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| Author |
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| 25 new of 41 responses total. |
mary
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response 11 of 41:
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Jun 27 16:51 UTC 2007 |
When visiting Asheville, NC, last winter, I had lunch at a nice bistro.
On the dessert menu they offered a sundae with a clever name, which
escapes me now, but it came with its own dish that you could take home.
I was intrigued. My sundae came in a little dish (hold 1/2 cup). It has
a colorful fun glaze outside and inside around the rim it reads, "Yum time
is..." and on the very inside bottom, "over". The little card that came
with advised to take the dish home and use it for indulgent delights.
But "...don't overfill it and use it only once a day". I really enjoyed
that sundae. And you know what, when I'd eaten that 1/2 cup it was
enough. The taste had worked and more would have been out of habit. I
left satisfied and feeling I'd made good choices.
I wish more restaurants played with food so nicely.
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slynne
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response 12 of 41:
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Jun 27 17:20 UTC 2007 |
resp:10 I am not convinced that you would weigh 300 lbs if you didnt
strictly control your food intake. But clearly you are convinced of
that and you know your body better than I do. Maybe you are one of
those 5% of people who have so much self control that they can beat the
odds. Maybe you are hungry all the time and it is only through serious
will power that you can keep yourself from eating more than you do. I
dont know.
I will say that most people tend to have a natural range and find it
just as difficult to gain enough weight to move out of that range as
they do to lose weight to move out of that range. There are things that
people can do to change their "set point" of course. But generally,
most people will not weigh 300 lbs even if they allow themselves to eat
as much as they want to eat. So where does your diet figure into the
idea of diets not working? Well, I suspect that if you were to just not
consciously pay attention to portions, you might gain some weight but
unless you started seriously overeating even when you're not hungry,
you probably wouldnt gain more than 5 pounds or so. Or maybe you would.
I dont really know. I can tell you that in the last three months, my
diet has been *really* bad due to outside factors. And by bad, I mean I
am eating fast food about 3 times a week which a pretty big increase. I
analized my calories on the cdc website and have been eating around
3000 calories a day which is 800 a day more than what I was eating
before. I have gained no weight. I expect to have more time soon and
will return to my old habits. I dont expect to lose weight but I do
expect to feel better.
Let me ask you this. Are you at a normal BMI or are you considered
overweight? And if you are overweight, why havent you changed your diet
such that you end up at a lower BMI?
FWIW, I have found that portion control has helped me with my eating. I
say this because I have a tendency to finish what is on my plate and I
am working on only eating when I am hungry. So I dole out small
portions but my rule is that if I am still hungry after I eat what is
on my plate, I can get seconds (or thirds or even fourths or fifths or
whatever). That does help me because I only get more if I am still
hungry. That is something different than being on a diet though, imho.
I dont restrict the amount of food I eat except that I am working on
reducing "emotional eating"
As for being unhealthy mentally and physically at 300 lbs. I can say
that I am not unhealthy at 300 lbs. I probably will eventually become
unhealthy but that pretty much happens to everybody as they get older
regardless of their weight. I dont think that weight increases the risk
of bad physical health significantly.
I do think that being heavy can be a blow to mental health. But it isnt
so much the weight that is the problem as people's reactions to it. But
ok, yes...being fat is hard and stressful and if a person internalizes
society's messages about fat=lazy, fat=sloth, fat=no willpower,
etc...then yes, being fat is a good way to feel shitty about oneself.
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mary
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response 13 of 41:
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Jun 27 22:10 UTC 2007 |
Require an emergency appendectomy at 300 pounds and then tell me how
morbid obesity is healthy. It's a challenge to simply intubate someone
with such issues. Diagnosis gets trickier. Getting the wound to stay
closed and heal is dicey. And emergency surgery is just one example. 300
pounds comes with issues you don't have at 150. But we've had this
conversation before.
I have been heavier and I know I'll always need to be paying attention
to diet if I don't want to go there again. And I don't. And there is
something else too, something I don't quite know how to explain, but
I feel better about myself for trying to be as healthy as I can, even
knowing I'll never make it to ideal.
