http://www.drphil.com/advice/advice...sorders/Obesity

Five Biggest Myths About Obese People


1. People don't realize they are fat or why.
As Dr. Phil points out, "People who are overweight for a long time don't have a distorted body image." They are aware of their size.

2. Fat people are lazy and slow.
This is not true. You cannot make a blanket judgment about a person's motivation or character based on his/her weight.

3. All fat people eat too much.
This myth doesn't take two important factors into account: physical activity and metabolic resistance.

4. Fat people eat because they're always hungry.
As Dr. Phil says, "Its not what you are eating, but why you are overeating." Many people eat emotionally and use food as a source of comfort — which has nothing to do with hunger.

5. Fat people are always unhappy being fat.
Body image and self-image are two separate things. You can have a healthy self-image whether or not you are happy about your body image.

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I was reading this while inspired by the "Big is Beautiful?" thread under Atkins..but since I got a bit tired of some of the finger-pointing in that thread, I thought this was interesting "discussion fuel"....

One thing that I noticed about the myths was the myth that fat people are slow. I had to chuckle at this. About 9 years ago I played semipro football and weighed about 175 or 180. I have never been blessed w/ speed and during tryouts I was so much for that myth.

Tater...

Very good post and thread. I wish I could have said what Dr. Phil said... he is concise and to the point. It is exactly what I wanted to convey.

I agree tater.

But I would amend to include not only eating from emotional reasons but from chemical/psysiological ones.

IMHO, giving IN to the chemically-induced cravings in effort to quench them is pretty close to emotional eating. It's still a drive other than real, physical hunger. Sometimes it's hard to tell the differencee, but once I learned the trick of distracting myself for a few minutes I found cravings go away...hunger gets worse. I'd feel the cravings, panic, or get that uneasy feeling...and try to "stuff it down" with more food.

I wonder how many people buy in to these myths? I know I've been called "fat lazy slob" before. It's the stereotype of a stay-at-home Mom lounging around eating bon-bons... and they don't have a CLUE. I didn't get fat from being lazy, I got fat from collapsing, exhausted at the end of the day with a bag of chips and/or pint of ice cream to soothe myself from the stress of the day.

You know what, though? I almost died laughing at the title of a book I saw... "Skinny Bit$%es Are Evil"..and nearly bought it. What kind of hypocrite does that make ME?

That's very interesting. Before Atkins I found myths 1 and 3 being applied to me the most of those. For instance, my mother used to like to stage little 'interventions' about my 'size' - I think she really thought I didn't realise I was fat... I would say, look, I konw, but I don't really talk about it... but myth 1 is powerful!

And myth 3 - now that I have lost weight, I find it really insulting sometimes that ppl seem to think I used to like, I don't know, eat all day or drink sugar-oil or something! I've always eaten in a fairly 'normal' 'helthyish' way - I was on a pseudo diet for 7 months! -- And oooo, don't get me started on ppl who bash low-carb becuase 'I just started eating less and cut out soda pop and lost 50 pounds!'. Like I even drank soda pop!

Is this supposed to be a statement of tendency (i.e., "MOST people who are overweight are aware of their size") or is it supposed to be an absolute ("ALL people who are overweight are aware of their size.")? When I first gained weight in high school, I had no idea how overweight I was. It wasn't until I lost 30 or so pounds (by eating cafeteria food at college, which gives you an idea how bad my snacking was during high school) that I gained some inkling of just how fat I had been.

Another one I would add is: Fat is an indicator of intelligence. I have friends fat, normal and slim who are very smart, and for me hard to understand sometimes (but I put up with it, I don't know why). Maybe that's an extension of number 2 Fat people are lazy and slow. Maybe it's thought fat people are lazy and slow thinkers too.

I think #1 is pretty much sound. Where you can be in denial about some aspects of your weight's impact.. it's hard to deny the fact you no longer fit in regular chairs, seatbelts, can't bend over and tie your shoes. I'm sure most people can stick their head in the sand for the first few sizes (dang pants shrunk..they changed the sizes...They fit okay, but the next size is just more comfortable) but at the point of obesity, I really don't think a person is unaware of their size... and certainly don't need well-meaning "advice" from others. I know I'm fat... funny how the only person afraid to address it was my DOCTOR!

Hmmm.. after reading the "Myths about thin people" thread I'm inspired to add an amendment to #5.

Fat people aren't automatically jealous of thin people.

Like Dr Phil says...

"If you have a crappy marriage, unruly children, a dead-end job, a generally miserable existance..losing weight alone won't fix that. You'll be THIN, but you'll still have a crappy marriage, unruly children.....etc. Being thin will not automatically fix your whole life!

