Stop, Take a Breath, and Re-evaluate

I often come to the “Weight Loss” forum and read through the questions and comments that are posted here. I don’t post much myself, mostly because all of you guys out there do such a great job of covering all of the various topics related to weight loss. There is one thing, however, that I find very disturbing. Whenever you have some time, read through a large number of posts in this forum. Actually, you don’t really have to read through the whole post; just read the topic titles. Look at how many times people say things like “I can’t lose that last few pounds,” “I hate the way I look,” “I’ve hit a plateau and I can’t lose anymore weight,” etc. All of these comments have one thing in common. They don’t say anything about the person’s concern for his or her own health.

We (myself included) are so caught up in “looking fit” for ourselves and the world around us, that we have forgotten that the most important thing is to be fit. We think that being fit is the side effect. We think, “If I can lose weight, I’ll look great, and a beneficial by-product of the whole process is that I’ll be fit as well.” This is the wrong way of looking at things, not to mention flat out false. There are plenty of skinny people that can’t run from here to there without collapsing from heat exhaustion. We should be thinking, “If I could just get into great shape, my quality of life would vastly improve, and a beneficial by-product of the whole process is that I’ll look great as well.”

Ask yourself this: Why don’t these posts cover topics like “Help! I can’t seem to add that extra 5 lbs. to the barbell,” “I’ve been running 20 miles a week for two months now and I can’t get past it,” or “How can I optimize my carb to protein ratio so that I will develop more endurance on the trail?” We’re having trouble with food because our entire experience is about the food. We should quit concentrating on the food for a while and worry about our health. Instead of saying, “My goal is to weigh X lbs by Y date,” we should say something like, “My goal is to be able to run X miles by Y date.” Trust me. If you take this attitude, you’ll be much better off and more successful. I know because I’ve done it both ways. The first way sucks and the second way is wicked awesome.

THANK YOU!

Check out my journal rant on a similar subject.  I'm a recovering/recovered anorexic and these forums make me want to throw things. 

Questions like the ones you mentioned are constantly asked on the runnersworld forum and the bodybuilding.com forum.  This is a weight loss forum, so ppl ask about losing weight.

While what you wrote makes sense and I see where you're coming from, you have to realize that most of these people are here FOR losing weight, and bettering their health. They're already getting their overall health to be better just by taking the step of wanting to lose off the weight that would otherwise give them: heart attacks, diabetes, cholesterol problems, obesity (if they're not already there), a million other problems, and ultimately death.

Their goal is to get to a point where they're physically healthy, weight-wise, and many of them are doing so by 'running the extra 5 miles around the track.'
This isn't a jogger's/athlete's forum, it's a forum of people who want to shed the pounds. They are automatically and unconsciously doing what you presented as examples so that they can GET to that healthy weight loss. And I think weight loss to a normal weight through eating healthy foods counts as a huge step towards a healthy life style. Exercise alone won't determine anyone's healthy lifestyle. They can be extremely fit from running and doing a million other sports - yet eat horrible foods that can kill them from.. let's say.. a cholesterol-induced heart attack (ew, blood clots). ultimately food is what determines the overall health of every single system inside of us.

Don't quote me on any of this, but that's what I think.

I suppose I see both sides of it. However, I tend to agree with gdharris more. Weight seems to be such an arbitrary number when it is used as a gage for overall health. . . . alone. There are so many other factors that contribute to weight that don't necessarily refer to "fat" per se. For example, bone density, height, muscle mass, hydration levels, all effect your weight, that don't reflect fat density. I believe that measurements, such as waist circumference, are better measures of improving health, in addition to others such as body fat percentage, and BMI. Just looking at weight alone is such an incomplete picture. Calorie count is a great site, but I wish there were places where you could enter measures such as the aforementioned, other than just weight alone. 

i agree with mrsklm...i read a really interesting study done on Asians in Singapore (in general Asians have smaller frames compared to Caucasians, although there are larged frame Asians just like there are Causcasians with small frames out there), and the results of the study showed that many of the participants who had 'seemingly' healthy BMIs of 23-23.5 were infact unhealthily overfat! the standard BMI really doesn't apply to those with smaller frames (regardless of ethnicity/race!)...the healthy BMI in most east Asian cpuntries is actually between 18.5-23.5 and in some it's as low as 18-23 (especially among apple-shaped petite women  below 5'4 with small bone frames)! BMI is a terrible measure...if only there was a way to accurately measure body fat...there is, but it's highly inconvenient and not cheap, so the tape measure is probably to best tool when it comes to monitoring healthy fat levels...keeping track of the waist circumference is a far better way than to keep track by scale numbers. 

Original Post by gdharris:

Ask yourself this: Why don’t these posts cover topics like “Help! I can’t seem to add that extra 5 lbs. to the barbell,” “I’ve been running 20 miles a week for two months now and I can’t get past it,” or “How can I optimize my carb to protein ratio so that I will develop more endurance on the trail?”

Because those accomplishments aren't visible and vanity is human nature that's why. :-) I'm not saying that it's the highest level of motivation but the vast number of people trying to lose weight simply want to look better. Fitness is more important, but it's the desire to look better that motivates most people. As long as that pushes people in the right direction, it's better than no motivation at all.

I've become pretty fit along the way, but if I hadn't looked in the mirror one day and said "Ugh", I wouldn't have started down this path. By the way, I am five pounds away from my goal and just can't seem to get it off! ;-)