But there is that word healthy again. I tend to link weight to
health. You don't. We'll simply have to agree to disagree I guess.
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furs
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response 14 of 41:
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Jun 27 22:23 UTC 2007 |
I agree with mary, because for me personally I do have to work at not
being 300 lbs. Been there, but not for 15 years. I did let a few more
pounds add up over the past 10 years, but over the last 2 years have
taken that back off. I won't call it a battle, because I'm a lover not
a fighter. It's just something I'll keep an eye on for all my life,
because I am not happy at a higher weight. I am happiest now.
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slynne
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response 15 of 41:
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Jun 28 01:52 UTC 2007 |
I will agree with Mary that fat people simply do not get as good of
medical care as thin people for various reasons from prejudice in the
health care community against fat to the technology and techniques being
generally focused on people of more normal weights. As the average
weight is increasing though, I suspect that the technology will catch up
and there will be better machines for diagnosis and better treatments. I
also hope that once people start talking about fat issues some of the
negative feelings about fat people and just fat in general will go away
which would certainly address the issues with medical professionals and
any care differentials that they might give.
But as usual, I will invite anyone to answer a question:
1. What is the risk of being 100 lbs overweight?
Is it as bad as tobacco where 50% of smokers will have smoking related
illnesses that will shorten their lives by an average of 12 years?
The best answer I have gotten is that being 100 lbs overweight for a
woman doubles the chances of death at any given time compared to a
normal weight woman. Being 10 lbs underweight is even worse. But that
statistic has lots of flaws because it doesnt control for anything. It
counts all deaths for any reason and doesnt even mention what the risks
of death are in the first place. So it is double of WHAT? I could go on
but I wont. I have also heard that a morbidly obese woman's chances of
dying are about the same as a normal weight man's chances of dying.
Anyways, my feelings generally are that I try not to judge other
people's choices about what they do to their body or what they eat even
when I dont agree with them. I think that Americans get really moral
about food and bodies and such and I just dont like that. I have nothing
against anyone's decision to go on a diet or to lose weight. Well, Ok,
I'll admit that whenever someone tells me they are going on a diet, I
think that it is a shame because they are almost certain to fail and
then will feel bad and I will admit that I have to bite my tongue so I
dont point that out to them. I am always happy when folks do lose weight
and keep it off if that is what they wanted to do.
I also dont like that "health" is often an excuse used to discriminate
against fat people. That statistic I have heard that a morbidly obese
woman has the same chance of dying as a normal weight man really brought
a lot of the fat prejudice home to me. Because no one is saying that men
need to be become women for their health in the same way that people
insist that fat people become thin people. If health were really the
issue, then men should be treated the same as fat people. I dont expect
to see a special male-to-female sex change hospital to open in our area
any time soon in the way that an entire hospital in Ypsi is devoted to
bariatric surgery.
And fwiw, I am not happy being at my weight either. But it isnt for
health reasons. It is pretty for the same reason that I am glad I am not
a Mexican illegal alien or a black person or Asian or gay. It is because
being in a class of people who are discriminated against and judged all
the time really sucks. It is stressful.
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furs
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response 16 of 41:
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Jun 28 10:47 UTC 2007 |
I am not happy when I'm heavier not because of health reasons, but it's
because I just don't feel good when I'm bigger and I am more depressed
(though I'm not really a depressed person, I can tell a difference in
hind-sight of how I was really kind of depressed). I just feel
better. I strive to stay thinner because of health, though. I maybe
wrong, but it is my feeling that I am much healthier now than I was
120lbs ago. If I am wrong, then I don't really care, because I am
happier this way anyway.
I do agree that fat people totally get discriminated against, because I
have experienced it first hand.
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jadecat
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response 17 of 41:
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Jun 28 13:16 UTC 2007 |
resp:15 One thing I think you've totally overlooked in Mary's post was
not that the technology was the problem in medical care- but the obese
person's body! A seriously obese person simply doesn't heal wounds as
well as someone of a smaller size. That has nothing to do with medical
technology and everything to do with being obese.
