Tag Archives: size acceptance

The Body’s Battle with Weight Loss

I recently ran across this little gem on Cracked.com entitled “Fat is Officially Incurable (According to Science)” which offers a surprisingly accurate portrayal about just how likely those “before” and “after” shots in advertisements are to reflect the long-term experience of real, live people. While proceeding with tongue firmly inserted in cheek, the author offers a nice summary of some of the scientific evidence offered regarding long-term weight loss:

Probability of long-term maintenance of very modest weight loss (10-15 pounds)–Very low
Probability of a fat person becoming (and staying) a thin person–Practically Non-existant.

One of my favorite things about this article (besides David Wong’s deliciously snarky attitude) is the plethora of links to some other wonderful content that I’ve read, but probably forgotten about.

For example, a lot of the math about Weight Watchers “success stories” (including why you may be 20 times more likely to survive being shot in the head than you are to reach and maintain your WW “goal weight”) is derived from this wonderful blog post by fat fu.

And David also references this comprehensive NY Times Article in which Tara Parker-Pope breaks down a lot of the recent research about why permanent weight loss can be so difficult. She talks about a lot of the physiological changes that can happen with weight loss including:

Increased hunger hormones like ghrelin that make us feel more hungry.
Decreased leptin and peptide yy in the body which help to signal when our bodies are full.
Lowered metabolism.
Increased percentages of slow-twitch muscle fibers that make our bodies use calories more efficiently and burn fewer calories during physical activities.
Increased “reward response” to food in the brain leading to more intense cravings for and obsession about food.

Tara also reminds us that these changes in the body are often long-term–lasting months or even years after the dieting has stopped. And while both she and David Wong admit that there are some “rare creatures” found in the National Weight Control Registry who have maintained significant weight loss, the vast majority of us are unlikely to experience the same results.

I don’t say this to depress you. But I do feel very strongly that those of us who work in the health and fitness industries have a responsibility to help our clients to build realistic expectations. Very, very few of us will lose a lot of weight and keep it off. A very slightly larger number of us will lose a little bit of weight and keep it off. But most of us will neither lose a significant amount of weight nor will we keep it off. Does that mean we need to give up on either wellness or well-being? Nope! As it turns out, bodies respond very well to healthy behaviors regardless of whether or not they are accompanied by any weight loss. We can choose to de-couple wellness from weight loss and focus on simply doing the things that make us feel well. So in my mind, it really makes more sense to take this Health At Every Size(R) or HAES approach and let the body’s weight settle where it will.

And even though telling the truth has seriously blunted my book sales and ruined my chances of ever starring in my own late-night, cheesy infomercial, I still must tell it. Oh well, I’m more of a morning person anyway.

Love,

The Fat Chick

Only Fat People Need to Walk: As Indicated by Blue Cross Program

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Study showing healthy habits most important for health outcomes in ALL weight categories.

Oh dear. I think it’s going to be hard to keep up with all of the discriminatory practices being rolled out by insurance companies to punish those who are fat. But this new announcement from Blue Cross Network is really above and beyond.

Blue Cross recently announced that its program, offering cash discounts to obese members who agreed to add 5,000 steps a day and be measured via a pedometer was a “success”. Discounts were significant–representing a cost savings of up to $2,000 per year per family. Apparently these “discounts” were not offered to anybody who was not obese. But Blue Cross is claiming success, due to the fact that most of those who enrolled in the program were still walking one year later.

I particularly love the fact that despite the fact that Blue Cross of Minnesota cites this press release as its source, the headline for their online blurb reads, “Money Motivates Weight Loss, One Step at a Time”. I went back to the original press release. I read it twice. Not one word is said in that press release about weight loss. NOT ONE SINGLE WORD. Holy “make it up as you go” reporting, Batman! It is possible that there is some mention of the press release in the study announcing the findings. But there is absolutely no mention of weight loss in the abstract. And in my experience, were weight loss found in the study, it would be in the title of the study and the first sentence of the abstract. If anybody has access to the full study, I’d love to know if this holds true. But in any case, the piece on the Blue Cross webpage did not cite the study but rather the press release as its source.

