This popped up today in my Facebook memories. It's a long rant (sorry), but it's just as accurate an expression of my perspective today as it was then. And it illustrates why I'm doing this blog.
A few things that I'd like my friends to understand about weight loss:
1. I did it once before, and I did it BIG. Between 2000 and 2002, I dropped about 150 pounds.
2. When my weight was at its lowest, I was, by medical and actuarial standards, in the "normal range." But I thought, and the people who loved me thought, that I looked too thin. The "right" weight is what's right for YOU, not what some chart says.
3. Massive weight loss, even when aided by surgery, is a very delicate thing -- something that it doesn't take much to undo. One bad injury that keeps you from exercising. One personal or family crisis. One major change in your life. One thoughtless crack from some stranger (or a doctor!). One gathering where somebody pushes food or alcohol at you and won't take no for an answer. In my case, what changed was my residence, my job, my work hours and the loss of available, affordable fitness facilities and time to use them. The move to the Twin Cities did me in.
4. Studies of people who lost a lot of weight on the TV show "The Biggest Loser" show that nearly all of them have gained back some or all of the weight they lost. Apparently, a person's resting metabolism usually slows significantly with massive weight loss, and maintaining the weight loss requires the same vigorous exercise and calorie-counting that caused the pounds to drop in the first place. Some people can do that forever; most can't.
5. What I'm doing now started accidentally. Dan, the pool therapist who helped me work on my knee, got me doing resistance exercises for the glutes, thighs and hamstrings -- and one day I noticed that, without my changing my eating habits appreciably, my pants were getting (pardon the expression) swimmy. I'm continuing that work when my knee pain subsides enough to allow it; I've added lap-swimming with flippers, for my knee and for fitness, at least four times a week; and I'm watching what I eat.
6. At UW Health and many other places, they won't even consider you for knee replacement surgery if you're above a certain body mass index (BMI). I am below that maximum BMI now -- just. I'd like to be stable at a BMI at least 5 points below the maximum before scheduling surgery, and attaining that goal is in sight. Maybe later I'll aim to lose even more weight -- and maybe I'll accomplish a larger loss if I can walk without pain! For now, however, I consider this a realistic goal. (And water exercise is, for now, about the only kind of exercise I can do without agony.)
7. People -- and I'm talking mainly to doctors, who ought to know better! -- extra weight is NOT always at the root of a large person's health challenges, and losing weight will NOT solve all health problems. Health care providers, you're derelict in your duty if you just take one look at us and declare, "You need to lose weight." Health care providers need to listen to their large patients, and respect them. Yeah, I've read all the stuff about the obesity epidemic, too. But a low BMI is not, by itself, "healthy."
8. And just so you know: Fat people know they're fat. To comment on it, even obliquely, even with the rationalization that "I'm only thinking of your health!" does more harm than good.
Rant over. Thanks for reading to the end.
A few things that I'd like my friends to understand about weight loss:
1. I did it once before, and I did it BIG. Between 2000 and 2002, I dropped about 150 pounds.
2. When my weight was at its lowest, I was, by medical and actuarial standards, in the "normal range." But I thought, and the people who loved me thought, that I looked too thin. The "right" weight is what's right for YOU, not what some chart says.
3. Massive weight loss, even when aided by surgery, is a very delicate thing -- something that it doesn't take much to undo. One bad injury that keeps you from exercising. One personal or family crisis. One major change in your life. One thoughtless crack from some stranger (or a doctor!). One gathering where somebody pushes food or alcohol at you and won't take no for an answer. In my case, what changed was my residence, my job, my work hours and the loss of available, affordable fitness facilities and time to use them. The move to the Twin Cities did me in.
4. Studies of people who lost a lot of weight on the TV show "The Biggest Loser" show that nearly all of them have gained back some or all of the weight they lost. Apparently, a person's resting metabolism usually slows significantly with massive weight loss, and maintaining the weight loss requires the same vigorous exercise and calorie-counting that caused the pounds to drop in the first place. Some people can do that forever; most can't.
5. What I'm doing now started accidentally. Dan, the pool therapist who helped me work on my knee, got me doing resistance exercises for the glutes, thighs and hamstrings -- and one day I noticed that, without my changing my eating habits appreciably, my pants were getting (pardon the expression) swimmy. I'm continuing that work when my knee pain subsides enough to allow it; I've added lap-swimming with flippers, for my knee and for fitness, at least four times a week; and I'm watching what I eat.
6. At UW Health and many other places, they won't even consider you for knee replacement surgery if you're above a certain body mass index (BMI). I am below that maximum BMI now -- just. I'd like to be stable at a BMI at least 5 points below the maximum before scheduling surgery, and attaining that goal is in sight. Maybe later I'll aim to lose even more weight -- and maybe I'll accomplish a larger loss if I can walk without pain! For now, however, I consider this a realistic goal. (And water exercise is, for now, about the only kind of exercise I can do without agony.)
7. People -- and I'm talking mainly to doctors, who ought to know better! -- extra weight is NOT always at the root of a large person's health challenges, and losing weight will NOT solve all health problems. Health care providers, you're derelict in your duty if you just take one look at us and declare, "You need to lose weight." Health care providers need to listen to their large patients, and respect them. Yeah, I've read all the stuff about the obesity epidemic, too. But a low BMI is not, by itself, "healthy."
8. And just so you know: Fat people know they're fat. To comment on it, even obliquely, even with the rationalization that "I'm only thinking of your health!" does more harm than good.
Rant over. Thanks for reading to the end.
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