In general, today’s society seems to think that Running, or Athleticism is a positive goal for everyone. This opinion tends to support its prejudice against obesity in general. Sometimes I am amazed at the depth of such prejudice, along with the overwhelming acceptance of the biased misinformation that accompanies it.

Many obese people are quite healthy, and they live active, functional, and fulfilling lives. An Obese person is not necessarily an Unhealthy person, and being obese is not a direct cause of either disease or ill-health.

Even though there are many studies that have found that any correlation between being Obese and being Unhealthy is merely an ASSOCIATION, many people, including those in the medical profession, wrongly believe that the mere state of being Obese is Unhealthy and that being Obese is the CAUSE of disease. Nowadays, there are even people who say it obesity causes diseases which no one has discovered either the cause or the cure… such as Cancer and Alzheimers.

I am in agreement with this recent article by Dr. David Katz which is quoted below:

I have now been interviewed several times about those Nike "find your greatness" ads we all saw during the Olympics,… in particular, about the ad that shows an obese boy running down a dirt road.

Personally, I think Nike may have meant well, but went down the wrong road.

We may reasonably commend Nike for good intentions. Of course, an athletic-ware company implying that we can all find greatness, but should do so along a course through some kind of athletic activity -- for which they, presumably, stand prepared to provide wardrobe and accessories -- may not be the purest form of altruism we've ever seen. Still, let's give Nike the benefit of that doubt, and say thank you for the concept.

For the execution, not so much.

The ad in question, suggesting that this obese boy is pursuing greatness as he runs down the road -- is presumably intended to remedy obesity bias. But it seems to me it may be propagating it. Obesity is not a barrier to greatness of many varieties. But it certainly is a barrier to great distance running.

I am concerned that the ad suggests that something for which obesity is a genuine barrier -- athletic prowess -- is what greatness is all about. This, of course, is near-sighted nonsense. I don't know for sure, but I bet Sir Isaac Newton did a truly lousy butterfly. I can't see Mother Teresa in the synchronized swim. And I bet Mozart wasn't much of a hurdler.

The boy in the ad, Nathan, made running look every bit as wretched as David Rudisha and Mo Farah made it look inspiring. If we pretend we saw greatness, or even the potential for it, in this ad, we may be buying into Nike's version of the Emperor's New Clothes.

The message that obesity is no barrier to greatness is both a good and important message. But did this poor boy running, looking like he was about to pass out or throw up (as, apparently, he actually did during filming) -- look like greatness to you? It looked like torture to me.

Even as we are trying to escape our cultural biases, they are in fact asserting themselves. Why does greatness need to be about running, or even athleticism? Why show that obesity is NOT a barrier to greatness, by picking a form of greatness to which obesity is clearly and objectively a barrier? As my friend and colleague Steve Blair points out routinely, fitness and fatness can of course go together. But severe obesity, as in this case, and distance running clearly do not.

In fact, as a physician, I would advise this young man AGAINST running until after he had lost considerable weight by lower-impact means, far less hazardous to his joints, connective tissues, and even cardiovascular system. The running this boy was doing looked not only horribly unpleasant, but also potentially dangerous, and ill-advised.

There are innumerable alternative roads to greatness. Perhaps this boy is a great writer, a great humanitarian. Perhaps he is the kindest person you could ever meet. Perhaps he is an orator, a singer, a musician, a composer, a poet, a painter, a chess master. There are countless ways this boy might be great -- and obesity would not be a barrier to any of them.

The ad could have shown a boy we were inclined to judge based on his appearance sitting down at a piano bench -- and stunning us with his virtuosity. That would have rocked our bias back on its heels and shown us, without muddling the message, that obesity and greatness can travel the same road.

If Nike wants to promote physical activity, per se, that's fine -- but that's not about greatness. Then the message is: Anyone can be active, and everyone can benefit from it (a message with which I agree wholeheartedly). Start small, do what you can do, and build from there. The message is that anyone can get to better health, and everyone deserves to do so. But health is not "greatness." And implying that doing anything at even a nominal level is "greatness" demeans what most of us want the term "greatness" to mean.

It might even suggest a double standard. To be a "great" runner if you are lean, you have to be actually great; to be a great runner if you are obese, you merely need to survive until the cameras stop rolling. I don't buy it.

Such a double standard propagates, rather than redresses, obesity bias by failing to look past Nathan's weight to all of the ways in which he might be truly great. Weight does not measure human worth. It is not an indicator of character. Bathroom scales are not designed to weigh merit. The boy in the Nike ad may well be full to the brim with greatness -- but none of it has anything to do with running.

Obesity is not a barrier to greatness. It is not a barometer of worth. But it does tend to impede running down a road, and often, achieving greatness in athletics per se. Pretending otherwise is about denying our biases, not fixing them.

Nike was right to suggest that we can all seek greatness, and that neither weight nor physical disabilities need preclude that. They were right to suggest that the boy in their ad could find greatness -- now or in the future. 

                                                        Dr. David L. Katz
                             www.davidkatzmd.com   www.turnthetidefoundation.org

                    
Everyone doesn’t need to be an athlete.
Everyone doesn’t need to be normal weight.
Those goals aren’t a necessary part of a fulfilling, or even a healthy, life.

