Why joining a weight-loss group was the worst thing I’ve ever done for my health

As we’re bombarded with messages about becoming a ‘new you’ this time of year, Saoirse Hanley asks just how healthy are the messages being sold to us by a diet industry that thrives on insecurity?

Saoirse Hanley joined a slimming programme aged 16. Photo: Mark Condren

Saoirse Hanley

Joining a weight loss group in my teens was the beginning of me becoming an enemy of my own body, in a war I wonder if I’ll ever truly stop waging.

But breaking the cycle of counting calories and berating myself for having an appetite was one of the hardest, yet most important things I’ve ever done.