I’ve said it before, and know many of you feel the same way—it is great to have a safe space, these blogs, for all of us to discuss the challenges, hopes, fears, etc. we all experience around losing weight.
I get nervous reading about weight loss issues outside of our community. It generally takes reading only a few comments on any given article before someone is either blaming individuals for lacking willpower, or criticizing people for being lazy, no matter what the topic of the article is.
Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon wrote a great summary of the HBO documentary The Weight of the Nation.
And while her piece is itself great, also great are the comments. By the time I read the article, 37 comments had been posted, and they were more about continuing an interesting dialogue than shaming the fat people.
How refreshing!
So, if you’re considering whether to watch the documentary, or if you are curious to see people behaving well out in the world (where world = the comments section on a website that draws its fair share of trolls), check it out. Thanks, Amanda!
Balancing My Chemicals 
Thanks for the info. I’d been debating about checking out that program because I’m always wary of mainstream weight-loss BS. I’ll check it out!
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I’ve been curious about this, but since I don’t have/can’t afford HBO, I’d sort of put it out of my mind. I’m not sure I’m any more interested in actually seeing the doc, but I really enjoyed reading the review. And some information — especially the note that fat “resets” the metabolism, and that once you’ve lost a lot of weight you’re basically at a more restricted calorie level to maintain that weight compared to someone the same size who’d never been fat — was illuminating, if a little depressing.
Interesting article. This is my favourite comment:
“The vast majority of people who diet gain all the weight back.” Yes, of course they do – because it’s temporary! Obviously if you restrict your calorie intake, you lose weight, but then if you go back to increasing your calorie intake, you’re going to gain it back again! That’s like saying that the vast majority of people who only take three days’ worth of antibiotics when prescribed a seven-day course will relapse back into illness. Doesn’t mean that the antibiotics don’t work and we should stop prescribing them – it means that the patients are using the treatment incorrectly.
That’s why you hear the words “lifestyle change” so often these days. People have to get used to the idea that you’re going to have to be responsible with your eating for the rest of your life. Tough to do when there’s such a powerful cultural aversion to eating healthfully.”
It is completely possible not to put the weight back on, just don’t go back to eating the way before which put the weight on in the first place! I totally agree that to maintain weight loss, just condition yourself to not eat crap every day. It’s tempting to grab a McDonalds if it’s the only thing that’s around, but people also have access to shops and bread and healthy sandwich fillings that are way cheaper and aren’t filled with rubbish that they can bring into work with them. No brainer.
“People have to get used to the idea that you’re going to have to be responsible with your eating for the rest of your life.” – people who have always been thin already knew this from an early age…that’s why they never get fat.
Good article – thanks!
Ans check out this post on Ben’s blog:
Makes you think…