Article: Fat Is Officially Incurable (According to Science)

Dissolution · **Joined:** Sat Oct 22, 2011 7:12 am **Posts:** 497

Ok ok, I know this article isn't from the most reputable source, but they're better documented than any Traube's article I've ever read. Some of the statements are pretty amusing.

Quote:

But no one goes from actually fat to actually thin and stays thin permanently. And when I say "no one," I mean those cases are so obscenely rare that they don't even appear on the chart. They can't even find enough such people to include in the studies. It's like trying to study people who have survived falling out of planes. Being fat is effectively incurable, every study shows it, and no one will admit it.

Quote:

How rare? Well, this person did the math, and as far as they could tell, two out of 1,000 Weight Watchers customers actually maintain large weight losses permanently. Two out of a thousand. That means if you are fat, you are 25 times more likely to survive getting shot in the head than to stop being fat.

I like to think we're the 0.2%'ers. Anyways here's the article.

http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/fat-officially-incurable-according-to-science/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=fanpage&utm_campaign=new+article&wa_ibsrc=fanpage

pinkrose · **Posted:** Fri Jul 06, 2012 6:11 am

Dissolution wrote:

Ok ok, I know this article isn't from the most reputable source, but they're better documented than any Traube's article I've ever read. Some of the statements are pretty amusing.

Quote:

But no one goes from actually fat to actually thin and stays thin permanently. And when I say "no one," I mean those cases are so obscenely rare that they don't even appear on the chart. They can't even find enough such people to include in the studies. It's like trying to study people who have survived falling out of planes. Being fat is effectively incurable, every study shows it, and no one will admit it.

Quote:

How rare? Well, this person did the math, and as far as they could tell, two out of 1,000 Weight Watchers customers actually maintain large weight losses permanently. Two out of a thousand. That means if you are fat, you are 25 times more likely to survive getting shot in the head than to stop being fat.

I like to think we're the 0.2%'ers. Anyways here's the article.

http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/fat-officially-incurable-according-to-science/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=fanpage&utm_campaign=new+article&wa_ibsrc=fanpage

Funny stuff!

The few...the proud...the McDougallers! :nod:

Wild4Stars · **Posted:** Fri Jul 06, 2012 6:18 am

OMG! So many people will gobble this up, continue their SAD ways and proudly announce to the world that their fat is incurable! Talk about getting validation. Why try if I can't win?

SO thankful I know better.

Katydid · **Joined:** Sat Jan 09, 2010 7:30 am **Posts:** 2620

Quote:

But no one goes from actually fat to actually thin and stays thin permanently. And when I say "no one," I mean those cases are so obscenely rare that they don't even appear on the chart. They can't even find enough such people to include in the studies. It's like trying to study people who have survived falling out of planes. Being fat is effectively incurable, every study shows it, and no one will admit it.

Someone should point the author to the Star McDougaller list. There are dozens of us who have lost significant weight AND kept it off. Real people with their real names. Many were profiled in The Starch Solution. Bottom Line: If you won't change the way you eat permanently, you won't keep weight off permanently. Those of us who have made the change know the truth.

Kate

rickfm · **Posted:** Fri Jul 06, 2012 8:04 am

Weight Watchers. Pffft.

More good news for bad habits.

wife2abadge · **Posted:** Fri Jul 06, 2012 8:13 am

I know quite a few people who've lost weight with WW and kept it off. However, they have to continue with the program -- just as you'd have to continue with a McDougall or Fuhrman or _____(insert diet name here) plan to have continued success.

funcrunch · **Posted:** Fri Jul 06, 2012 8:14 am

I have a friend from high school who ballooned up to a huge weight - all of it on a vegetarian and at one point vegan diet, actually* - and uses this kind of study as an excuse for not trying to lose weight. The long-term success rate of weight loss is so low it's not worth bothering with, according to her. So she's joined the "size activists" who have been sadly prominent amongst my social circles, denouncing any mention of the obesity epidemic or weight loss as "fat shaming". :-(

* She worked in a health food co-op which I've been to, so I know she had access to a lot of high-fat and processed vegan foods.

Wild4Stars · **Posted:** Fri Jul 06, 2012 8:22 am

If they keep the "diet" mentality of course they won't keep it off. When the diet ends the weight will come back. It has to be a life change, not a diet.

talkingmountain · **Joined:** Mon Sep 22, 2008 6:24 am **Posts:** 1261

This reminds me of something I've been meaning to post. The data that all these kinds of studies are based on is the National Weight Control Registry. It's also where the data comes from on what diets "work."

IF YOU HAVE LOST AT LEAST 30 LBS AND KEPT IT OFF FOR A YEAR OR MORE, PLEASE ENTER YOURSELF IN THIS REGISTRY!

www.nwcr.ws

woollyprimate · **Joined:** Tue Jan 31, 2012 6:49 am **Posts:** 57

funcrunch wrote:

So she's joined the "size activists" who have been sadly prominent amongst my social circles, denouncing any mention of the obesity epidemic or weight loss as "fat shaming". :-(

I think that fat activists do good work in getting out the word that being fat is not a character flaw or a reason to discrimate against someone. They help people feel good about themselves regardless of their weight or size, which I think is important. However, the thing I hate about FA's is that they spread misinformation about fat by claiming that it has nothing to do with what they are eating. Saying that fat makes fat is fat shaming to them. Saying that a fat person eats too many calories and that's why they're fat is fat shaming. I think it's great to spread the word that being fat doesn't make one a bad person, but they shouldn't spread misinformation about why people are fat. It's simple biochemistry. Knowing the facts about adipose tissue doesn't undermine their cause, I don't think. Maybe they think it does.

funcrunch · **Posted:** Fri Jul 06, 2012 12:09 pm

woollyprimate wrote:

I think that fat activists do good work in getting out the word that being fat is not a character flaw or a reason to discrimate against someone. They help people feel good about themselves regardless of their weight or size, which I think is important. However, the thing I hate about FA's is that they spread misinformation about fat by claiming that it has nothing to do with what they are eating. Saying that fat makes fat is fat shaming to them. Saying that a fat person eats too many calories and that's why they're fat is fat shaming. I think it's great to spread the word that being fat doesn't make one a bad person, but they shouldn't spread misinformation about why people are fat. It's simple biochemistry. Knowing the facts about adipose tissue doesn't undermine their cause, I don't think. Maybe they think it does.

Agreed. There is no excuse for making fun of or discriminating against someone based on their size or appearance. (Unless, perhaps, they are hawking a low-carb diet... :rolleyes:

) But the excuses about genetics, society, and spreading just plain old bad information are inexcusable too.

Discussion Board

Article: Fat Is Officially Incurable (According to Science)

Who is online