Why weight loss is not a worthwhile goal

txcaveman

Losing weight is a global obsession. Health club marketing, fitness and beauty magazines, diets and drugs cater to the desire to shed pounds. But why do people want to lose weight?

Our industrial food and sedentary lifestyles have made a majority of people fat and unhealthy. Excess weight is only the most obvious symptom of ill health.

The human mind is finely attuned to the health of other people. We respond instinctively and automatically to the health of others. Although we live in a completely different environment than our ancestors, our DNA -- our bodies and brains -- are essentially identical.

We are intensely social creatures designed to live in a small tribe or village. Our minds are built to evaluate the health of others in our community. This evaluation helps us to choose mates and establish the social hierarchy of the group. The fittest members of any human community are usually held in higher esteem than others.

And this is why people diet: to hide the most conspicuous evidence that we are unwell. We diet to simulate health in order to become more attractive, powerful and respected in our social groupings.

We can do better than that. Much better.

The appearance of good health is no more valuable than the appearance of education or the appearance of athletic achievement. For example, you can "attend" some unaccredited online university and receive a bogus diploma you can frame and hang on your wall. You can buy a trophy on eBay.

Striving to lose weight without improving health is like buying a diploma or trophy: You might impress some people, but you haven't gained the thing of real value, only the superficial appearance of having done so.

I believe that life and death isn't binary, but exists on a scale. At one end is death, and the other end is the most alive you can be given the totality of your circumstances. Most people exist between those extremes.

If you simply cut calories, or embrace some gimmicky fad diet – in other words try to lose weight without bringing your physical body into balance – the weight will come back. And worse, you’ll knock things further out of whack.

Faking health through weight loss is a losing proposition, and an unworthy goal. A vastly superior goal is to actually achieve lifelong health.

Your whole metabolic system will be restored to balance, but so will your immune, digestive, circulatory, muscular and other systems. Your energy level will soar, and your mind will be clear and function much better. Your immune system will defend you from all kinds of diseases, and you'll have the strength and energy to pursue all your dreams.

In short, you will become much more alive.

Now that's a worthwhile goal

(I wish I could take credit for this - found at http://thespartandiet.blogspot.com/)

FireBrand80

It's not that black and white. Going from obese or overweight to normal weight almost always improves health markers.

txcaveman

FireBrand - Agreed, I think that is the point. It's a lifestyle change, not a crash diet. And, to be successful, for the long term, it can't just be about weight, it's about ones approach to the challenges of life.

DavPul

Huh? Is there a person ever that lost significant weight whose health markers did not improve? Substantially?

haylz247

surely as you lose weight, the healthier you become? I feel so much better already and only lost 4 lbs. I felt so rubbish before.

bhankiii

hmmmm... ebay you say?

ninerbuff

If you're in good health, look the way you want, fit the clothes you want to fit and didn't have to starve doing it, then weight shouldn't matter. That should be the goal. Good thread.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition