BMI & Body Acceptance: How Are They Related?

Written by Isabel Vasquez, RD, LDN

You’ve probably heard a lot of criticism of BMI in the anti-diet world. And for good reason! If you’re new to the anti-diet space, this is a great article that goes into why BMI is so messed up. Just to highlight some of the major issues with it, it:

• Was only intended to be used for populations, not individuals

• Was created based on data from white men

• Has cutoff ranges which were created by health insurance companies deciding how much to charge policy holders

• Causes medical providers to overlook other factors that impact health (things like socioeconomic status, weight stigma, weight cycling, sleep habits, stress levels, and more)

So how can BMI relate to body acceptance?

Sometimes, I like thinking of it like we each have our own unique healthy weight categories. We each have ranges that are ideal for us and ranges where our bodies aren’t their happiest. A weight that is underweight for one person (based on signs like losing their period for someone with a uterus) can be perfectly fine for someone else; this weight can even be in the “normal” BMI range. The way BMI is used means we are all expected to fall into the same ranges for healthy and unhealthy. For example, those with anorexia nervosa living in larger bodies are not immune to the harmful consequences of semi-starvation* just because they don’t fall into the “underweight” BMI category. However, these cases can often be overlooked and medical providers may even praise their weight loss. 

“Body acceptance doesn’t necessarily mean having a positive body image.”

Body acceptance doesn’t necessarily mean having a positive body image. For me, body acceptance can mean recognizing the ways society has tricked us into believing we have control over our body size and shape. It means recognizing that our bodies cannot always both be healthy and fit the Euro-centric ideal. Eating intuitively helps our bodies to naturally find their happy place. When we are confident that we are honoring our bodies through intuitive eating, we can begin to accept that where our bodies land is probably where they want to be. The restricting, bingeing, unhealthy exercise patterns, and weight cycling that comes with dieting can skew your weight, so eating intuitively can very well cause your weight to change. Chances are that place you end up when eating intuitively is where your body wants to be. 

When you get to that place, there may still be a long way to go before having a positive body image, but the recognition that your body is where it needs to be to best support you is a great first step. You can give up the fight to change your body and instead, work on fostering a better relationship with it. Body acceptance is a great place to be. Of course, there is always more work to do. Show yourself compassion. It’s okay to be in an in-between. You can both struggle with body image and be committed to ditching diets. We need time to grieve the thin ideal.

You are capable. You are worthy. You are enough as you are.

*CW: calorie amounts and images of severely malnourished bodies