Sure there are medical technologies that could be improved- I guess-
like stronger ultrasounds so that doctors could get a clearer image
underneath all the fat layers. But the question I have is- at what cost?
Would the stronger ultrasound waves have more negative, damaging effects?
It's good that you hold your tongue when someone tells you they're going
on a diet- because adding negativity only makes the situation worse.
There's nothing as bad as telling someone you want to try something only
to have them tell you not to bother because you'll fail. You know what-
maybe they will join that 5% that actually manages to lose weight and
maintain it. It sounds like there are at least a couple people on this
board that have managed to lose weight and maintain it for years.
I've stated many times that I want to lose weight- the reason is that
that I will be healthier. Can you currently run up a couple flights of
stairs without being out of breath? I'm currently at the heaviest I've
ever been (thanks in part to metabolism changes after I quit smoking),
although I'm no where near 300 lbs, and what I don't like is that
certain things ARE harder. Sitting on the floor and getting up is still
doable, but it used to be easier. My knees are also starting to
complain, and would cause problems if I weighed more than I do. These
things just aren't good health-wise, even if my cholesterol is at good
levels and my blood preassure is fabulous.
You mentioned the health risks with smoking- and there is one main
comonality between obesity and smoking- both are a choice.
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slynne
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response 18 of 41:
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Jun 28 13:43 UTC 2007 |
resp:16 WEll, I always say that if what you are doing makes you happy,
then it doesnt matter. This is why I bite my tongue when people talk to
me about homeopathic remedies that have no basis in science. IF it
makes them feel better and healthier than more power to them. I mean
what you are doing is making you feel good, Jeanne. So there is NOTHING
wrong with that. And for all I know, for you, being thinner is
healthier. Everyone is different and everyone needs to make their own
choices.
Part of the issue is that certain behaviors which are healthy cause
people to lose weight which puts them at the lower end of their natural
range. But is the weight loss itself that is healthy or is it the
getting off the couch which is healthy? No one really knows for sure.
The only study I have seen that corrects for things like activity
levels showed that fat active people were more healthy than thin
inactive people.
But of course we could go around and around on this issue. Unlike the
tobacco issue or global warming, there is no scientific concensious
about the effects of obesity. There are studies that show it is bad,
there are studies that show only really extreme obesity is bad, there
are studies that show being between 1-100 lbs overweight is GOOD, etc.
None of the media reporting on the subject seems to give meaningful
statistics. Usually they say things like "Obesity increases risk of
breast cancer" without mentioning what the increased risk is.
Anyways, one of the things I find interesting is a debate going on in
the "fat blogosphere" about how to handle the health issue. There are
people who want to get the message out that being fat is usually not
unhealthy (i.e. fat is a state of being, behaviors are healthy or
unhealthy) and that you cant tell a person's health by their weight.
And there are those people who say that the whole health issue is a way
for anti-fat people to frame the arguement in terms of a different form
of discrimination and moral judgement (healthy vs. unhealthy) and this
is wrong because even if a fat person has bad behaviors and unheathly
habits, they still deserve the same dignity and treatment as other
people in our society.
Anyways, one of my favorite bloggers has a post about just this issue
which I ran across last night. She says things a lot better than I can
http://kateharding.net/but-dont-you-realize-fat-is-unhealthy/
resp:17
Ok, I will accept that fat people dont heal quite as well as thin
people. But in the grand scheme of things, that isnt a big risk. I will
also accept that fat people are more likely to have certain joint
problems later in life (although less likely to have them than
athletes). But I imagine that surgical techniques could be developed to
make healing go better for fat people and I also imagine that medical
technology can help with a lot of the joint problems people are likely
to encounter.
I do, btw, understand the economics of it all. Such a small percentage
of people are over a 100lbs overweight that it probably wouldnt be in
the best interests of medicine to focus on fat people. As our
population gets fatter though, I expect more resources will be devoted
to such things.
