Excuses for Being Overweight

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Some of you know that I've joined Weight Watchers. Some may even know that I've lost over 20 pounds since mid-December (~7 pounds per month). By the end of this year (9 months from now) I expect to be at or below 200 pounds - that's my goal.

Okay, so when people mention that I'm looking healthier, I tell them why. Then they respond with their excuses as to why they won't go on a weight-loss program. Here is a list of their excuses:

• All of my family is overweight.
• All of my friends are overweight.
• Big is beautiful.
• Diets are boring.
• Diets are difficult.
• Diets don't work.
• Exercise doesn't work.
• Exercise is boring.
• Exercise is difficult.
• Exercise is painful.
• Exercise takes too much effort.
• Fast food is cheaper.
• Fast food is everywhere.
• Food is my only comfort.
• Food is my only pleasure.
• G*d made me this way.
• G*d wants me to be fat.
• Gyms are expensive.
• Gyms are hard to find.
• Gyms are intimidating.
• Gyms are too far away.
• Healthy food is expensive.
• Healthy food is hard to find.
• Healthy food is hard to prepare.
• Healthy food is unavailable.
• Healthy food tastes awful.
• I can't eat food I don't like.
• I can't give up my favorite foods.
• I can't resist my cravings.
• I can't stand skinny people.
• I can't throw out leftovers.
• I can't tolerate healthy foods.
• I don't know how to exercise.
• I don't know how to prepare healthy food.
• I don't need to lose weight.
• I don't want the attention.
• I don't want to lose weight.
• I feel guilty if I don't eat.
• I hate diet food.
• I hate to diet.
• I hate to exercise.
• I have a glandular disorder.
• I have a slow metabolism.
• I have allergies.
• I have an injury.
• I have big bones.
• I have no willpower.
• I have to cook for my family.
• I have to watch the kids.
• I love eating.
• I rely on my personality.
• I'll be hungry if I diet.
• I'll be sweaty if I exercise.
• I'll diet when I really need to.
• I'll exercise when I really need to.
• I'll have to buy new clothes.
• I'll have to starve myself.
• I'm hypoglycemic.
• I'm on medication.
• I'm too busy.
• I'm too embarrased to go to the gym
• I'm too old.
• I'm too tired.
• Junk food is cheaper.
• Junk food is everywhere.
• Losing weight makes me feel sick.
• My breasts will get smaller.
• My family gives no support.
• My family hates diet food.
• My size shouldn't matter.
• No exercise equipment.
• No one likes/loves me anyway.
• No place to exercise.
• No time to exercise.
• No time to prepare healthy food.
• Obesity is in my genes.
• Restaurant portions are too large.
• Results are temporary.
• Results take too long.
• This is my ideal weight.
• Too much peer pressure.
• Too much stress.

This is not an attempt to insult anyone or to shame anyone into losing weight. This is just a list of excuses that people have given for why they are as heavy as they are.

Does anyone have any more to add to this list?

Thank you.

My ex-girlfriend said she tried to lose weight for several years and she never lost anything despite trying. She said it is hormonal -- due to polycistic ovaries.

Every version of the good old "the laws of physics and the human body does not apply to me, I gain weigh even when eating next to nothing". People are so stupid and ignorant.

I don't have anything to add to the list.

(not saying your wrong for putting it) but I think metabolism can sometimes be a big reason for your weight. I am skinny, for about 3 months I added 1000 calories to my diet (half a gallon of milk and 2 protien bars a day). I was also working out almost everyday during it, and gained about 14 pounds, to just below the minimum to be considered average for my height. After about 2 weeks of not gaining weight I stopped added the extra caloires, milk is the only food product which is proven to be bad for acne. And I lost 4 pounds fairly quickly, but I was able to stay pretty close to that weight.

The people who said they had glandular or metabolic issues that prevented them from losing weight also admitted that they had diagnosed themselves with these disorders.

Now, if an appropriately trained and licensed medical practitioner were to confirm their diagnoses, then that would be a reason, and they could then be treated and possibly lose weight.

I think that the people I spoke with are just trying to avoid the effort it takes to eat less and exercise more.

Congratulations on your weight loss and your determination.

I have one suggestion to add to your alphabetized list:
• Depression elevates cortisol levels which increase abdominal obesity. (Cortisol is a stress hormone.)

http://www.livescience.com/6590-depress ... firms.html


The good news is, exercise will diminish depression by elevating endorphins ....so depression is not really a good excuse, but it is a cause.



