Everything you miss when you think weight loss is about willpower

Yahoo ^ | Jan 3rd, 2022 | Alia E. Dastagir

[Mariner]

In American culture, it's bad to be fat. Rarely is this more apparent than at the start of the new year, when diet culture, fat phobia and capitalism converge. Exploiting body shame and people's desire for renewal, weight loss companies ramp up ads, gyms reduce rates and diet companies promise to help people realize the elusive goal of weight loss that lasts.

Sociologists and medical professionals who treat patients using a model of health at every size say this yearly cycle underscores society's obsession with thinness and fuels dangerous misperceptions about the relationship between weight and health.

"I tell patients right off the bat, 'I'm not going to focus on your weight,'" said Dr. Greg Dodell, whose practice is based in New York City. "And first thing they say is, 'Oh my God, what a relief.'"

January's anti-fatness may be cloaked in wellness and body positivity, but its core message to potential customers is the same it has always been: Their body is not good enough, and they have not been disciplined enough to lose weight. Sociologists say that message also suggests weight and health are solely the product of individual choices rather than the result of sexist, racist and classist systems.

"People are doing this to avoid the social stigma, the economic stigma, the moral stigma of being fat or just not being as thin as they could be," said Natalie Boero, a sociology professor at San Jose State University and author of "Killer Fat: Media, Medicine and Morals in the American Obesity Epidemic."

[Vermont Lt]

Your neighborhood ain’t very friendly is it. Do yourself a favor, please never read anything I write…and never respond to me again.

[Mr Rogers]

“Burn it, or store it. It doesn’t seep into the supernatural ether of Mr Rogers neighborhood.”

Can I assume you never take a crap except on FreeRepublic? And do you still refuse to admit calorie restriction, by itself, can easily cause loss of muscle and bone tissue, which the body fights against since it is harmful?

You do NOT “Burn it, or store it.” You burn some, store some, and eject some. Your body CAN regulate its weight very well and for most people it DOES regulate it. If you misjudged your calorie balance by 50 calories a day, you’d gain or lose 5 lbs a year, or 100 lbs over 20 years.

But for many people, your body WILL regulate itself - as mine NOW does - without effort. You WILL eat less, or move more, or eject more to maintain your weight IF your body is functioning well. I don’t believe for a second you count calories every day to maintain a weight.

It is more complex, thank God, because no one could maintain a weight if they had to do it via caloric calculation. And many fat people have gotten their body’s hormones out of whack, and have STOPPED TRYING to control their weight after trying the conventional wisdom - what YOU are offering - and having it fail time after time. They give up.

I want people to see there IS another way. One that can help someone like me - and maybe like some fat person you know - to get their healthy life back! I’m passionate about it because in my 60s I’m effortlessly feeling as good as I ever have - and am slimmer than I’ve ever been. Your advice is what the US government and standard wisdom dieticians have offered at least since 1970. And we’ve seen obesity EXPLODE since 1970.

Someone who has never struggled with fat can’t understand how terrible it is to diet 20 times and never get the fat off. I have lost 20-50 lbs a dozen times in my life and finished my diet feeling weak as a kitten AND with more belly fat than I have now. Then gained it back. Because what you and the US government push doesn’t work long term for many of us. There IS an answer, but you refuse to admit the government has been wrong for 50 plus years.

[FamiliarFace]

My doctor didn’t say much about my weight gain, but he would hammer me about my blood work. He consistently told me that if I worked on my weight, my pre-diabetic status should improve to where I might not need medication for it. One year I finally took his advice, and dog gone it if he wasn’t right. Shedding those extra pounds has helped my blood work be at normal levels. No medications for me. I intend to keep it this way for as long as my body will allow me.