back and laugh at the fact that while I was in the thick of dieting and ONLY eating salads, she was eating McDonalds multiple times a day and could eat two McDoubles like it was no one’s business- and she was still thinner than me!

I’m genetically built differently than my sister. Diet culture made me feel like it was my fault that I couldn’t get as small as she was. No matter how hard I tried, I never came close to making my body look like hers.

The problem is that we make assumptions about someone’s health status just based on what they look like. Two people could look at my sister and I and would DEFINITELY make assumptions about our lifestyles- her being the “healthier” and more fit one, her being the one with the secrets to maintaining the “perfect body.”

Not so fast…

What we have control over are our behaviors. We have far less control over what size our body takes. Though, diet culture will have you believe otherwise.

So when you look at your body or someone else’s body and make a grand sweeping assumption over their health status and/or their behaviors- think again.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again and again: track your behaviors, and your thoughts, and your emotional health, and your support system, and literally thousands of other things instead of your weight or circumference measurements.

Weight loss is NOT a behavior.

You can pursue health and wellness and never get the body you’ve always dreamt of- and the hardest part is that we have to be OK with that.

Otherwise, it comes at the expense of our actual health- no two ways about it.