Obesity Code

I believe the “calories in vs. calories out” or CICO weight loss argument is fundamentally flawed for reasons that @DiabetesOldie and @Jimi63 both offer but also from the social damage the belief in this argument exacts. The human body is a hormone mediated system and the choices that metabolism makes vary from person to person. Two people with the same body weight, age, gender and exercise regimen, consuming the same calorie count, can often experience much different weight gain/loss outcomes.

If you believe that the CICO theory is valid then you’re also likely to conclude that the inability to lose weight is a moral failure. When pressed, people who abide by this thinking will attribute weight loss (or gain) failures to sloth (laziness) and gluttony, two of the classic seven deadly sins.

I know people who are obese yet have repeatedly over the years exhibited a sustained exertion of willpower to lose weight. For a variety of reasons much more complicated than laziness or over-eating, they are unable to lose weight. The last thing these fellow humans need is a heap of blame and shame to add to their burdens.

Sorry if my words appear needlessly sharp but this social attitude about weight loss permeates our culture, isn’t true, and inflicts emotional harm. A correllary to this thinking is the conclusion that type 2 diabetes is self-inflicted and deliberate. Science is starting to reveal how invalid this thinking is.

Please reconsider your thinking about this.

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Terry, I certainly did not mean to make my comment sound pejorative, and I am very aware that each individual has their own unique caloric burn pattern, and was only trying to say that there is no “secret” in any of this. Using myself as an example, I have had a mobility disability since a teenager. My calories expended are far fewer than I wish they might be, and so it takes very little for me to put on extra pounds. Someone else, with a perfectly able body but slower metabolism might have a similar issue. I was not suggesting anyone feel shamed, merely that once you come to know your particular body there is some wisdom in knowing how food affects you personally. If my too simplistic response bothered you or others I apologize, and was more addressing the concept that anyone with a commercial enterprise of any sort advertising that they know the secret of weight control raises my suspicion and cynicism.

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I felt some uneasiness after I posted the comment to you. I tried to aim my comment more at the attitude and not at you. I fear I didn’t do too well!

I get where you’re coming from and share your distaste of the weight-loss hucksters.

The misleading calories-in versus calories out weight loss concept blankets our social consciousness. I think most people tacitly find it logical but have not thought it through fully.

I am not overweight but used to be. I rarely hide my T1D but think many people with T2D don’t talk about their diabetes beyond close friends and relatives due to shame. And obese people are often the target of unkind references. It’s not a good situation.

Thank-you for your measured words!

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Thank you Terry. I am overweight and it is a continuous struggle to stay within what is a normal (or even approaching normal) BMI, so I get the fact that the struggle is real and life-long. I undoubtedly could have done a better job in my initial post making it clear that it was the commercialized hucksterism that I was having difficulty with. Thank you for your words and for enlarging the conversation in ways that will benefit not only me, but possibly others reading this as well.

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