International No Diet Day 2023: Don't fall for unrealistic body types, diet wisely

According to National Eating Disorders Association, the International No Diet Day on May 6 encourages the rejection of diet culture. This movement, started by Mary Evans Jones in 1992, celebrates the importance of body acceptance, diversity, and respect for all body shapes and sizes.

The day is dedicated to promoting a healthy lifestyle with a focus on health at any size. It aims to educate people about the right way to diet and not feeling guilty about indulging once in a while and to create an acceptance of how your body looks, its uniqueness; and to end weight discrimination.

Nutritionist, sports consultant, and psychologist share their advice and suggestions on this day. According to them, desiring for unrealistic body types is harmful. The focus should be health and fitness rather than a certain size or number on the scale. The shape is largely determined by your genes. So is the tendency to store fat and build muscle in certain areas.

When you exercise, it is working the muscle rather than burning the fat sitting above it. Fat burning is targeted trough the diet.

A diet is a combination of nutrients your body needs on a daily basis to survive, repair and adapt. Being on a diet, therefore, means doing the right things most of the time in line with your health and fitness goals. Going off the diet then means letting go once in a while such that does not throw you off the wagon.

According to experts, one should stop obsessing over calories consumed and burnt and exercise is for improving fitness, not trying to cancel out cheat meals.

Calorie counting without paying attention to quality and quantity of nutrients does not make sense, even within a calorie deficit plan. You may lose weight but healthy weight loss means less fat mass while gaining or maintaining muscle.