Wider and wider or The truth about fat people…. “Fat woman, be ashamed!”: who is bothered by fat women

Fat people

Psychology and life of obese people

VES.ru – website – 2007

Factors that cause obesity

Personal factors of obese people

Studies of the personality structure of obese people have not provided much clarity (Pudel, 1991), nor have they identified a psychological cause of obesity.

Regarding the personality of such a person, there is some agreement on the following: such people have addictions, fears, and increased levels of depression (Frost et al. 1981, Ross 1994). On the other hand, there are works that directly contradict this. Thus, according to Hafner, 1987, people with obesity have low levels of depression.

Aspects of the psychology of development of obese people

Psychoanalysis blames the earlier childhood of such patients when they become "extremely depraved" with regard to "oral disturbances."

With regard to intra-family relationships, we can reveal one striking detail, namely that obesity develops significantly more often if the child was raised by a single mother. This is confirmed by another study where such people often did not have a father in the family (Wolf, 1993).

Herman & Polivy (1987) showed that such a child is often made a scapegoat in the family. Compared with the control group, family relationships in such children can rarely be called open, warm and cordial (Pachinger 1997). In contrast, Erzigkeit (1978) found that such a child is often spoiled and spoiled in the family. But in general, such a child in the family too often faces extremes, receiving both “too little love” and “too much.”

A study by Hammar (1977) found that during childhood these children are often rewarded by giving them sweets. Pudel & Maus (1990) found that during childhood, adults often develop certain behavioral stereotypes in such children, for example: “Everything that is put on the table must be eaten,” or put hidden pressure on them: “If you eat, mommy will eat.” happy,” or they try to induce imitative behavior in them: “Look, your brother has already eaten everything.” It is suggested that such imposed eating behavior may ultimately suppress an adequate physiological response to satiety in a person.

External factors are also important (Pudel, 1988). Life events such as marriage, pregnancy (Bradley 1992) or leaving a job may reduce the remaining levels of eating self-control.

Aspects of social psychology of obese people

Insecurity, hypersensitivity and isolation are prevalent among obese people. Sometimes among them there is feigned self-confidence, supported by internal fantasies that he is “the greatest” (the best, the smartest), has “the strongest control over his emotions,” and so on. These fantasies are inevitably, again and again, broken by life, and appear again, creating a vicious circle (Klotter, 1990).

Monello and Mayer (1968) found that there are similarities between being overweight and discrimination on other grounds. The picture has changed, the image of the “happy fat man”, which still remained in public opinion in the 70s of the last century, for example, in Germany ( Ernährungsbericht 1971), has now been replaced by negative images of fat people as “weak”, “dumb” and “nasty” (Bodenstedt et al. 1980, Wadden & Stunkard 1985, Machacek 1987, de Jong 1993). Women suffer more from such prejudices. On the other hand, men, even after successfully losing weight after surgery, behave more passively. Obese people show less interest in sex both before and after surgery; this applies to both men and women (Pudel & Maus 1990).

It is important to distinguish between obesity in adults and obesity in children and adolescents. In children and adolescents, psychological factors play a much more important role. To simplify the problem, children suffer much more and are discriminated against much more (Gortmaker 1993, Hill & Silver 1995). For example, a study by Klotter (1990) showed that when normal children were shown photographs of disabled children and fat children, they rated the fat children as less attractive than the disabled children.

A study of the social contacts of obese people has shown that such contacts are much more limited compared to people of normal weight. Such people can name very few people who love them, who give them practical support or who can lend them money. Obese women report having far less contact with men than with women.

Psychological outcomes after surgical weight loss

Among scientists who have studied the results of weight loss, there is no complete convergence of opinions. There are significant positive personality changes towards stabilization and greater openness (Stunkard et al. 1986, Larsen & Torgerson 1989). There are also positive changes in emotional background, a decrease in feelings of helplessness, etc. (Castelnuovo & Schiebel 1976, Loewig 1993).

