I talked about my own body image, experiences with weight and refusal to diet recently. This is a very personal decision that has been made somewhat political. I am one of those Obese Americans. On one level I am one of the good fatties: I eat very little pre-processed food, only small amounts of fast food, I exercise, I eat organic, I do all the things that “experts” tell you to do to be healthy. Sure, I’m still fat, but I’m an in-betweenie and can still shop in regular stores.
I am also of the belief that for many of us are bodies are going to be the weight they’re going to be. Diet and exercise may create some change, but in general we’re going to drift to the weight our bodies want to be. My stomach, for instance, will never have a flat stomach. I could drop 80 pounds and I’d still have a tubby middle. That’s just the way I’m built.
I’m not alone, a lot of other people are built to retain fat more than lean. People have different shapes and different weights and that’s just the way we are. Phenotypic diversity… it’s not just a theory it’s reality.
But, but, but… what about the obesity epidemic!? What about all the fat people who eat fast food every day? They’re shortening their lives and costing us money and are BAD PEOPLE! Yeah, that whole can of worms.
I believe there is a real phenomenon in the US where people are gaining more weight now than they have in the past. The why is not as simple as just eat less and exercise more.
Look, losing weight is not a simple issue. Sure, eat fewer calories than you burn and you will lose weight. But do it the wrong way and many bodies adapt to lower the number of calories burned. Seriously, the number of calories that are burned is not a constant. Bodies in starvation mode get really efficient at extracting calories from food and using fewer calories for normal activities.
When I first started exercising I didn’t increase the number of calories I ate, but didn’t lose any weight. It wasn’t until I cut my calories back slightly (and we’re talking very slightly — 100 – 300 calories a day) that I started to lose weight. At least until I plateaued and increasing exercise and lowering calories down another 300 didn’t cause me to lose weight. I kept that up for 3 – 4 weeks and decided that my body was just not going to cooperate and drop more weight. This was the place it wanted to be right now. I added *back* the 600 calories and continued exercising and didn’t gain any weight. Go figure.
Are people unhealthy? Hell yes. Are higher BMIs correlated with risks for disease? Yes. Do I have a responsibility to society to actually starve myself down to a normal BMI? No. Do I have a responsibility to myself to be healthy? I think I do, but I don’t think my weight is the sole indicator of my health. And, sometimes, limiting my calories or increasing my exercise takes a back seat to taking care of myself mentally or making sure my blood sugar doesn’t drop far enough to send me into a raging maniac or participating in social gatherings or any of the millions of other ways to caretake that don’t involve massively restricting my calorie intake.