The Guardian yesterday devoted the cover of its feature supplement G2 and four pages within it to the fact that its women’s editor Kira Cochrane has decided to lose weight. The tagline on the cover is “the feminist dieter” and Cochrane is also going to be writing a fortnightly column about it.

I must admit, I’m a bit puzzled by this. Firstly, I don’t understand why the paper gave so much space to it. G2 is usually full of smart, interesting, topical features that tell me something new. And indeed the article by Rory Carroll on the Sandalistas in the same issue is a good example. To me, the headline ‘woman goes on a diet’ or even ‘feminist goes on a diet’ or ‘women’s editor goes on a diet’ is worth maybe a one-off column at best. But, hey, I’m not the editor.

The other thing that puzzles me is that after reading the piece I can’t figure out why there was an implicit assumption that it’s somehow un-feminist to diet. Cochrane writes well and I enjoyed reading her work but in the end it didn’t really say very much. I already know that if you eat a lot and don’t do too much exercise then weight gain is the natural result. And I already know that while it can feel liberating not to care about piling on the pounds, it’s a temporary satisfaction as life then gets harder in other ways (Cochrane talks about feeling “sluggish”, not being able to sit comfortably on public transport and not being able to go hand-gliding with her friend because she was worried about the size of the harnesses).

Feminism isn’t about being fat. There is nothing feminist about wilfully pursuing a path that leads to health problems and a curbed ability to take part in the many activities that life has to offer. What I would hope feminism offers is freedom from self loathing and a more a positive relationship with our bodies based on self nurture. We are not defined by our bodies but we are not divorced from them either.

I don’t disagree with anything Cochrane has said or the conclusions she has reached and I wish her well on the weight loss journey, which I’m sure will not be easy. However, none of it seemed particularly new or surprising to me. I’m still annoyed by it being given so much space - it implies that she is being some kind of rebel in being both a feminist and wanting to lose weight, and that’s just not the case.

The best and most simplest nutrition advice I’ve heard was Michael Pollan’s famous seven words: “Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.”