Weight and dieting discussion cw. Rant:
I am so so tired of hearing and reading "calories in calories out" and "it's the laws of thermodynamics" about body fat told to random people and patients alike. I dare any of those idiots to explain the mechanism of action of their prescription. Break down these "laws of thermodynamics" for me, brother.
We have barely scratched the surface on obesity. Hunger hormones are far from the be all end all of body fat. We know epigenetics are real, as politicized as the term is becoming. We know genetic ethnic heritage plays a role. We know a metabolism can be harmed through reckless intervention. We know there are genes that determine a body's commitment to growing and storing white fat cells that have jack all to do with GLP-1. And yet we staunchly refuse to incorporate any of this knowlege into the cultural attitude, which is prevalent in the medical community as well, ironically (not ironically if you've ever worked in medicine. We aren't the bastions of faultlessness some of us want to claim ourselves as).
We still use BMI. We are still flagging tall kids and muscular people and anyone who maybe shouldn't be compared to the "ideal European." We use it in the military. I outperformed at my regular weight, just over the limit for my sex/height. I lost 10 lbs to be safe, and my combat fitness test score went down 30. George Washington-forbid our troops are muscular or robust. Women should be bony! Don't worry about how much more it's gonna hurt when you have a rough landing.
In my professional opinion, the reason so many people refuse to budge that it's anything more than cal-in-cal-out is because they'd have to contend with bodyweight not being a reflection of merit. They tell themselves that their body is a reward they deserve. And any other reality.... threatens how safe they feel. It's similar to disability fear in that way. Facing the music, acknowledging that anyone for a myriad of reasons at any time could lose their ability/simple lean-biased metabolism, terrifies them. There is massive cognitive dissonance in fatphobia. And it's one of the reasons that the "phobia" part is a very appropriate part of that word. They are scared of gaining weight - they are scared of the fact that eventually "the laws of thermodynamics" (lol) won't work for them anymore. "Calories in calories out" is not something they share for your sake. It is a mantra they cling to as a security blanket.
I wonder for how many this metabolism difficulty is already true, and their dissonance stems in part from their compromised cognitive function. See, plenty of people can massively calorie restrict, and lose fat, and that is that. But the body would prefer to eat muscle, first. And the heart is a muscle, don't you know. And when it does eat fat, it doesn't zone target. It does not prefer the double chin before the brain, which is mostly fat. What I'm getting at is that there are also plenty of people who will pretend that they are not part of the group that cannot safely restrict (starve for aesthetics). Because their metabolism/heritage/etc. If you feed yourself 1000 cal a day, in many cases the body will appear to get on just fine. It may not even lose much around the waist. Because for many of us, the body will start doing budget cuts, and the (very) modern beauty standard is simply not factored in when it's decided which organs don't need to be fed. "Cal in cal out worked for me eventually" Ok but did you lose 10+ years of your life expectancy? Are you in perpetual brain fog? I'd rather my thighs touch than lose my ability to think critically, Jared.
All of this of course also assumes a person wants or needs to lose weight. Even in situations where there is a health concern, we fail to consider the negative health impacts the extent and speed of the weight loss we are demanding of a patient will bring. "Your cardiac health is impacted and you'll live to your 60s. Anyways do this diet (and die in your 50s but skinnier)." Wow. Great medical care. Why are we doing this to patients (we know why). We need to ask if weight loss is truly the most effective treatment for a patient and compare benefits and risks before making it the first line. Too many of us in healthcare assume patients don't.... know they're fat. Trust me, society reminds them every single day, and not in a neutral way.
I have worn a lot of hats in my little life. Archaeology, nutrition, trainer are a few. Many of my clients needed to eat more, not less. At least we are aware of macros, now, but you have to actually feed yourself to make that 45/30/25 or whatever count for anything. If you are splitting 1200 cal that way, I promise the body is not super concerned with whether or not most of it was protein. It is going to get its protein one way or another, and it will leach from itself without much prompting. We are all apes. Our metabolism does what it does because it wants us to survive long enough to raise young. How many of the people I see are being held to a standard of specifically a European from the last few thousand, if not few hundred years? 300k plus years of our species and it's looking more and more like a range of body fat was common across cultures, societies, and even clans. Yes, fat, cherished, respected, beautiful bodies rendered lovingly are what we keep. digging. up. We don't assert what are only suspicions in archaeology, but I will say that I am not the only person who thinks that for a lot of people, demanding they not be fat is like demanding they grow a different texture of hair from their scalps. Both are possible, actually, if they starve themselves to the brink of death, endure extreme hormonal changes, or otherwise cause themselves intense health challenges for the aesthetic benefit of people who should never have been asked. Cheers!
tangentwithtanner
dailybridgerton
areudirty
snowghoul
