This is the Weight and Healthcare newsletter! If you like what you are reading, please consider subscribing and/or sharing! People have been pointing out the very high failure rate of intentional weight loss attempts since before I was born. We can quibble over the exact percentage, but there is no denying that the research shows that the vast majority of people lose weight short term then gain their weight back long term, that many gain back more than they lost, and that the weight cycling that is, by far, the most common outcome is
I really appreciate this, especially since the first one re: this only being about fad diets and not "lifestyle changes" (huge eye roll) is so damn persistent. Even with people who say "diets don't work," they often actually think this means "fad diets don't work," and will follow it up with, "...so try these other things!" It's so frustrating!
I've brought this up in the past with some medical professionals and one reply I've gotten is (paraphrasing) "5% success rate is great! I tell to stop smoking, stop drinking alcohol, stop using illegal drugs to all my patients who do so, and the success rate is far smaller than that!" often followed by "a 5% success rate means that you have to give it 20 serious tries and you'll eventually succeed." I haven't really found a great counter to these arguments. One physician even took my counter argument about not being an alcoholic - just obese - by telling me that my liver essentially looks like the liver of someone who's an alcoholic, and pinned it down to the huge amount of sugar I ate. She explained that alcohol and sugar are in practice the same substance as far as the liver is concerned and are equally bad for me.
I really appreciate this, especially since the first one re: this only being about fad diets and not "lifestyle changes" (huge eye roll) is so damn persistent. Even with people who say "diets don't work," they often actually think this means "fad diets don't work," and will follow it up with, "...so try these other things!" It's so frustrating!
I've brought this up in the past with some medical professionals and one reply I've gotten is (paraphrasing) "5% success rate is great! I tell to stop smoking, stop drinking alcohol, stop using illegal drugs to all my patients who do so, and the success rate is far smaller than that!" often followed by "a 5% success rate means that you have to give it 20 serious tries and you'll eventually succeed." I haven't really found a great counter to these arguments. One physician even took my counter argument about not being an alcoholic - just obese - by telling me that my liver essentially looks like the liver of someone who's an alcoholic, and pinned it down to the huge amount of sugar I ate. She explained that alcohol and sugar are in practice the same substance as far as the liver is concerned and are equally bad for me.
Great blog post! I'm definitely saving this one as a reference. Fatphobia runs so deep unfortunately, that many people cannot seem to face facts.