Guess what really still doesn't work? Stigma

I'm not sure why I have to keep pointing out that stigmatizing a fat person does not make them lose weight. You see, no matter which avenue the "Obesity researcher" is coming from, they always come to the same conclusion: fat people need to eat less. Some of them try to be kind, saying its not the fat person's fault they stuff their face, they are just too stupid to understand healthy eating.

Then there are doctors who think its perfectly okay to shame a fat person.

“It happens all the time,” wrote Dr Pemberton, who also has a column in The Telegraph. “Patients who are not interested in changing their diet in any way, demand to have their cake, eat it…and then pop a pill so that the calories never touch their waistline.

As a veteran of countless diets, lifestyle changes, "healthy" eating and OTC diet pills, that resulted in weight loss, followed by massive weight gain, I can say Dr. Pemberton is full of shit. And considering that no weight loss drug has ever worked in the long run while some have been deadly, diet pills are not the easy way to lose weight. 

It goes back to the same argument that all fat people overeat and if they stop they will suddenly become thin. I don't deny that sometimes when you stop eating junk food, you might drop a little weight or none at all. But that weight loss rarely makes a fat person thin. (And until we drop BMI as a primary health indicator, all healthy habits become pointless unless the person gets to the magic "normal" number.)

The people who come to your practice Dr. Pemberton, you might find out something if you listen to their words instead of looking at their fat. Chances are that by the time they meet you, they've already tried all kinds of diets and lifestyle changes and now they are getting desperate.

Last week I reviewed the book Shadows on a Tightrope. In it was an essay about a woman who got weight loss surgery (back when the death rates were 6-8%) purely because she couldn't deal with the stigma.

A good doctor would look at the entire health of the patient, listen to their stories. You might be surprised to find how good they were on their diet until the feelings of starvation took over and how willing they might be to be healthy if their doctor didn't try to shame them.

Comments

[G.E.]

I read your blog fairly regularly, but never comment. I just had to say that I've had a lot of conversations surrounding this topic lately. I am a walking billboard for those who work diligently to get the weight off and have had zero luck. I have been committed for nearly two years now to working out 5-6 days a week and eating good foods. I don't have a "perfect" diet (but who does?) on a daily basis, but I am always well within what I should be according to doctors info, various charts, etc when it comes to number of calories. I dropped some weight initially (most likely due to the fact that I stopped eating fast food and started a workout routine again), but for over a year now, I have lost nothing. Not one stinkin' pound. I don't just go for walks either (which is a perfectly acceptable form of working out - don't get me wrong). My workouts are intense... from kickboxing to running sprints to distance cycling. One would think that 12-20 hours a week of exercise, combined with a solid, well-rounded diet would eventually lead to weight loss, but it hasn't. I have plenty to lose too, so it's not for lack of pounds to be lost. No doctor has yet been able to give me any sort of reason - but they do like to give me the same response of "I don't know what to tell you... YOU'RE body is just getting too many calories." I am completely convinced that not everyone has a body that responds to a simple math equation, and it's not always as simple as calories in vs calories out. I have come to the conclusion, however, that I need to just accept the person I am and know that I am incredibly strong, even if the fat doesn't seem to want to leave my body. I would not personally consider surgery because I don't see how it would benefit me (though I know there are those it does help in some instances). I don't have a self-control problem... I have a problem with the "math" that doctors, nutritionists, and others want to use that don't seem to apply to my body.