How do you respond to the statement – “If you’re morbidly obese and healthy today, it is only a matter of time before your health will deteriorate.”?
Now, I shall ramble my thoughts on the subject… expect related tangents and other goodies. 😉
This is an argument that I have heard a lot and, ya know, it makes my hair stand on end. My first thought is… “Really? You can predict the future?”
In addition there are many health issues that may correlate with morbid obesity, but that doesn’t mean morbid obesity CAUSES it. Maybe the issues cause morbid obesity.
As the human body is such a complex organism, I can even believe how weight could cause some problems for folks, however, I do not think you can say weight will cause problems for folks CATEGORICALLY. In this world, things just aren’t that black and white.
What I don’t understand is the argument that if you’re morbidly obese (or just obese or overweight) and you eat healthy and are active – you are still on the road to total destruction. Wouldn’t restricting and/or overexercising at this point in order to lose weight just be trading one set of problems for another? Would the rebound weight gain and injuries be worth it? I’m thinking not.
Why would anyone concerned for an obese person’s health ask them to COMPROMISE their healthy habits in order to become more healthy? How in the world does that make sense?
Yeah… it doesn’t.
I have seen many people who say that they know they could be healthier if they just lost the weight. I see this a lot from people who are supposedly recovered from eating disorders, but haven’t “weight restored” yet and want to now diet to “restore” back to whatever weight they would’ve been had they never gone on a diet or never had an eating disorder.
But, what if, after an eating disorder, the body simply isn’t going to “restore” for some folks. What if the body has gone through so many ridiculous famines that it is just not going to let go of the safety margin it has in extra weight? What if dieting to “restore” is just adding to the problem?
I do not understand why pursuing a healthy lifestyle is not enough. If you know you are not getting the nutrition you need, there is room to grow there. If you don’t exercise, get moving. If you don’t rest enough or drink enough fluid… you can focus on that. If weight loss happens, it happens. If it doesn’t happen, why force it?
My fear is that some people who focus on weight “restoration” via diet are using “restoration” and health as an excuse to stick a toe back into the disorder again… and perhaps the FOBT (fantasy of being thin). Why should ANYTHING trump health in and of itself as a focus?
It is my view that if you’re doing the best that you can – you are doing all that you can. If your best efforts of living a healthy life result in continued morbid obesity, I think it’s incumbent upon us at this point to accept reality… otherwise attempts to lose weight can easily compromise health and cause even more weight gain.
Some of you wise folks may disagree with this next bit. I’m not even sure if I agree with it totally… but it’s a fragment of an idea that keeps popping in my mind. I has noticed that many folks who end up overweight (in whatever flavor you choose – obese, morbidly obese, overweight, fat) started out as sturdy girls. Maybe we were slightly overweight. Maybe we were big boned. Pleasantly plump. Whatever. Then the dieting starts, which causes the rebound weight. More dieting and more weight, ad infinitum. It’s almost like our bodies are saying to us, “Hey! You don’t appreciate me as a little chunky! Fine, we will now become even more chunky!… okay you wanna diet again, cuz you still don’t accept what is – fine! We will now become even more “overweight” until you GET THE POINT THAT YOU NEED TO ACCEPT YOURSELF AS IT!” That is my fragment of an idea…. that maybe restoration completely misses the point for some people. Maybe the body’s #1 priority is acceptance and maybe (for some of us) it is going to keep trying to drive this message home until we open our hearts and ears and hear it.
But really, it all goes back to for me… if you’re active and eat well and rest and take good care of yourself otherwise… and you’re morbidly obese – why would ANYONE want you to change your habits simply to loose weight? Sure, if you have the extra weight due to a thyroid problem or something, then that should be addressed – however, I think that would fall under the “and take good care of yourself otherwise” category.
I am coming to the sad realization that some folks in the eating disorder community believe that weight equates to health – otherwise how could they ever want to compromise healthy habits simply for the sake of weight. I’ve even heard some people talk about a higher weight due to a disordered history as some kind of kharmic punishment for having an ED that they wanted to make right via dieting. I think these folks don’t realize how indoctrinated into today’s general weight freak-out.
And then someone brings up weight restoration for anorexics always. Yes, I agree, if your mental capability is compromises by lack of food, you must restore. However, if someone is technically underweight, but clear headed and coping well in life and not eating with disordered thinking – should these people be asked to choke down more food they don’t want to make a weight charge happy? I think not.
If you’re not living healthily (eating well, exercising, getting to the doc, sleeping, etc…), then PLEASE DO focus on that. It’s so very important in so many ways to quality of life. But, if you are living well, then I think acceptance is the next step, if ya haven’t made it there already.
And, then I love the argument that ED’d people are manipulative and will use my arguments above to stay ED’d in the name of “acceptance”. Well ya know what, it is every adults responsibility to understand that we sometimes FOOL OURSELVES. Yes, we all do it now and then. It is our job to keep a vigilant eye open for this and address it when we see such a thing.
If we got rid of every thing and idea on the planet that could potentially be abused, I’m pretty sure nothing would exist anymore. Frying pans – potentially whack people in the face. Cookies – potentially overeaten. Celery – potentially used as a “safe” food for food restriction. Therapy – is potentially abusive if you have a rotten therapist. Dogs – can bite and be trained to be vicious.
My point being – the argument that some one wanting to cheat themselves the opportunity of true recovery abusing the idea of acceptance isn’t a good enough reason to say that HAES is not a valid idea.