I had an active, fulfilling, and healthy life when I was morbidly obese, and I have one now at normal weight. I like being normal weight, and I hated being fat, but this is primarily due to my own vanity. I love looking at myself in the mirror now, but (truthfully) I was fairly fond of doing that before...Now I just look at my whole body, instead of merely isolated parts of me.

My goal ... NOT to be obese .... was one that I set for myself in childhood, no doubt due to the social influences around  me. I'm very happy to have accomplished it, and I'm willing to continue expending a great deal of effort to sustain that goal.  I didn't lose weight to be "healthy".  My life experiences have caused me to internalize society's bias toward non-obesity, which means that I see myself as more attractive at normal weight. 

For whatever reason, it's important to me personally, but everyone doesn't have to share the same goals. The main reason that I’ve always worked so hard to avoid obesity, and to be a normal weight, is because … in general… society treats me better at normal weight. Because I no longer look obese, ...... strangers, acquaintances, and the people who don’t love me, tend to give me far more positive …rather than negative…attention. 

The people who love me are happy to see me be a normal weight. But, when I was fat, the people who love me treated me just as well as they do now. That is something that lets me know that they love me. I believe that people who truly love me will accept my appearance as I am, whether fat or thin, whether young or old..

I was healthy when I was fat, and I’m healthy now that I’m normal weight. It’s a matter of genetic luck. My genetic heritage gave me a body with the tendency to be fat, AND my genetic heritage also gave me a healthy body.

   I believe that one of the reasons I still have a healthy body here in my late 60s is because I did not abuse it with excessive exercise during the years when I was obese. I feel sad when I see those television “reality” shows that encourage fat people to engage in physical activities that are clearly inappropriate for their morbidly obese bodies. People who abuse their bodies with excess food don’t need to also abuse them with excess exercise. It's just two abuses. One abuse doesn't cancel out the other.

  
You've heard it a million times, Eat Less, Move More.

You’ve may have also heard that that ELMM = Eat Less Move More is a failed strategy for weight loss. The rationale is something like one, or more, of the following:

• A calorie is not a calorie, because two people who eat the same amount won't weigh the same, or gain or lose the same amount of weight.

• The 3500 cal/pound fat figure is wrong because with deliberate overfeeding
or caloric restriction, people don't gain or lose exactly as this formula would predict.

• If you eat less your metabolism will just slow down to compensate.

• If you move more deliberately, aka exercise, you'll just move less later in the day
and/or be so hungry you'll compensate by eating more.

A study of body composition of small children as related to total body fat and physical activity level published in 2012 indicates that non-exercise activity thermogenesis is genetically hardwired. This means that naturally more active babies put on less body fat than the naturally less active ones because they naturally expend more energy.

There are many studies which show that there’s a wide variation between the resting energy expenditures of different individuals. A study of Thermogenesis after cold and overfeeding published in 2007 indicates that thermogenic responses are genetically hardwired.

Although it appears possible that both non-exercise exercise activity and thermogenesis is genetically hardwired, there are many gurus and diet book authors who say that eating this or that macronutrient, taking this or that supplement, exercising or not exercising this or that way, or adopting their particular food and/or exercise plan holds the magic answer.

Maybe I’m a pessimist, but I don’t believe there’s a whole lot that we can do about our genetic hardwiring. Personally I prefer to manage calories-out in a manner I know there is some control over, rather than chase after false promises of boosting metabolism through various other, largely untested/unsubstantiated, and often expensive, means.

I'm not aware of any clinical evidence that supports the notion
that a person can't lose weight eating less total calories of whatever.
*How* a person prefers to eat less is individual.
Different diets or food plans seem to really be merely variations of the same general theme. The amount an individual need to eat or the amount they need to exercise to accomplish weight-loss is different from person-to-person.

Calories-in is just a shorthand way to describe the amount of food we put into the body.
Calories-out is just a shorthand way to describe the amount of energy the body uses.
Calories-in/Calories-out is merely a shorthand way to generally describe how energy in the body works. That's it. That's all it means. 

However, what’s true is that those calories numbers are often different for different people
…even for those people who have the same height, weight, age, and activity level.
The bodies of different Individuals are genetically different, and EVERYONE doesn’t have a body that uses the same exact amount of energy. Some types of food might provide different energy for different bodies. Some people have to take less calories in, because their body simply doesn’t use as many calories.

There are scientific studies that show people successfully losing weight simply by cutting portion sizes and making no other change. Again, someone might argue whether this is sustainable, but that argument could apply to any type of diet, way of eating, or lifestyle program, including one that changes macronutrient content.

It seems to me that Consistent Adherence to a Diet, or Way of Eating, is the most important predictor of success...not the macronutrient content. If changing macronutrient content helps a person to consistently adhere better to that diet or way of eating, then great. But if it doesn't, that person won't have any more success with it, than with any other approach.

I’m thinking that what matters is getting one’s individual Diet, or Way of Eating, to support the lifestyle that one wishes to have. We don’t need to get caught up in whether or not the lifestyles of other people match the Diet or Way of Eating that we’ve chosen.

