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Wicked One (![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} visp) wrote in ![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/community.gif){kind=small} otf_wank, |
Re: Sorry for getting all unfunnybusiness...
A good study for successful weight loss are ex-pats. I would see it all the time in Japan. People would come over, start eating different food (more brown rice, tofu and veggies) because all the old foods they ate weren't available. The internet wasn't as developed and you couldn't get all your shows online, so unless you wanted to watch Japanese TV, you had to find something else to do. They would join sports clubs like tennis or squash (because when you don't speak the language fluently, a sport is the best thing, because you don't need much talking to participate.) Sure enough, all that excess weight just melts off, and stays off so long as they live in that country and continue that lifestyle. When they go home after 3 to 20 years, if they fall back into their old eating and living habits, they fall back into the figure they had last time they ate and lived like that.
Saying that "weight loss = better eating + more exercise" is like saying "having more money = put more into your bank account + take out less." Technically completely true, but missing the bigger problem of how are you going to do these things. If your lifestyle isn't active, that's a very hard habit to break. If you've spent the last 30 years eating one way, changing that is going to be very hard. Without something like going to another country giving you a complete change in the lifestyle, it's going to be very tempting to fall back into old habits. People often get the concepts of the simple "eat less and exercise" math mixed up with the "fitness is a comprehensive lifestyle, and people don't change lifestyles easily" concept. Plus, the backlash of "there's nothing morally wrong with being fat, losing weight is very difficult for some, why do you people have to try and verbally abuse and humiliate us at every turn," encourages the "it's not a choice, so stop abusing us about it" mentality.
A good study for successful weight loss are ex-pats. I would see it all the time in Japan. People would come over, start eating different food (more brown rice, tofu and veggies) because all the old foods they ate weren't available. The internet wasn't as developed and you couldn't get all your shows online, so unless you wanted to watch Japanese TV, you had to find something else to do. They would join sports clubs like tennis or squash (because when you don't speak the language fluently, a sport is the best thing, because you don't need much talking to participate.) Sure enough, all that excess weight just melts off, and stays off so long as they live in that country and continue that lifestyle. When they go home after 3 to 20 years, if they fall back into their old eating and living habits, they fall back into the figure they had last time they ate and lived like that.
Saying that "weight loss = better eating + more exercise" is like saying "having more money = put more into your bank account + take out less." Technically completely true, but missing the bigger problem of how are you going to do these things. If your lifestyle isn't active, that's a very hard habit to break. If you've spent the last 30 years eating one way, changing that is going to be very hard. Without something like going to another country giving you a complete change in the lifestyle, it's going to be very tempting to fall back into old habits. People often get the concepts of the simple "eat less and exercise" math mixed up with the "fitness is a comprehensive lifestyle, and people don't change lifestyles easily" concept. Plus, the backlash of "there's nothing morally wrong with being fat, losing weight is very difficult for some, why do you people have to try and verbally abuse and humiliate us at every turn," encourages the "it's not a choice, so stop abusing us about it" mentality.
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