bigfatscience:

bigfatscience:

bigfatscience:

There are some very angry people in my notes and inbox this week. Apparently,  I am “toxic” and “evil” because I reported the results of 50 years of weight-loss research. They are mad because the research definitively and conclusively demonstrates that long-term maintenance of weight loss is virtually impossible. They also think I am “delusional” because I criticize the medical establishment for keeping this fact a secret from the general public.

The truth is that the ineffectiveness and harmful nature of intentional weight-loss is well known within the scientific and medical communities. If pressed, most doctors will affirm that their clinical experience conforms to the scientific results: Basically everyone who loses weight will go on to regain that weight within 3-5 years. In 75% of cases, they will regain more weight than they lost. 

This knowledge is why doctors became so desperate that they resorted to amputating parts of the digestive tract in the hopes that it might finally result in long-term weight-loss. Except oops, that doesn’t work either. Oh, and it causes death,  addiction, malnutrition, and suicide. Whoopsie daisy.

Diet culture is fucking toxic. And people deserve to know the truth.

You are wrong!!! All you have to do is try xyz and you can lose weight!!

I will believe claims like this when you show me a meta analysis of at least 10 random and controlled experiments, published in a high caliber empirical journal. That is the burden of proof. I provided such proof of my claims (indeed, the first two links I provided reference multiple meta-analyses supporting my claims). Now it’s your turn.

Apparently my first link does not work. Here is another. And another. And the citation, it is readily available from google sources.

Mann, T., Tomiyama, A. J., Lew, A. M., Westling, E., Chatman, J., & Samuels, B.
(2007). Medicare’s search for effective obesity treatments: Diets are not the answer.
American Psychologist, 62, 220-233. PMID: 17469900

bigfatscience:

bigfatscience:

mouthlikevenus:

bigfatscience:

Numerous longitudinal studies have observed that when older people lose weight, their risk of death in the following decades increases.

One such study began following a nationally representative sample of 7000 people when they averaged 65 years of age. In the following ten years, about 25% of the sample died.

The study revealed that fat participants (i.e., BMI > 30) who had lost more than 15% of their body weight at the start of the study experienced a nearly 300% increase in the risk of all-causes mortality. Researchers observed similar increases in mortality risk across the entire weight spectrum for women. 

This means that weight loss is unhealthy and increases the risk of all-causes mortality for older fat people and for older women at all weights.

You’re supposed to gain weight as you age, it helps you survive if you fall ill, especially heart attacks if I remember correctly. And literally if you fall the chances of breaking something are lower.

Fat older people far better than thin older people when they contract pneumonia, when they have a heart attack, when they undergo chemotherapy, when they have an infection, when they undergo dialysis, and when they have diabetes. Oh, and fat older people have about half the risk of developing dementia, too. Basically, fatness seems to offer protection from basically every disease of older age. 

[source][source][source]

Weight gain in older age is natural and health protective. Weight loss in older age is unhealthy.

naamahdarling:

little-limabean:

runtrovert:

Friendly reminder that 1200 calories is the recommended amount for a 5 year old

this hit me.

another fact is that 500 calories isn’t even enough for a new born.

why did I go so long convinced that going over 500 in a day was the end of the world?

Another friendly reminder that the United States used 1,000 calorie diets as torture for political prisoners and justified it using the diet industry.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/17/bush-torture-memos-commer_n_188190.html

In a footnote to a May 10, 2005, memorandum from the Office of Legal Council, the Bush attorney general’s office argued that restricting the caloric intake of terrorist suspects to 1000 calories a day was medically safe because people in the United States were dieting along those lines voluntarily.

“While detainees subject to dietary manipulation are obviously situated differently from individuals who voluntarily engage in commercial weight-loss programs, we note that widely available commercial weight-loss programs in the United States employ diets of 1000 kcal/day for sustain periods of weeks or longer without requiring medical supervision,” read the footnote. “While we do not equate commercial weight loss programs and this interrogation technique, the fact that these calorie levels are used in the weight-loss programs, in our view, is instructive in evaluating the medical safety of the interrogation technique.”

Another another friendly reminder that the Minnesota Starvation Experiment subjected adult men who were VOLUNTEERS to 1,560 calorie diets and the psychological effects were so profound that one volunteer cut three of his own fingers off and could not remember why.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment

These men were volunteers who knew exactly what they would be going through and when it would end, and who believed they were doing it for a good and moral reason (the research was used to help rehabilitate victims of starvation and famine at the end of WWII).

And these are the things we are expected to engage in FOREVER to stay at a “healthy” weight.

Reading about the Minnesota Starvation experiment was my wake-up call.  It was what kicked me out of my eating disorder.  The guy missing three fingers, whatever his name was, he was the last straw for me.

