Donald Brown
Jul 28, 2017 · 2 min read

Every obese person I know dieted their way up. Simple fact. 90%+ of those who lose weight (either “doctor says I need to lose 100 pounds” or “If I can drop 20 pounds for the dance I can fit into this cute dress”) gains it back, usually and then some. It’s the diet merry-go-round. Lose the weight, weight loss slows, reverses, back where you were believing you’re a terrible person because (from what you’ve been told) everyone else can lose weight and keep it off. I once calculated that after getting on the diet merry-go-round as an overweight 200 pound young man, I’ve lost over a 1000 pounds and pretty much all of my self-esteem on my trip up to 400. I got off it several years ago, never been healthier in mind or body, instead making being active and eating better as goals in themselves. I’m not going to become thin, but I’m going to be the healthiest me I can be.

Oh, and how do fat people get into those hospital beds. Well, one reason is that many (not all, thank you Yucca Family Medical Center) doctors give fat people substandard medical care. You come in with symptoms, those symptoms are ignored, “Here’s a diet you need to lose xxx pounds before I see you again”. When symptoms are a bit worse, “didn’t I tell you you needed to lose the weight? That’s what’s causing all this, here’s another diet”. It’s only when the problem has gotten acute and cannot be ignored that the doctor deals with the actual problem, and explains how it’s an obesity related sickness and the only reason you’re in this state is you won’t lose the weight. A thin person, of course, comes in with symptoms and the doctor tries to figure out the problem from the symptoms.

This is not hypothetical. I went to my doctor, several decades ago, with dizzy spells. “It’s caused by stress and your weight”. Got worse over time, same response. Finally went in with a touch of the flu, my doctor was out so seen by someone. Listening to my symptoms (Thank you!), he ordered a CAT scan which was followed by an MRI which was soon followed by brain surgery to remove a non-cancerous tumor. Non-cancerous tumors do grow. If my main doctor had listened to my symptoms and it had been caught months earlier, I might not be a cyclops with a messed up pituitary gland.

    Donald Brown

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