First of all I'd really appreciate people reading and digesting the whole of this post before commenting. It would help to not have it clogged up with people posting, 'do you honestly not know that being overweight is linked with health issues' etc. So, if you're not familiar with it, HAES is a medical viewpoint practised by a growing number of doctors. The premise is that seeing as 95% of weight loss attempts fail, an alternative is needed. And that alternative is recognising that lifestyle changes without weight loss can significantly reduce the risk of poor health outcomes. I became interested in it after reading Joshua Wolrich's book, Food isn't medicine. He cites a meta-analysis which found that among people who follow 5 lifestyle choices (eating 5 a day, regular exercise, not smoking, not drinking to excess and not exceeding rda for saturated fat) the link between low level obesity and heart disease disappears. Is anyone else, after years of failed dieting, moving over to this approach? Is anyone a HCP who advocates it?