Carbs make you sluggish?

Reduce them.

LOW carbs make you a miserable nonfunctional wreck?

Eat more of them.

Hate physical exercise?

Do only the amount of exercise necessary to keep your body functional for your normal activities.

Running makes your body feel good?

Run.

Obese or overweight and want to weigh less?

Adjust your calorie intake…. of whatever foods you choose to eat within your personal lifestyle …DOWN, and eat only the calorie amount …of whatever foods you choose to eat within your personal lifestyle….that your body needs to sustain the weight you want it to be. Ignore the advice of experts that contradicts your own experience.  If averaging 1200 calories daily causes your body to be overweight or obese, eat less than 1200 calories in a way that meets your body's basic need for protein, vitamins and minerals.

Want a different body type so you will look like a slender, shapely magazine model?

Too bad. (Except maybe in some future life, if you believe in reincarnation.)

I

t's Monday morning and I'm feeling out-of-sorts.
My weight is up today to a number that I find unacceptable,
and yet the only plan I have is to eat less and move more.

I'm having a very hard time making even the slightest commitment
to any particular food plan that limits or restricts what I eat.
For Today, the only thing I'm willing to do is to
record all my food, and work to limit my calories.

This may not be a great encouragement to others,
but it's my best for today … at least … for right this moment.

Part of my lifestyle is working to maintain my large weight-loss.
I'm now in my 7th year … which I've lived one-day-at-a-time.
Today is one more of those days. 

When we think about establishing Habits,
most of us focus on the later stage of the process
where things start to become natural,
instead of those difficult early days
where there seem to be more failures than successes.

At the beginning stage, we need to focus
on building the foundations of a new habit 
before expecting a long string of successes.  

It is important to start out with small steps.
Be specific about the exact behavior desired.
A list, or chart, or reward system can help support habit building,
but keep it simple.

In the early days of Habit building,
it's usually easier to stick with it,
when we aren't continually reminded
of our up-and-down progress.

Keep the Focus on individual days,
rather than weeks or months.
Because dealing with long time periods can be very discouraging.
Each day I give myself a fresh start. 

 This morning I decided to...again...work to implement
some habits that would be helpful in my weight maintenance.
I prepared a small chart for myself that dealt with a few of my problem areas
and the Habits that might help eliminate them
...similar to the No S Diet's Habitcal idea,...
Except...my chart covers only one individual day,...today...
and even breaks that day into several different time periods.

Then tomorrow, I'll use another, new duplicate chart,
with a new fresh start.

If, in the future, I want to put that information together,
for detailed analysis, it would be easy to do so,
but for now, this very simple one-day-at-a-time focus
is the only way I can manage to get myself to stick with my efforts.

For those of you who are following my YouTube Ask Grandma videos,
you can see the latest one by clicking  HERE,
which is located at DietHobby under RESOURCES, Videos, Ask Grandma.

                                
In every aspect of life, including
Weight-loss and maintenance of that weight-loss,
It is not about what is right for others
but it is about what is right for you.

It’s not that I am right and others are wrong
Instead there is no one-size-fits-all approach
to losing weight and getting fit.

The longer I travel this path the more I understand
that there isn’t a generic plan that is right for everyone.
I have discovered that because we are all genetically different,
what works for me may or may not work for you.

Each of us has to write our own owner’s manual to achieve success.

There are general fundamental philosophies of eating and exercise.
It’s valuable to start with those principles.
As we discover how our own body responds to following these,
then we can re-evaluate where we are in this journey
in order to continue on the same path
or to determine ways to change directions.

Some people don’t like the word “diet”
and instead use words like: “eat healthy”.
Other people…such as myself….view dieting as a “hobby”,
and embrace the concept and incorparate it into their lives.

Some people avoid sugar and white flour.
Some avoid or restrict most carbohydrates.
Some avoid all processed food.
Other people eat everything in moderation.

Some people eat small frequent meals..as scheduled or as they become hungry.
Others eat only two or three times a day, and avoid snacking between meals.
Some people use fasting as a weight-loss tool.
Some people count calories; some use food exchanges;
and some even count bites.

 To survive and to live, each of us must eat,
and there are many different foods
and eating patterns available to choose from.
Personally, I find it helpful to track all my food
and this is something I find valuable as part of my own plan.

Sometimes people ask what I did to lose the weight,
and I’m happy to tell them.
But that doesn’t mean they can expect the same results,
within the same time frame.
And the way I choose to eat and to live my life
might not be a good fit for them.

The Journey is much longer than many people can imagine
The reality is that it is a life-long journey with no clear destination
except to have a healthy and fulfilling life.
During my own journey, I’ve changed directions many times.
I think it’s helpful to read all that you can
so you can better understand the process;
And ask questions.
The only dumb question is the one never asked.
Do not be afraid to fall flat on your face.
I have learned the most in my life through my mistakes.

What I have discovered is that no one approach is better than another.
Don’t run if you hate running,
Don’t eat cottage cheese if you hate cottage cheese.
Know that we are all truly an experiment-of-one
and what works for me may or may not work for you.

Each of us must live in our individual bodies, during the "game" of life.