Life Is Unfair

This certainly does seem unfair. You do the right thing and exercise, and your body figures you're going to do it on a regular basis and so reduces the number of calories you burn at rest to make sure you don't get too thin. This means that if you don't exercise on a regular basis but eat the same as before, you're at risk of gaining weight. Bummer! 

But in the environment in which we evolved, very few people were overweight. Getting enough food was the problem, not getting too much of it. So we evolved to not waste energy when possible. Every calorie was precious in those times, and even today in areas of famine.

So, because it's unfair, does it mean we should just give up and stop exercising? Of course not. Most of us are so much better off than people in the rest of the world that a few metabolic injustices aren't that important.

When I was first diagnosed with type 2 a friend who was diagnosed at about the same time asked me, "Do you ever wonder 'Why me?' "

I said no, just as when a close friend died from a brain tumor I didn't say, "Why her, not me?"

Life is unfair, and we can only try to make the best of whatever life we've been given. I try to learn as much as I can about type 2 and then share information with others, although that's getting harder and harder as research seems to be increasing exponentially and the complexity is also increasing so that if you don't have a degree in biochemistry it's difficult to understand.

Some research I don't even try to blog about because it's so complex, sometimes over my own head.

But I keep reading, in the hopes that some of it will be useful to others.

Diets

 If you're overweight and feeling that it's all your fault, the headline of this article, Scientists Claim that Overeating is not the Primary Cause of Obesity, should remove some of the guilt. The full text is here.

Of course, most people reading this blog already know that overeating is not the main cause of all cases of obesity, but it's nice to have attention called to that fact.

Weight control is complex and depends on numerous factors including genetics, income, access to physical activity, social class, what our friends are eating and a need to fit in (especially among adolescents), what kinds of foods are available in our neighborhood, and many more-subtle factors.

Even without rigorous studies, we all know families in which everyone is skinny, despite having voracious appetites and other families in which everyone is fat despite eating sensibly. Genetics clearly plays a role. However, that doesn't mean weight loss is impossible. It's just harder than it is for people born into thin families.

Income has a big effect on weight control. Rich people can afford to buy meat and fresh vegetables, with fresh fruit for dessert, whereas poor people may be forced to eat mostly cheap starches swimming in oil. I once spent the summer in Paris with a rich classmate who was overweight. They had a chef who prepared delicious low-calorie foods for her, and she also had a masseuse who massaged her every day. I'm not sure how much the massages helped her lose weight, but she was so terrified of the woman that she starved herself and did lose some weight.

Sadly, she kept losing and regaining weight and eventually died from a heart attack at a relatively young age.

People who live in dangerous neighborhoods aren't likely to do a lot of recreational walking or running even if they want to.

Social class dictates what weights are acceptable. You don't see a lot of obese people in the society pages.

So the causes of overweight are myriad, and so are the best ways to avoid or reverse obesity. There is no best diet for everyone, just as there is no best exercise. Losing weight is difficult, very difficult, and we all have to find our own path. What works for someone else (not counting starvation, which works for everyone) may not be the best for you.

Lately, I've started losing weight without trying. I think it's because I'm bored with the foods I've been eating for the last 20 years, so I only eat enough to dull my hunger and then I put the rest in the fridge to eat at the next meal. I hope the lack of appetite isn't a sign of some disease. There are worse things than being overweight.

 I'm also shrinking, and I just hope I don't just shrink into nothingness. I see a 2-inch tall me, but very thin. Is that what I really want?