What Exactly is Weight-Neutral Care?
By Kelsey Chadwick, MS RDN
March 26th, 2025
Here at Oceanside Nutrition, we often refer to ourselves as weight-neutral providers. This is a term that away raises some questions from prospective clients and so I want to take some time today to discuss!
Now, let me start off by saying that being a weight-neutral provider does not mean avoiding or shying away from discussions with our clients about their thoughts and feelings about their weight. We absolutely have these conversations during our sessions and it’s usually an important part of building a healthy relationship with food.
Saying we are weight-neutral providers is a way of communicating a fundamental distinction between ourselves and “traditional dietetics.” That is— we are not going to treat your body shape or size as a problem that needs to be solved through restrictive diets and calorie-based meal plans.
Now there are many reasons we believe that weight-neutral nutrition care is essential. One of the most obvious reasons is that restrictive dieting simply does not work(you can read an older blog post I wrote about this here).
Another reason is that dieting is a known risk factor for the development of eating disorders (along with genetics, trauma history, family history and poor body image). As dietitians we don’t formally take the Hippocratic oath to “do no harm” but we certainly have ethics standards! So when we learned (almost 30 years ago) that— “females who dieted moderately were 5x more likely to develop an eating disorder, and those who practiced extreme restriction were 18x more likely to develop an eating disorder than those who did not diet” (1)— you have to wonder about the ethics of providers that still push restrictive diets today.
But there’s a deeper point about weight-neutrality still to discuss…
You may have heard before that weight ≠ health. This is absolutely true. You cannot determine someone’s health-status based on their weight or size of their body. Health is so much more comprehensive and there are many examples of people living comfortably in larger bodies with many, many signifiers of good, robust health– like lab values within normal ranges, the capacity to do a wide variety of cardio and strength-based exercises, and good mental health (to name a few). Additionally, many folks in larger bodies already eat balanced, nourishing meals and snacks consistently and have wonderful movement routines.
By saying we are weight-neutral dietitians, we are saying that we will support our clients in building healthy lifestyle behaviors without a focus on weight as the metric of success– because health is so much more than just weight.
So now you might be wondering how dietitians like us might support you if we aren’t suggesting restrictive diets or the latest wellness trend. These are just some of the ways we support clients during our sessions:
Discuss what a balanced meal is and why each nutrient is important for your health
Provide support and guidance for creating a peaceful relationship with food
Discuss ways to incorporate specific nutrients you may be missing in your diet such as protein, fiber or iron
Provide guidance for managing health conditions such as diabetes or high cholesterol without following a restrictive diet
Connect with other members of your health care team as needed such as a therapist or primary care provider
Guidance in establishing grocery shopping and cooking routines
Brainstorm meal and snack ideas with your needs and schedule in mind
Support you in moving beyond eating disorder behaviors towards recovery
Improve positive body image
Being an encouraging and supportive partner in your efforts to take better care of yourself (why go it alone?!)
Since it’s 2025 I should probably comment on a question that has been coming up more and more— how can you help someone taking a GLP-1, such as Wegovy or Ozempic? This is a great question and we can absolutely still support you in adding in healthful behaviors and nourishing your body. While you may be actively discussing a weight loss goal with your prescribing doctor, your work with us here at Oceanside Nutrition would remain weight-neutral. We would help with the nutritional management of any symptoms you are experiencing and how to appropriately and adequately nourish your body while taking a GLP-1 medication. These types of medications can make it challenging to consistently nourish your body throughout the day with altered hunger cues, which is a big part of the work we can do together. Many folks find having the consistent support of a weight-neutral dietitian in this process critical for their physical and mental health.
If you’re looking for personalized nutrition support, you are welcome to reach out to a member of our team today.
Additional Oceanside Nutrition Resources:
Nutrition For Mortals Podcast by our very own Matt Priven and Jen Baum. You can find them on Spotify and Apple podcasts as well as on Instagram @nutritionformortals
Oceanside Nutrition Instagram: @oceansidenutrition
Patton, G. C., Selzer, R., Coffey, C., Carlin, J. B., & Wolfe, R. (1999). Onset of adolescent eating disorders: Population based cohort study over 3 years. BMJ, 318(7186), 765–768. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.318.7186.765