I know it is good that I bite my tongue when people tell me they are
going on a diet. For all I know they might be one of the 5% who
actually lose weight and keep it off. They might even be like Jeanne
who has lost a LOT of weight and kept it off for years and years. Of
course it is possible for people to lose weight. I wish that people
would give me the same courtesy when I talk about my decision NOT to
try to lose weight. It is a rational decision. I sometimes really start
to feel some of the fat community cliches in situations like that. Like
the one about how being fat and happy with one's body is a radical act.
It drives people NUTS. seriously. If I say: "I like my body. It is
healthy. I dont think I am ugly" and so on, there are always tons of
people who go out of their way to tell me I am wrong WRONG wrong.
Obesity is not a choice though. Obesity is a state of being. Smoking is
a behavior. They are quite different. I kind of like thinking of
obesity like gender. A person can change their gender if they wish. But
there simply isnt the social pressure to do it. Why not? Because we see
gender as a state of being and not a choice. Technically, though it IS
a choice. Just like obesity is a choice. Actually, I might even
theorize that it is easier to change gender than it is to change body
mass.
As for my personal health issues. Well, no. I can run up two flights of
stairs. Mostly that is due to a couple of injuries though. I dont get
winded when I climb stairs. My knees hurt too but again, that seems
more related to injury than weight or at least I think so because my
knees have been getting better. I might have healed more quickly if I
were thinner I suppose.
None of that matters. What it would take for *me* to become a thin
person is not healthy for *me*. What you do to become thinner may or
may not be healthy for *you*
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slynne
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response 19 of 41:
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Jun 28 13:45 UTC 2007 |
Oh yeah, and btw, Anne...congratulations on quitting smoking. Most
people who quit smoking gain weight and even though they do, they are
still generally healthier than people who continue to smoke.
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jadecat
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response 20 of 41:
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Jun 28 18:15 UTC 2007 |
Just to make sure something gets recognized first off- I really don't
think you're at ALL ugly. Okay? :) I don't think weight makes a person
ugly. I do think being overweight is unhealthy- but it doesn't make a
person ugly.
As for the risks with healing- I must disagree. When you heal more
slowly- and that includes the way your skin heals from cuts/incisions-
you seriously leave the body open to infection. And a lot more visits to
the doctor's office to check on the wound, and lots on bandaging, etc.
To be honest one of the problems I have with "diets" is their
suggestions to eat 'lite' foods and what not- and quite frankly, I don't
trust all those chemicals. Butter may not have the right level of
calories- but at least I have a much better idea of what's in it. So
yes, hubby and I use butter in our cooking. Plus I just think it tastes
better.
My theory is all about moderation. I would rather eat smaller portions
of good foods rather than perhaps larger portions with chemicals I can't
pronounce. ;) Overeating is a problem for many people- which is why I'm
trying to be more aware of portion size AND get this 'must clean off my
plate' idea out of my head.
As for activities- I do want to be more active, be able to take the dog
for long walks, maybe even run a little. These things should not be
impossible, or terribly difficult.
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slynne
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response 21 of 41:
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Jun 28 19:13 UTC 2007 |
If you dont think fat is ugly, you are probably different than most
people. And good for you! Personally, I have found that changing my own
personal views about what is beautiful has not only helped with my own
self esteem but has helped me really appreciate other people.
If the only health risk actually caused by obesity is slowness in
healing after surgery, that really isnt much of a risk. It certainly is
something I can live with. I am conceding that point for the sake of
arguement mostly because it really doesnt matter. Saying that there are
health risks associated with obesity is very much like saying that
there are health risks associated with any other human state of being.
There are health risks associated with being black, with being poor,
with being less educated, with being male, etc. It is only in the case
of obesity where society has decided (without much evidence, btw) that
losing weight and changing the state of being will improve health.
As it happens. I think moderation is a good thing. I have been working
on not overeating for a while now as I have discussed here before. I
have had some limited success in that department in that I seem to have
a more normalized outlook on food than I did before. I even leave food
on my plate sometimes! I agree with you wholeheartedly that overeating
is a problem for many people. But overeating is a behavior. Being more
active is a behavior. Obesity is a state of being. There are many
normal weight people who overeat and dont exercise and there are many
overweight people who dont. You can NOT tell a person's behaviors by
looking at their body except in extreme cases.
