This very young/fit/well meaning friend of mine who is in med school right now just said this to me. I wanted to B#$ slap him lol. It felt like he was discounting all of my hard work. Am I the only one that finds this philosophy insulting? grrrrrrrrr
I would say that losing weight is scientifically "simple" (eat more calories than you burn and you DO lose weight), metabolically "complex" (what "what you burn" value is highly variable between individuals, and can change depending on what you eat, how you exercise, your level of muscle, your hydration level, how you're sleeping, etc), and practically "challenging" (because making major changes in lifestyle is difficult to do, even if it will result in what you ultimately want)
So "easy" is a little over-generalized. From a pure science level, he's correct, but that ignores all the metabolic and practical issues.
I have actually described losing weight as "easy" before. Sometimes when I look back on it, it was quite easy in theory. I simply didn't eat crap all the time. I take 5 minutes every night to plan my meals and calories, stick to my plan, and get at least a moderate amount of exercise in each day. It really is just diet and exercise. It takes some guess work and trial and error, but "eat less, move more" is really the formula for success in nearly every case.
However, the mental and psychological aspects are quite challenging, no question about that. Otherwise everyone would be skinny.
In theory, yes, it's easy. In practice, challenging.
I think this could be true of the (probably a minority) people who disassociate eating with any kind of emotion.
To me, the only 'easy' part of weight loss is the equation of calories out > calories in=weight loss.
But that's of course not considering any of the mental/emotional struggles to stay on track. Or people starting at higher weights where they may not be able to exercise.
He is also not considering the maintenance part of weight loss, which never stops.
It just sounds like something someone who has never experienced dieting, or weight related body images issues...
You know you are working hard and achieving something worth having most importantly. Sometimes other people are just intimidated by other peoples success, so they downplay it
Congrats on all your progress so far
I've always said weight loss is both the easiest thing and hardest thing I have ever done.
For example, an apple is a healthy snack - easy. Having a fresh crisp tasty apple on hand and eating that apple when you're hungry in the afternoon and your coworker offers you a brownie - hard (both the planning to have it and resisting the temptation to eat something else).
My signature says losing weight is easy. I mean it the same way one hears the old saw, "Quitting smoking is easy - I've done it a hundred times."
Of course those above are quite correct who have pointed out that the hard part comes in the exercise of will necessary to overcome the physical and emotional temptations of overeating. Part of the reason my signature states that "losing weight is easy" is because my personal approach - this time - is to cut out all the mishugas and force myself to focus on the parts that are easy. I don't want to clutter up my mind-space with coddling and theories and corny motivational phrases. I just want to not be fat any more. And in light of that, it just becomes a matter of not shoving enormous portions of food into my pie-hole.
Easy.
I'm not saying this approach will work for everyone - heck, I'm not even sure yet whether it will work for me, it remains to be seen.
Having said all of that, I'd be pretty cross if someone who had never struggled with his or her own weight felt the need to tell me that "losing weight is easy." It's one thing for me to impose that idea upon myself as a tool for managing the psychological complexities of the process. It's an entirely different thing coming from someone who has no idea what's going on in my head.
For example, an apple is a healthy snack - easy. Having a fresh crisp tasty apple on hand and eating that apple when you're hungry in the afternoon and your coworker offers you a brownie - hard (both the planning to have it and resisting the temptation to eat something else).
Actually a friend of mine has a major weight struggle with apples. She was eating 500-600 calories a day in apples. She was recently diagnosed severely anemic and they think her apple craving was a very mild form of pica. Possibly. Or she just likes apples a lot.
I agree that the majority of people who say that it is easy have never struggled with more than a few pounds.
And for some folks it IS easy. My husband for example. He noticed he was having to tuck in his shirts to keep his pants up this summer because he has lost weight. Probably because the cook at the work cafeteria kinda sucks this year so most days for lunch he has soup and salad and then I usually cook my healthy dinners with lots of veggies that he doesnt eat. But if he wants to lose weight he cuts back from2 beers to 1. Of course except for the time he was on high dose prednisone he has never been more than about 10-15 lbs overweight.
My all-his-young-life thin father used to constantly say that to my mother and I, "weight loss is easy, just eat less" he would say.
Then he retired, and the slim, active man started to look pregnant. When he tried to lose weight, he found it was a lot easier said than done, and soon he was uttering the same complaints that had earned us his "it's easy" lectures. He started complaining that he was "hardly eating anything, and still not losing."
Mom and I did have to throw in a few "I told you so's," but in the end, we're all a lot more sympathetic to one another.
I chalk it up to ignorance - there are a lot of things that seem easy in theory, but are much more difficult in practice.
Your friend is a man... it is easier for men to lose weight than women. My boss has lost 50 lbs in just a few months, while it ihas taken me a year to lose 25. good grief!
Carter, I actually thought of that mark twain quote when he said it. lol
I told him that he, as a healthcare professional, needed to be careful about how he said things and that, had I come to him as a patient, I would not have come back but that, as a friend, I knew that he did not mean to be offensive.
I really feel like it is difficult to find doctor's who are sensitive to this issue. I have left doctor's offices feeling humiliated before by how they reacted to my weight. My sister refuses to go to the doctor anymore because she has had bad experiences in this respect and I'm really worried about her because I KNOW she has heart/lung/endocrine problems that require a doctor's care.
Actually, I did find weight loss fairly easy. Maintenance on the other hand, requires a lot more effort. Weight loss required a focused determination to achieve something and I found it quite easy to do that. Maintenance is a constant balancing act that I'm going to have to do forever; much tougher in my opinion.
losing weight is "easy"?
Of course except for the time he was on high dose prednisone he has never been more than about 10-15 lbs overweight.
