# Woman offended by truthful advice from doctor **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 24, 2005, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435 "2005-08-24T15:54:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435/228 "2005-08-29T03:52:18Z")
**Glory** , it was that wonderful _Optifast_ program! I was allowed to stay on it longer than normal. I really think I could have stayed with it until I was dead from starvation. At no time did I crave food until _after_ I was forced into refeeding after six months. _Then_ then compulsion to eat returned full force. The medication that I take seems to have turned that compulsion back off. I eat pretty much what I want to but in small portions because of the gastric by-pass. I’m not obsessed with thoughts of food. Weight loss has been steady but slow at the rate of about two pounds a month for over a couple of years. (So I’ve lost what I regained after the initial bypass loss.) I would still like to lose another 20 pounds. I’m 5’3" and I weigh 150. I would like to weigh 130 because I used to be told that I was fat when I weighed 130. When I weighed 300, I knew that I wasn’t fat at all at 130. Weight is not the most important thing. Independence is. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435/229 "2005-08-29T14:02:32Z")
Hi **Zoe** , I know from your other posts which med you mean. My psychiatrists have said that it dopes you up too much and it isn’t worth the benefits. I know it’s worth it for you, but have you experienced this dopiness? ---
**Author:** ![Future\_Londonite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9dc877/32.png) [@Future\_Londonite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Future_Londonite)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435/230 "2005-08-29T18:19:09Z")
SusanSto and Kyla - you might want to check out the “Abs diet” by the chief-editor of Men’s Health… Don’t be fooled by the title (there’s only one of 10+ chapters about abs) but it advocates the foodplan you two already discovered… I love it - I’m using it and I’ve never felt better. ---
**Author:** ![SusanStoHelit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@SusanStoHelit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SusanStoHelit)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435/231 "2005-08-29T20:40:16Z")
> [@EuroMDguy](#): > > SusanSto and Kyla - you might want to check out the “Abs diet” by the chief-editor of Men’s Health… > > Don’t be fooled by the title (there’s only one of 10+ chapters about abs) but it advocates the foodplan you two already discovered… > > I love it - I’m using it and I’ve never felt better. Thanks for the recommendation. I’m always looking for low-glycemic index recipes and foods. My “diet” is also pretty close to South Beach, as I understand it. I put diet in quotations because I don’t really feel like this is something I’ll stop doing eventually: I like the food I’m eating, and I don’t deny myself foods I crave. I just eat sensible portions of them now. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435/232 "2005-08-29T21:06:44Z")
> [@LaurAnge](#): > > Instead of calling me names, why don’t you explain how you came to that conclusion. Or is your argument too weak for that? Well it could be simply a placebo effect. Does it have an legitamite, double-blind studies for weight loss? Personally I have a hard time accepting medical conditions as reasons for obesity. Sure there are some out there, but when a majority of the overweight people I run into attribute it to that, it rather wears thin(eep, that wasn’t planned!). ---
**Author:** ![OrangeJumpsuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OrangeJumpsuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OrangeJumpsuit)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435/233 "2005-08-29T21:24:05Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > When you strip away all the B.S., losing weight ultimately comes down to discipline and dedication. > > Every time we have these discussions the Fat Brigade[sup]TM[/sup] shows up to “educate” us how their condition is not their fault. They claim they have a “medical anomaly” that makes them fat, and that the “calories in vs. calories burned” equation doesn’t apply to them. You’ve heard it a thousand times: “Diet and exercise don’t work for me.” Uh huh. And the Pope is a member of Al Qaeda. > > It’s all bullshit, of course, as any respectable doctor will tell you. > > I used to be fat. For most of my life. But instead of blaming it on a medical condition, I assumed responsibility and began eating less. And eating better. And exercising. That was 10 years ago. It’s been a _tremendous_ struggle, as I am always craving greasy & calorie-laden food. But I’ve somehow manages to stick to my diet & fitness plan over the years. And I’ve kept the weight off. Somebody buy this guy a fucking Martini! How do you take yours, sir? ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435/234 "2005-08-29T22:36:50Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Is it just me, or does it seem like those who are berating and making dismissing, patronizing comments about “fatties” are all males? Most of the supportive posts are female-with a few males? > > Just an observation. Possibly 'cos men are goal-oriented and realize that calling a spade an “implement for rearranging topsoil” doesn’t actually help anyone, whereas women are more inclined to buy into medical quackery that would tend to suggest roughly 80% (_ex ano_ figure) of the population are suffering from some obscure medical condition that makes them a helpless victim of circumstances, even when this entails ignoring the fact that these strange ailments only affect people in countries and times where food is absurdly cheap and exercise is minimal? Sorry if this comes over as offensively sexist, but you started it. ( **Mal** is ~270lb and doesn’t think it’s anyone’s fault but his.) ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435/235 "2005-08-30T03:39:35Z")
**Glory** , I take several other medications that affect my concentration and alertness. Add to that the absent-mindedness that some my age indulge in, and the way that depression (mild, but chronic) affects my focus, and I don’t even notice the additional dent that this medication makes. But I also don’t have to be responsible for other people anymore. It had never occured to me until your comment that I might not have been able to take this when I was still teaching. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435/236 "2005-08-30T03:41:06Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > suffering from some obscure medical condition that makes them a helpless victim of circumstances, even when this entails ignoring the fact that these strange ailments only affect people in countries and times where food is absurdly cheap and exercise is minimal? You know, there were no Europeans before 1492 with nicotine addictions. There were no Native Americans with alcoholism before then either. There were no people anywhere with crack addictions prior to the invention of crack. Why is it so hard to believe that an addictive behavior (compulsive overeating) must be in the presence of the addictive substance (overabundant food) in order to develop? Nobody is saying this “obscure medical condition” is genetic. Far more likely, it is a self-inflicted disorder that can be compared to drug addiction–someone eats a food (often fatty or sugary) that makes them feel a certain way and then tries to copy that feeling with subsequent eating. However, the body self-adjusts to new substances (and yes, this does happen with food just as it does with drugs), so more food must be taken in to compensate. It’s called tolerance, and it’s real, even though it’s not genetic. Since the addictive substance is food, insulin is affected, just like drugs affect certain parts of the body. I just don’t buy the “Africans aren’t obese, so therefore nobody can be addicted to food” rationale. Frankly, I think it’s one of the stupidest arguments ever. Some Africans would become obese if they had the capacity to do so, just like some pre-colonization Europeans would have become addicted to nicotine. People can become addicted to anything. ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435/237 "2005-08-30T06:30:58Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > women are more inclined to buy into medical quackery that would tend to suggest roughly 80% (ex ano figure) of the population are suffering from some obscure medical condition that makes them a helpless victim of circumstances Who was I referencing? Science, Cell, Neuron, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, British Medical Journal, American Journal of Surgery, American Family Physician, the NIH guidelines. You’re the one engaged in quackery which is making medical pronouncements based on little more understanding than a diet ad offers. If you want to find reasonable evidence-based arguments against what I’ve thrown out, please go for it - there are plenty around, because there are \*actual \* legitimate, interesting battles and controversies going on in the field - which you know nothing about because you think your totally unexplored assumptions tell you all you need to know. > [@Malacandra](#): > > the fact that these strange ailments only affect people in countries and times where food is absurdly cheap and exercise is minimal? An example of your quackery. There have always been overweight, obese and massively obese people. (Don’t believe me? I give you the [earliest known sculpture](http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/s/images/stoneag_willendorf.lg.jpg) - from at least 25,000 years ago) The distribution of weight has always been roughtly a bell curve (like height). With _both_ height and weight, changes in diet have shifted the whole curve to the right more or less like [so](http://www.baylorcme.org/gi/presentations/klish/images/slides/klish_020.gif) (wish I could get a more exact slide, but you get the idea). So while it’s maybe reasonable to expect that if diet has caused the population as a whole to gain 10 or 20 (or maybe even 30) lbs, then diet can bring it back down 10, 20 or 30 lbs. But it certainly does \*not \* follow that your body must therefore let you drop five to ten times that amount. Any more than you’d expect to control a child’s height purely by diet, just because diet has increased the average height of the population. Interestingly that 10 to 30 lbs gain in the population due to diet is just about precisely the amount of weight the literature (and NIH guidelines) say it’s realistic to be able to lose and maintain through diet. > [@Malacandra](#): > > ( **Mal** is ~270lb and doesn’t think it’s anyone’s fault but his.) It may be your fault that you’re not 230 or 240 but if anyone’s telling you that you can get down to 160 by diet and exercise, just realize there’s no evidence that that’s realistic. You should read [this](http://www.rockefeller.edu/pubinfo/news_notes/rus_051305_f.php)(click on the link towards the bottom to get the full article). It’s just one side of the argument, but you can see where you’re making some questionable assumptions. Which I would think would be very relevant to you. > [@DavenportAvenger](#): > > Nobody is saying this “obscure medical condition” is genetic. I am in [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=6517435&postcount=218). To