by Kitty Finklea, RDN

The weight loss business is booming in the United States. Research shows the market topped over 160 billion dollars in 2024, and with a huge variety of products and services, it is predicted to reach 360 billion dollars by 2034. This market includes fitness and wellness influencers as well. Fitness influencers have capitalized on this movement, with over 320,000 creating content on Instagram and over 220,000 on YouTube. While having online fitness tips and advice at your fingertips may seem convenient, misinformation and harmful diet culture ideals may cause you to develop disordered eating habits.

It’s essential to consider how messaging around diets and weight loss impacts us psychologically. Nutrition and diet messaging permeates our culture on the news and on social media. There are many weight loss plans or fad diets available that promote thinness as the standard for health, and this is called diet culture. Diet culture lures people, somewhat subconsciously, into believing myths around weight loss, including thinness as the ultimate goal of health and beauty, moral virtue related to body weight, and demonizing foods as good or bad. Even if health is part of the messaging, the focus is primarily on appearance and how much better life will be when weight is lost.

Diet companies and others in the fitness and wellness industries engage people by offering a “sure-fire” way to quick weight loss or body transformation. They may promote a change in body chemistry using their specific plan, which may not be evidence-based. Companies will often cite data that only the company backs and is not research-based. This can lead to influencers giving advice that is misguided or dangerous.

Diet culture and social media influencers may promote their product or service as being the best, judge other eating habits, demonize certain foods or food groups, or fat-shame those who do not follow the plan. This can also promote negative self-esteem and confidence issues related to a person’s weight, weight gain, or shame for failing to follow a certain plan. Also, we may feel inundated with many different options, leading to further confusion.

Extreme dieting tactics can lead to an obsession with food and weight called disordered eating, which refers to a spectrum of behaviors and distorted thinking about food, weight, shape, and appearance. Mainstream diet culture may inspire such behaviors as overly restrictive food intake, off-and-on dieting, skipping meals, fasting, eliminating specific foods or food groups, binge eating, regular use of diuretics or laxatives, excessive exercising, or purging. Disordered eating does significant damage to the body and mind. Chronic restrictive eating can also lead to eating disorders, and it is estimated that 25-30% of dieters will develop a full-blown eating disorder at some point.

What is the difference between disordered eating and an eating disorder? While both are problematic, disordered eating can vary in severity, while eating disorders must meet specific criteria as specified by the American Psychiatric Association. Disordered eating may include restrictive eating, compulsive eating, or irregular or inflexible eating patterns. If disordered eating becomes severe, it can meet the criteria for an eating disorder.

Eating disorders are serious physical, mental, and psychosocial illnesses, but they are treatable. Eating disorders affect people of all ages, genders, races, religions, ethnicities, body shapes, and weights. Dieting is only one of the risk factors for developing eating disorders. Others include anxiety, depression, addiction, perfectionism, and trauma. In the United States, 28 million people will suffer from an eating disorder at some point in their lives. The most common eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder. Although not formally recognized, orthorexia, an obsession with eating healthy food, has increased over the years with the influence of social media.

Symptoms of eating disorders vary, but common symptoms include preoccupation with food and weight, continued weight loss or weight fluctuations, withdrawal and isolation, trouble concentrating, mood swings, gastrointestinal issues, psychological issues, and sleep issues. Without treatment, medical issues, including malnutrition, electrolyte imbalances, serious gastrointestinal issues, and dental issues can develop. Anorexia, in particular, has the second-highest death rate of any mental disorder, surpassed only by opioid overdoses.

Treatment for eating disorders involves a medical team, including a health care provider, a mental health counselor, and a registered dietitian. A team approach provides medical, psychological, and nutritional assistance, but treatment depends on how long a person has had the disorder and the severity of symptoms and conditions. Support from friends and family is crucial in the process of healing, and while recovery takes time, it is very much worth the effort. People with disordered eating are also encouraged to reach out for help and get referrals for psychological and/or nutritional counseling.

While losing weight can help us lead healthier lives and decrease the risk of developing diseases, make sure to thoroughly assess a plan and do research to ensure it is nutritionally sound. Watch out for red flags – if a plan promotes quick weight loss, eliminates food groups, has rigid rules, cites questionable research, or just sounds too good to be true, don’t fall for it! Registered dietitians are medical professionals who can help individuals with their weight loss goals using evidence-based strategies and avoiding concepts related to diet culture.

Losing and maintaining weight through a balanced, healthy lifestyle approach is essential for a healthy body and mind. Long-term mental and physical health and balanced nutrition are the ultimate goals. If food or weight start to control your thoughts and you think you might have disordered eating or an eating disorder, please reach out for help, talk to your provider, and get a referral to a mental health professional and/or registered dietitian.

Kitty Finklea, RDN, LDN, is a registered dietitian nutritionist and health writer for HopeHealth. Contact her at kfinklea@hope-health.org.