–AngryGrayRainbows
It’s only a matter of time before a fat person’s health will deteriorate? Hmmm, I would tell them that I’ve been waiting for that to happen for the last 30 years, and in spite of dieting and WLS, it hasn’t happened yet. I would say that 30 years qualifies as a long enough time for my health to have deteriorated badly enough to satisfy people who think that way. Sorry to disappoint them. Yeah, I have mobility issues, due to injuries sustained before I ever got fat and exacerbated by arthritis and fibromyalgia, neither of which are caused by being fat (and could be what contributed to additional weight gain). As an adult, I was never what could be considered thin (5’9″ and 175 lbs at my lightest, when I was between 19 and 21). I still wore a size 14, and by the B(ullshit)MI, I was considered “overweight”. I look at pictures of myself back then and wonder how the hell anyone could have considered me fat (and how could I have thought that?). 2 kids, untold diets, and a failed WLS later, I’m what would be considered “morbidly walking dead obese” because someone who weighs 375 lbs should be keeling over dead any minute now (yeah, right, I’ve heard that for the last 30 years and it hasn’t happened yet, hasn’t even come close to happening). The closest I came to dying was when I was 19 and got hit by a car (I was a pedestrian, and got thrown half a city block).
But telling the truth about fat and health doesn’t make money for pharmaceutical companies who want to sell diet drugs, or diet companies who want to keep selling diets, or exercise equipment companies who want to keep selling gadgets to slim those thighs/tighten those buttocks/flatten those abs/whatever, or the surgeons who make millions off pushing WLS. It’s not about health, it’s never been about health. It’s about aesthetics, and those aesthetics keep getting thinner every year.
Vesta! Thank you so much for stopping by! You know that makes my day.
I think responses like yours is exactly what people need to see – experiential proof that morbid obesity (or any other flavor of “overweight” is not the worse than cancer, AIDS and diabetes all rolled into one.
I am borderline overweight/normal and my knees kill me all the time. It has nothing to do with weight and everything to do with overexercise. I ran and kickboxed for years way too much and way too hard… and I don’t think my knees will ever be the same. Sometimes I wake in the middle of the night to the pain.
I wonder would love to see (well done and honest) studies on the correllations between DIETING and health problems (such as bad knees, but also other things that are normally blamed on fat) – as opposed to just studying fat folk.
God forbid we ask for subtley of thinking…
Yeah, somehow, I don’t think we’re going to see well-done, honest studies on the correlation between dieting and health problems. I just blogged the other day about a group saying there needs to be more research on chronic pain and “obesity” in older people. Like it’s going to be fair and unbiased research (if they think I’m going to believe that, I have some ocean-front property for sale here in MN that they can buy).
Part of my chronic pain is related to when I got hit by that car, part of it is from all the roller-skating and bike riding I did when I was younger, part of it is inherited arthritis (long family history of arthritis on both sides), part of it is all the jobs I had standing 8 to 10 hours a day on concrete floors 5 or 6 days a week. But those researchers would ignore all of those factors simply because I’m fat, and fat is the cause of everything, according to them. You find what you’re looking for, and if you have blinders on, you won’t see the truth even if it walks up and slaps you in the face (hear me, researchers, I’m talking to you). And when the only ones willing to pay for the research are the pharmaceutical companies and diet industry, well, fat people are screwed when it comes to getting the truth out there for everyone to see, unfortunately.
Yeah… as I remember it, real science is fearless in trying to poke holes in your own theories.
While you may go into a study with a hypothesis, proving yourself wrong IS JUST AS IMPORTANT as proving yourself right.
But… like you said between the lines, these studies aren’t about science. They’re about propping up marketing campaigns. But, I also see how this way of studying seems to become more and more popular. It’s as if we forgot how to be scientific.
But, yeah… science wouldn’t make billions for the diet industry, eh.
I got to tell you that this entry hit a nerve with me. I work in an environment where “fitness” is key. There can be lots of running and chasing and even fights and a lot of a show of “strength”. I get that, I really do. When someone is in law enforcement and in a crime ridden community like mine, they need to be fit. BUT not a day goes by where someone isn’t made fun of for their size. Fitness is immediately correlated to size. I don’t feel that’s true. I see people at the gym who are as big as mean or bigger and they can run circles around some of my thin friends.
AGR, this is where I have to rant! I am so sick and tired of people equating size with health! Intollerably, disgustingly sick of it! Grow up already! Get out of that rut and open your mind! Stop letting the diet industry, the fashion industry and the medical profession make up your minds for you!
Ok, there….I think I’m good now. Thanks for giving me a place to say those things.
~sas
I was wrong. I wasn’t done with that last rant.
I’m 45 years old and I’m healthy. I weigh 280 pounds on a 5’3″ frame and I don’t have diabetes, I don’t have high blood pressure, I don’t have heart issues and I work out at a gym! I might have an ache or pain every once in a while but as a whole, I’m quite healthy!
NOW, I’m done. tee hee
Whoooooooooo hooooooooooooooooooooooo, Sassy!!!!!!
I love that new rant. Good for you being able to recognize your health and that it is seperate from your weight.
In fact, you have been my fitness hero lately. You go to the gym more than I do and whenever you tell me of the benefits you get from it – I am happy for you… but I wish I had that too. 😉
I’m working on the exercise bit, ya know. 😉 I seem to even be improving on getting it in lately… but I don’t feel established or settled with it yet and that is something I really admire about you.