On the other hand, there are reports of negative personality changes after surgery if the patient underwent surgery for psychosocial reasons rather than for medical reasons. Bull & Legorreta (1991) report negative long-term psychological effects of weight loss surgery. According to their data, the psychological problems that patients had before surgery remained in half of the patients 30 months later. Several other studies also confirm this phenomenon. Based on these studies, a psychological “list of indications” was compiled (Misovich, 1983). In other words, if a person did not have any specific psychological problems before surgery, such patients are more suitable for weight loss surgery.

Such contradictions are not surprising. For half of his life, such a patient lived with a disturbed sense of self-confidence, or there was none at all. He constantly dreamed of a body that would be admired, highly valued, or, in extreme cases, just ordinary. And then suddenly a person realizes that there is a real way to fulfill his dream. And then the question suddenly arises: WHO, exactly, and for what, will be adored and highly valued? At best, external changes will help a person change their behavior, or understand that while appearance is important, “inner values” are equally important. In the worst case, developing a healthy sense of self-confidence fails at all, in which case a new vicious circle is formed.

Information about weight loss surgery

Statistics say that only 10% of patients learn about the operation from their doctor, the rest learn about this opportunity from friends or from the media. Our data confirms these statistics. Decision theory tells us about the existence of the so-called primary effect, which means that the primary information about something is retained the longest, and, as a rule, a decision is made taking into account this primary information.

Elisabeth Ardelt

Psychological Institute, University of Salzburg, Austria

Psychology of nutrition for fat and thin people.

Are you ready to learn the big secret: how do naturally thin people who eat whatever they want manage to not gain an ounce? The key to the solution is disconcertingly simple, but make no mistake. This simplicity is probably the biggest challenge you've ever faced.

Learning how to eat as a naturally thin person is so difficult because it requires rethinking your relationship with food, nutrition, yourself as a person, and your life. As you continue reading, try to look at everything through the eyes of a naturally thin person and notice how it makes you feel.

In studying naturally thin people, I realized that they do four simple things that overweight people don't:

1. They don't eat until their bodies are HUNGRY.

2. They eat EXACTLY what they want, knowing for sure that it will fill them up.

3. They never indulge in unconscious eating; on the contrary, they ENJOY every bite and feel how the food gradually satisfies their hunger.

4. They stop eating as soon as they feel they have satisfied their need for food. Is it possible that the secret to natural slimness could be so simple? At first I myself couldn’t believe it and kept trying to find some other reasons. Maybe, I thought, the point is in the kind of food they eat, or in the peculiarities of their metabolism? However, further research has shown that some naturally thin people have high metabolic rates, while others have slow metabolic rates; some eat only healthy food, while others eat haphazardly; some have dinner early, while others, on the contrary, are used to eating at night. Some of them quickly absorb food, while many eat slowly. As a result, I definitely established that all those who have a naturally thin body are united by only a few eating habits: they eat only when their body feels HUNGRY, they eat EXACTLY what they want to eat, enjoying every bite and feeling how their hunger gradually passes, they stop taking it as soon as they feel that their body is no longer HUNGRY.

If you think about it, you begin to understand that eating this way is typical for children and animals. THE WAY NATURALLY SLIM PEOPLE EAT IS THE MOST NATURAL APPROACH TO NUTRITION.

Let's take a closer look at each of these eating habits in turn and try to determine if there are any pitfalls in them.

1. NATURALLY THIN PEOPLE ONLY EAT WHEN THEY ARE HUNGRY. It would never occur to them to eat just to delay time before doing something unpleasant for them; they do not try to eat away their anxiety, which is so typical of fat people. Their life does not revolve around food, they do not consider it necessary to rush to the table just because it is lunch time. It is from them, naturally thin, that you can hear: Oh! I was so busy that I completely forgot to have a snack! A fat man can forget about food only in a dream or in an unconscious state. Thin people don’t think about it at all if they’re not hungry. Food is not a problem or event in their lives, because they initially allowed themselves to eat exactly what they wanted. People who are naturally slender do not think of eating for the same reasons that overweight people overeat. They will not overeat, cramming in more than their body needs. Food for them is just food, they do not try to replace love, comfort, sex, relaxation or friendship with it.

2. PEOPLE WHO ARE NATURALLY THIN EAT EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT, EXACTLY WHAT WILL SATISFY THEIR HUNGER.

Unlike fat people, thin people use one little trick: before they sit down at the table, they always ask themselves what exactly they would like to eat now. They don’t understand how they can deprive themselves of the food that will satisfy their hunger, just as they don’t understand why they eat what they don’t want. They first consult with their body and only then start eating. Naturally slim people do not think about what they should not eat; on the contrary, they ask their body what it would like. Sometimes it seems that they have an internal barometer from birth. Every time he accurately points out the food that at the moment will not only taste tastier for them, but will also best satisfy the needs of their body.

People who are naturally thin are usually very picky eaters; they will never eat just for the sake of it. They eat only because at the moment their internal barometer signals the desire to eat something specific, and this only happens when they are hungry.

If there is no dish on the menu of a cafe or diner where a naturally thin person comes to dine that he would like to eat, he will go to another establishment or get something purely symbolic, just to satisfy his hunger. These thin people sometimes do strange things, from the point of view of a fat person: for example, they may not finish what is on their plate. If there is, say, meat, vegetables and fried potatoes, they will only eat what they want at that moment. For example, they may only taste meat and spinach and will not touch a pile of delicious french fries or mashed potatoes. Or they will refuse meat altogether, but will gladly eat a large portion of dessert down to the crumbs. Sometimes, being very busy or passionate about something, they may completely refuse to eat. So what? It’s better to do something interesting or important instead of eating. THEY KNOW THAT IF THEY ARE HUNGRY, THERE WILL ALWAYS BE FOOD.

And further. There's one thing that naturally thin people never do: they don't follow any diets. ONLY OVERWEIGHT PEOPLE ARE ON DIETS!

3. PEOPLE WHO ARE THIN BY NATURE EAT CONSCIOUSLY, ENJOYING EVERY morsel of food, each time feeling how their hunger is gradually satisfied. Because these people are always aware of what they are eating at the moment, and at the same time enjoy every bite of food, THEY ARE SATISFIED WITH LESS FOOD AND RECEIVE MORE ENJOYMENT than those who are overweight.

The fat man never gets tired of eating, because he is used to thinking about anything at the table except the food that is on his plate; he rarely tastes it until the moment it ends.

Always aware of what they are eating, naturally thin people are able to accurately determine the moment when their body reaches a state that is no longer hungry. Most obese people, on the contrary, have no idea at all how hungry they are - neither before, nor during, nor after eating. People who are naturally thin seem to be attuned to their body and accurately determine the moment when it is already full.

Moreover, thin people usually know little about the nutritional value of different foods. They usually know nothing about diets, and the process of counting calories would probably confuse them. They, thin and slender from birth, know only four things: when they are hungry; what kind of food do they want; that they will enjoy every bite, otherwise they would not touch the dish, and finally, that they will feel the moment when their body is full, and at the same moment they will stop eating. This is basically everything you need to know to start losing weight and change your Diet Mentality to that of a Naturally Thin Person.

4. PEOPLE THAT ARE NATURALLY SLIMMER STOP EATING AS SOON AS THEY FEEL THAT THEIR BODY IS NO LONGER HUNGRY. Perhaps you have more than once encountered a situation where someone is trying to persuade you to eat more, although you are already full. So, naturally, a thin person will never succumb to such persuasion. He has a magic spell to deflect any attempts to force-feed him: Thank you, I'm already full. If the host continues to insist, the thin one will politely repeat this phrase again and again. I’m sure you’ve seen more than once how a naturally slender person, in the middle of dinner in an expensive restaurant, sets aside a plate with a half-eaten dish (which probably cost him a pretty penny) and does not feel guilty or embarrassed. You've probably watched more than once how a skinny woman leaves a couple of half-eaten pieces of meat on a plate or, having opened the refrigerator, takes out a juice pack, takes two sips and puts it back? Have you ever heard in response to the question why he left this wonderful steak: I’m already full, then I’ll finish it? It seems to me that special boxes in which you can take away a half-eaten dish from a restaurant were invented exclusively for naturally thin clients. Overweight people will not need them: they never leave uneaten what ends up on their table. Naturally thin people don't care about joining the clean plates club. Sometimes they happen to eat too much, but they immediately forget about it and will not later reproach themselves for excess. They do not have any reverence for food, perceiving it as their servant, and not as their mistress. Sometimes they simply ignore it, leaving it on the plate or even throwing away what they cannot eat. Can a fat man imagine such blasphemy?!

Who are these people who have no idea how many calories are in a chocolate bar, or why they are thin and never gain weight? Why are all the skinny people like this and how do they manage it?

The answer is simple: they have no idea why they stay slim and do nothing about it. That's what it's all about. Slenderness and thinness are their natural state. We are the ones who are always doing something, as if trying to correct nature. In the struggle for a slim figure, we have come up with thousands of myths and rules; we torture ourselves with diets that ultimately only help us maintain our extra pounds. Give up all this and you will return to your natural state - a naturally thin person. Thin people are like wild animals in nature: they invariably follow the instincts of their body.

However, it cannot be said that thin people do not enjoy food. How they get it! Perhaps some of them enjoy it much more than we do because they can taste every bite. I noticed that the first bite of ice cream in a waffle cone is always delicious, the second less so, and after the third I only feel cold in my mouth and almost no taste. If this cone is eaten by a naturally thin person, he, having ceased to feel the pleasure of the delicacy, may throw away the half-eaten ice cream or put it in the freezer to finish it later.

During my research, I was surprised to realize that naturally thin people never use food as a reward. They reward themselves with other things. Indeed, to be effective, the reward must be something at least a little unusual, such as going to a matinee movie or buying more expensive clothes. And food, what is food for them?! It's just something they use to satisfy their hunger, and nothing more. It would never even occur to them to consider food as something unusual or desirable. Thin people by nature tend to eat and breathe, both for them are natural processes that support life, and nothing more.

Do naturally thin people eat if they feel unwell? And in this case they simply ask themselves: Am I hungry or not?

Some naturally thin people even like to feel a slight feeling of hunger. It lasts no more than 20 seconds, and then disappears, returning after 20 minutes. Note the time when you are hungry.

It never occurs to naturally thin people to indulge in excess eating alone, so that no one can see. They have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to hide from others. In fact, they do just the opposite, preferring to eat with company - they are likely to eat more in a restaurant or at a party than at home alone. For fat people, it’s a real mystery how a naturally thin person can eat so much in one sitting and still remain slim. But there is no secret: he is probably very hungry now. Tomorrow he will just have a snack, that’s all.

When experiencing extreme anxiety or worry, thin people naturally tend to undereat rather than overeat, as fat people tend to do. They do not know such therapy as eating emotions with large amounts of food. They react to stress differently, by, say, walking incessantly, sleeping longer than usual, or even going on a long walk. Or maybe they will just sit motionless, staring at one point. Severe anxiety pushes food out of their minds rather than reminds them of it. They are too focused on what worries them to be distracted by food; the subject of their worry is much more important than eating.

It does not follow from this that those who are naturally slender have no problems. The point is different: THEY NEVER CONNECT PROBLEMS WITH FOOD. They treat food either neutrally - simply as fuel necessary for the functioning of the body, or as a friend. People who are prone to natural thinness do not fear that they will be deprived of food. And not only because they eat only what they feel the need for, but also because they strive to do things that will give them true pleasure.

The problem of obesity is complex, it depends not only on the functioning of the body, but also on the psychological problems of the individual, on how a person perceives himself, what his psychological appearance is.

Research by psychologists shows that a person with a clear tendency toward obesity should be classified as a special psychological type; often it is personality traits that contribute to weight gain. Among the reasons that have a negative impact on weight, the first place is low self-esteem, low level of self-control or obsessive behavior.

