FAT SHAMING

BATTLE OF THE BULGE - PART 17 (WEEK 19)

Recap and vital statistics:

I am 5 feet and 10 inches tall and 60 years old.

I was super-slim till about 10 years ago, then gradually got fat.

I started this weight loss programme on March 16th when I weighed a whopping 120kg and measured 49-47-51 (chest-waist-hips) inches.

I was once about 70kg, but there’s no need to be as superslim at this age as one was as a youngster, so I’m aiming to settle for 85kg; and by last Sunday, my weight had dropped to 106kg.

But I haven’t lost an ounce since last Sunday, despite sticking to the same fairly strict diet-and-exercise formula that has enabled me to shed kilos in previous weeks.

Even the most disciplined of dieters will occasionally hit plateaux – phases of losing no weight. And it’s just a temporary problem that can be solved by increasing physical activity and further reducing food intake. But I’m still feeling very discouraged. And I’ve been telling myself off for getting into this obesity mess in the first place.

While I was sharing my self-loathing, despairing thoughts about years of gluttony with a girlfriend, she drew my attention to an article by Professor John Wilding, an eminent British consultant endocrinologist who believes that obesity is not about greed.

Here are excerpts from an article he wrote for the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper in August 2019

Over the years I have seen thousands of patients who are struggling with their weight and very few are just eating too much for the pure pleasure of it. In fact, they are desperate to change the circumstances they are in and often associate food with guilt and shame.

The idea that they are weak-willed individuals unable properly to look after themselves couldn’t be farther from the truth…

…Obesity is caused by factors largely outside our control, such as the increased availability of cheap processed food, sedentary lifestyles encouraged by the reduction in schools sports fields, and increased stress, which may lead some people to overeat.

Many also have a genetic tendency to pile on the pounds…[and] studies show that of all the things which make us the weight we are, our genetic inheritance accounts for more than half.

It is likely that this is due to the way genes regulate our appetites and it’s not simply a problem of our own making. That is why I believe classifying obesity as a disease is so important.

According to the dictionary, a disease is a condition that prevents the body and mind from working normally and this is definitely the case with obesity.

It raises the risk of serious conditions such as type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (caused by a build-up of fat in the liver, this accounts for as many cases of cirrhosis as alcohol), arthritis, heart attacks and strokes, plus many cancers including bowel, breast and womb. In fact, if you combine obesity with type 2 diabetes, it is the largest epidemic the world has ever seen.

Around one death in ten in the UK is now linked to carrying excess fat, according to the Office for National Statistics.

But, because it is the underlying cause of other diseases, it is not usually mentioned on the death certificate.

People who have a BMI over 30 but below 40 will live about four years less than someone with a normal body mass index (under 25). If their BMI is over 40 they will live, on average, 12 years less.

Classifying obesity as a disease could save thousands of lives in the UK in the long term.

Lots of other countries, including the US and Japan, taking their lead from the World Health Organisation, already classify it in this way, which is helping them try to tackle this epidemic by promoting specialist treatments and allowing people to access medical care…

Classifying obesity as a disease would also remove some of the stigma, helping people ask for help at an earlier stage…

Chronic obesity causes more damage to the body the longer it goes on; if it was recognised and treated early, those people could avoid developing lifethreatening conditions such as heart disease.

[One] argument against treating obesity as a disease is that it means removing personal responsibility — I don’t think it will do this. Many other diseases, such as asthma, require someone to take responsibility to manage their condition….”

Hmmm. Interesting! What do ThisDay Style readers think about Professor Wilding’s let-fattiesoff-the-hook views?

I must confess that they don’t make me feel any better than I did before I read the article. I still think it is my fault that I am fat!!!