Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
The big lie
Now for the second thing that diet programs don't want you to know.
This gets a little ugly so grab a seat and a beverage. Okay so are you or have you been obese? I'm not talking a little overweight, I'm talking class II (BMI 35.0–39.9) or class III (BMI >40) obese. Then I have some bad news, you are going to die that way and sooner rather than later.
That escalated quickly, didn't it? Do I have your attention? Statistically speaking, what I'm saying is true. Recovery rate on obesity is between 5-10% depending on where you got your number...and the majority of them were class I. I'm laying this really harsh slice of truth out for one reason; I think the line of bullshit that most diet programs and their followers espouse does a huge disservice to the nature of the struggle that will have to happen if you want to be that 5-10%. I don't think this can be stressed enough. Obese people are in a fight for their lives both on a very real level and for the quality of life they will have while on the way to their early, early graves.
Some of the things I constantly hear might not be lies to the person saying them. My personal favorite is: "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels." This is so amazingly untrue that I fear that the ground would open up and swallow me if I ever utter this statement. If it's true for you, great...shut your fucking noise hole because you are being the opposite of helpful...and I'm going to have to explain that now before I go on with other examples.
When you are class II and III obese your life is one of pain, both physical and emotional as well as the subject of ridicule and torment both tacitly and occasionally maliciously. It starts to sink in and even the strongest people start to pick up some heavy scar tissue. So, when encountering a statement like that, when OBVIOUSLY food has been a driving force in their lives for so long, what they hear is; "You are not normal...you are different even from reformed obese people and you are wrong." So they parrot it to fit in, they hope that since everyone says it, there will be some magic turning point where it becomes true and when they realize that point will never come, it's a harsh slice of reality.
There is also the very specific admonition that if you commit to this life change, your body will at some point start to crave the more nutrient dense, lower caloric density foods that fuel it best. You can be re-trained and your fabulous life will be on course from here on out. That's another confidence destroying lie. People don't become obese by accident. Programs pretend that people don't know how to eat, lack the habits and lack the knowledge because that's the facile and comfortable lie that will keep clients paying. The truth is, they knew what they were doing while they were doing it and were powerless to stop it. I was fully present in every delicious bite and I know full well that even if I hit goal weight and meet fitness goals that would make 18 year old men weep, I would still want to do it again.
and remember those mental scars I was talking about? That's the next lie. It's never told explicitly but part of what is sold is this fabulous, active, healthy and amazing life you will be living. Yea, that doesn't happen. If you've been obese for a while, your confidence is rough around the edges, you still believe a lot of what you could hear people whispering about you. In your mind, you are still the ugly stupid whale that everyone rejected and ignored. You still feel more comfortable at home, alone, maybe with a book, a chat room, a computer game, Ben & Jerry...wait, what? Yes. That's exactly how it happens.
There is no award ceremony where you are given an award, people treat you with new found respect and you become confident, suave and charismatic. You are still the person you were but with a few more active hobbies and this new person owns smaller pants...but the pizza guy knows your name, greets you warmly and always has something that makes you feel good, if only for a little while.
So, to sum it up: It never becomes easy nor intuitive. Your body doesn't crave healthy food nor is it retrained to have a better sense of satiety. Plus you're likely a lot more socially awkward than most...and you know you are just going to end up fat again.
That's what it's REALLY like.
People should know that. This is going to be hard work, DAMNED hard work and you are going to have to do it for the rest of your life. No one will care and you are going to have to lose a lot of baggage to be living the life they promise in the commercial. Every day will be a struggle to not give in to the ever present temptations of gluttony and sloth. Gluttony and sloth that are programmed into your DNA as having won at the game of life...not to mention a food industry that spends billions of dollars to find ways to make the cheapest to prepare and nutritionally empty foods taste orgasmically good. It's going to be hard and it's going to suck and no one is going to understand.
The only way I can deal with this is to remind myself that I'm worth it.
Even if my knee prevents me from running again, I can easily fit into cars, I can buy pants in any store that sells them, I can easily get up from a seated position, I can walk up a flight of stairs easily, I can tie my shoes and I can enjoy more years with my friends and my family and my wife and yea... Pizza still tastes better than thin feels, LOTS better but I want all those other things more than I want that feeling.
This gets a little ugly so grab a seat and a beverage. Okay so are you or have you been obese? I'm not talking a little overweight, I'm talking class II (BMI 35.0–39.9) or class III (BMI >40) obese. Then I have some bad news, you are going to die that way and sooner rather than later.
That escalated quickly, didn't it? Do I have your attention? Statistically speaking, what I'm saying is true. Recovery rate on obesity is between 5-10% depending on where you got your number...and the majority of them were class I. I'm laying this really harsh slice of truth out for one reason; I think the line of bullshit that most diet programs and their followers espouse does a huge disservice to the nature of the struggle that will have to happen if you want to be that 5-10%. I don't think this can be stressed enough. Obese people are in a fight for their lives both on a very real level and for the quality of life they will have while on the way to their early, early graves.
