I can't believe I'm actually writing this article, but it's 2021.
Political correctness (ie what is perceived as correctness) and feelings are often put before scientifically confirmed facts. Therefore, it is time to look back a little at some things that, unfortunately, I see and hear more and more often.
That's the main message being spread by the movement that I see growing in popularity. The idea that all “sizes” of people are okay and that there is no reason for fat and obese people to lose weight is actively promoted. Now I'm going to say frankly that we shouldn't be okay with that. Why?
Here it is not a matter of “size” as such – but the consequences that fatness and obesity entail! They are fatal, very fatal. That's what I'm going to demonstrate to you in this article, imagine now, using the huge amount of scientific research we have on the subject.Before we go any further, I'll just point out how ridiculous it is that they're trying to be overly politically correct and use the term “size”… as if they're talking about the size of the eggs in the store, not the people.
How excess body weight actually affects health
So, this is not about aesthetics, but about health. I don't have a problem with how people look, but we should all have a problem with the consequences. Excess body mass entails a whole series of serious health problems and significantly shortens the length and impairs the quality of life.
Being overweight is a risk factor for:
Type 2 diabetes
A number of cardiovascular diseases
Metabolic syndrome
Different types of cancer
Osteoarthritis
Gallbladder disease
Pancreatic disease
Liver disease
Sleep apnea and other lung complications
Clinical depression
Being overweight is one of the most common preventable causes of early death. It is currently in second place, right after smoking. If the current trends continue – the decline in the proportion of the population that smokes and the increase in the obese population – it is estimated that excess body weight could become the biggest cause of early death in developed countries.
“But there is also (metabolically) healthy obesity…”
Yes no. In addition to the various researches that we have had on this topic for decades, we also have another fresh one from a few weeks ago where the authors present some pretty clear conclusions.
Of people who appeared to be obese but metabolically healthy – over one-third became metabolically unhealthy within 3-5 years. Metabolically healthy obesity seems to be only a temporary and transitional state to classic, clearly unhealthy obesity.
They point out that the use of the phrase “healthy obesity” is misleading and should not be used. Considering that this condition leads to a really drastically increased risk of various diseases and death, we have clear indications that it is by no means a healthy condition.
Therefore, it is very important to recommend fat and obese people to lose weight and control their body weight in the long term.
“A fat person will not be any healthier if he loses weight”
Another one of the nonsense that can be heard from the supporters of that movement. Of course, it is absolutely incorrect, as you will see shortly. Here I will mention another thing that is almost equally incorrect, and that is the claim that it is enough for obese people to lose only 5% of their body mass and then they will be much healthier, even though they are still obese.
For some health problems, 5% is already a really big difference, true. For some, there are clinical benefits only after losing 10-15% of body mass and even more. However, the general rule applies: the greater the weight loss on the way to a healthy body mass range, the better the effect on health. This is something that is really evident from all the evidence we have and should not be up for debate.
If you haven't noticed from the text so far, things like this make me very angry.
Of course, it is not easy to lose excess fat tissue. Especially in the long term and in a sustainable way. The solution then is not to pretend that it is not necessary, but to educate people and support them in that process. I have already written several articles on how to enjoy proper nutrition and lose weight in a sustainable way.
No, this is not fat shaming, but showing the real state of affairs. We're not doing anyone a favor if we act like fatness and obesity are healthy – because they absolutely aren't! We can bury our heads in the sand and pretend it isn't so, but that won't change the facts.
Conclusion
To wrap up the story, I personally think, and I'm far from the only one, that this movement does more harm than good. They promote some good ideas, like weight and waist size don't define a person's value – I can absolutely agree with that.
It is very important to attack the problem of fatness and obesity without attacking the people who suffer from this problem. However, it is also very important that we all together, as a society, do not encourage that which has a drastic negative impact on health.
Excess body mass entails a whole series of serious health problems and significantly shortens the length and impairs the quality of life. Let me emphasize it once again: Life expectancy is shorter and the quality of that life is even lower! Who among us would want that for ourselves or for a person we care about??
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