Scared me so fucking bad I stopped restricting my food that day, and never went back to it.

onlinepunk:

Some of you need to learn the difference between skinny girls being made to feel insecure about their body from certain people and fat girls being made to feel like their entire life is worthless because of their body size from literally the entire world

bigfatscience:

thisisthinprivilege:

(2/2) if you could explain the studies in a plainer speech.

I assume you mean the two we’ve posted most recently? Because there are an awful lot of links in the FAQ.

Both of the ones we’ve posted most recently are literature reviews. That means that they examine the results of a bunch of different studies to get a wider perspective. It also means we don’t have exact details on how those studies were conducted. You’d have to go read every paper they reviewed, or rather I would.

For the first study, all I can access if the brief abstract, which describes what a paper is about, a very short description of methods, and a very short summary of the conclusion. The full study is behind a pay wall. If you want to shell out $12 for it and send it to me, I’ll see what I can do about explaining it, but I’m not spending that money.

The abstract does not list how many studies the authors reviewed. Usually for a field with so many studies available, they’ll do between ten and thirty, trying to pick studies that are very representative of the field. Their conclusion is simply that none of the diets presented worked in the long run – the study participants who could be tracked gained back the weight, and one-third to one-half of them gained back more, depending on the study.

The second paper is available in its entirety. This paper is also a literature review, and covers all of the studies in a four year period from a well-regarded English dietetics journal. Dietetics is the study of human nutrition and health – how to eat healthy. So there were a lot of papers on this in it. This review focuses primarily on whether or not the papers showed any actual benefits from weight loss, but also discusses the issue that it simply doesn’t work.

The review lays out the goals of the different studies. Some had a goal of reducing hypertension (high blood pressure), some of helping with diabetes and pre-diabetic insulin resistance, and some just focused on weight loss and assumed it had some. None of the studies conclusively demonstrated that weight loss had any real benefits, as opposed to just the diet and exercise. (There is, in other studies, a positive correlation of delaying onset of full-blown type 2 diabetes with losing a small amount of weight, just 5% of starting body weight (so for 230lb me, 11.5lbs), regardless of the specific diet used to achieve weight loss, so there’s that. But once again, correlation is not causation, and none of them have shown that a greater weight loss will prevent it or stave it off any longer.) Since not eating a ton of junk food and exercising moderately has been shown to have a lot of health benefits for most people regardless of whether or not weight loss is achieved, this isn’t terribly useful. These studies do not show that weight loss alone has any positive effects at all. To date, other than the correlation with delaying diabetes, it hasn’t been demonstrated at all. What has been demonstrated, many times, is that weight fluctuation – yo-yo dieting – has serious negative impacts.

This review then goes on to also show that none of these studies shows that long-term weight loss works at all, and indeed that many of these papers openly admit that it doesn’t, or reference studies that do.

A few choice quotes:

Despite this, the goal of sustained weight-loss was ubiquitously promoted as reasonable and desirable in all papers included in the review even though most papers also confirmed the high failure rate of weight loss in the long-term, a finding summed up as “ there is increased awareness that short-term interventions are rarely successful’ (p 504) J[24] and “long-term success in weight loss treatments for obesity is elusive” (p31) J[19]. Nevertheless, the collective supposition was that failure was due to lack of research/poor evidence base and there was no suggestion that it signalled the need to ultimately dispense with the belief in the success of weight loss.

Most of these papers don’t show that weight loss works long-term, and some of them straight up admit that it doesn’t, but they all think it must be a good idea to try it anyway.

A qualitative study of patients’ views of dietary treatment for weight loss is a case in point. The study reports participants’ views that, as compared to other people, they followed a healthy diet and were therefore at a loss to explain their current heavy weight and felt ‘a lack of trust in their ability to succeed’ (p491). One interpretation of this is suggested which speculates on a tension between patients assuming ‘personal responsibility’ for their health and the tendency for the patient to avoid responsibility through blaming their ‘unfair’ situation’ (p 493) J[3]. Inherent in this analysis is the assumption that high BMI necessarily arises from ‘excess’ energy intake and can be ‘corrected’ by weight loss through energy deficit. This assumption ignores evidence that adult body weight is not primarily determined by current diet and exercise behaviours and is in fact highly resistant to alteration [25]. The framing also conflates weight outcomes with health and dietary quality. The erroneous belief that anyone can lose weight and keep it off if they try hard enough is later reiterated by the authors in a statement that dietitians ‘still have far to go in enabling patients to achieve permanent weight loss’ (p 493). The logic of this argument is faulty: the point is that permanent weight loss has been shown time and again to be an unattainable objective for the vast majority of dieters. It would seem, rather, that researchers still have far to go in recognising the significance of the evidence and responding accordingly.