Now, all of this leaves me with a few key questions. First and foremost, is walking only beneficial to fat people? Why in the world are they only offering this incentive to people qualified as “obese”? There are so many studies that show that modest exercise is beneficial to everybody’s health. And there’s plenty of evidence showing that healthy habits and not weight loss is what is needed to improve health outcomes? So why are only fat people singled out for this treatment? And are these actually “discounts” or are we really talking about being rescued from “fat penalties” not being faced by other insurance network members?

It’s also interesting to note that obese members were allowed to choose between this walking program (created by online biometric site, Walking Spree) or Weight Watchers. Look, I would clearly pick a walking program over Weight Watchers any day of the week, but I wonder if these “obese persons” were interviewed to see if they had been exercising before this incentive was offered. Were these people actually sedentary? What about fit fatties like me who already exercise nearly every day? Were we offered the same price increases/incentives? Would I be expected to add this onto my already active exercise program? Do I have to exercise three times as much as a thin person in order for my exercise incentives to “count” and my discounts to kick in?

I also find it extremely instructive that the first line of the press release reads as follows:

It was a controversial move when a health insurer began requiring people who were obese to literally pay the price of not doing anything about their weight – but it worked, a new study finds.

Okay. First let’s look at the “not doing anything about their weight” line. How do we know they weren’t doing anything about their weight? We know that diet and weight loss attempts fail most of the time in the long term. Some suggest they fail over 90 percent of the time. So by “not doing anything about their weight” do we mean that people refused to engage in the dangerous practice of weight cycling? Do we know that people weren’t eating well or exercising before and that they are doing those things now? Do we know that they were sedentary before and are now active? Or were some of these people active before and have simply shifted to a less rigorous form of exercise (walking) than before in order to receive a discount on their health insurance?

It’s also interesting to note how the release defines “success”. Again, nowhere in the release does it state that people lost weight. Nowhere in the release does it state that there were positive health outcomes or lower healthcare costs. In fact the final line of the release states:

“Comprehensive evaluations are needed to determine whether participation in these programs translates to meaningful changes in health and costs of health care.”

Overall, I have to state that this press release, issued by the University of Michigan Health System is astonishingly devoid of detail, definition or real facts. While positively gleeful about the fact that most of the people who elected to participate in this program remained participants for over a year, it really leaves us with more questions than answers. Did people who didn’t like the coercive nature of the program leave the network for a different insurer? What were the changes in attitude towards exercise among participants? Did they grow to like exercise more or see it as a punishment? What are the long term effects on attitudes towards exercise? And finally, why are we singling out fat people for this program? Don’t thin people need to exercise too?

Aaaaaargh!

I guess I’m pretty worked up here. Maybe I’d better go for a walk to blow off some steam. Because some of us fat people go for walks even without “finger-wagging”, “pedometer-wielding”, “biometric-tracking” moralists telling us to do so.

Love,

The Fat Chick

P.S. If you’re looking for a form of exercise that doesn’t come with doom and gloom weight loss messages or any finger wagging whatsoever, you might enjoy buying a copy of my DVD. And if you are a member of the Fit Fatties Forum, you’ll receive a special discount. Just click here to order and type FFBL in the discount code box!

Right Now Show Episode 012–Fit-lanthropy: Making the World Better for EveryBODY!

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In this episode of the Right Now Show, we talk about “fit-lanthropy”–my term for combining fitness with raising money or otherwise helping other people. I also unveil a brand new video highlighting some of the fit-lanthropy programs available.

As promised, here’s some more links to get you started.

To get $5 off my book, “The Fat Chick Works Out!” simply follow this link, and enter “fit-lanthropy” in the discount code box.

To learn about how to join the Hot Flash Mobs for Menopause Awareness Month, follow this link.

And here are some great charity fitness training programs:

Joints in Motion (The Arthritis Foundation)

Team in Training The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS)

Relay for Life (The American Cancer Society)

The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer

Fight for Air Walk (The American Lung Association)

Step Out Walk to Stop Diabetes (The American Diabetes Association)

Tour de Cure (The American Diabetes Association)

Out of the Darkness Walks to Prevent Suicide (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention)

Stuff That Weighs More than Me: The Humble Manatee

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Frankly, I’m a little surprised that I haven’t done this blog post yet. After all, when the meany, meany, MacMeanersons start taunting the fat folks, this name is definitely in the top ten. Nevertheless, I’ve never done a post about the awesome and most wonderful manatee.