It can be extremely difficult for a person to change (break) the habitual stereotype of his reaction to problematic situations when the problem “gets stuck” and a pathological circle is formed: stress, leading to food intake and extra pounds, increasing stress. The emotional state of such a person is characterized by instability, a tendency to, he is different low stress resistance. Food allows you to give back what you need state of mental harmony or psychological comfort. At the same time, extra pounds are gained.

Overeating is associated with a lack of self-control - a person does not feel in moderation, completely forgets that it is worth monitoring our health, which is directly related to how much we weigh. Many overweight people honestly admit that at the sight of food their self-control disappears somewhere, and their will is not enough to lead an active lifestyle, burning off the extra pounds they have gained.

Often, excess weight acts as a kind of protective shield when a person is afraid of communication, afraid of members of the opposite sex, is not happy with his social status, etc. There are studies showing how 84% of people responded by overeating to psycho-emotional stress associated with conflicts in the family or at work, or domestic dissatisfaction; 72% noted an increase in appetite when seeing tasty food; In 32%, overeating was provoked by drinking alcohol. Emotional stress and the desire for self-compensation are more typical for heavier people.

Personality profiles of surveyed overweight people (MMPI method) characterize them as neurotic, indecisive, emotionally immature and dissatisfied with interpersonal contacts. In obese patients, pronounced emotional tension, high levels of anxiety and stress, aggression directed at oneself (autoaggression) and at others (heteroaggression), isolation, distrust, restraint, a tendency to easy occurrence of frustrations (dissatisfaction of needs), the predominance of negative emotions over positive in combination with a strong commitment to achieving high goals.

This allows us to talk about psychological problems of the individual, who use overeating (hyperalimentation) and physical inactivity as a compensatory and socially acceptable source of positive emotions. Accordingly, the system of goals and objectives of psychocorrectional work for obesity depends on age, personality, socio-psychological and motivational factors and is based on the identification and correction of those personal characteristics that contribute to overeating and physical inactivity as a form of pathological response to psychotrauma.

The work of a psychologist is focused on elucidating the role of psychosocial factors in the development of obesity, the formation of adequate mechanisms of mental adaptation, and teaching patients more constructive behavior. A psychologist will help a person who wants to get rid of extra pounds to perceive the diet not as a restriction, but as an image of proper eating behavior.

Fat shaming is, in essence, bullying people who are overweight (or simply overweight): fat shamers constantly remind overweight people of their weight, publicly accuse them of not wanting to lose weight and openly insult them, calling them “fatty”, “fat pigs” and “piles of fat”. " Moreover, the objects of ridicule and insults are most often women, not men. This is a serious problem. In the modern world, fat shaming has reached such proportions that in response, the “Body Positive” movement appeared, the main goal of which is to encourage people to accept other people’s appearance as it is. But, alas, this idea has not yet found a response in our society. Let's find out why.

“Fat is ugly, I don’t want to look at it.”

Not really. Fat is not ugly in itself, fat is considered ugly now. At the same time, everyone knows that this was not always the case: few people have not seen figurines of Paleolithic Venuses or reproductions of paintings by High Renaissance masters. Our personal criteria of beautiful and ugly are not personal at all, they are based on society's ideas about beauty, and a beautiful body has been a thin body for many decades. It was either simply thin (from Twiggy to “heroin chic”), or athletic (from supermodels of the 90s to modern fit girls), but it was not fat. But times are changing: plus-size models began to appear on the catwalks, plus-size actresses began to be invited to lead roles, but society is still not ready to accept this. Why?

Because we began to confuse ideal pictures with real life. There is too much visual information around us - information that is not real, made up: pictures perfectly smoothed in photo editors, films with special effects. We see beautiful things very often, so often that some have decided that they have the right not to see what they consider ugly. “Be fat, but don’t show your photos to anyone, we hate to see it.” And some people find it unpleasant to see fat people in tight or revealing clothes: “Ugh, cover up.” But why, exactly? Why not then prohibit people with malocclusion from talking and laughing? And people with crooked or wide noses should wear medical masks - thin, straight noses are in fashion.

