Saturday, September 18, 2021

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.


2 comments:

  1. I am trying to accept that I will always be in a larger body, and look at exercise as a way to look after myself rather than 'to lose weight'. However after a lifetime being a victim (and I do consider myself a victim) of 'diet culture', this is extremely hard to unlearn.

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  2. I agree it's very hard to have a larger body in a culture that worships thinness. In the past, it was considered good to be "plump," and women's publications were full of ads for products that would help you gain weight. I had a friend who was thin, and when I once mentioned it, so was annoyed, as she equated "thin" with "skinny," which was bad. Her doctor came up with the term "slender," and she liked that.

    The real problem is judging people by their body sizes, regardles of which size is currently popular.

    Your approach sounds wise to me.

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