Sojourner Truth

Oct 28, 2009

I have been using this blog to track my weight loss achievements and struggles over the last 2 1/2 years, as well as my rebirth through physical fitness. I am really proud of what I have accomplished. I am planning my first marathon for next year, in honor of my mother, who passed away in 2007. But apparently my desire to follow a healthy lifestyle strikes some people as obsessive and irritating.

I never claimed to be perfect, but I have found it therapeutic to visit ObesityHelp to blog about my journey towards health and to try to support other people who are on a similar journey.

I don't appreciate being attacked for my opinions about the root cause of obesity in our country today. I am a healthcare professional, and I do not believe that morbid obesity is caused by inborn metabolic disorders in the majority of cases. Some people may take a very defensive posture about my opinion.

The current scientific research cannot show a causal relationship between a defective metabolism and each and every case of morbid obesity out there, or even in the majority of cases. 65% of American adults are overweight or obese and it is certainly not because of inherited metabolic disorders. Thyroid and other endocrine levels are often normal in obese people. But research has shown that a high calorie, high fat diet combined with a sedentary lifestyle leads to predictable weight gain, along with obesity-associated health problems like diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and stroke.

Someone pointed out rather snidely that if I was so smart, why did I need to have weight loss surgery in the first place? Well, the answer is simple. The reason why people who possess the knowledge of how to lose weight (i.e. eat less, exercise more) are still trapped by obesity is because there is a huge difference between knowing something and putting it into practice, especially in the face of years of ingrained unhealthy eating habits, family pressures, fear of deprivation, and the bingeing and self-hatred and guilt that people feel as a result. That is one reason surgery is called a weight loss tool and weight loss and maintenance a journey rather than a destination. It is a process, a transformation of the way we approach and think about food, and the way we feel about our bodies.

My own struggle with an unhealthy relationship to food--using it for many years as a comfort and coping strategy rather than as fuel--has given me some insight and made me a stronger person. I have literally turned off my brain and mindlessly munched my way through large volumes of chips, ice cream, popcorn, or any other snack food you can name. I have snapped into self-awareness as I made a beeline to the freezer after bad news or a stressful argument--surprised as heck because the response was so automatic. I myself have never had a documented metabolic disorder. 

Perhaps I have generalized my experience to other people, but if one doesn't agree one can certainly tell me so in a polite and civilized manner, or simply block or ignore me. We are not vicious animals, and I do not believe that human nature allows one to rip apart another person because they have a differing point of view. Good manners are free, as my grandmother used to say.

I feel healthy and strong in my body, despite what one poster insinuated--that I was dwindling away into nothing because of my obsessive food control--and though I do use a diet journal regularly to help keep me on track, I eat about 2,000 calories of high-quality food per day. It's quite a sufficient amount to support and nourish my body and help me add muscle as I use up fat. I did eat a very low calorie diet for the first year or so after surgery, which is the usual recommendation to help quickly reduce the risks of obesity-related health problems by getting the weight off as fast as possible. But of course that did not continue indefinitely.

Having weight loss surgery was the right choice for me, but it is only one component of my journey toward health and fitness. Right now I am horribly wearied by the the insults, the lack of tact and maturity, and the petty, vicious backbiting I have seen here in the last few days. Initially I changed my blog from private to public because I wanted others to be able to read about things I learned over the last several years, as I went from a size 26 to a size 6. However, given that others have researched me on the board and scrutinized my weight loss journey to look for flaws in it, I have serious doubts about continuing as a public blog.

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