Pandemic Conflation
Published 1.21.2025: (based on pandemic era notes, and nothing here is particularly new) Notice the sleight of hand here. Diets do work, as long as you follow them. The problem is that too many try following a diet that is not sustainable for them— it might be sustainable for others. So maybe… just maybe… people trying different diets are simply looking for the one that will suit them.
As the pandemic winds down in the US at least, people are getting up off their couches and realizing that the Covid “19” or more pounds gained is a real thing. And of course, many people will want to lose those pounds before presenting themselves to the world. I think these notes were taken before the GLP-1 shots became a common thing.
Exercise and diet ads are on the upswing, and good lord, it seems like every other person decided to become part of a multi-level-marketing scam— I mean scheme— as a side gig during the pandemic. So what? If you don’t want to diet then don’t. Not sure why the entire culture has to validate your personal choices.
In the end, this article said mostly nothing. It had a weird, abrupt ending too.
Another article discussing dieting, and it’s interesting that Good Housekeeping has to issue what is in effect a disclaimer prior to the article. I still maintain that the best way to achieve a certain body weight is to eat and move at the energy balanced level that supports that body size. I was larger than I was because I didn’t move as much as I used to do, but continue to eat and drink at the same level. My weight was stable and the higher (than I’d like it to be) level. It didn't change until I changed what I do.
And frankly, all this “pandemic weight gain” talk proves my point. People ate more while moving less and gained weight. For many of them, just returning to their moving and eating patterns will take care of the situation— no fad diet required, but it won’t be overnight.
So this article might be an example of the new weight piece. These pieces will always be written, whether the HAES (Health at Every Size) police like them or not. After all the HAES approved nonsense about how dieting for normal sized (as measured by the hated BMI body mass index) people is bad, we come to the paragraph about actually obese people who diet. And here the news is that WEIGHT LOSS IMPROVES HEALTH. And yes, I was shouting that buried lede.
Fat activists like to point to the effects of dieting on people of normal or overweight BMI because for those people the health benefits of weight loss are dubious. The body can compensate for a few extra pounds, and doesn’t really enjoy the rigors required to maintain a weight below that level. HOWEVER, there is a weight above which the body cannot compensate (that would be your morbid obesity or “death fats” level) and health issues (such as diabetes and heart disease) begin to manifest.
Sure, thinner people also come down with these diseases, but really fat people increase their odds because they’ve increased the level of stress on their body. That’s why the “but look at NFL players” excuse (invoked by Ragen Chastain and other activists) never, ever made sense to me. Yes, football players put increased stress on their bodies (by choice) and are prone to more injuries and disease. Society assumes that’s their choice to do so. Fat people are making the same choice, though without the monetary rewards part. Unless you’re one of those people who eat on camera for others to fetishize. But that is a topic for a different site. I’ve nothing positive to say about that whole mess, no do I care to investigate or learn more than I know now.
The focus on this article is on “losing that 10 pounds” rather than losing the 50-100 pounds that makes you morbidly obese. The lower the number of pound you need to lose the harder it is to do and maintain. Whereas, if you are eating 3000+ calories to support a huge body and decide to lower your intake to a more reasonable 2500 calories (which is NOT starvation) your body will settle into a new smaller size. It might not be as small as you’d prefer, but you will be smaller and healthier (joints etc).
Likewise, if you change nothing in the way you eat and start walking 30 minutes a day your body will again adapt to the change and become a smaller weight. This change won’t happen quickly, but it will happen. And you know, if you find a way of eating (low carb, etc) that you enjoy and will do the rest of your life and it results in your eating fewer calories, you will change your body size.
All in all, this article was particularly irritating because they deliberately conflate trying to lose 10 pounds with trying to lose 100. They are just not the same situation.
Intuitive eatings tries to rebrand itself. I don’t diet (in that I don’t follow some named fad) but I do try to keep my weight in a particular range— something that became much more difficult when I opened a gluten free bakery. Lots and lots of words here, but I’m not sure I learned a whole lot new. Probably because I lived through the times she highlights, so that shouldn’t be taken as a criticism of the piece.
I think intuitive eating can cause a lot of problems for people who don’t know how to interpret the signs their bod is sending them. And in a world where high density highly engineered (processed) foods dominate, that’s a lot of us.
Yet another HAES (pronounced hays— I always thought it was hess) article at Good Housekeeping. They really drank the koolaid!