People who are fat frequently eat “healthy” and exercise, and don’t understand why they’re fat. Evidence does not show that diet and exercise determine weight, and does show that it’s nearly impossible to change your weight in the long run. Researchers need to get their shit together and figure this out.

It becomes apparent that mainstream obesity discourse is underpinned by the rationale that modifying energy balance will lead to weight loss, a view that is mirrored in papers in the review J[5], J[11] and discussed in this section.
Researchers variously calculated energy deficit from formulae derived from basal metabolic rate or from a diet history assessment. In one paper, where inconsistencies arose in actual vs expected weight loss, this was assumed to indicate ‘non-compliance’ as it was held that a ‘linear relationship [exists] between weight loss and energy restriction’ ( p 156) J[5]. As authors in the wider scientific community have noted ‘Despite its scientific pedigree, the ‘body as machine’ model remains largely a theoretical proposition only. In fact, it is hard to find human beings in their ‘natural settings’ whose bodies conform to it.’ (p.41) [26]. By continuing to advocate an energy deficit intervention without comment that it has never been proven to be effective long-term, and by automatically ascribing unexpected results to patient behaviour rather than exploring the model for potential flaws [25], there is a danger that the approach may be interpreted as being rather more successful than the evidence shows. This could compromise patient welfare and divert research capacity from more productive avenues.

A really long way of saying “calories in < calories out” doesn’t work, we know it doesn’t work, human bodies don’t work that way and science has proven it. When researchers keep pretending that it does work, they’re encouraging other people to think it works, but it doesn’t, and it’s not healthy for people.

To sum up: Weight loss doesn’t help most people, and doesn’t work in the long run. Eating and exercising in ways that make your body work better (which differ from person to person; there are digestive disorders that mean that people can’t eat vegetables, for example, and there are people with physical disabilities that make pretty much all forms of exercise actively dangerous) can be good and have good effects, and if you want to improve your health, finding what works best is good. But long term major weight loss doesn’t work and isn’t an effective treatment for anything at all, and repeated weight loss attempts can severely harm your health.

So that’s the explanation. We don’t know whether any of the studies reviewed looks at muscle mass gains. We can’t tell without looking at the studies themselves. In fact, I don’t know of any study that does examine that question. I do know that most people don’t put on a huge amount of muscle mass from the forms of exercise people do to lose weight – running, walking, swimming, biking, aerobics, etc – because they concentrate on getting heart rate and breathing up and burning calories. Maybe 10-20lbs. Heavy weight lifting (high weight, low reps) is what puts on a lot of muscle mass. I do know that there are weight lifters who are also fat – see Holley Mangold and Sarah Robles – and that weight lifting like that does not, therefore, get rid of all your fat.

So that doesn’t answer your specific question, because I don’t have information that does, but there’s everything I know about it.

-MG

People losing weight through under-eating and over-exercise do not gain muscle except in the rarest and most unusual circumstances. People losing weight lose muscle mass. In fact, for any given person, a huge proportion on the weight they lose through dieting/“lifestyle change”/whaterev-you-want-to-call-it will be muscle – think 30% to 50%.

The notion that the average person can lose fat while simultaneously gaining muscle is a diet industry lie.

And there a many many studies examining change in body fat percentage as an outcome of dieting. They all show the same outcome – fat regain within three to five years. Note that I said “fat regain”. This is because fat is gained first during weight restoration muscle comes much later. If you are lucky.

bubonickitten:

bigfatscience:

Eww. I am so sorry you have to write that. 

I have posted many sources about the “obesity epidemic” and the science of weight more generally. Peruse my tags to find them. Also check out the resources available on Linda Bacon’s website.

If you look through my “dieting” and “weight loss” tags, specifically, you can find lots of academic sources demonstrating that safe, long-term weight loss is not really possible (and so any “advice” about “managing” weight is unscientific). You may also want to look through my “eating disorders” tag for evidence concerning the dangers of intentional weight loss attempts, especially for young people. 

Good luck! Let me know how it turns out.

I wrote a paper about fat shaming, sizeism, and misconceptions about weight and health a few years ago. idk if it helps, but I can share my works cited – some are books, some are studies/articles from academic journals (most of which are beyond paywalls, but if you have access to academic journal databases through your school, you might be able to find them). 

Keep reading

note-a-bear:

bigmouthlass:

mynuet:

fatphobiabusters:

a-polite-melody:

a-polite-melody:

a-polite-melody:

God, I hate that all the seating in lecture halls in university were obviously not designed with fat people in mind. Whether it’s having to wedge my large butt and thighs into tiny seats or having chairs moving attached to a desk that don’t swing out quite far enough to accommodate my stomach… it’s a struggle.

