I’m pissed…Again
Back in the dog days of summer, I wrote a blog post titled I’m pissed about the bullshit that is called the BMI. The BMI is arbitrary and is not based on medical studies. You can find that post here, I’m pissed, if you didn’t get to read it or want to look at it again.
Now, I’ve returned to feeling frustrated and angry. The medical industry is constantly pushing diets, and this past week I’ve run into 2 blatant efforts to get us to practice an effort that has a 5% success rate. That’s right folks, as I’ve mentioned before, 95% of all diets fail. Sure, you start out okay, maybe lose a couple of pounds, maybe more. But over the next 3-5 years, you will gain the weight back and then some. I don’t make this stuff up, there are PLENTY of studies to prove this fact. Here’s an example (just ignore the diet ads!): Diets Make You Fatter
But anyway, back to my rant. My son just started a new job (yay son!). He received an email advertising the benefits of his new health insurance. Guess what was in the list of benefits? You guessed it. There was an advertisement for “A personalized program that surrounds you with the tools and support you need to reach your health goals.” And what was one of the health goals? Losing weight. It even offered a “wireless smart scale” app for your phone. Oh great! Our obsession with weight loss isn’t dangerous enough; we get to carry a scale app with us EVERYWHERE. Here’s the thing (and I’ve said this before): Our bodies know when we are hungry. They know when we are full. A diet is an outside external set of rules that is not inside our bodies. It doesn’t know what is going on inside us. People, if we are saying, “I’m not going on a diet; I’m just going to ‘eat healthy,’” and we restrict our intake, we are going on a diet. It doesn’t have to have a fancy label on it. We are actively saying, “My body doesn’t know what is good for my body, and a set of rules does.” Now, let me take a moment here to mention nutrition. I am not throwing nutrition out the window. Yes, our bodies needs protein, carbs, and fats to function. Yes, the rules of 5 fruits and vegetables, limited alcohol, exercising 12 times a month, and not smoking WILL lower your risk of early death (provided you don’t get hit by a truck), but that still does not mean we have to track our weight on our phones. Hell, we don’t even have to track our weight AT ALL. Because what does weight tracking do for us? It sends us down a path of disordered eating, depression with not being able to change the unchangeable, fills our heads with unnecessary thoughts rather than thinking about cool things like playing in the snow and actually living life, and yo-yo weight gain. Yo-yo weight gain is the thing that causes health problems! So does flooding our bodies with cortisol because of all the stressing we do about dieting. So just stop!!!
Whew, okay I am done there. Or at least I thought I was. This past week, I went to the doctor for my leg issues. It was a new doctor, so I let him weigh me. I figured that if they need to give me a medication, they may need my weight for dosage purposes. Later I remembered he’s in the same practice as my GP, so he could have gotten my stats from the wonderful app they probably have that shows information like my last weight but no matter. He was a very kind man who listened to my concerns and examined my leg. Not once did he mention my weight or what I ate (I like this guy). We talked about how I was unable to do the regular activities that I like to do. Then he prescribed more Prednisone (my last rheumatologist had prescribed that in the fall) and handed me a paper packet that talked about the details of my spinal challenges. The packet had some great diagrams and explanations of how the spine is connected and how the nerves can get injured. I’ve had back issues since 2012, and so I know about spines. Some of this information (particularly the diagrams) was very useful. I was glad to get this new information. It also included a set of exercises he recommended for me. I started the exercises. If the exercises were going to help my leg, I was all for them. The papers recommended best practices for walking, standing, sitting, and sleeping. It even recommended setting an alarm for when you are sitting. Set a 20 minute alarm. After the alarm goes off, get up from sitting and walk around the room. I found all of this information very useful. Then there were the prevention instructions. These included strengthening your muscles, eating a proper diet, and you guessed it...keeping your weight down.
Really? They recommend something that has a 95% failure rate? Oh, they don’t use the word “diet.” But any kind of weight loss is going to NOT WORK. So stop it! Just stop recommending it. Strength training, I’m all for it. I believe that we gain so much from having strong bodies. I also love to move my body. I’m not saying we should all go out and by kettle bells or join a gym, but find something that will help build strength in our bodies. We don’t have to have BMIs of 25 or even 29 to have strong bodies. There are plenty of “big” bodies out there that are strong.
Oh wait, you think larger-bodied strong people are outliers? Well, we live in a society where larger bodies are shamed. We are told “you are too big to do that” or “you will get hurt.” Regular clothing brands and clothing stores don’t offer clothing in our sizes. People point and stare. It’s awful and unfair. That shouldn’t stop anyone from getting stronger.
Please, go move your body in any way you can. Swimming and walking? They are less stressful on your body and help strengthen and protect your spine. Oh, and one more thing. If you do want to lose weight, go right ahead. I am not here to stop you. I just want to remind you there there is only a 5% success rate. Why? Because the doctor isn’t going to tell you that your chances are so slim. If you had an illness, and a surgery could help you, but there was only a 5% chance of surviving the surgery, wouldn’t you want to know that?
So back to the doctor and the packet. I appreciate that this doctor recognized me as a person and did not value the number on the scale when he communicated with me. I did not appreciate that the paperwork he provided said that I should lose weight. In a society where size is evaluated again and again, did he think that no one has told me to lose weight? Probably not. I am wondering if he even knows that the document recommends weight loss. I am returning to the office in 2 weeks. Perhaps it will be my turn to enlighten him.