The manatee (also known as the sea cow) comprises three of the four living species in the order Sirenia. The fourth species is the dugong (which can be distinguished from the manatee by its longer snout and fluked tail.) This vegetarian mammal is born big, typically weighing over 60 pounds at birth! Manatees spend half their time sleeping in the water, typically surfacing for air once every 20 minutes or so. They have a number of other unique features including:

Teeth that are replaced continually throughout the life of the creature. Typically there are no more than six teeth its mouth at any given time.
A vascularized cornea
Eyelids that close in a circular manner
A simple stomach with a particularly large cecum (similar to that of a horse). The manatee’s intestines are very large for their size, typically measuring over 45 meters.

Of course one of the primary features of the manatee is its size. Here’s the stats:

Length: Averaging 9.2 to 9.8 ft. in length, the manatee can measure as much as 12 ft.

Mass: 880 to 1,200 pounds.

Conclusion, the massive and magnificent manatee weighs more than me.

Ads, Women and Mental Health

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I recently came across this lecture from Jill Kilbourne and wanted to share it with you. In one of the classes I’ve been teaching we’ve been talking extensively about media’s role in women’s self esteem. I think it’s so very important to understand with Ms. Kilbourne has to say here. That we often find ourselves viewing magazines or television ads or billboards, and feeling inadequate because we don’t look like the women in the pictures. But, hello, even the women in the pictures don’t look like the women in the pictures. With Photoshop, no woman need ever have flaws. And I’ve heard through back channels that some actresses have right in their contract that their image on television must be slightly vertically stretched to make them appear taller and thinner.

Couple this with the fact that hardly anyone approaching average size appears on television or in advertising. The average American woman is a size 12 on the top and a 14 on the bottom. Most women on television or in advertising are a size 2, 0 or even 00. To give you a frame of reference, when Cameryn Manheim was on The Practice she was about a size 14 and quite tall. When I met her in person, I was struck by how average her size looked in real life. But on TV she seemed pretty large. Now some say that the camera adds 15 pounds, but I don’t really think that’s what’s at work here. What is at work here is that she was surrounded by a whole cast of people that were very, very significantly smaller than average. So by contrast, she seemed bigger.

I sometimes wish I could have a special Photoshop tool or television/video filter that would allow me to make everybody on TV and in ads look a little more average or a little more normal. I think it would help the rest of us gain some perspective on how other people look. But when I get really down, I go do a little “field work”. I go to a mall, or a gym or a public pool, I sit on a bench or in a chair and I just look at people. I regain my sense of how real people look. People all looking SO different from one another. People with tattoos and scars and stretch marks. People of all different shapes and sizes and colors. All different kinds of hair in all different places. Smiles shining out of faces not lit for the cameras, but rather lit from within, from lives well lived. I regain my perspective. It really feels great. Maybe you’d like to try it and report back? I’d love to hear how it went!

Love,

The Fat Chick

Cravings

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Recently, a very dear friend sent me a link to this video. I think it’s partly because she knows how I feel about cookies. But it got me thinking about what length I would go to to get a chocolate chip cookie and all about the nature of cravings.

In a recent post I talked about the “Big Fat Cookie Cycle” and how deprivation and binging go together like peanut butter and jelly. There is no question in my mind that systematically restricting our access to certain foods gives us cravings for those foods. But it seems to me the whole issue of cravings is somewhat complicated.

Cravings can also be driven by nutritional needs. And as we become more in tune with our bodies I think we can learn to listen when our body is asking for certain foods. Sometimes I crave things based on what my body needs like vitamin C or protein or carbohydrates or all the happy stuff in green leafy vegetables.

But what about chocolate chip cookies? Does vitamin C stand for “cookie”. (Alas, no.) Cravings can sometimes be about nutrition, but cravings can be about other things too. Am I craving sugar because I’m looking for a boost? Am I craving cookies because they just taste delicious? Am I craving a chocolate chip cookie because it is simply one of the best foods invented ever? And so sometimes these cravings happen and I’m okay with that.