“Low obese” BMI — never saw that phrase before… but at least they are acknowledging that weight DOES matter when you exceed what your body can compensate for… and 100+ heavier than what your body was designed for fits that bill.
As the pandemic winds down in the US at least, people are getting up off their couches and realizing that the Covid “19” or more pounds gained is a real thing. And of course, many people will want to lose those pounds before presenting themselves to the world. I think these notes were taken before the GLP-1 shots became a common thing.
Exercise and diet ads are on the upswing, and good lord, it seems like every other person decided to become part of a multi-level-marketing scam— I mean scheme— as a side gig during the pandemic. So what? If you don’t want to diet then don’t. Not sure why the entire culture has to validate your personal choices.
In the end, this article said mostly nothing. It had a weird, abrupt ending too.
Another article discussing dieting, and it’s interesting that Good Housekeeping has to issue what is in effect a disclaimer prior to the article. I still maintain that the best way to achieve a certain body weight is to eat and move at the energy balanced level that supports that body size. I was larger than I was because I didn’t move as much as I used to do, but continue to eat and drink at the same level. My weight was stable and the higher (than I’d like it to be) level. It didn't change until I changed what I do.
And frankly, all this “pandemic weight gain” talk proves my point. People ate more while moving less and gained weight. For many of them, just returning to their moving and eating patterns will take care of the situation— no fad diet required, but it won’t be overnight.
So this article might be an example of the new weight piece. These pieces will always be written, whether the HAES (Health at Every Size) police like them or not. After all the HAES approved nonsense about how dieting for normal sized (as measured by the hated BMI body mass index) people is bad, we come to the paragraph about actually obese people who diet. And here the news is that WEIGHT LOSS IMPROVES HEALTH. And yes, I was shouting that buried lede.
Fat activists like to point to the effects of dieting on people of normal or overweight BMI because for those people the health benefits of weight loss are dubious. The body can compensate for a few extra pounds, and doesn’t really enjoy the rigors required to maintain a weight below that level. HOWEVER, there is a weight above which the body cannot compensate (that would be your morbid obesity or “death fats” level) and health issues (such as diabetes and heart disease) begin to manifest.
Sure, thinner people also come down with these diseases, but really fat people increase their odds because they’ve increased the level of stress on their body. That’s why the “but look at NFL players” excuse (invoked by Ragen Chastain and other activists) never, ever made sense to me. Yes, football players put increased stress on their bodies (by choice) and are prone to more injuries and disease. Society assumes that’s their choice to do so. Fat people are making the same choice, though without the monetary rewards part. Unless you’re one of those people who eat on camera for others to fetishize. But that is a topic for a different site. I’ve nothing positive to say about that whole mess, no do I care to investigate or learn more than I know now.
The focus on this article is on “losing that 10 pounds” rather than losing the 50-100 pounds that makes you morbidly obese. The lower the number of pound you need to lose the harder it is to do and maintain. Whereas, if you are eating 3000+ calories to support a huge body and decide to lower your intake to a more reasonable 2500 calories (which is NOT starvation) your body will settle into a new smaller size. It might not be as small as you’d prefer, but you will be smaller and healthier (joints etc).
Likewise, if you change nothing in the way you eat and start walking 30 minutes a day your body will again adapt to the change and become a smaller weight. This change won’t happen quickly, but it will happen. And you know, if you find a way of eating (low carb, etc) that you enjoy and will do the rest of your life and it results in your eating fewer calories, you will change your body size.
All in all, this article was particularly irritating because they deliberately conflate trying to lose 10 pounds with trying to lose 100. They are just not the same situation.
Intuitive eatings tries to rebrand itself. I don’t diet (in that I don’t follow some named fad) but I do try to keep my weight in a particular range— something that became much more difficult when I opened a gluten free bakery. Lots and lots of words here, but I’m not sure I learned a whole lot new. Probably because I lived through the times she highlights, so that shouldn’t be taken as a criticism of the piece.
I think intuitive eating can cause a lot of problems for people who don’t know how to interpret the signs their bod is sending them. And in a world where high density highly engineered (processed) foods dominate, that’s a lot of us.
Yet another HAES (pronounced hays— I always thought it was hess) article at Good Housekeeping. They really drank the koolaid!
“Low obese” BMI — never saw that phrase before… but at least they are acknowledging that weight DOES matter when you exceed what your body can compensate for… and 100+ heavier than what your body was designed for fits that bill.