In defense of fat people

In researching and writing my book, Fat—It’s Not What You Think, I became even more sympathetic towards fat people than I already was. Sadly, I appear to be in the minority. Most people—even those I consider friends—think that people are fat because they don’t exercise or eat properly. As The Scientist Magazine reports, “This antiquated view of the cause of obesity is still widespread, even among medical professionals.” According to scientific research, “poor lifestyle choices” account for only about 15 pounds of weight gain.

Look at yourself and those about you: as the years go by your weight stays about the same. I have fat friends and thin friends. We all exercise and eat sensibly. My fat friends stay fat; my thin friends stay thin (and I remain somewhere in between). The system that regulates our weight is a highly complex one that keeps our weight within a narrow range. Our fat cells maintain equilibrium between the forces that deposit fat and the forces that release fat. The filling and emptying is regulated by feedback systems, chiefly the nervous system and the endocrine (hormone) system. Neither eating less nor exercising more will lead to long-term weight loss because our bodies naturally compensate.

For most obese people, an equally complex system is at work to maintain an overweight condition. Scientists have been studying this for years. For example, researchers hospitalized a 348-pound woman to study the relationship between her food intake and her obesity. For weeks, they fed her exactly the number of calories they calculated would keep her weight at 348. Instead, she gained twelve pounds in two weeks.

Generally speaking, lean people are more active than fat people because a greater proportion of the food they consume is made available to their cells and tissues for energy. With energy to burn, they’re more inclined to be restless and impelled to be physically active. The opposite is true of obese people: the calories they consume go to making fat rather than to burn for energy.

Like much else, having a body that tends toward obesity is simply bad luck. As for the rise in obesity world-wide, Dr. Rudy Liebel, a long-time obesity researcher and fellow sympathizer says, “We simply do not know what environment factors account for the increased prevalence of obesity.”

Next week: Food supplements: a big debate

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