What Is Size-Inclusive Wellness? A Beginner’s Guide to the Anti-Diet Approach
Blog post by Brit Guerin
If you've ever felt like wellness wasn't designed for you, you're not alone.
Many people come to Current Wellness after years of trying diets, gym memberships, wellness programs, and fitness challenges that promised results but left them feeling discouraged, ashamed, or disconnected from their bodies. Others have avoided wellness spaces altogether because they felt judged, intimidated, or unwelcome.
At Current Wellness, we believe there is another way.
Our approach is rooted in size-inclusive wellness and anti-diet principles. Rather than focusing on weight loss, shrinking bodies, or achieving a certain appearance, we support people in building sustainable relationships with movement, food, and self-care. We believe wellness should be accessible, compassionate, and supportive of people in all bodies.
What Is Size-Inclusive Wellness?
Size-inclusive wellness recognizes that bodies naturally come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Rather than assuming that health is determined by someone's weight, body size, or Body Mass Index (BMI), size-inclusive wellness focuses on behaviors, experiences, and overall well-being.
This means that all people deserve access to movement, healthcare, nutrition support, stress management, and wellness resources regardless of their size.
A size-inclusive approach also acknowledges the impact of weight stigma and bias. Research has shown that weight stigma can negatively affect both physical and mental health, as well as create barriers to receiving appropriate care. Rather than blaming bodies, size-inclusive wellness seeks to create environments where people can pursue health without judgment.
Read more about how our approach is different from typical fitness spaces here.
What Does "Anti-Diet" Mean?
The anti-diet approach is not anti-health. Furthermore, we aren’t anti-you, if you are on a diet.
Instead, we challenge the idea that dieting and weight loss should be the primary goals of wellness. While diet culture often promotes rigid rules, restriction, guilt, and the pursuit of thinness, the anti-diet approach encourages people to develop trust in their bodies and make choices based on their individual needs.
This might include:
- Learning to recognize hunger and fullness cues
- Finding enjoyable forms of movement
- Prioritizing rest and recovery
- Improving stress management
- Supporting mental and emotional well-being
- Nourishing your body without rigid food rules
Rather than asking, "How can I lose weight?" we might ask:
- How can I feel stronger?
- How can I reduce stress?
- How can I improve my energy levels?
- How can I care for my body with more compassion?
- What forms of movement actually feel good to me?
These questions often lead to more sustainable and meaningful changes than chasing a number on the scale.
What Is Health at Every Size®?
Health at Every Size® (HAES®) is a framework developed by the Association for Size Diversity and Health that shifts the focus of health away from weight, BMI, and body size, and toward equitable access to care, well-being, and sustainable health-supporting practices. The most recent HAES® principles emphasize that healthcare is a human right for people of all sizes, and that wellbeing is shaped not only by individual behaviors, but also by social, cultural, and systemic factors like access to resources, discrimination, and weight stigma. In other words, health is not simply a personal responsibility or a number on a scale. Rather, it’s a complex, lived experience influenced by many layers of support and environment.
In practice, HAES® encourages care that is compassionate, consent-based, and free from weight stigma. Rather than centering weight loss, the focus shifts to supporting behaviors that promote well-being, such as accessible movement, flexible and individualized nutrition, rest, and stress support, without making body size the goal or condition for care. At Current Wellness, this means creating spaces where people of all bodies can engage in wellness without judgment, pressure, or the assumption that their body needs to change in order to be worthy of care.
What Does This Look Like at Current Wellness?
Our classes, personal training sessions, massage services, and wellness offerings are designed to help you connect with your body rather than fight against it.
You'll hear us talk about concepts like:
- Intuitive movement
- Body awareness
- Self-compassion
- Nervous system regulation
- Sustainable wellness
- Joyful movement
Instead of "no pain, no gain," we encourage people to listen to their bodies. Instead of exercising to earn food, we encourage movement that supports physical and mental well-being. Instead of focusing on shrinking your body, we focus on helping you build strength, mobility, confidence, resilience, and quality of life.
We know that every body is different. We honor that by meeting people where they are.
You Don't Have to Change Your Body to Start Caring for It
One of the biggest myths in wellness is that self-care begins after weight loss, fitness improvements, or achieving a certain goal.
We believe the opposite.
You deserve care now.
You deserve movement that feels supportive.
You deserve healthcare that respects you.
You deserve wellness spaces where you can show up exactly as you are.
Whether you're returning to movement after years away, recovering from diet culture, managing a health condition, or simply looking for a more compassionate approach to wellness, there is space for you here.
At Current Wellness, our goal isn't to help you become a different person. It's to help you reconnect with yourself.
We offer size inclusive fitness, yoga, and dance classes, as well as personal training, massage therapy, mental health therapy, physical therapy, and so much more. Contact us here to get started today.
References:
Weight Science: Evaluating the Evidence for a Paradigm Shift
How and why weight stigma drives the obesity ‘epidemic’ and harms health
Medicare's search for effective obesity treatments: Diets are not the answer.
The spectrum of eating disturbances
Calorie counting and fitness tracking technology: Associations with eating disorder symptomatology