| Name |
Views and Comments | Date |
| NoMOreFlab.net |
You are so right! If you do anything with a bad attitude you should only expect less than satisfactory results. |
10/12/2009 |
| Michele |
i really like your attitude you rock. |
3/10/2009 |
| Your mom |
Excellent, excellent article! |
11/11/2008 |
| Janell |
I think you are right on! |
3/17/2008 |
| Ominous Lurker |
That is really BullSh-it.
The real thing is wanting to do and doing it because you want. Noone will lose weight if they don't really want it. They are just annoyed by fu-cktards who constantly remind them "You're fat you're ugly go away!" And weak people start doing waht they don't want and get no results.
It is better do it or say FU-CK OFF to idiots who don't like you the way you are and think appearance is most important. Shallow idiotic bas-tards, my dog is more clever and listening and attentive and intelligent being. |
3/8/2008 |
| Sandra |
Nice article, everyone should read it. Well done! |
11/29/2007 |
| Fat Matt |
As a 'fatty', this article definitely shocks me out of apathy. After taking stock of how many weight loss books, forums I've read,etc...I'm quite convinced that it is first and foremost a head thing. I can have all the tools, have all the knowledge in the world...unless I'm ready (mentally, emotionally) to fight this battle....for life and not just lose weight for specific 'events', then I'll make excuses for the rest of my life. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this article!!! |
8/21/2007 |
| Amish-Kid |
Coming from an "ex-fatkid" I really couldn't agree more, until you stop pointing the finger at everyone else and point it at yourself and ask what is really going on you're not going to get anywhere with weight loss. It is something that you have to overcome mentally before you can even think to begin from overcoming physically, really there isn't any excuse for it. Just stop being lazy and fat, and to this day I point that out to everyone that is the in situation that I was at one time and honestly it has worked for some but not all. |
8/14/2007 |
| adam |
This is great stuff about attitude. As I read it I thought you were really on track. However, I still think this is missing something. I lost 85 lbs 3 years ago. I looked in the mirror (naked) at 140 and noticed I didn't really look good. I had lost too much lean mass. Stop losing weight. BUILD MUSCLE. Now I'm back to 160 but my body fat is lower. To do that I had to eat TONS of food and get this - work out less! Why because your muscles need to be broken down (lifting weights) and repaired. That takes time - i.e. some days off. So while I agree with the spirit of your article, I think everyone, esp. the media, needs to take a long hard look at what people really need to do. |
8/14/2007 |
| Michelle |
Well put!
That really sums up the truth of the matter.
I have never been obese, but have always been borderline and it is totally about attitude. Taking responsibility is a big step, but it's the only one that's going to make a difference!
Thank you for saying it like it is!! |
8/14/2007 |
| anonymous |
I used to be really big I was 240 pounds and it is true you need to accept that to lose weight you need to change your attitude in fact after I lost the 70 pounds (4 years this november so I have kept it off a while) I had a better outlook on everything |
8/14/2007 |
| DJ |
Wow, every word you said is true and had hit me hard. because I know I do the same thing...Thanks for motivation, may this is what I need for long...
Thanks a Ton ! |
8/14/2007 |
| Mary |
I can't thank you enough for actually coming out and saying this. I was on the dieting roller coaster for years, and did exactly what you said: Lost weight on my diet, waiting for it to be over so that I could go back to eating the way I used to. I gained twice what I lost and hit the morbid obesity level. It wasn't until after I got married and found walking through the mall with my husband left me out of breath (and not in a good way) that I realized I had to change my whole perspective. I love who I am on the inside, but physically I have to get my act in gear because i'm bordering on becoming another statistic. Diabetes...heart disease...they don't care that you're 'just voluptuous' or 'big boned'. I don't blame anyone but myself for the food I put into my body. And that's definitely the first step. Thank you for finally saying what no one else would. |
8/14/2007 |
| Chuck |
This hurt my feelings. I'm not fat. I'm big boned. |
8/14/2007 |
| SSgt Anonymous |
I'm in the US Air Force. You'd think that with everything else going on, we'd be in better physical shape as one of the worlds leading military forces. You'd also be wrong. I've seen more fat people in the military than I have outside of it, and it drives me crazy! I just want to let you know, I appreciate you, and what you've said. |
8/14/2007 |
| Yes! |
I love your article. It has motivated me to lose weight and I have just purchased four of the six products below your blog to do it for me. The thing you didn't mention is that you don't HAVE to eat healthy. I found a website below your blog that taught me a way to lose 9 pounds every 11 days while eating whatever I want! I just have to think positive, and I already know I'll succeed. |
8/13/2007 |
| Jaded |
Ghrelin didn't make you fat, Gluttony made you fat.
