For Critical Thinkers who Wonder about Health At Every Size

7 min readFeb 2, 2023

What are your fiery questions about HAES? — Photo by Simone Secci on Unsplash

One of today’s stormy controversial topics is the Health at Every Size (HAES) movement. A discussion about HAES is sure to provoke a fierce argument touching on all kinds of sore points, such as inherent biases, scientific opinion, equality, and sad societal realities.

What is HAES all about, you ask? HAES is nothing short of a lifestyle. Living a HAES lifestyle means being at peace with your own body no matter its size. It means fighting for equality for others no matter how big or small. And it means the pursuit of joy in life (instead of thinness) through eating and exercising intuitively, respecting your body, and improving your psychological health.

Since HAES is such a burning hot topic these days, questions abound about what HAES really stands for. Whether you’re looking for some good material to fire back at your angry friends in defense of HAES, or whether you’re the one starting the arguments because you harbor your doubts, this article is for you! Here you’ll find a list of questions that you might already be wondering about, and the answers that anybody and everybody should know! Included in each question are short answers for those with little patience, and long(er) answers for those with a bit more. Look no farther to find answers to your commonly asked questions and criticisms of HAES.

Is HAES only for fat people?

Short answer: HAES is for everybody.

Long answer: It’s in the name: Health at EVERY Size. Big, small, or anywhere in between, you can be “healthy.” Because according to HAES, “health” is something that is achievable by everyone. Instead of judging how healthy someone is by looking at their weight, HAES believes health is a combination of physical, emotional, psychological, and social factors. And these factors are areas that many people can try to improve in.

For example, eating a variety of nutritious foods is a “healthy” way to eat. A thin person who enjoys her diet of donuts and coffee, with the occasional piece of cheese(cake), can stand to make her eating habits healthier.

Moving your body is also “healthy,” but an overweight person who is obsessive about exercise, spends all day in the gym, and always forces himself to take the stairs to his 16th floor apartment, is abusing his body. Not so “healthy.” HAES believes exercise should be done in a way that is enjoyable and fun. We’d all be happier to do it, anyways!

And let’s not kid ourselves. Who can’t stand to improve their emotional health in some way, whether they are fat or thin? Most of us could use a lot of self-work in learning to accept our feelings, love ourselves for who we are, and treat ourselves better.

So yes, HAES is for everyone! We can all use a good dose of the HAES approach of listening to ourselves more intuitively, giving ourselves opportunities for joy, and viewing ourselves and those around us as deserving of respect.

Is “fat” a bad word?

Short answer: Nah.

Long answer(okay this one’s also short): Actually, no. That’s kind of the whole point. “Fat” is just an adjective, like “brown” (eyes), or “long” (fingers), or “greasy” (hair). It’s our innate bias as a society against fat people that views fat as a bad thing, and thin as a good thing. So you can use the word fat all you want. What the word means to YOU when you say it, is what we need to work on changing.

What is weight bias and does it really exist?

Short answer: weight bias is a negative stereotype against fat people. Yes it exists!

Long answer: Weight bias is an attitude that many people inherently have towards fat people. Like all forms of stereotyping, it is not based in reality. It’s unfair towards the objects of the stereotype. A fatphobic attitude causes all sorts of damage to individuals and to society as a whole. On an individual level, it hurts people’s feelings! No one wants to be viewed negatively based on their appearance! And on a societal level, it socially isolates fat people, and makes it difficult or uncomfortable for them to obtain services. Next time you’re on an airplane or in a restaurant bathroom, pay attention–there’s no way these venues were designed with bigger people in mind.

On an ethical level, it makes fat people less likely to receive the medical care they need. One reason for this is that they are less likely to reach out for medical care since they are afraid of fatphobic doctors who will criticize them for their weight. And this fear is not unfounded. When doctors see fat patients with medical complaints, they often jump to recommending they lose weight. They’re much less likely to prescribe preventative screenings, such as cancer screenings, when a fat patient comes to them with a medical complaint. Doctors are also not as willing to provide treatments such as knee and hip replacements to fat patients, and often just tell the patient to lose weight and it will solve their issue.

As for whether weight bias really exists, ask yourself! Play a little word association game. When I say “fat,” you list the first few words that come to mind. Did it? Good. Now compare your list with this one:

“Ugly,” “gross,” “lazy,” “incompetent,” “no self-control.” These are words that many people say come to mind when they hear “fat.”

In our society, being fat is associated with being lazy and unsuccessful in all areas of life, including socially and professionally. Meanwhile, being thin is associated with success and self-discipline. Why does your weight have anything to do with your success at the office? It shouldn’t, but we are doing this to ourselves as a society, with our outlook. HAES is working towards the goal of slowly changing this destructive societal attitude.

Does the HAES approach cause obesity?

Short answer: Nope.

Long answer: When people learn that HAES doesn’t promote weight loss, it’s easy to jump to the opposite conclusion. But HAES doesn’t encourage or discourage weight loss or weight gain. It is simply a “weight neutral” approach. It strives to step away from the belief that a person’s weight defines how healthy they are. Weight is going to be part of the picture of a person, right along with height, stress levels, and eating habits. HAES works off new research that shows that attempts to lose weight simply aren’t effective. (See sources 4–6) Instead, it promotes striving to improve health in other ways that are actually proven as effective, such as eating, physical movement, psychological health, and spiritual health. (Sources 7–9)

But HAES certainly doesn’t cause or promote obesity. Instead, HAES is all about maintaining health from a place of self-care.

Can people control how much they weigh?

Short answer: Only temporarily, but not in the long-term. And this is a good thing!

Long answer: Ahh, what a controversy surrounds this question! Maybe people can control their weight for a period of time. (That period may range from 6 months to a couple of years.) But over the course of life, it’s your genes that predetermine how much you weigh, just like they predetermine your eye color or height. And everyone’s genes determine different body types.

Every body has its own “set-point-weight,” which is the weight that is ideal for that person. Your body sees it as its job to maintain that weight at all costs (just like it is constantly working to maintain a constant healthy temperature, glucose levels, etc.). A part of your brain called the hypothalamus is responsible for this, and does its job well. (And be glad that it does! From an evolutionary standpoint, none of us would be here if our bodies didn’t do a good job at making sure we stayed at a healthy level of nourishment and energy, not allowing us to reach a point of starvation and weakness.)

Dieting can cause you to lose weight, but then your hypothalamus will start calling up some reserve forces to bring your body back to its set-point-weight. And the more “successful” your diet is, the harder your hypothalamus will work to make sure your body gets back to it! Some of its methods will be to increase your appetite, or slow your metabolism down.

Does it go against HAES that I find fat people less attractive?

Short answer: Maybe, maybe not.

Long answer: This is definitely a matter of opinion. HAES is less about attraction, and more about ensuring justice and equality for people of all sizes, whether in the medical field or in society in general. HAES fights the negative societal stereotypes towards fat people. Who you are attracted to may very well have to do with your innate beliefs, so it’s worth investigating whether this is true for you. That said, attraction is a personal thing, with some aspects being influenced by society, and other aspects influenced by your biology, exposure, or just personal preference.

Thanks for reading. I hope you got some answers to the questions you’ve been wondering about. I’ll bet now you have some more! Leave a comment below and ask away. Let’s keep the conversation about HAES going!

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