Is a Weight Problem All in your Head?

Who knows you best? Your Mom? Your significant other? Your best friend since third grade? How about YOU? Aren’t you the expert on YOU? Of course! It seemed like this week I happened to come across more presumptuous “experts” than usual.

There’s the big story of the week, pompous ass Daniel Callahan, founder of a center for bioethics, announced that what was really needed to solve the obesity problem was to introduce a bit of stigmatization into our culture. Apparently, Dr. Callahan is under the assumption that none already exists! He feels it’s needed because fat people don’t realize they’re fat. He proposes asking “uncomfortable questions” that will force fat people to be “awakened to the reality of their condition.” Huffington Post reported on the story. Nope, not the Onion.

Then there’s Dr. Judith Wurtman, author of diet books, who’s been bashing weight loss surgery for quite some time. She’s still singing the same ole’ song, getting a column into the press about how surgery doesn’t fix how emotionally screwed up every fat person is. I’m not sure how that could be since according to Dr. Callahan, you don’t know you’re fat and you don’t care about it anyway.

While reading one of these articles, I happened to see a link for a news story about ANOTHER diet book that contends it’s all completely emotional and you’d “never diet again” if only you could learn to handle life! Good grief, will you get your act together and stop stuffing your face with cupcakes! And for gawd’s sake, don’t even THINK about taking the easy way out and getting weight loss surgery!

As a blogger, I get bizarre emails. Always have. And message boards are no fun at all! It’s a common phenomenon of our online existence. Make a few posts and the junior psychiatrists hang out their shingles! On the basis of a handful of thread discussion comments and a blog post or two they’ve read, many people will feel free to explain all your psychological and personality flaws and what you need to do to fix them. It’s their gift for diagnosis!

There is one guy in America, however, who possesses an incredible power for insight. He can see into your very soul; he knows your every intention and thought. But most importantly, he has real solutions for you and he will share them! He goes by the name of “Anonymous” and he posts his sage advice to the comments section under any and all news articles about weight. You won’t have any trouble finding him, he’s always there. Beware! he’s all about “tough love”!

Who really knows you the best? You do. What diet will support your health and help you lose weight? The one that you determine fits your lifestyle. What exercises will get you in shape? The ones you enjoy doing. And really, why the heck are you fat, anyway? Oh geez, you’d probably never figure that out definitively, even if you devoted the rest of your life to trying to divine it. How about you work with what’s going on in your life right now? How you feel right now? What your lifestyle and habits are right now? You can never change anything about the past so right now is a pretty good time of your life to work with. You choose what’s best for you to start doing right now and you’re bound to find the right path. After all, you’re the expert on you.