You mutilated your stomach, gg... |
8/13/2007 |
| Sheldon |
It's true what you've said a lot of weight problems come from a parsons mental state as does losing the weight. Weight loss doesn't come from dieting it comes from changing your life. |
8/13/2007 |
| Bman |
Pretty accurate - been preaching the same mentality to friends for years |
8/13/2007 |
| kristen |
From small town U.S. I think that's a great, no-nonsense article. I was overweight (165 lbs) at 16, and i was dreading what I would look like 10 years from then If I kept up the same habits. I spent that summer losing 30 lbs, and I'm now 25, and 125 lbs, it's all about mentality, e.g. what do you want for yourself. Keep up the posts! |
8/13/2007 |
| Mark (USA) |
You are 10000000000000% correct.
In my family of four we have two disctinctly different attitudes towards this subject. Myself and younger son take responsibility for what we eat and level of exercise. We are both lean and fit. My wife and older son always have some "reason" why they can't exercise or why they "need" that piece of cake. They are neither lean nor fit. I have seen it over and over. It ain't in the body, it is all in the head. |
8/13/2007 |
| Marcy |
Geoff Infield,
How does this account for the fact that a mere 30 years ago the majority of American adults were of a proper weight but now they are not? Did everybody's genes change in 30 years? |
8/13/2007 |
| Jerry J. |
sou,
According to the BMI charts your BMI is 25 and this is considered overweight.
The point I want to bring out is that many fat people simply choose to believe that they are not fat, even to the point of saying it while looking you in the eye. |
8/13/2007 |
| your father |
You are a horrible writer. This was barely intelligible.
No one is going to take you seriously when you write an article that looks like it was copy/pasted from a 12-year-old girl's MySpace page. |
8/13/2007 |
| Joe |
yer right on the money... People should look less to diets, tried and true or the new fad diet. What people need to do is make healthier choices because its the smart thing to do. Breaking routine or accepting that broccoli is actually good might be the hardest part but its a lifestyle that keeps people fit and thin, not because they are jumping from diet to diet. |
8/13/2007 |
| Kris |
Why don't you use that brain of your to learn a little about proper sentence structure and article formatting? |
8/13/2007 |
| Dave Id |
Wow this was in no way a plug for a book! They don't get it, but I do, I'm the new weight loss guru, Hooray! |
8/13/2007 |
| Geoff Infield |
Good Lord how on earth can you not see that obesity stems from appetite which stems from a surplus of substances such as Ghrelin, well documented, and not a disorder either. The genes that got the human race through the hard times, the finest genes of their time, are the ones making us fat in this world where food is abundant. I had a gastric bypass and lost 130lbs so far, am almost at goal, had to force feed myself because against doctor's orders I refused to starve so ate 2200 cals a day the whole time where possible, and guess what? The operation has reduced my APPETITE to that of a normal person. It's nothing to do with reducing what I can 'stuff in' with my 'lack of willpower', it's to do with stomach cells no longer seeing food, the same stomach cells that produce ghrelin in response to eating. Ever not felt hungry til someone gave you one french fry then lost it? Ghrelin. We're a chemical machine, we're the pinnacle of pre-abundance genetics, and all the self-talk in the world isn't going to change the fact that we are DESIGNED TO WANT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF FOOD WHEN WE FIND IT. |
8/13/2007 |
| Anon |
Great article! |
8/13/2007 |
| Mark |
This can really apply to anything.
