A recent issue of the Discovery Health Newsletter, lists 7 reasons why we are not "losing weight" and it says the usual things ... not having breakfast, no exercise, drinking too much, eating at your desk, skipping all fats, eating late at night and cleaning your plate.
Somehow, in reading this type of stuff for the umpteenth time, it touched a raw nerve in me. I would like to observe that many of us very fat folks DO ALL the right things and STILL do not lose weight. And many slim folks do ALL of those (wrong) things above and don't gain weight or gain very little weight.
Many people actually believe that fatness is mostly caused by overeating and not exercising. Despite the fact that a huge percentage of the public regularly overeats and regularly does not exercise and STILL are not very fat - only 15 percent of the population is clinically obese.
I personally know two people in the 500 lbs range who REGULARLY exercise and have not lost much weight - one lady who was swimming a mile several times a week (and being a swimmer I KNOW how many laps that is ... a LOT) And I even know personally a few gastric bypass patients who have a very restricted diet and exercise daily and are still weighing over 300 lbs!
So why is society so clueless? I think because they are NOT genetically obese and don't understand what it's like. And perhaps because many fat people also believe the myth that they "made themselves" that way, not realizing that however they have overeaten, if they didn't have the right set of genes they would NOT be the size they are (and most of them perceive themselves overeating much more than they really do).
Call me a hopeless optimist but I believe that armed with knowledge, we people of size can change society through a grassroots education effort .... but first we must believe in ourselves!
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has"
Margaret Mead
No comments:
Post a Comment