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denise
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response 22 of 41:
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Jun 29 21:10 UTC 2007 |
I don't have a whole lot of time to post right now but here are just a
few random thoughts for right now...
For me, though I've been at a 'normal/recommended' weight in the past,
its been so many years that I don't exactly remember what its like.
Over the years--since HS, I've gained weight at various rates, have
lost some weight multiple times during all these years but have gained
it all back plus some.
There's a number of factors that come into play, I'm sure. Stressors
for one thing [starting college, getting married, subsequent bad
marriage and divorce, multiple deaths in the family for various
reasons, etc etc etc]. Activity level has also fluctuated over the
years as well. However, I've gained the most weight [with a little bit
of ups and downs] since 2000 when I had to go on disability for awhile.
I was hospitalized a number of times and have been on a variety of
medications, adding some, deleting some, based on what works, what
didn't, what had bad side effects, etc. I do need to be on some
medication for the long haul [as do a number of people for a variety of
disorders]. And many of these can lead to weight gain and great
difficulty in losing it again [but the meds are needed].
And yep, there is a lot of negative connotations from the general
public for people 'of size' [too 'thin' and too 'fat']... It's one of
the visable predjudisms [I know that's not spelled right] still out
there in a big way [no pun inteaded]. However, that's also true with
non-visable issues, too. I have a disability that people can't visably
see but my disorder has been joked about, commented negatively about,
lack of knowledge about, stigma, etc etc. So for both issues, I
have 'issues' with the general public. Sometimes I try to educate the
people/public, other times its not worth the time/hastle at the time
the juegments are made. And sometimes I want my privacy protected...
[more soon]
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denise
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response 23 of 41:
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Jun 29 21:24 UTC 2007 |
Negative connotations about being overweight have been an issue even in
my family. Lots of harmful and hurtful comments and suggestions [some
were meant to help, I'm sure, but many were not]. So even when I had
some weight issues as a kid, I haven't been comfortable with the size
issue since I *was* treated so differently, even within my family. My
older sister had the opposite issue, she was always underweight yet
that was viewed as a good thing. Yet she had a number of health issues,
including many associated with being fat [and she did die of cancer at
the age of 49].
So my self-image has most always been not very high. There have been
times where I've been ok with my size [not 'embarrassed' by it or
didn't see it in a negative way]. But lately, I've been going through
one of my phases where I'm not happy with my appearance size-wise, even
though I've lost a fair amount of weight over the past 6 months, even
though I do feel good about the pounds lost. But I also wonder when
its going to pile back on again as it has so many times in the past. I
*am* doing some stuff to maintain or lose but overall, am not doing
enough. I get so tired of the critisism from so many people about what
I should or shouldn't be doing, health wise. There's only so much one
can do at any time in life without getting to overwhelmed with the act
of balancing one's life and other basic functions and necessities for
survival.
Ok, I'm drifting here, aren't I? I have more thoughts to post put its
about time to head out to this evening's HH! :-)
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slynne
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response 24 of 41:
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Jun 30 13:16 UTC 2007 |
I think that it is very common for fat people to internalize messages
that our culture gives about fat people. They learn that fat people dont
look good or that fat people cant possibly be healthy, and so on. Once a
person honestly starts to believe those things, OF COURSE they feel bad
when they are fat and feel good when they are thin. That so few fat
people ever become thin people even with that kind of belief system says
a lot to me.
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mary
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response 25 of 41:
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Jun 30 15:14 UTC 2007 |
Do you think it's possible that people have different tolerances for
discomfort? Imagine youself at twice your weight, trying to get out of a
low sofa? Or trying to climb a couple of flights of stairs? Would you be
willing to tolerate that level of incapacitation? You've found a weight
that works well enough for you. That's probably true of most people, no
matter what the scale says.
