Statistically, obesity in America correlates with a different socioeconomic and ethnic demographic than the one found here.
That’s why I proposed that calling it “medically healthy” would be more perspicuous than “ideal”, since most people’s ideal weight isn`t defined entirely by whether it leaves them at greater or lower risk of health problems. Most people also take into account how they look at a particular weight, for instance, when determining if it’s ideal.
I realize that the plural of “anecdote” is not “data” and that I live in the South, but I just went to a thing today with a bunch of librarians, middle managers, and government drones, and they were all fat. Out of maybe 30 people, I’d say two or three were at an ideal weight. White middle class people who wouldn’t be there if they didn’t have jobs.
I think the American South might have the highest number of large people in the world.
The thing is, when somebody stops smoking, they do it by every single damned time they want a smoke, they don’t smoke. Every time a fat person doesn’t eat the extra cookie, they don’t eat the cookie. Every time you want to stay in bed, you get up and go running. I don’t see how that could possibly be insulting - that’s the only thing that matters, in the end. Not smoking that cigarette, not eating that Snickers bar, not hitting the snooze button. It’s not useful to act like that isn’t the case - in fact, it’s counterproductive. Eventually, the rubber will meet the road and you have got to decide - do I want to sleep late or do I want to live?
I have to agree. Whatever the deeper issues, it’s the small choices you make each day that make the difference.
Agree. When I reached my one year weight loss anniversary I got a tattoo that basically says “dripping water can eat through stone.” It’s to remind myself of the hundreds of little changes I made to be a slender person (packing a lunch, taking the stairs, ordering smaller sizes, measuring pasta, avoiding fast food, etc etc). February will be my 6 year anniversary - and I continue the big and little changes, every day.
Because volume - and therefore mass - is proportional to the cube of the height, not the square of the height, so the farther you differ from the average height, the bigger the problem.
I understand the distinction that y’all are making here, and I agree that there is a difference and I was miscategorizing the attitudes towards weight loss by overweight people in this thread.
I thought PCOS is caused by being fat in the first place, and once you have it makes it harder to lose weight, not that you get PCOS for no reason and it makes you obese when you weren’t before.
I don’t know that either scenario is strictly true. I was diagnosed with PCOS years and years ago, and have never been more than 20 pounds above my ideal weight. I wasn’t overweight at the time I was diagnosed, either. While obesity and PCOS are strongly correlated, I don’t know that obesity has to be preset for a diagnosis.
As someone who has struggled with food addiction and eating-disordered behavior for 10+ years, I wanted to throw in my $0.02 regarding the most recent posts on this thread…food can be just as must of an addiction as nicotine, alcohol, meth, whatever. Food (especially simple carbs/sweet foods) work the same way anti-depressants work in the brain. Food is an ADDICTION and I have huge sympathy for overweight/obese individuals who feel like they can’t get their eating under control. They feel the same way that smokers feel when they have failed at quitting for the millionth time.
I highly recommend Overeaters Anonymous. It sounds silly to most, but I go to at least 2-3 meetings per week. Only a person who feels out of control with food can understand how they are the same as a person who feels out of control with alcohol and attends AA…the problem with a food addiction is that you HAVE to eat to live. Humans can live without drinking alcohol, but we can’t live without eating. Telling a compulsive overeater to eat three meals a day is the exact same as telling an alcoholic to just have two or three drinks a day, but unfortunately we have to do it.
Bulimia can lead to PCOS regardless of weight, FYI. I personally have met two average-weight bulimics who had PCOS, and this was after I read about bulimia’s correlation with the disease.