quote myself: > [@uglybeech](#): > > I’ll just cite another article in [Cell](http://life.nthu.edu.tw/~lslcw/teaching/biology-1/obesity.pdf): > > > [@Cell](#): > > > > The genetic contribution to body fat content in humans is as strong as that for height. > > Of course that doesn’t mean it’s all genetics. The cites I saw tended to point to 40%-70% genetics. And in that post I also gave a long explanation of why weight loss is much harder than addiction because of homeostatic controls. ---
**Author:** ![OrangeJumpsuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OrangeJumpsuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OrangeJumpsuit)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435/238 "2005-08-30T06:35:04Z")
Yeah, and drug addicts can kick the habit. They might need help, but they can kick it. Let’s send our junkies to rehab and our obese to fat camp. > **[Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos](https://www.yahoo.com/)** > > Latest news coverage, email, free stock quotes, live scores and video are just the beginning. Discover more every day at Yahoo! Stop eating. > **[WebMD - Better information. Better health.](https://www.webmd.com)** > > The leading source for trustworthy and timely health and medical news and information. Providing credible health information, supportive community, and educational services by blending award-winning expertise in content, community services, expert... Stop eating. > **[Reports and Publications](https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports-and-publications/index.html)** > > View reports, calls to action, and other publications from the Surgeon General on important public health issues such as the opioid and e-cigarette epidemics. Get off your ass and stop eating. ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435/239 "2005-08-30T06:53:03Z")
> [@OrangeJumpsuit](#): > > Yeah, and drug addicts can kick the habit. They might need help, but they can kick it. Let’s send our junkies to rehab and our obese to fat camp. > > [Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos](http://health.yahoo.com/ency/healthwise/hw252864/aa50905) > Stop eating. > > [WebMD - Better information. Better health.](http://my.webmd.com/hw/weight_control/aa51052.asp) > Stop eating. > > [http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/obesity/calltoaction/fact\_whatcanyoudo.htm](http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/obesity/calltoaction/fact_whatcanyoudo.htm) > Get off your ass and stop eating. Yup to lose a limited amount of weight. But none of those claim to be able to make a fat person thin. Read carefully. None of those helpful pamphlets talk about goal weights or ideal weights or large amounts of weight loss. ---
**Author:** ![OrangeJumpsuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OrangeJumpsuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OrangeJumpsuit)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435/240 "2005-08-30T07:01:41Z")
Err, they don’t say anything about limited weight loss. They talk about making _lifestyle changes_ that will combat obesity. You can’t just give up jelly doughnuts for two weeks, then take a walk around the block. The only way to kick obesity is to change the way you live. Become active, eat less, get rid of those calories for the rest of your life. This DOES work. Or do you have some sort of genetic deformity that bars you from losing weight too? Excuses, excuses, excuses. ---
**Author:** ![OrangeJumpsuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OrangeJumpsuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OrangeJumpsuit)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435/241 "2005-08-30T07:02:57Z")
Eat less and eat _right_, that is. Switching from 3 large pizzas a day to 3 medium pizzas won’t do. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435/242 "2005-08-30T14:02:03Z")
> [@OrangeJumpsuit](#): > > Eat less and eat _right_, that is. Switching from 3 large pizzas a day to 3 medium pizzas won’t do. You know, I am just **really fucking sick and tired** of this shit: “Fatties are fat because they eat nothing but pizzas and jelly doughnuts in enormous quantities while guzzling Big Gulps all day and lying around watching tee-vee, and they never walk farther than from the couch to the fridge and can’t climb a flight of stairs without wheezing.” Fuck that noise. Take your overgeneralizing and shove it up your ass. Yes, I am fat (and therefore, although I am working to change my routine and have been losing weight, apparently not worthy of commenting because I’m such a fat lard), and I’ll tell you how I gained my weight. When I was in college, I had no car. I lived in town and walked or biked everywhere I needed to go. I had enough time in my schedule to do these things, and I also had leisure time in which to do them for fun. Exercise was built into my life out of necessity. I also didn’t have a huge food budget. Now I live out in the sticks, where walking and biking to run errands is not feasible from either a time or distance standpoint. I have a sedentary job, working at home, and since my husband got downsized, I’ve been having to spend a LOT more time with my fat ass in this chair. (Going for a long bike ride does not help pay the bills.) I am capable of walking long distances and doing physical activities; I just generally don’t have time to do them. I recently had a fairly comprehensive medical exam, and all of my numbers were normal; my blood pressure has always been fine. We don’t generally keep junk food in the house, and when we do have something like cookies around, I don’t gorge on them. I’d call our diet semivegetarian, with almost