The Obesity Epidemic: Solved!

Is there a fast and easy way to lose weight and keep it off? Our medical establishment seems to think so, or do they? Consider the following advice, found on a printout my partner brought home from the doctor’s office today:

If this is true, losing weight should be easy as pie—or should I say tofu? But can anyone really lower their BMI by simply doing a few tweaks to their diet and exercising more? If they could, the obesity epidemic would be over. No, losing weight is a rigorous, all-consuming (excuse the pun) activity requiring many months of constant vigilance. I know because I have done it more than once. It’s freakin’ hard! I have maintained my weight for four years, just so that I never have to do that again.

But wait! There’s more! If overweight were considered a medical rather than a behavioral problem, insurance companies would literally go broke in a year. Don’t think they don’t know this. I suspect that a great deal of effort goes into making sure weight problems are always considered your problem, not theirs. Hence the insipid and thoroughly unhelpful advice quoted above. They can say they addressed it without having to do the hard work of teaching you weight management.

So, there is the big push to tell you to lose weight. Your doctor’s in on it, your health insurance company is in on it, and so are dozens of weight loss programs who say they can make dieting fun, fast, and easy. I imagine all of them wringing their hands until you achieve that “perfect” BMI. Let’s assume for a moment that you do it—you diet down, maybe even to a BMI under 25. What will happen once you have arrived? Your doctor’s office doesn’t tell you how to maintain. Moreover, physiologically, every cell in your body is screaming for you to put the fat back on. Psychologically, you might feel tempted to enjoy foods you avoided while dieting and, once you give yourself permission, you may not easily be able to quit. It’s your body’s conspiracy to “help” you get back to “normal.” Our own doctors, our own insurance companies have set us up for failure. Now what?

At Stop Losing and Win we provide weight management strategies that have worked for us, and that we think can work for you as well. We promise, we will never give you the kind of glib advice you might get from your doctor’s office (can you believe I had the guts to write that?). We understand that weight management is a complicated and discouraging process. We have survived dieting, convincing our bodies over the years that we are not starving, but healthy and happy at our new weights. One of us at the ideal BMI, the other slightly over it. You can do this too. And remember, your BMI doesn’t define you, you do.