I know it applies to me, and I have to work at getting myself through lifestyle changes to recover from a serious illness. |
8/13/2007 |
| Jared Corgan |
I missed the money making advertising part where I am supposed to buy you 12 step program :) I think you're right!! I read that the average waist size in 1980 was 32" and in 2005 was 36" for men and realized it just as you said weight loss had nothing to do with programs or magic. |
8/13/2007 |
| km |
Thank you so much for being blunt and honest about this. I am by no means a fat person. I'm 145 and 5'6'' but I've kept myself in shape and I see some of the people I know and just really, really want to smack them into reality. It's nice to see other people not worrying about hiding behind political correctness because the consequences of letting go unnoticed is what really hurts. |
8/13/2007 |
| /anonymous |
I always thought of it as psychological, I just don't know where to start.
Cool |
8/13/2007 |
| spaz |
Good Christ you are a terrible writer. |
8/13/2007 |
| daftfattie |
I can't agree more. I'm fat. I'm losing weight. all the problems, I put in the way we're self made. once, I found my "zen" I started losing..and really seen why people "stay" fat. |
8/13/2007 |
| BJ |
Glad to see someone finally put into words what I've been trying to blog about myself. I think the important thing to remember is that society/life makes it incredibly easy to become fat and lazy. It's generally less expensive to get more food in restaurants, and there's always something to watch on television. It's when you make the decision to NOT take the easy way out - say "no" to dessert, go for a walk instead of sitting for another hour in front of the television. These decisions are very much in the headspace, nowhere else. However, I think this is general life advice: resisting the "easy way out" and working hard produces great things. |
8/13/2007 |
| TheTruth |
lol if this is your website perhaps you should remove all the "Related Articles" about Weight loss programs and shocking chinese diet secrets. I agree with what you say, i'm not a fat person... however i still have an attitude that seeks a quick fix for everything... instead of changing my attitude fully. But back to the point, remove the advertising money making capatilist bull at the bottom of your site, then perhaps your point maybe made. |
8/13/2007 |
| sou |
I used to be 130 kg when I was 16 and it took me more 18 - 20 months to lose 40 kg. I was 91 kg when 19. Today, at my 26, my weight is stable, at around 93 kg and it is quite normal because I am 193 cm tall.
My metabolism is pretty bad, however a very balanced diet along with a permanent change of my attitude maintain my weight. I really don't miss anything. It is just a few more habits that I follow just like having a bath, go to work etc.
Yes, you can do it. You are not going to miss anything but a few dozen kilos. You will gain a life back. Go to a specialist and don't ask him/her what to eat but what attitude towards life you should adopt. |
8/13/2007 |
| kreeble |
great article. i think this hits a real and important piont that is quite uncommon. one of those few articles that will stick in my head |
8/13/2007 |
| zeliu |
Spot on.
I noticed lately (one year or so) I have changed a bit of my attitude and now I got a little belly... hm... Is not surprising me at all :D . |
8/13/2007 |
| Dan Raymond |
I know exactly what hes talking about! I was 220 at 16 man was a I fatty lol. I lost 60 pounds and felt great and all, but i only changed the physical appearance and not the internal and guess what! I gained 60 pounds back when i turned 19 Ha. Well it's not to much to laugh at but its kind of funny, but anywho, I'm starting to lose the weight again and now i know i need to change the inside to keep it long lasting :) Thank you. |
8/13/2007 |
| Alisdair Owens |
As an ex fatty (I was up to 21st at one stage, for the past three years I've hovered between 12 and 13.6st), I agree in general. The period I really managed to lose weight, I was completely focussed on the goal. I rarely cared if I was 'missing out', because I wanted to lose the weight far more than I wanted that 10-pack of doughnuts. I'd always known *how* to lose weight (I think I was rare in not lying to myself about why I was fat). The person who doesn't know that putting down the fork and exercising is the way to guarantee weight loss is rare indeed.