Sometimes I crave a cookie because I’m feeling sad, tired, overstressed, lonely, depressed, or just feel like I need a pick me up. And you know what, I’m okay with that too.

Sometimes I grab a cookie because I have three minutes in which to stuff food into my body before my next appointment and a cookie will allow me to quickly get enough energy to get through the next two hours and still keep one hand on the steering wheel. Unfortunately cookies consumed for expediency as opposed to genuine desire do not taste so good. So I’m working on this whole aspect of things.

The truth is, I crave different things at different times for each or all of these reasons. I am not an “intuitive eating” ninja who always understands why I’m eating what I’m eating. I don’t always have 40 minutes over which to enjoy a leisurely meal complete with linen napkins and candlelight and savor each bite of deliciousness and ponder its purpose in my life and resultant effect on my well being. And I don’t only crave foods that my doctor or the latest diet guru says I should. Sometimes I crave kale and sometimes I crave chocolate. I am a real person with a real life. And so I can’t always tell you why I want a cookie. I just know if I don’t get a cookie when I really, REALLY want a cookie, (see above video) there’s likely to be a backlash. And when that backlash hits, one cookie simply will not do it. Take away my cookies for too long and I don’t even know if that jar on top of the fridge would be enough. So I will continue to eat cookies when I really, really want cookies and try to make time for the deep philosophical pondering later.

Then again, had he lived in our time, Freud might have said, “Sometimes a cookie is just a cookie.”

Love,

The Fat Chick

Doing Size Acceptance Like a Rock Star

Size Diversity Soundtrack–300 Pounds of Heavenly Joy

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This week, as part of a special project I’m working on, I’ve been exploring some fat positive music. And my goodness, I had no idea there was so much of it out there! Makes you want to get out your MP3 player and build an epic playlist of awesomeness. Or at least start workin’ that YouTube jam.

One of my very favorite fat positive songs and in fact one of my favorite songs of all times is THIS gem from Big Twist and The Mellow Fellows. About 25 years ago, I had the rare privilege of seeing and hearing these guys perform “300 Pounds of Heavenly Joy” live during an outdoor summer event in Milwaukee called Lakefront Festival of the Arts. I had no idea what size acceptance was in those days. I just knew I LOVED this song. I mean, I loved the lyrics:

Hoy, hoy,
Baby I’m your boy
300 pounds of heavenly joy.
I’m so glad that you understand
You’ve got 300 pounds of muscle and man.

This is it,
This is it,
Look what you get!

Now all you girls think your days are done
Don’t worry baby,
You could still have fun.
Take me, baby, for your little boy
Of 300 pounds of heavenly joy.

This is it,
This is it,
Look what you get!

If you’re sneakin’ and hidin’
Then the hidin’s bad.
Then you’ve got a man that you don’t like (Aaah!)
Get that cat, baby, and please me mad
Follow me woman we’ll have a real good time.

This is it,
This is it,
Look what you get!

Hoy, hoy,
Baby I’m your boy
300 pounds of heavenly joy. (Aaah!)
I’m so glad that you understand
You’ve got 300 pounds of muscle and man.

This is it,
This is it,
Look what you get!

I also loved that big fat horn section wailing away–building the anticipation for Larry “Big Twist” Nolan’s arrival on stage. And when I say building, I’m not talking about 4 bars of intro. I’m talking about 50-60 or more bars sheer blues awesomeness. Long enough to get the loot, go through the trap door in the stage floor, and head to the car for one of the best car chases EVAR.

And let me tell you what, Mr. Big Twist could really move. Sporting a 3-piece, white ice cream suit, and a white fedora, the guy was just mesmerizing as he strutted, sweat and basically owned the stage. As I boogied down in the Milwaukee/Lake Michigan sunshine, I could scarcely have imagined that I would still be rocking to this tune in my aerobics dance classes more than 20 years later. Lord, Lord, LORDY 20 years. That’s a looonng time ago! Yikes! I think I just might be gettin’ those old lady blues!

Love,

The Fat Chick