Potatofree
I would like to contradict you on your opinion that giving in to chemical induced eating is akin to emotional eating. Chemical induced eating is uncontrolled and uncontrollable eating. Binging can be due to emotional sources. And when it's chemical induced it can have an emotional component because humans are emotional beings and being out of control can be devastating. Also we don't just shut out our emotions in doing some activity they are always part of us. But chemical induced eating is like that of a herion user. He/she might have emotional issues but it's the chemical dependence that drives the need for the fix.

I'm glad you haven't experienced that level of addiction to carbs. I have. And many on this board can tell you that when they encounter a trigger, they no longer have control but are chemically driven to eat.

I understand full well the out-of-control drive to eat carbs and what it feels like to be an addict... when you feel the drive to keep shoving that junk in when it's actually making you feel sick. Prowling the kitchen like a shark, basically, logically knowing that I wasn't hungry but eating anyway like some sort of posessed person. Yes, it has a chemical basis, but what I meant was I really don't feel you can completely divorce the element of emotions from it....just like depression having a chemical/hormonal component, but manifesting with physical SYMPTOMS...including but not limited to, uncontrolled eating, sadness..worthlessness...

I occasionaly see this on teh forum. There are some posts where women talk about very unhappy relationships and how they will improve once weight is lost. Being thinner doesn't mean someone who has treated you with disrespect will suddenly treat you better.

What it could mean is you have the confidence to get out of the relation ship and find someone who will treat you with kindness and respect. There are some relationships where the other person is very insecure though and that is why they belittle the person. Sometiems when that person makes great self improvements such as weight loss or education, the insecure one will be the one to leave.

I disagree with a lot of that. I do think a lot of obese people don't realize why they are fat. I had absolutely no idea how many calories I was eating until I actually became conscious of what I was eating. I also was eating tons of empty calories, 80% of what I ate was highly refined or very sugary (fruit). I mean, I realized I ate a lot but I didn't realize to what extent. I also didn't realize there was a reason I was hungry all the time and it was because I constantly choose foods with low satiety values. I don't think my experience is uncommon for your typical overweight/obese american. Very very few people are conscious and educated about what they eat. Even on this board, a weight loss board, there are some overweight men and women who don't realize eating too many calories will stop them from losing weight; they look to their ketosis sticks instead of examining their caloric intake and say "I am in ketosis, but why am I not losing?". A lot of obese people are simply ignorant about nutritional fundementals like calories in must be less than calories used for weight loss to occur.

Myth #3 is accurate when applied to moderate obesity, but I am sorry there is no way you can be 100 pounds overweight without eating too much for your personal metabolic needs. There is no way for your body to slow down its metabolic processes enough to save the 100s of so extra calories it requires to build and sustain that much fat mass.

Myth #4 is not accurate either. While it is true many, if not most obese people eat emotionally and have emotional connections with food, what he neglects to mention is that most people have emotional connections to food, not just the obese. It is customary in western culture to reward behavior with food (a's on report cards call for icecream!), to use food to celebrate (thanksgiving and holiday feasts), to use food when you feel bad (broken hearts are soothed by noshing cookie dough), and to use food when you are just bored (watching a movie you eat popcorn and soda, etc). While I think obese people may be more inclined to use food emotionally more frequently and intensely than the normal weight, I DO think blood sugar disturbances from poor food choices and poor nutritional education are very real and totally unemotional reasons for overeating. I think most obese individuals have poor tollerance for refined carbohydrate. Once I addressed my blood sugar imbalances, about 75% of the urges I had to overeat went away. I did (and do) have to work on emotional and habitual over eating, but for me blood sugar problems caused by choosing foods with low satiety values were the biggest over eating trigger for me. I have no problem saying no after eating only a couple of low and controlled carb treat foods, they actually fill me up and leave me satisfied. If they were the real thing, had I not had anything else to eat, I would be shaking and irritable within a couple half hours.

I also have to disagree with myth #5.... while not all fat people are unhappy with their self image, I think it would be very difficult to find a fat person in our culture who wouldn't prefer to be thin all other things equal.

It'stheWoo



I have to disagree with this. This goes back to the disproved theory that a calorie is solely an energy unit and if calories in are less than calories utilized you'll lose weight. While it's true that you can eat too much for your metabolic needs, I think an obese person's metabolism can become so efficient at utilizing calories that he/she can actually gain weight on a calorie amount close to what would be considered starvation levels for a more normal weight person. I know. I was on a 700 calorie diet for three months and gained weight on it. I did not cheat. In fact, I increased my weight for a few years while eating an average diet of 800 calories while, at the same time, walking at least 5 miles and 3 1/2 hours of exercise per week.

I read in a book once that obesity and the potbellied look of the Biafrans are both due to malnutrition, the body not getting the proper mix of nutrients that it needs to survive and thrive, which is not purely a matter of calories. That statement made a profound impact on me.