That said, I'm not sure that being blunt with fat people is the way to go. Deep down, most people know why they're fat, and it's quite likely they feel bad about it - noone likes to think they're soft, or weak willed. I know that being told why I was fat just made me feel defensive, or down. It didn't motivate me. Equally, as you say, glorifying the state is a dangerous thing to do.
People need a focus for their weight loss. They need concrete things that they will be able to do when they're thin, that they can't do now. Wanting to look a bit better is a much more difficult motivation to work with than, say, wanting to be able to take up mountain climbing as a hobby. When they've lost the weight, they need to make the most of their changed state, or they'll forget why they did it in the first place. Most of all, they need to set a 'trigger weight', whereby if they get up to a certain weight, then they start dieting again until they're down to a fair bit below that. |
8/13/2007 |
| Fii |
You're not changing anything, whether you believe it or not. In my experience (speaking as one), fat people most of the time know they're fat and are just plain lazy. And the whole "changing your attitude" thing is of course 100 % correct...the problem isn't that people don't know that they're lying to themselves, but that they want to lie to themselves. And no article in the whole world is going to change that if the person themselves don't want it to see. |
8/13/2007 |
| Nancy Lebovitz |
RG, I believe that each person's body does budgeting with calories--it decides what proportion of the food it's given goes to heat, repair, the immune system, fat storage, and easy movement.
There comes a point where the body gets intractable about how much it wants to put into fat storage. At that point (which may be well above what this culture believes is beautiful and/or healthy), a person who eats fewer calories than will sustain that much fat may find that they're cold and/or getting sick alot, and/or need to use a lot of willpower just to get through the day.
Also, hunger is set at different levels of fat percentage for different people, and it can be a considerable distraction from the rest of life.
There wasn't anything in the original article about how people are supposed to look, but that's a major reason for dieting, and the article didn't say anything about appropriate goals--the assumption was that the failure to achieve one's weight loss goals was always the result of thinking wrong.
I've read enough accounts by former anorexics who say that they were getting compliments on how they looked when they were miserable and wrecking their health to believe that usual beliefs about what people ought to weigh are way out of sync with people living well.
|
8/13/2007 |
| Nance |
You're only scratching the surface here. You basically took a whole page to make one point. So what are the actions or practices people should use in order to get to the state of mind that you are advocating? This feels like you're just browbeating people for the sake of it. Give me something I can do about it. |
8/13/2007 |
| Richard Simmons |
I couldn't agree more. I once had a fat attitude, and even when I tried to lose wieght I would only gain it back. Losing weight isn't really about shedding pounds, its about changing your lifestyle and the way you percieve food and exercise.
The problem for a lot of people is instant gratification. People need to understand that there is much more gratification from feeling good about yourself everyday then there is in a twinkie. Its really a lack of foresight. |
8/13/2007 |
| Greg |
This same 'attitude' thing also applies to kicking other bad habits as well. I know because I have used it to get thin (and stay thin), quit tobacco, quit coffee and eat actual wholesome food with zero junk food.
One way to tell if you are not using the right attitude is if you reward yourself with a cookie for having exercised (or any other reason). If you treat yourself with something that is not good for you then you have shown that you do not have the right attitude. |
8/13/2007 |
| JB |
I've been trying to lose weight with the psychological approach and it amazes me how many hidden issues I kept buried in my mind. I've only just begun to wade through them. It pays to take some time out every now and again and clean up stuff we don't talk about and get them out in the open and resolved. |
8/13/2007 |
| Joe Minkin |
What you are saying is that people ignore the "lifestyle" part in "exercise, food, and lifestyle".
