America’s Weight Problem

According to google, roughly 35% of Americans are overweight, and another 35% are obese. Now, to be fair, I read a few years back about guys in the military who were classified as overweight when they obviously weren’t. They were in insanely good shape, and very muscular, but some stupid chart said that they weighed more than they ought to. Going strictly by charts is never a good idea, and it is very possible that America’s weight problem isn’t quite as bad as google says it is. But anybody who lives in America knows that it’s bad. Well, anybody who isn’t overweight, anyway.

Many overweight Americans are in a state of total denial. I am far more concerned about their mental state than about their physical state. I smoke like a stack, and I drink way too much soda. The main reason I am not fat is because so far, I have been lucky. I am in no position to lecture people about their health, and besides that, it’s none of my business. I don’t like it when people lecture me about smoking, and I have no wish to lecture others about their vices, whatever those vices may be. However, when it becomes clear that an individual or a group of people have completely lost touch with reality, I won’t go along with that. I smoke: I don’t attempt to convince myself or anyone else that smoking is harmless. If someone wants to eat too much, ok, but please don’t try to tell me that it’s harmless. Being a smoker is a problem. Being overweight is also a problem. It’s probably not the worst problem most people face, and if it isn’t number one on your list of problems to be solved, I totally get that, really I do, but please don’t try to tell me that it isn’t a problem.

A long time ago, the late Scott Peck, who was a best selling writer and psychologist, wrote very briefly about the fact that he had never successfully treated a severely overweight person. Obviously, he didn’t feel good about that, and he admitted that he was clueless when it came to that particular problem, and at a loss as to how to help. He said something that struck me: he said that the severely overweight people he encountered in his practice were severely out of touch with reality. He suspected that this was part of their problem.

I was reminded of Scott Peck’s words on this subject when a woman I know who is severely overweight was working at my house a while back. She told me that she had signed up for an online weight loss program, but she suspected that over eating was not really her problem. She suspected that it was all hormones. When she first said that, I didn’t think much of it, but it became clear in the time she spent at my house that she could not go three hours with a three course meal. I am not exaggerating. I am not a disciplined person, I do not have very much will power, which is why I still smoke, and I don’t try to exert will power over my diet. I eat what I feel like eating, when I feel like eating it, and so far, that works for me. I don’t understand why anyone would feel like eating a three course meal every three hours. Far more importantly, I don’t understand how someone could eat that much and then say with a straight face that she isn’t overeating, and that the problem is hormones.

I am astounded by how out of touch with reality this woman was, but she at least acknowledged that she was overweight and she didn’t like being overweight, and she was kind of sort of trying to address it. Some overweight Americans are embracing their weight problem, and celebrating it as a good thing. They claim that there are no health risks associated with being overweight, and that weight has nothing to do with diabetes. They say that there is no reason why they should lose weight, and that society’s standards of beauty are unjust. Some of them are upset with Adele and others who succeed at losing weight. This is crazy, and we need to say so. These people are delusional. We aren’t helping them by remaining silent.

This isn’t about how people look-I don’t really care how other people look, and it isn’t even mainly about health. It’s about a significant percentage of Americans who are totally out of touch with reality. Losing weight is difficult. I think most people are very sympathetic to those who struggle with this problem, but when someone has obviously lost touch with reality, it’s scary, and you can bet that if they are in denial about their weight problem, they are in denial about a lot of other things too, and the denial about the weight problem is probably the least of it. We cannot agree with them that fat is great and that the emperor’s new clothes are beautiful.

I don’t know what the answer is, but acknowledging that there is a problem is always the first step. The truth hurts, but it’s the only thing that can make us free.