If you haven’t heard about what Nike is up to, the new plus sized mannequins they put out on display in their flagship London store, and the media uproar in response to that, I invite you to Google it.

I bring this to your attention because when it comes to carrying excess weight, it’s important to consider that there could be many reasons – incredibly wise reasons – why that weight is there. Culturally we’ve been programmed to believe that if someone is carrying excess weight it’s because they’re eating too much and not exercising enough.

This is a miserably short-sighted viewpoint that judges, shames and ridicules people for having less than perfect bodies. It’s not based in true science or fact either. Did you know that the entire theory that links metabolism to weight is just that… a theory?!?

The beauty standards for women are exceedingly narrow. The average size of a woman today is a size 16, but our media promotes a size 2-4 as the ideal benchmark of what is considered truly attractive. The dieting industry is a multi-trillion dollar industry, with success rates (meaning long-term weight loss) being only in the single digits.

In my opinion, our culture’s obsession with fat shaming stems from a strong stream of insanity that’s been brainwashing women into disempowering and diminishing themselves for decades.

The truth is diets don’t work. Period. One big reason why they don’t work is that most diets only address the antiquated idea that if you take in fewer calories than you burn in any given day, then you’ll lose weight. The entire dieting concept reduces women down to the mechanics of a machine, and you and I both know how woefully inadequate that idea is.

What the dieting approach to weight loss completely fails to address is our brilliantly complex, multi-faceted, mental, physical, emotional and spiritual selves. There are many reasons why you might be carrying extra weight, and the calories-in-calories-out equation doesn’t come close to answering why.

Here are 60+ reasons why you might be carrying extra weight. Some may surprise you, while others might feel familiar to you. As you read this list, I invite you to notice how complex “weight issues” can be, and how the truth about carrying extra weight far exceeds the narrow and judgmental lens that most of us are seeing it through.

1. You may be eating when you’re not actually hungry.
2. You may continue to eat when you’re full.
3. Your daily eating rhythm could be imbalanced (a.k.a. late night snacking).
4. You could have a hormone or glandular imbalance.
5. Your body may be producing excess cortisol and insulin due to stress.
6. You may have food sensitivities or allergies.
7. There may be a “macro-nutrient” imbalance in your diet.
8. You may not be ready to give yourself permission to have a thin body.
9. You may have a subconscious fear of being vulnerable if you’re thin.
10. Any excess weight may be symbolic of unexpressed potential energy.
11. You may have a secret fear of the attention you might receive if you’re thin.
12. Excess weight may represent excess emotional baggage.
13. You may feel a need to protect yourself.
14. Poor quality food is linked to excess weight and weight gain.
15. You may not feel good about yourself, or feel you are worthy of a beautiful body.
16. You may not know how to give yourself permission to “go to the next level”.
17. You may be lacking pleasure in your life; therefore, food is your one pleasure.
18. You may be wrestling with food addictions (this is linked to quality of food).
19. You may be holding on to “heaviness” – “heavy” may feel comforting to you.
20. For many reasons, you may have a fear of “being seen” or wanting to hide.
21. You may have an energetic imbalance and rely on food to feel grounded.
22. There may be unresolved grief and pain in your heart.
23. You might use food to anesthetize, numb-out and avoid feeling your emotions.
24. Weight gain may be a side-effect of any prescription drugs you are taking.
25. You may not give yourself permission to feel good in your body.
26. You may eat to “get out of your head” and “into your body”.
27. Food and eating may be a way you stay connected with people you love.
28. You may not know how to manage the powerful energy of your emotions.
29. You may fear what others will think or fear others will be upset if you lose weight.
30. You might substitute food for love, companionship, intimacy, etc.
31. You may eat to feel full, to fill up, and as a way to experience fulfillment.
32. You may harbor powerful resentments.
33. You may hate or feel the need to reject yourself in some way.
34. Food and eating are your main avenues to nourishment.
35. You may not know how to manage sexual energy, or the advances of others.
36. You may not know how to forgive yourself or others.
37. You may judge yourself severely and eat to quell this judgment.
38. You may believe, at a core and subconscious level, that you are un-lovable.
39. You may be overly attached to pleasing and doing things for others.
40. You may not know who you really are.
41. You may eat too fast.
42. You may take a lot of over-responsibility for others at the expense of yourself.
43. You may have a blood sugar imbalance.
44. You may have a difficult time regulating your appetite.
45. You may not know the signals your body gives you when you are hungry or full.
46. You may unconsciously suppress your life force and who you really are.
47. Your body may energetically multiply the caloric impact of the food you eat.
48. You may not be living in your body, and not know what your body needs.
49. You may carry guilt and shame – your own or it may be from family secrets.
50. Your body may not tell you when you are full (satiety mechanism issues).
51. Your unconscious may anticipate carrying extra weight as being the norm for you
52. You may focus on what you don’t want (carrying extra weight) and your body creates that
53. Some part of you may believe it’s inevitable that you will carry extra weight
54. Some part of you may fear you’ll have to starve, punish or hurt your body to shed weight
55. You might not believe that you and your body can learn to return to the weight you desire
56. You may believe that carrying extra weight is normal and natural for you
57. You may believe that your body is “broken” and carrying extra weight proves it is “broken”
58. You may require a sacred space to feel safe, loved, valuable and secure
59. You may be afraid of your power and hold on to weight to dilute the truth of who you are
60. You may feel you are an “exception” to how readily and easily weight loss can happen
61. Your body may be retaining fluid to protect you from inner toxicity or dysfunction
62. Your liver may be compromised due to viral load, adrenal strain and/or toxic exposure
63. Your body may require extra weight to support a deep healing process

As you can see, there are many physical, emotional, mental and spiritual reasons why you might be carrying around excess weight – and very few of them have anything to do with calories or carbs! You are a beautifully complex, multi-dimensional woman and this is the outdated line of thinking about weight and body size is particularly small-minded and hurtful. It’s also why any successful and sustainable approach to losing weight must take all of you into consideration.

It’s true that feeling and looking beautiful is about more than weight. It’s also about loving yourself wherever you’re at, feeling confident in your own skin, knowing what you want (and giving yourself permission to have and enjoy it), and taking exquisite care of yourself all along the way.

Sometimes carrying excess weight can be a way we hold ourselves back, make excuses for why we can’t do something, or sabotage ourselves from feeling as confident and capable as we really are. And sometimes carrying excess weight is what our bodies need to do to keep us healthy and alive.

I believe it’s time to stop shaming ourselves (and others!) for not being thin enough. It’s time to open our judgmental minds up to the truth that carrying excess weight does not mean you’re less than, broken, unlovable or ugly.

There is so much more to you than a number on the scale, your current dress size, or a calorie count at the end of the day. I hope you remember this the next to you see someone who is walking around in a less-than-culturally-ideal-body, or when you see yourself in the mirror and immediately start to judge, berate, and hate on what you see.

Let’s commit to loving and honoring ourselves more so that we can love and honor others more too. Just imagine a world like that.