I agree with you that everyone is looking for the magical pill or quick fix for all their problems and it's not just with their weight. A lot of people are just stupid and lazy I guess. |
8/13/2007 |
| M.H. |
weightloss = calories in vs. calories out, not difficult until you try to do it yourself and realize it means saying no. So I agree with you. The discipline to say no to all the temptations out there is staggering and can only be done with the right mental attitude. You can go into environmental causes, economic causes etc. but if you want to save money be healthy and lose weight basically you need to stop eating when you stop being hungry, not when you're full. No, you don't NEED that dessert, you don't need all that pre-prepared junk (how long does it take to microwave/steam a bowl of frozen vegetables) to save time. Save your money and save your waistline. |
8/13/2007 |
| RG |
Nancy, what do you mean by "losing weight just isn't physiologically worth it for some people"? Also, there wasn't anything in the article proscribing how people are 'supposed to' look. |
8/13/2007 |
| RTG |
I for one am a profound advocate of the no bull approach to life. Very thought provoking post. Thoroughly enjoyed it. |
8/13/2007 |
| WebMan |
I agree with most of your statements, it's a mind set thing.. We all have issues, I have been big my entire life. My friends are also big, and when I do the gym in fall/winter (I swim during the summer) I usually do it alone. I think the buddy system is also a factor, when you are on your own doing this crap, it's hard to fallback off the wagon - even though it's ourselves that can make the the choice to be thin! |
8/13/2007 |
| joe |
Where's the solution. You point out the exact problem, and while I don't disagree at all, the article does nothing to suggest a fix. |
8/13/2007 |
| Asaf |
I think you hit the nail right on the head buddy. It the world's quick fix attitude that destroys our society. We are all so used to instant this and instant that, that we can't understand that something as important as our health REQUIRES real effort, hard work, and a genuine WANT to be healthy and make the right choices. |
8/13/2007 |
| Nancy Lebovitz |
Sounds to me like an unprovable theory.
If someone doesn't sustain weight loss, you're sure it's because they have the wrong attitude rather than leaving the possibility open that losing weight just isn't physiologically worth it for some people--and maybe it's a lot of people, or that losing some weight makes sense for them, but not as much weight as it would take to look the way they're supposed to.
Why do you think you know that much about how everyone else's bodies and minds work?
|
8/13/2007 |
| RG |
Tim, I'm not sure how you can agree...but then say that "obesity is the result of many environmental changes over the last 100 years". The primary point of the article is that obesity is fundamentally caused by a wrong attitude. And talking about your favourite way to prepare your body for weight loss still sounds like you consider 'weight loss' to be an activity you engage in at various points rather than a permanent change in attitude leading to a lower weight lifestyle. |
8/13/2007 |
| Tim |
I do completely agree with your thoughts on "getting your head to the right place". However I will add that obesity is the result of many envirnmental changes ove the last 100 years. There are ways that one can prepare their body for weight loss. My fav is through nutritional cleanseing ridding the body of toxins and impurities that fat cells like to wrap around and protect (dubdubdub.yourhealthandwellness.ca)..... but yes even still getting your head to the right place is a critical element to weight loss.
Nice blog :) |
8/13/2007 |
| Raphael |
You, my friend, are right on the money. Self revelation must precede the external change; or it will never, NEVER stick.
But hey, what do I know right? I'm just a pipe fitter. |
8/13/2007 |
| Simon P |
Great article, I think you really hit the nail on the head. I'm currently embarking on my own excercise/weight loss program, so this has really helped encourage me! |
8/13/2007 |
| brian |
I like this article a lot, very true. |
8/13/2007 |
| Mike |
....blunt, my friend, is the best way to do it.
Great article. |
8/13/2007 |
| AHunter |
Here, here! I agree 100%. As a person who is losing weight, the only success I have found is by changing my attitude and making better choices. I don't focus on the looks so much as my health. Looking good is a by-product of being healthy. The process is much slower, but defintiely worth it. People are too focused on the fast n easy...as my father always said: if it seems to good to be true, it most certainly is.
Of course, there are 6 "lose weight in a minute" ads below your article! So much advertising, so little truth! |
8/10/2007 |