Maybe, just maybe, the reason lots of people maintain at 180 pounds
thought they'd like to weigh less is because they aren't so much bothered
by their physical limitations. Or their low self-image. Or whatever.
What works for you to be content enough at your weight is exactly what
works for a moderately obese person at their weight.
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samiam
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response 26 of 41:
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Jun 30 16:52 UTC 2007 |
Nice analysis, Mary.
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slynne
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response 27 of 41:
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Jul 1 01:42 UTC 2007 |
resp:25 I guess that is possible. However, I think there are a LOT of
people who arent comfortable with their weight and who suffer quite a
lot from it and who simply cannot maintain any significant weight loss.
So while I suppose there are people out there who just are happy with
their weight and the level of discomfort it causes, I dont think that in
our present culture of discrimination and fat hatred that there are many
fat people who would be comfortable with *that. But I imagine that there
are plenty of people who are comfortable with the way their bodies feel
to them even at very large sizes. It seems to me that things like that
are likely to vary among individuals.
As for me personally, it isnt so much about tolerating a level of
incapacitation so much as avoiding things that make me feel miserable.
There are many many things about my weight that I dont like. I imagine
that anyone at any sort of size extreme might feel some of the same
things. The world simply isnt built for people of my size or for very
tall people or very short people. I cant even begin to tell you of the
physical discomfort I feel on a regular basis because of my size. Chairs
often dont fit me and are thus extremely uncomfortable, especially those
little half desks they have at EMU. So yes, I am talking about physical
pain, sometimes pretty bad pain too, caused because I am too fat to fit
in the chair correctly. And trust me, that is just one of about a
hundred things I dont like about being fat.
Efforts to lose weight have always made me feel worse. And while
sustained weight loss is not the typical result of any commercial diet,
symptoms of starvation neurosis apparently are very common (at least
according to one of the few controlled experiments on weight loss - The
Minnesota Starvation Study)
These symptoms are:
* Cognitive processes center on food. Thoughts of food intrude
constantly; the major part of the waking hours are spent in
contemplating it.
* Behavior includes toying with food and hoarding it, especially during
re-nourishment.
* Coherent, creative thinking is impaired.
* Mental function is characterized by apathy, dullness, exhaustion, and
depression.
* Interest in sex wanes.
Basically I suspect that weight is a very individual matter as is
health. There are people who can eat all they want and stay thin. There
are people who gain weight if they wanted to but choose not to. There
are people who couldnt gain weight if they wanted to. There are people
who put on weight and then are able to lose it by maintaining a state of
semi-starvation for the rest of their lives. There are people who put on
weight who suffer a lot if they try to lose weight. Everyone is
different. And that is why you cannot look at a person's body and know
very much about them at all. You cant know if that 300 lb person gets
lots of exercise and eats a great diet. You cant know if that 180 lb
person has more will power than some 300 lb person. You cant look at a
very thin person and know if they are thin because they restrict their
calories or if they are just naturally thin. You cant know if they are
smart, or motivated, or lazy motherfuckers shoveling in the pizzas while
sitting on the couch in their underpants. You really can not tell that
by looking at a person's body.
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denise
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response 28 of 41:
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Jul 2 19:44 UTC 2007 |
I don't think that its as simple as people tolerating [or accepting]
whatever size they are in spite of the discomforts, physical, and/or
emotional limitations of being that size. Of course, there are many
things or situations a person may have a range of tolerance for, but to
NOT wanting to change or tolerate one thing [being overweight] when
[because?] its 'acceptable' to that person [being overweight] MORE than
other discomforts or situations [that it may or may not contribute to]
doesn't make sense to me. It's not like many people can actually
CHOOSE to lose and maintain the said weight loss or choosing not to try
any to lose [or gain in the case of underweight people]the weightloss.
But they/we have to tolerate the other things in SPITE of the size of
the person. In another way, its not that because: 'A' [behavior] is
one specific thing [a certain size] THEN you are accepting of 'B'
[other 'negative' outcomes]. In most people's reality, its B in spite
of A. Am I making any sense?
