--- title: Weight Loss: An Empowering Guide description: Because you can't feel your best while obsessing about a number on the scale canonical: https://time.com/4237115/empowering-weight-loss-tips/ author: Cassie Shortsleeve article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-29T15:00:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:44:56.591Z og:title: How to Lose Weight in a Way That's Actually Empowering og:description: Because you can't feel your best while obsessing about a number on the scale og:url: https://time.com/4237115/empowering-weight-loss-tips/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta9b66db149ffc510/69887f0c0b72e3d6796e84cc/feminist-guide-to-weight-loss-broken-scale.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: feminist-guide-to-weight-loss-broken-scale og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How to Lose Weight in a Way That's Actually Empowering twitter:description: Because you can't feel your best while obsessing about a number on the scale twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta9b66db149ffc510/69887f0c0b72e3d6796e84cc/feminist-guide-to-weight-loss-broken-scale.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How to Lose Weight in a Way That's Actually Empowering > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=ea2a0b8b-4fa9-4f1f-b1b2-76d22b104189&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: How to Find Motivation [Watch (HLS stream): How to Find Motivation](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5EPdnh7d.m3u8) (1:42)  _Published 2016-01-07_ by [Cassie Shortsleeve](https://time.com/author/cassie-shortsleeve/) ## Cassie Shortsleeve Feb 29, 2016 3:00 PM UTC  Getty Images (2); Photo Illustration by Lauren Margit Jones for TIME by [Cassie Shortsleeve](https://time.com/author/cassie-shortsleeve/) ## Cassie Shortsleeve Feb 29, 2016 3:00 PM UTC Every woman deserves to feel her best—and to do that, she needs a body that can support her hectic lifestyle and carry her through the struggles and triumphs that come with being female. But for women focused on empowerment, trying to lose a few pounds (even if it’s for health reasons) can feel like selling out and conforming to society’s preferred look for women: Fit, thin and picture-perfect. Of course, depending on your situation, losing weight can also be the first step toward putting your best, most confident and most body-positive self out there. So we consulted with experts to get strategies for how you can approach the process of losing weight (if you want to) without feeling like you’ve compromised your values. **Frame it in an uplifting light**Forget the stereotypical narrative of losing weight as a way to fit into a certain jean size. Instead, focus on your specific reasons for wanting to change your habits, suggests Dr. Katie Rickel, a clinical psychologist at [Structure House](http://www.structurehouse.com/), a residential weight loss facility. Do you want to drop pounds so that you can keep up with your kids? So you can go on that trip to Ireland and have the energy to walk the countryside? So you can fly comfortably to that job interview? These are all motivations that will open you up to more opportunity every day. “The difference is whether the focus is on appearance and pleasing others or on being healthy and pleasing yourself,” says Dr. Traci Mann, a professor of social and health psychology at the University of Minnesota. _Find out how to motivate yourself with music:_ **Focus on making choices that feel good—not the scale**Mann points out that feeling your best may not actually require losing much weight (if any). “You can be in the ballpark of healthy at almost any weight as long as you eat a healthy, balanced diet and exercise regularly,” she says. In fact, incorporating both exercise and healthy eating into your lifestyle are great ways to improve your health—even if your actual weight remains unchanged. “People tend to think exercise makes you healthy because it leads to weight loss, but it makes you healthy _before_ you lose weight,” she says. So start with health-promoting habits you enjoy—like jogging or using your spiralizer as much as possible—and don’t worry so much about what the scale says. That way, you can get to a place where you’re healthy and happy—and still prioritize other goals that matter more to you than your weight. **Find a support system**[Research from the University of Illinois](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jhn.12273/abstract) suggests that, for women in particular, a support system is key in both weight loss and weight management. And of course, the process of trying to make healthier choices will be much more uplifting if you stay connected to others who you can lean on throughout the process. Rickel suggests seeking out community walking groups or vegetable-focused cooking classes, which prioritize the habits that are in line with a healthy lifestyle, rather than reaching a target weight. **_Read more:_** [_‘We Need to Change the Way We Think About Feminism’_](http://motto.time.com/4228321/gender-parity-leadership/) **Open up to your friends**Discussing your motivations with your friends can help make clear that your lifestyle changes aren’t coming at the expense of your values. Rickel recommends explaining that you’re making healthy changes because feeling energized, clear-headed and empowered—which come hand-in-hand with self-care behaviors—allow you to pursue goals and activities that are important to you. **_Read more:_** [_Ariel Winter: Breast Reduction Surgery Changed My Life_](http://motto.time.com/4225938/ariel-winter-breast-reduction-surgery/) Reassure your friends that you’re not making these changes because you feel pressured to, but that _you’re deciding_ to make them because you feel more empowered when you’re walking around in a healthy, fully-functioning body, says Rickel. “It is important to make clear that healthy weight management and your empowering ideals are not mutually exclusive and that they exist in two different ‘categories’ in your mind,” she says. “One has to do with your self-care and well-being; the other has to do with your social viewpoints.” ## Transcript [00:00] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [00:02] [ MUSIC ] [00:04] Desire, [ MUSIC ] action, [ MUSIC ] results. [00:09] [ MUSIC ] If you go through the motions it will happen. [00:12] [ MUSIC ] Three, two, one, pull it center. Now, on your [00:15] head I [00:21] have been doing research on people and what works. I [00:24] can read a person off the back, tap in to what that [00:27] persons needs are and dig in there and pull out of [00:31] them the best possible athletic performance. My entire [00:35] life I was an athlete, I have been an instructor for over [00:38] 20 years It is my goal to transform a person [00:42] who is not an athlete into an athlete and teach them [00:45] how to train with the mindset of an athlete. That's the [00:49] person that I really wanna reach, there's a magic to [00:53] group dynamic. If you can have accountability to [00:57] people in your surroundings And you begin to form [00:59] friendships, and you start to bond with your teacher. [01:02] When the teacher looks you in the eyes and says, I'll [01:04] see you on Thursday, there's an accountability in your [01:06] heart. And then you show up and you continue to show [01:09] up, and all of a sudden it shows up on your body in a [01:12] positive way. If you're looking for motivation, you're [01:16] searching for it but you just can't find it, you can't Can't [01:19] figure out what it is. You have to have purpose to [01:23] wake up. You have to have a reason to live. [ MUSIC ] [01:28] And you have to keep doing that every day of your life [01:31] until you get the result you want. That's the can't stop, [01:34] won't stop attitude. You can't stop, won't stop, until [01:38] you reach your goal. 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