These days it seems that a lot of folks regard our call to accept yourself (and others) at any size, as uniformed support of fat or obese people who engage in unhealthy eating behaviors and habits. Many claim you can’t be fit and fat, despite the evidence that shows otherwise.
We believe that being fat or obese doesn’t warrant size discrimination or self-loathing. And the whole unhealthy argument? It’s just an excuse to support prejudice.
Except for the morbidly obese, you can be fit and fat just as easily as you can be thin and unhealthy. Size is not necessarily an absolute indicator of one’s overall health. There are plenty of people who aren’t fat who engage in unhealthy habits to lose or maintain their weight. And many may seem to be on the road to better health by losing weight that are actually harming themselves by doing it the wrong way. Fasting, excessively exercising/sweating and dehydration are just some of the get slim quick trends that don’t actually affect long term fat loss. Case in point, Ryan C. Benson from the first season of “The Biggest Loser” recently admitted to some of these dangerous weight loss tricks. If losing massive poundage in a short amount of time seems too good to be true, it probably is. We’re not saying that proper exercise and eating can’t show results quickly. But does the weight loss last if you go back to your old habits? The real test is time. For we all know (but refuse believe) that only long term shifts in our eating and exercising will leave us healthier and–if our body needs it–thinner. Check out this interesting piece by The New York Times on the recent “Biggest Loser” weight loss drama:
On “The Biggest Loser,” Health Can Take Back Seat
New York Times
By EDWARD WYATT
LOS ANGELES – When more than 40 former contestants from “The Biggest Loser” gather Wednesday for a reunion television special, the winner of the program’s first season, Ryan C. Benson, who lost 122 of his 330-pound starting weight, will be absent. Mr. Benson is now back above 300 pounds but he thinks he has been shunned by the show because he publicly admitted that he dropped some of the weight by fasting and dehydrating himself to the point that he was urinating blood.
Continue Reading: The New York Times
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