4 Comments

This is SO important. Thank you for writing it up so well.

In the past 18 months, I have experienced a couple of very important improvements in my health. First, I started CPAP therapy for sleep apnea, which has greatly improved my sleep. I also gained about 5 pounds after starting to use the machine, which my sleep doctor tells me is a VERY common side effect of CPAP machine therapy.

Second, I finally got a tentative diagnosis of a neuromuscular disorder that had been causing me extreme pain when I walk, extreme weakness in my legs, and a tendency to fall frequently. With proper treatment and physical therapy, I have slowed down the degeneration of my muscles, improved my stamina and balance (no falls for over a year now!), regained some strength in my legs, and greatly reduced the pain when I walk, though I still have some. I have also gained another 6 pounds, for a total of about 11 pounds in 18 months. (My clothes fit no differently, so I assume the added pounds are rebuilt muscle.)

So -- my health is better in all these ways, I'm able to be more active, I'm walking 4 to 5 miles a day, I feel much more optimistic about my future (probably WON'T have to use a wheelchair eventually after all), and my doctors are delighted with me.

Yet the standard nonsense we're all fed all the time would tell me that I should freak out and panic over having gained weight, and that none of the health improvements I've seen count because I'm heavier now than I was 18 months ago. Crazy.

Expand full comment
founding

My blood pressure improved to normal with only regular exercise- about a 4 mile walk a day (not all at once) while my weight increased.

Expand full comment

Would it be possible for you to link to the Klein et al piece on liposuction? I'm curious to see more info on that study. Thanks!

Expand full comment
author

When I don't link to a piece it's typically because it's quite fatphobic and I don't want to give it traffic or send people to something with so much weight stigma - part of the goal of the newsletter is to provide the information without the weight stigma. I always try to provide enough information that it can be found through google. With that said (and those content warnings!) the link to this study is https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15201411/ I hope it's helpful!

Expand full comment