"i did it, so you can too"

Many of the blogs i read -- which i find valuable -- are written by women of all ages, with differing degrees of metabolic damage.  Some of them have totally succeeded, some have lost weight but have maintenance or other side issues to deal with, and some are still struggling.  The difference between them and the review of [ahem] a certain book i hadn't heard about before, is that the book basically says what i wrote as today's post title.

The author of the book said it was simple:  he merely CHOSE not to be fat anymore.  It's simple, he says, just stay away from sugar and HFCS and fast foods, eat plenty of lean protein, and get up out of your computer chair!  He gets really testy about people who make excuses for still being overweight, and claims that all it takes is determination!  It's hard to tell from a review, but it sounds as though every other sentence begins with the word "I." 

THIS is why i positively rage against non-clinical male advice for overweight women.  Dr. Atkins, the doctors Eades, and endless other clinicians never paint solutions in black and white, but realize that infinite hues in between are the actual reality.  

People like the author of the book in question have NO IDEA how easy they have it.  Just as billionaires whine about hints that they should pay a bit more in taxes than working-class families, some individuals enjoy exceptionally good metabolic health and have no appreciation of the struggles of others.  Because THEY got fat eating boxes of cookies and supersized junk-meals, they assume everyone did;  because THEY resumed normal weight by bicycling to work and dropping sugar, bread and potatoes, they take for granted that THAT is all that's necessary for everyone.

Sorry, you self-righteous know-it-alls, you're wrong again!  If you merely crow to your friends, i couldn't give a damn, but when you promote this same old bullshit to those who struggle to drop a very few pounds but are still obese, it just plain makes me FURIOUS.

They can have no conception of how discouraging their advice turns out to be for people not so lucky.  People with recalcitrant systems can STARVE and not lose weight.  They can exercise till they do real damage to their bodies and not burn significant amounts of fat.  When the average American woman reaches the age of 50, she will have spent decades restricting her intake and attempting to work out enough to improve her physique -- at this point, just cutting out sugar isn't going to make much of an impact (she probably did it years ago, anyway).  A huge number of such women are immensely disciplined -- implying the contrary from the position of "authority" that many of these writers assume is an insult which shouldn't be borne.