And that’s what the diet industry wants. They want us so distracted with self-hatred that we don’t notice that there is a game being played here. A really sick, twisted one that is costing us a lot of time, money and happiness, all to benefit some incredibly unscrupulous people at the top.

From lollipops that claim to suppress your appetite to “detox” teas that are essentially just laxatives, celebrities and influencers are being paid thousands of pounds to endorse products they know little about. It’s a goddamn industry, the weight-loss world. It’s a whole market unto itself. A booming market that is growing by the damn year.

According to a study from 2014, more than 29 million Britons had attempted to lose weight in the previous year. As the average person gets bigger, so too does the weight-loss industry. Its global value is expected to reach £220 billion by 2023. Less than 5% of people who lose weight keep it off for more than five years. The vast majority of diets do not lead to sustained weight loss. They lead to rampant preoccupation with food and weight, a toxic cultural thin ideal, body dissatisfaction and disordered eating.

Weird, isn’t it? That we keep getting bigger in spite of this militant effort to keep our generation slim… I have some theories as to why this is. Before I go on, I want you to know that I love all bodies and for whatever reason you are thin or fat or medium or whatever, it’s your body and you can do what you like with it.

I think variety is beautiful and glorious. What follows is prompted by all the women I have spoken with who have, in the past, tried to change their bodies and have found it very hard. I’m simply addressing their situation.

“The diet industry cost me time, money and happiness”