Economic impact laid bare by findings has implications for UK where about two-thirds of people are overweight or obese
Archived version: https://archive.ph/H65uz
Economic impact laid bare by findings has implications for UK where about two-thirds of people are overweight or obese
Archived version: https://archive.ph/H65uz
I got something that beats CICO. And it’s called addressing your specific health concerns instead of just dieting.
You’ve got poor heart health? Cardio will help you more than fasting.
You’ve got diabetes? Limiting sugar intake will help you more than restricting everything.
You’ve got depression? Antidepressants or going outside will help you more than losing weight.
You’ve got a broken arm? Rest and a sling will help you more than losing weight.
HAES is about actually fucking treating your health problems at whatever size you’re at, instead of blaming it on your weight and continuing to fail to lose weight.
CICO ain’t worth shit if the patient can’t lose weight. And if you’re thinking “it’s just a matter of willpower”, well tough shit, people have limited willpower. And being sick doesn’t help willpower either. It’s way more likely for someone to get healthy at their current size, see a willpower increase, and then lose weight, than it is for a sick and suffering person to stick to a diet, lose weight, and then get healthy. HAES is about doing it the right way around, the way around that actually works.
None of that beats cico, it addresses other concerns.
I clearly identified mental health as the critical issue, and to restate: the reason people fail at cico is due to mental health. People can’t create energy and therefore weight from thin air.
Okay so what’s going on in this thread is that I assumed the point was to help people, and you assumed the point was to lose weight. And I think that illustrates what Health at Every Size means perfectly. HAES is about helping people, and the people complaining about HAES aren’t interested in helping people, they only want people to lose weight.
Well, I want people to get good mental health, but I also am aware of the risk obesity causes.
So 2 topics, which both matter. Obesity is a dangerous condition.
Edit Losing weight, when weight is significant enough.to cause risks is helping people.
You started this conversation saying Health At Every Size is bogus and harmful. Now you’re saying both topics are important. I agree. I’m going to assume you’ve changed your mind and now understand the benefits of Health At Every Size at improving people’s health regardless of weight, and also that HAES makes it easier to lose weight if that’s what they also want.
No, I’ll be quite clear: being obese and lacking mental healthcare are both harmful. I’ve been consistent on that.
There is not “health at every size”.
What I can extract and appreciate about that movement is that it champions the need to holistically address the many needs of folks with obesity, beyond simple calorie management. I’ve been consistent about that too. I believe every CICO content I’ve made mentioned mental healthcare.
Obesity is a very dangerous condition that should be removed with great urgency. But I acknowledge that CICO alone will likely not result in long term success.
Health is relative. Health isn’t an absolute boundary between healthy and unhealthy, that’s silly. Health is a polydimensional spectrum. If you want to categorise health “objectively”, well then seeing as men live shorter than women, we’d be forced to classify maleness as an illness and put every man in the world on estrogen pills. And that’s ridiculous. No, health isn’t a single standard that’s the same for everyone.
Health isn’t a point, it’s a direction. Like South. South is a direction. I see Americans say all the time that they’re from the south. They mean Texas. But I live in Australia. From my point of view, they’re from the north. But it’s not like they’re lying. In terms of America, they’re from the south. It’s true.
Health is like South. If you’ve lived your entire life overweight with poor health, then getting healthy can mean a lot of different things. If you start jogging once a week and get healthier, well congratulations, you got healthy. It’s relative. It’s unreasonable for you to demand somebody in that situation meet the ideal of human health. If you do that, if you belittle their progress and say the best they’ve done in their life isn’t good enough, you’ll kill their motivation and ruin what little health they’ve achieved.
And if you go around saying there’s no such thing as health at every size, well then I’ll tell you there’s no such thing as men’s health, because being a man is unhealthy. The two statements are equally ridiculous.
Being obese is a version of being without health. Getting rid of excess weight is a critical need.
Acknowledging mental health as a critical component of achieving a health body weight is not accepting being overweight as “ok”. Identifying being overweight as “not ok” does not mean devaluing those with that condition, or making light of their needs.
Okay you’re still saying someone can’t be overweight and healthy, so like I promised, I’m gonna assert that there’s no such thing as men’s health. Being male will make a man die sooner. We need to give all men estrogen pills immediately and make sure they stick to the regimen. Being male is not okay, it’s bad for you and it’s driving up insurance costs for the rest of us. It’s selfish. Making bad choices out of stubbornness and pride while everyone else pays. That’s not okay.
Please note these are not my actual views, I’m just applying anti-HAES logic to other parts of our bodies in the same manner.