Some of the things I constantly hear might not be lies to the person saying them. My personal favorite is: "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels." This is so amazingly untrue that I fear that the ground would open up and swallow me if I ever utter this statement. If it's true for you, great...shut your fucking noise hole because you are being the opposite of helpful...and I'm going to have to explain that now before I go on with other examples.
When you are class II and III obese your life is one of pain, both physical and emotional as well as the subject of ridicule and torment both tacitly and occasionally maliciously. It starts to sink in and even the strongest people start to pick up some heavy scar tissue. So, when encountering a statement like that, when OBVIOUSLY food has been a driving force in their lives for so long, what they hear is; "You are not normal...you are different even from reformed obese people and you are wrong." So they parrot it to fit in, they hope that since everyone says it, there will be some magic turning point where it becomes true and when they realize that point will never come, it's a harsh slice of reality.
There is also the very specific admonition that if you commit to this life change, your body will at some point start to crave the more nutrient dense, lower caloric density foods that fuel it best. You can be re-trained and your fabulous life will be on course from here on out. That's another confidence destroying lie. People don't become obese by accident. Programs pretend that people don't know how to eat, lack the habits and lack the knowledge because that's the facile and comfortable lie that will keep clients paying. The truth is, they knew what they were doing while they were doing it and were powerless to stop it. I was fully present in every delicious bite and I know full well that even if I hit goal weight and meet fitness goals that would make 18 year old men weep, I would still want to do it again.
and remember those mental scars I was talking about? That's the next lie. It's never told explicitly but part of what is sold is this fabulous, active, healthy and amazing life you will be living. Yea, that doesn't happen. If you've been obese for a while, your confidence is rough around the edges, you still believe a lot of what you could hear people whispering about you. In your mind, you are still the ugly stupid whale that everyone rejected and ignored. You still feel more comfortable at home, alone, maybe with a book, a chat room, a computer game, Ben & Jerry...wait, what? Yes. That's exactly how it happens.
There is no award ceremony where you are given an award, people treat you with new found respect and you become confident, suave and charismatic. You are still the person you were but with a few more active hobbies and this new person owns smaller pants...but the pizza guy knows your name, greets you warmly and always has something that makes you feel good, if only for a little while.
So, to sum it up: It never becomes easy nor intuitive. Your body doesn't crave healthy food nor is it retrained to have a better sense of satiety. Plus you're likely a lot more socially awkward than most...and you know you are just going to end up fat again.
That's what it's REALLY like.
People should know that. This is going to be hard work, DAMNED hard work and you are going to have to do it for the rest of your life. No one will care and you are going to have to lose a lot of baggage to be living the life they promise in the commercial. Every day will be a struggle to not give in to the ever present temptations of gluttony and sloth. Gluttony and sloth that are programmed into your DNA as having won at the game of life...not to mention a food industry that spends billions of dollars to find ways to make the cheapest to prepare and nutritionally empty foods taste orgasmically good. It's going to be hard and it's going to suck and no one is going to understand.
The only way I can deal with this is to remind myself that I'm worth it.
Even if my knee prevents me from running again, I can easily fit into cars, I can buy pants in any store that sells them, I can easily get up from a seated position, I can walk up a flight of stairs easily, I can tie my shoes and I can enjoy more years with my friends and my family and my wife and yea... Pizza still tastes better than thin feels, LOTS better but I want all those other things more than I want that feeling.
You can get with this or you can get with...whatever you want to get with really
Maybe it's because Google has helped skew the news I see and my selection of friends has tilted the news I see in favor of things health and fitness related or maybe as silly crap like Bloomberg's soda ban screams for attention but the inherent wrongness is getting under my skin.
I'm going to break this all down in the most simple and real terms possible. People gain weight because they eat more than they need. That's all. Since we love us a quick fix and tricks to get ahead, we are always looking for an angle...and so, we are given one. It's carbs that make us fat, it's high fructose corn syrup, it's GMO foods, it's the food industry, it's the additives, it's gluten, it's the fat... NO! Own this or learn to be happy at whatever weight you have; you gain weight when you put too much into your gob.
Conversely, if you want to lose weight, put less into that pie hole than you need. It's very simple. At this point people chime in espousing Weight Watchers, Paleo, gluten-free, Spark, cabbage soup, fasts, cleanses, shakes, powders, potions and substitutes.
...and they all work
...and they are all bullshit
They work because each of them reduces your calorie intake and they try to do so without impacting your sense of satiety so that you don't stuff that hungry cake pit. They are all bullshit because they sell this notion that they have the "secret sauce." That there is something about the way that they reduce your calorie intake that is special and unique. Some of them work better than others and the ones that do, it's for two reasons, they work better at keeping you from being hungry and more importantly, they acknowledge the single simple truth about intake in a tacit way. These are the programs that demand you log everything you put in your mouth.
If you are going to manage to follow the single truth about losing weight, you need to know exactly two things: "How much energy does my body need?" "How much energy is in this food?" If you don't know these two things, your weight loss will be hit and miss and when you are done with your weight loss, you'll resume overeating (that's how you got overweight in the first place) and the cycle will continue.
BUT WHAT ABOUT EXERCISE!?!
Don't worry, I'm going to piss all over that like a drunken alley cat next post.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)