Overweight - Answering Your Critics

There are those that walk amongst us who have followed all the advice, diligently dieted and exercised with genuine effort for long periods of time, yet still fail to lose their excess weight.

Even more heartbreaking for those of us who genuinely struggle with obesity are the accusations of sloth and laziness from those thin people who eat junk all day long and show no physical sign of their own gluttony. "Why can't you just be like everyone else?", they demand. "It must be all your own fault."

"After all," they say in derisory voice, "Losing weight is easy. Just eat less and exercise more. If you don't lose weight, you are just weak willed."

Every person who has never had a real problem thinks they know all the easy answers. All those underlying unwarranted generalisations we face from others just about every day of our lives is a little recognised yet very real and severe form of discrimination, based on the same types of wrong thinking as prejudice against race, skin color, creed, gender, and other well recognised forms of hatred.

In fact, life experience has taught me that the less a person actually knows about obesity and weight loss, the more they think they know.

I spent time a few years ago under the care of some of the most distinguished and knowledgable internationally renowned Professors researching weight loss and obesity from the University of Sydney and the Royal Prince Albert Hospital's Obesity Clinic in Sydney, Australia. I will always remember what Professor Ian Caterson told me one day:

"The more we learn about obesity, the more we realise how little we really understand and how much more there is to discover."

Would any of those permanently thin critics care to explain a man with whom I shared many physiotherapy and hydrotherapy sessions during my time on the program at the Obesity Clinic? He was normal down the left side of his body, though obese down the right side of his body only.

Next time someone verbally berates you for carrying excess body weight and tries to tell you how easy it is to be lean & trim, try asking them what they would recommend to that man that some of the top obesity researchers in the world don't yet know.

Then, while your critic is looking dumbfounded and fumbling for some feeble explanation, hit them with a few more questions, such as:

When you see the jaw of your critic drop to the floor, as they turn pale and look like they've been hit by a runaway train, when their silence shows that their ignorance and prejudice has been thoroughly exposed, just calmly walk away.

At this point, both of you now know that, even though you may carrying excessive body weight, it is your critic who has the bigger problem.

Trevor Johnson is a Masters qualified researcher cum electronic publisher with over twenty years personal experience in the battle against obesity. Objective information and the pros and cons of many types of weight loss therapies is found at his "Weight Loss, Dieting & Obesity" site: http://www.DietWords.com