That’s basically the gist of this new study that I’m talking about on Never Say Diet today. Not only is Fat Talk self-destructive (and boring for the rest of us), it actually makes you less likely to do the healthy lifestyle stuff that leads to weight loss. Or just being healthy.
And we want you to be healthy. It’s really what we come here to do.
PS. If you’ve been trying to comment over on iVillage and wondering if you’re technologically challenged: It’s not you! The site has some major comment glitch that is taking awhile to resolve. Fingers crossed we get it sorted out this week. In the meantime, you can always comment here or over on the Never Say Diet Facebook Page. I love hearing from y’all!
FYI, I was happily able to leave a comment at I Village this week, for (maybe) the first time. So hopefully that’s progress and the glitch is getting worked out!
HOORAY! Thanks Dana. Fingers crossed the iVillage IT elves have finally worked some magic…
You know that I am a big fan of you and your work, but I think that there are some issues with this piece.
It starts with the title and subtitle. I don’t believe that the study shows that feeling bad about yourself is a driver of obesity, from my reading it shows that they are correlated, there’s no causation (driving).
I find the use of the threat “it could make you fat” really disturbing. I don’t understand the use of the threat “it could make you fat” to get women to stop feeling bad about their bodies. I find it antithetical to tell women that being fat is so bad that it’s a worthy of being a threat, then tell them to stop worrying about being fat. It just doesn’t make sense to me.
Finally, healthy lifestyle stuff does not lead to weight loss. Based on every study we have, nobody has proven that anything has a greater than 5% chance of leading to weight loss. 95% of people who attempt weight loss gain it back within five years. Healthy lifestyle stuff doesn’t even necessarily lead to health because you also have to consider genetics, access and environment.
I get where you’re going and I appreciate what you are trying to do but I wanted to point these things out in case it’s helpful. As always I absolutely respect you and your work.
~Ragen
It is VERY helpful, thank you Ragen.
You totally called it on my misinterpretation of the study — I got my correlations and causations mixed up, and that was just lazy. Especially because the other obvious interpretation is: Lots of fat people feel bad about themselves because we live in a culture that tells them to feel like crap about their weight and it’s wicked hard to withstand that kind of negative messaging onslaught. Not because feeling bad about yourself makes you more likely to be fat. Point taken.
I am sorry the headline disturbed you — I was actually shooting for irony, not trying to reinforce the “being fat is the worst thing ever” message. It was more like: “Stop worrying about this thing that you think is so bad, because new research shows that people who worry that being fat is so awful are more likely to end up be the very thing they’re so afraid of…and really, what’s so awful about being fat in the first place?” Except that’s super long and complicated and not headline-friendly. So I shortened it, hoping that readers who know my voice and perspective would get the subtext — but, yeah. I can absolutely see why you didn’t!