no red meat. I will admit to eating more calories than I burn, but I would say it’s probably slightly larger portions of regular food at meals, rather than stuffing my face at all hours. I also tend to prefer things like alfredo sauce over tomato sauce on my pasta. I gained my ~70 pounds over about 10 years. That’s 7 pounds a year, rather a slow gain if you ask me. I certainly would be a lot fatter if I had been on the routine you seem to think I follow. I would say that my gain is not because I stuff my face with fat and sugar like a pig and lie around all day, but because my lifestyle has become too sedentary for the amount of fairly healthy food that I do eat. I haven’t been to the gym all summer – not because I lost my precious “willpower,” but because my work schedule got the better of me and I have been working literally from dawn until bedtime to make all of my deadlines. I would have LOVED to go to the gym. But although I haven’t worked out, I have been able to take time for physical things like mowing our 2-acre lawn most of the summer, and last week I went on a 2-1/2 hour hike, with the first half-hour being nothing but climbing steep stone steps. The day before that, as I was finishing up the last hour of my work for the day, my legs were jiggling so much I could barely keep them still, I was itching so much to get out and MOVE. And while I haven’t lost more weight, I have remained steady at the weight I was at when I stopped going. I’m looking forward to returning to my gym routine, possibly next week, just as soon as I get my work schedule under control. These are the REASONS I am fat – not “excuses” but reasons. Yes, it takes effort to lose weight, and some people have an easier time of it than others. My mother has been struggling for years, and I don’t think she’ll ever overcome it, for a variety of reasons (although lately she has renewed her efforts yet again). I’m having an easier time than she has, and some of you had an easier time than I am having. Well bully for you. We’re all different. A while back, our esteemed **zev steinhardt,** who had been losing weight, described shopping for a new (smaller, but still large) belt and having someone (the CLERK, I believe) sneer at him for being so fat – not knowing that he was coming down in size. Thanks to people on this board, I’m working on remembering that a child who’s acting up in public may have problems I don’t know about, and may actually be having a “good” day. Maybe other people could work on remembering that not every “fattie” you see is on his way to Krispy Kreme for another dozen, hmmm? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435/243 "2005-08-30T14:11:11Z")
> [@uglybeech](#): > > OK I’ll do it. I’ve just learned a lot by actually researching some of this stuff, and I’m ready to question the total efficacy of willpower in weight loss. I like this explanation of how it works with dieting. From [Science](http://www.rockefeller.edu/pubinfo/news_notes/rus_051305_f.php) (click on the link at the bottom to get the full article):Every single study and guideline I have read in the last two days points out that you shouldn’t try to lose more than 10% of your body weight because it’s not realistic. Why? Because once you top 10% or so innumerable biological mechanisms (both metabolic and behavioral) kick in to defeat you. I refer you again to the [Cell](http://scholar.google.com/url?sa=U&q=http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~fspelema/les%25204-5%2520HMG/obesity.pdf) article to see all the physiological mechanisms involved in maintaining homeostasis and to this [Neuron](http://njc.berkeley.edu/Papers/LepGhrelReview.pdf) article on the behavioral controls on feeding. > > Since the mechanisms that drives people to eat are partly homeostatic - it’s much trickier to fight than an addiction. With addictions you stop the substance and each day after the first gets easier. But with homeostatic drives the longer and harder you try to move your body away from it’s set point, the harder it fights you - both by making autonomic changes, and by gradually ratcheting up the pressure to eat (or breathe or drink). As a former smoker I am profoundly unimpressed by anyone patting themselves on the back for quitting smoking while bitching about fat people (I’m looking at you **Diogenes the Self-congratulatory** ). I quit smoking too, and frankly it was ridiculously easy compared to maintaining weight loss. A few weeks of cessation starts to extinguish the cravings and by a couple of months out you barely think about it. (For comparison, “food cessation” apparently \*increases \* cravings over weeks, months and years - imagine, all you ex-smokers, if the longer you’d stopped smoking, the more you wanted to smoke :eek: ) > > So maybe you respond to me by saying “ok you’ve proved that it’s really HARD” to lose a lot of weight permanently. But you haven’t proved that it’s impossible. No I haven’t. But let’s look at the breathing analogy. When you hold your breath at first it’s easy not to breathe, but gradually it gets harder and harder until eventually your willpower is overcome. That point is different for everyone - some people give up at 30 seconds, others at 60, others at 180. But for everyone it eventually becomes practically impossible - even if it is still theoretically possible -to hold their breath as the CO2 in their blood rises above the body’s set point. There are some freakish people who are able to hold their breath until they pass out - but that doesn’t mean that it’s possible for \*you \* to do. But how can we determine the point at which willpower is no longer possible (and not that you’re just a weakling)? It seems to me the only way to do it is to look at a lot of people try it and see what the majority of _motivated_ people are able to manage. If you look at a group of people and see that as weight loss increases and the length of time at reduced weight increases, the ability to control diet decreases until you reach a point where virtually nobody’s able to control their food intake over an extended time - you say - ok I’m looking directly at the point where willpower is not sufficient for even the most motivated. > > About 4.7% of the U.S. adult population or about 7.3% of all overweight U.S. Adults([cite](http://www.wwu.edu/depts/healthyliving/PE511info/obesity/Obesity/demographics_obesity.htm#U.S.