Edit to add: I think what you're doing is fantastic, and serves as inspiration for everyone, myself included.

Last edited by goodwitchy on 13 Mar 2012, 11:47 am, edited 2 times in total.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7Nkr15kZBY[/youtube]

That's the one reasonable excuse to be overweight. Gotta eat to be strong.

"I am a sumo wrestler and will lose my livelihood if I lose weight"

that's legit


however there is also:

"I'd rather die than give up [favorite unhealthy food]"

when the situation becomes that dire and they really will die if they don't give it up, they generally do (e.g Type 2 diabetics) but it's a shame it has to get that far.

congratulations on your loss

I wonder what happens if a sumo wrestler becomes a diabetic. Will a Japanese doctor dare to give such a warning to a cultural icon? Will they continue eating the same way but take enormous amounts of insulin and hope for the best? Will they give up sumo wrestling?

Sadly, many people including most regular doctors don't believe in this, but it's absolutely 100% true fact! I would estimate, based on the reading that I've done, and on my own experience, that most obese people are NOT that way for lack of self-discipline or dietary habits. I have hypoaldosteronism, which is a cousin of diabetes in a way, and it causes all hormones to be all screwed up. Among other things, cortisol and insulin levels are totally SNAFU'd, and that causes radical fat gain and even lean muscle tissue loss sometimes. No health insurance companies in the USA that I know of, will really pay for comprehensive hormone workup testing. You have to do it yourself for cash, which is about $2,000. Then the treatments are also costly in some cases. I have to make sacrifices to be able to afford it, but if I hadn't made these choices, and had my wife not supported me and done much of the research with me and for me, I might be dead already from heart complications.

So I don't take it lightly when I see a person struggling and hating him/herself from not being able to get in shape and stay in shape. Hard work it is YES, but if you have a hormone problem, it's not hard work... It's IMPOSSIBLE PHYSICALLY.

Charles

Hormones can surely influence things but it is still physically impossible to become fat unless you eat more calories than you need. Likewise you will lose weigh if you consume less calories than you need. Energy does not telepathically enter human bodies.

Unfortunately for people with screwed up hormones, much of the energy from the food they eat will bypass their muscle cells (which desperately need it) because of a hormonal signal telling the metabolism to (wrongly) put the energy in storage. These people are in a terrible situation because they must overeat in order to get enough energy into their non-fat cells. The fat cells "steal" much of the energy that ought to be going to non-fat cells because that's what the messed up hormones told them to do. Until they get the hormonal problem sorted out, the advice to "eat less, move more" is a cruel joke.

You would think this is rather rare but hormonal problems are becoming increasingly common. Sometimes it is genetic. But often it is a result of the crap industrial food that people eat or- horrifyingly enough- that their mothers ate. Such things can affect fetal development. The advice to "eat healthy food, not too much" can lead people astray as well since plenty of crap industrial food is labeled "healthy", such as canola oil and all manner of processed convenience foods with "heart healthy" on the label.

Less clearly implicated but probably a factor in hormonal problems are enviromental toxins which can act as endocrine disruptors. There are also a number of clearly implicated but difficult-to-avoid modern problems that cause cortisol disruption such as chronic stress* and chronic sleep deprivation.

Getting hormones normalized is quite possibly more important for many overweight people than "eat less, exercise more". Once the hormones are sorted, it becomes far easier (or even, stops being impossible) to follow that advice.


*I'm not a Dean Ornish fan, but the stress>>>>cortisol disruption is why he includes meditation in his weight loss program

edited to add this website:

http://www.theiflife.com/fat-loss-101-m ... he-basics/

which puts "eat less, exercise more" into a hormone-normalizing context. It won't work for genetic conditions or frank disease like PCOS, but it should work for others. I do these things and agree with him.

Last edited by Janissy on 13 Mar 2012, 10:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

I acknowledge what you wrote and I do agree that it makes a lot of difference for the people who have issues with it (and as you say they should try to fix it before following general advice), but the fact still is that you will have to overeat in order to become fat.

It comes down to simple physics:

• Consume more mass than you eliminate, and you will gain weight.
• Consume as much mass as you eliminate, and you will maintain the same weight.
• Consume less mass than you eliminate, and you will lose weight.

Yes, it really is just that simple.

Thank you.

My excuse: "I come from a muscular family." works every time.