No, you know what, I’m going to talk more about this.

Last year was hell because of this. Every time I had to write a midterm I was in a lecture hall with too-small seats where there was a constant pressure against my butt and thighs and the little pull out desk thing on the side of the chair forced me to suck in to even barely manage to fit. I could barely breathe more than taking short, shallow, little breaths because that desk thingy was pushed right up against my diaphragm. And because my fat would spill over onto the already tiny desk thingy, I’d have even less room to put my exam and an eraser and my id, which all had to somehow fit along with my fat.

This really isn’t acceptable. I don’t know how the fuck to do anything about it, but it’s a problem that severely needs addressing, as not only are there other fat students, I know there are students fatter than I am who likely can barely function in any classes because of these desks and seats that are made only for thin people to be able to fit into.

When there is a portion of your student body who can’t or can only barely access classes or exams because of the way you planned your seating, that’s not okay.

It’s fucking demoralizing, actually.

It’s like having a sign posted that says, “You must be this thin to get a college/university education.”

You can take courses online, but only some courses, not all of them, and not all of the ones required for any degree. At least not at the school I’m at.

I’m fat. I love learning. I want to continue my education. But I’m forced to humiliate myself publicly by obviously not fitting into the seating provided. And I’m forced to sit through lectures and exams in these seats that I don’t fit in, which is both distracting and restricting my breathing enough that I’ve left a two hour exam light headed and nauseous.

And I’m one of the ones small enough to barely get by. Anyone much bigger than I am wouldn’t be able to fit in the seating at all. I think I’m being humiliated by having to squish my fat into a tiny seat? Imagine how humiliating it’d feel to try to sit in a seat and not be able to fit. To have to leave the class because there are no seats where you can physically sit to listen to the required and participation-checked lectures. To potentially have to drop out of a school because they don’t offer all of the required courses for a degree online, so you won’t be able to complete any degree because you can’t fit into a seat.

Something has to be done about this. I have no idea how to get it started, so I figure the best thing I can do is spread awareness that this is an issue.

Let me know if you want me to delete this and I will.

But goodness, I totally feel this!

So many of the desks I have to sit at are not designed for fat bodies. In order to fit in them, I often have to choose between taking up too much space so people can’t walk past me, or making myself feel sore and squished. I can’t imagine how it would feel for someone bigger than me. 

Chairs are often too narrow for me. The space between desks is too narrow for me to walk comfortably to my seat. Many of the desks have chairs that are attached to them, so I can’t move them back to make room for my body. And I often find my chair or desk digging into some part of me, and find myself too close to whoever is sitting next to me.

This isn’t just inconvenient and uncomfortable for me. This is embarrassing and a huge cause of stress. 

And college isn’t the only place I experience this. High school was like this too, and so are places like doctor’s offices, airplanes, and other public places where you have to or can sit. The world just isn’t designed for fat bodies, and instead of changing the world so we can exist comfortably without shame, people expect us to be the ones changing!

It’s awful, and I hate it. But it probably sounds like no big deal to the people who have any power to do something about it. That’s why speaking out is so important.

So thank you for this post. Really.

-Mod Bella 

The way I dealt with this was by letting the professors know I needed a larger chair as an accommodation. If there wasn’t a place for me to sit where I’d fit, I’d stand at the front and look at the professor until they acknowledged me, then point out that there was nowhere for me to sit. I only ever had one professor that didn’t arrange for a desk for me, and after I emailed the office for students with disabilities and cc’ed the professor, a desk appeared for my use.

There’s this weird mindset where we fatties are expected to be embarrassed and contort ourselves to furniture that doesn’t fit to avoid having to admit we’re too big. As soon as I said ‘fuck that’ and started being blatant and up front about “this chair is too small, I won’t fit,” I discovered that it embarrassed the hell out of the professors – and, actually, people asking me to sit in almost all venues. The only exception was one doctor’s office, and since it was one of several indicators that they were fat-phobic, I never bothered going back.

Even when accommodation is available, having to constantly beg for it is demoralizing as fuck. It also adds a level of isolation between you and the other students, meaning you’re less likely to find study partners and people who’ll want to work with you on group projects and shit.

Having to navigate class spaces that didn’t fit me wasn’t the only reason I dropped out of college, but it certainly didn’t fucking help.

It’s also not necessarily a thing available at a lot of schools that have recently renovated their lecture/classrooms.

Plus, who the fuck needs to be even MORE visibly othered when they’re just trying to get some fucking education that they’re PAYING FOR.