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The questions you posit have an easy answer: you’re wrong and you’re creating a false narrative. No one is saying that being overweight is healthy. Most of tho
by vineyardmike 2y ago
The questions you posit have an easy answer: you’re wrong and you’re creating a false narrative.
No one is saying that being overweight is healthy. Most of those social campaigns were saying that we shouldn’t shame people for their body.
Also, plenty of studies have shown that weight control isn’t as simple as self control. Different people have different bodies that react differently, and plenty of people have other conditions that limit their ability to control weight.
Gaining weight is easy, and losing it is hard. The body evolved to treat a caloric deficit as literally painful. And losing significant weight requires months or years of deficit, which is months or years of pain. That’s tough to overcome with “a little bit of hard work and self control”.
Anecdotally, I’m a perfect example of this. I used to be a runner, and thin. Then I got sick, and my BMI doubled in months. It’s taken at least a year to undo months of illness. I can’t imagine what someone with chronic illness, or even more weight must go through. I live in a city and walk instead of drive, but not everyone has that lifestyle and it’s not a easy thing to change (“why don’t you just move a long way away to an expensive place and sell your car”). Of course, you should not require someone to do everything just right on paper for their views to be valid. Plenty of people struggle with the motivation, time, or finances to make healthy decisions, and those people are real and should be supported too.
It’s been studied and proven ad nauseam that food can be addictive and that addictions aren’t a matter of “self control” the way people want it to be.
- ohnoitsahuman 2y ago>>No one is saying that being overweight is healthy. Uh... https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/health-and-wellness-articles/can-you-be-overweight-and-healthy https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/health-and-wellne...
- lelandbatey 2y agoThat link goes great lengths to not shame people for their weight and not shame them for a number while also being crystal clear that you have worse outcomes from obesity. Some key quotes: > Yes, you can be overweight and metabolically healthy. At the same time, we know that obesity is a disease that affects the body in many different ways. Thirteen types of cancer and 200 other health conditions are related to obesity. > Those numbers [weight on the scale] directly correlate to life expectancy. Also note, metabolic health doesn't mean "will live a happy and long life with good statistical outcomes for other areas". It mostly means things like "you're not anemic, not diabetic, you have acceptable cholesterol, etc." it doesn't mean "your knees will be fine as you age" nor does it mean "you are at a similar likelihood to develop cancer as someone who is not overweight". It's a pretty narrow definition that's focused on the hyper-immediate.