%20Adults). You know you can look things up too. It’s getting to be a real pain arguing facts and evidence against people who talk completely out of the butt.) But that’s irrelevant because the cites referred to both obese and severely obese and said basically the same thing - that very few people are able to lose more than about 10% of their initial weight permanently. > > So thin people went to the gym and fat people didn’t and that’s the only difference? I’ll just cite another article in [Cell](http://life.nthu.edu.tw/~lslcw/teaching/biology-1/obesity.pdf): Of course that doesn’t mean it’s \*all \* genetics. The cites I saw tended to point to 40%-70% genetics. > > And my disclaimer - I’m not saying diet and exercise don’t work. From everything I’ve read they work - but only to a _point_. A very limited point. Your doctor will still be telling you to diet and exercise (diet especially) because they think you can still reasonably expect to lose 10% or so of your body weight through willpower. And that’s why you see all those articles that say “even a modest weight loss of 5-10% can have important health benefits.” a) because that’s true and b) because you can’t reasonably expect to lose more permanently. But 10% is not going to make a fat person thin. > \ So what you’re saying is we should be putting all of our efforts into safe, cheap liposuction. 😃 **Scarlett** , I understand your frustration with the attitudes we’re seeing here; I eat more or less healthy, I walk an hour a day, and I don’t lose weight either (and yes, my portion sizes are probably too large, too), but it is apparent that nothing anybody says will make the slightest impact on the fatty-haters representing here. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435/244 "2005-08-30T14:32:27Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > So what you’re saying is we should be putting all of our efforts into safe, cheap liposuction. 😃 😃 > [@featherlou](#): > > **Scarlett** , I understand your frustration with the attitudes we’re seeing here; I eat more or less healthy, I walk an hour a day, and I don’t lose weight either (and yes, my portion sizes are probably too large, too), but it is apparent that nothing anybody says will make the slightest impact on the fatty-haters representing here. See, this is a bit like me saying “and yes, I probably come across as a snarky, intolerant, insufferably ill-mannered know-all” and not actually _doing_ anything to mend my ways. (Which is pretty much the truth, but doesn’t actually weaken my case.) Me, I suffer from a common condition known as ETFM[sup]\*[/sup], which is the single most reliable predictor of excess weight in the human race. I too didn’t put it all on in a day, but in 25 years I haven’t been below 210 pounds, to the point that on the rare occasions when I have got that low I’ve actually felt quite trim and fit (which is some way from actually being anything of the kind). There’s nothing wrong with putting on 7lb in a year. That’s barely _61_ calories too much per day - half a small packet of crisps (potato chips, if you much). It’s letting it go unchecked that’s the problem, and it’s patently obvious that you can’t stand to put on 7lb per year if you have forty years to live. And there ain’t no-one who can fix me, in this respect as in all of my other horrible flaws, except me. \*\*\* Eats Too Fucking Much\*\*, but you were there already, weren’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435/245 "2005-08-30T15:03:26Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Me, I suffer from a common condition known as ETFM By Tutatis, me too! We should start a support group. And how about starting a foundation to find a cure… and maybe ask for donations. Meetings shall be Mondays through Sundays at a good Italian restaurant. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435/246 "2005-08-30T15:14:19Z")
As long as they do a good seafood calzone, I am _so_ there. (Considering the state of my innards today, it took genuine courage to write “seafood calzone”). ---
**Author:** ![OrangeJumpsuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OrangeJumpsuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OrangeJumpsuit)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435/247 "2005-08-30T17:01:12Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > Now I live out in the sticks, where walking and biking to run errands is not feasible from either a time or distance standpoint. I have a sedentary job, working at home, and since my husband got downsized, I’ve been having to spend a LOT more time with my fat ass in this chair. > > \<…\> > > I will admit to eating more calories than I burn, but I would say it’s probably slightly larger portions of regular food at meals, rather than stuffing my face at all hours. > > \<…\> > > I haven’t been to the gym all summer So then excess of calories + inactivity = weight gain. Holy rockingchair, Batman, call CNN! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-offended-by-truthful-advice-from-doctor/318435.md?page=13)