Thursday, April 10, 2008

Guilty of Being Overweight

Do you feel guilty for being overweight? Then STOP! Feeling guilty is what causes people to look for quick fixes and starvation diets like Kimkins. Kimmer exploits this guilt by promising fast results and claiming that being "morbidly obese" is worse than anything you might do to your body to get rid of the excess poundage. What would she know about it?

Honestly, I don't get the Guilt.

A "naturally" skinny person may:

  • Eat when he is not hungry just because it tastes good, he is bored, feeling depressed or just because he wants to
  • Eat junk food on a regular (or irregular) basis
  • Overeat at holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter
  • Never exercise, or exercise just sporadically
Somebody might point out that this person does not have "healthy eating habits" but wouldn't accuse him of being guilty of anything. Instead, he would be admired for staying skinny despite of it.

An overweight person doing exactly the same will be guilty of falling off the wagon, not sticking with it, being weak, being a sissy, not being strong enough, not wanting it badly enough,...... you name it.

An overweight person not doing any of the above will still be guilty of being overweight.

I don't get it.

As far as I understand, the main difference between a "naturally" skinny and an overweight person is that the overweight person has a metabolic disadvantage in that the body doesn't respond to food in the same way as for the "naturally" skinny person. Why would that cause guilt?

To me, it seems that the metabolic disadvantage is a long term condition that needs to be acknowledged and addressed with a long term approach.

Fast weight loss more often than not results in fast weight gain. Kimmer tries to claim that you can lose the weight on Kimkins and maintain your weight loss. I still have not seen anybody managing this without extraordinary efforts and sacrifices. With possible health consequences. Kimkins always was and remains a quick fix, a crash diet. Crash diets do not work. Kimkins Diet Truth has a few words to say about it as well.

Please, STOP feeling guilty and find a WOE/WOL (way of eating/way of living) that you can live with in the long term. Atkins is a great plan that you can do for life.

Weighing the Facts has a great post with inspirational quotes for eating disorder recovery that I find equally applicable for any dieter burdened by guilt.

3 comments:

BamaGal said...

Excellent post!!

Most people who are overweight have no control over their weight. Weight has a big genetic component just like height and eye color. Then you throw in things like meds you take, etc your weight will remain high regardless of what you do to lose. You can starve yourself for the rest of your life--but all you will end up doing is shorten it. Health can be obtained at any size. Don't get caught up in the scare tactics used by the dieting industry. They just want your money.

If dieting really worked long term we would all be thin.

Each of us are unique beings who come in all shapes and sizes.


It has been proven that worrying about being overweight is worse on your health than being overweight.

Give up the guilt. Enjoy a healthful way of eating--low carb of course--get active and the weight will be what it is. You might be surprised at your results.

Anonymous said...

*raises hand*
yes Dear Sol, I am guilty of feeling guilty. Great blog!!!

~DivaDi

mariasol said...

Oh, Di! I certainly didn't mean to make you double guilty. Do I have to say STOP STOP?