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denise
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response 29 of 41:
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Jul 2 20:11 UTC 2007 |
In rereading the responses, I do agree with what Lynne has to say in
resp:27, she said it well [as in other responses, too].
More comments and such later, when I have a bit more time...
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slynne
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response 30 of 41:
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Jul 4 03:22 UTC 2007 |
Gina Kolata, a science writer for the NYT, has recently written a book
that examines some of the science of obesity. Her book is called
_Rethinking Thin_. The link below is to an interview with her on NPR's
Talk of the Nation.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11606653
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mary
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response 31 of 41:
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Jul 4 12:00 UTC 2007 |
I listened to the podcast and found it interesting. Thanks for the link.
If you accept her analysis I guess what you're left with is whether to
give up and assume you're statistical fate or see if you can indeed be one
of the (rare) folks who can lose weight and keep it off, long term.
If you despise eating fewer calories than what you burn then I can see how
you might be better off not trying to lose weight.
But for a whole lot of people it's more uncomfortable giving up than not.
Good thing for those who finally find some success with weight control.
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slynne
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response 32 of 41:
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Jul 4 14:02 UTC 2007 |
Sure. It is a good thing for some people who find some success with
weight control. Anyone who can lose weight and keep it off without
suffering from any symptoms of starvation is certainly doing what works
best for them and that is great. It is great when people win the lotto
too but buying a losing ticket doesnt mean that a person is a failure
either even if the success rate for losing weight is much higher than
the success rate for winning the lotto.
Seriously, I have no objections to choices people make about their own
bodies. I am very pro-choice in every sense of the word that people get
to make decisions about their own bodies even if I personally think that
they are making unhealthy decisions. Mostly I think that people tend to
know their own bodies.
But I also think that a lot of the discrimination against fat people is
rooted in a deeply held cultural belief that fat people can easily diet
and lose weight and that the failure to lose weight is due to fat people
having less will power or being more lazy than everyone else. If
something has a 95% failure rate, that says something!
I suspect too that a lot of people are uncomfortable with their weight,
not because of how it makes their bodies feel but because of the way
that fat people are treated in our culture. Fat people are discriminated
against in many many different ways. Fat people are constantly given
messages, even from medical professionals who should know better, that
they just need to lose some weight and that they could lose weight if
only they werent lazy people with no self discipline. People constantly
get confused and see obesity as a behavior when it is not a behavior and
probably doesnt even reflect different behavior than that of thinner
people. And, of course, I also think that the actual health risks of
obesity are hugely exaggerated. I think that getting rid of our negative
cultural ideas about fat and fat people can help people make better
decisions about if they want to try to lose weight or not.
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furs
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response 33 of 41:
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Jul 4 15:33 UTC 2007 |
the things that *is* hard about weight loss for me is I'm not sure I'll
ever feel I've totally won the battle and sit back and relax. It'll be
a constant thing for me to monitor and I just hope I can stay motivated.
But I am ok with that. I'd rather have to constantly monitor it than
to gain weight back. I've done that before, and I don't like it. So
this is what works for me.
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mary
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response 34 of 41:
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Jul 4 15:45 UTC 2007 |
I've been thinking some of why my anecdotal evidence of friends being
able to lose weight and maintain their loss is somewhat at odds with
your statistics. I mean, I sure have more friends who have effectively
maintained weight loss than friends who have hit the lottery jackpot.
Some of it may be that they had serial-dieted without success. But
along they way they'd learned some of what didn't work. So they stopped
dieting and instead shifted to adapting long term weight loss behaviors
- habits for a lifetime. If a researcher collected a group of dieters -
they wouldn't be counted. They're not attending Weight Watchers or
counting carbs or stocking their freezer with Jennie Craig. They've
learned from "diets" and moved on, finding a degree of success. I'm not
sure research is capturing their weight loss success.
But I agree with you that obese people face discrimination and that for
some, many even, significant change is not under their control for lots
of reasons.
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mary
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response 35 of 41:
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Jul 4 15:46 UTC 2007 |
(Jeanne slipped.)
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