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But no, only excess weight is a reason to openly insult people and demand that they not “stick out their fat.” Because…

"Fat people are just lazy"

Lazy and weak-willed people, unable to “just pull yourself together and lose weight.” Having attributed the sins of laziness and gluttony to people with great weight, society went further. Fat people are considered stupid and face discrimination in education and career: if you're not stupid, why can't you figure out how to lose weight? Being overweight is also associated with poor hygiene: since a fat woman is too lazy to go to the gym, then she is probably too lazy to wash. Thus, society stigmatizes people with large weights and puts a stigma on them. And this seems to give indulgence to fat shamers: they don’t just insult and humiliate people, they expose the “terrible” vices of fat people, which means they are committing a supposedly good deed. Who, if not them, will point out to these fatheads that they are living wrong?

And this problem is not only the problem of excess weight. This is a problem of a society that creates artificial frameworks so that there is a reason to kick those who do not fit into them. And women are prime candidates for positions outside the frame. Because “a woman should.” She must be beautiful, she must take care of herself and her figure - first of all. A typical patriarchy, in which you cannot be a worthless commodity, otherwise you will become a pariah.

“Obesity is unhealthy, these people are sick!”

A frankly hypocritical statement: no one, except neophytes of a healthy lifestyle, condemns people who are not passionate about physical education. Nobody worries about how often strangers do fluorography. Nobody wants to know how smokers and alcoholics harm their health - until they invade someone else's space with their stinking smoke and drunken brawls. No one is interested in how long ago the neighbor in the stairwell took a blood test and in what condition his blood vessels and joints are. But for some reason everyone is interested in the vessels and joints of obese people. Why on earth, it would seem? Everyone takes care of their own health, who cares about other people's hemorrhoids?

The point is very simple: this is not a question of health, it is a question of power. Thin people love to tell fat people exactly how they need to eat to lose weight, how to take treatment to lose weight, how to move to lose weight. The very fact of excess weight in an overweight person seems to turn any thin person into a strict teacher Maryivanna: “Now I, fatty, will teach you to live correctly, and you will listen and obey. Come here, you pigs, I’ll tell you the truth.” Thus, any person who is unable to achieve success in his chosen field of activity has the opportunity to amuse his sense of self-importance, to assert himself at the expense of another: I am thin - that means I am more successful than a fat man, smarter and generally better. I have the role of teacher and mentor. And the more aggressive the fat shamer, the higher the likelihood that a small clothing size is his only achievement in life. It is likely that it is simply genetic.

Another important point is the accusation of overweight people in promoting an unhealthy lifestyle: “Our children are watching this! They may think it’s okay to be fat!” Children are generally a universal shield; they can cover anything. Including our own reluctance to educate these very children in any way. Because the habit of a healthy lifestyle as a norm is brought up by personal parental example. But doing exercises in the morning with children is too hard. It’s easier to stigmatize fat people. True, some overweight people are still children, and it’s a sin to bully children. But you can persecute their parents who allowed this to happen. “Yes, that’s right, it’s their fault, not ours at all,” that’s exactly what fat shamers think.

“It’s your own fault, how could you let yourself go like that!”

In general, the feeling of guilt for weight as such is imposed on people with a lot of weight by default. The only question is the degree of this guilt. There are those who are not very guilty - these are those who have gained weight due to health problems. There has long been a fake circulating on the Internet that there are supposedly only 5% of such people. This is absolutely not true, but this is an excellent reason to stigmatize everyone who is overweight in general: you are simply overfed and it is your own fault! This is typical victim blaming. In fact, everyone understands that humiliating other people for your own pleasure is not good. But if you make these people guilty, then it seems possible. After all, they themselves chose this path for themselves, they voluntarily grew fat, which means they must be prepared for the role of outcasts. He who does not want to be humiliated does not eat in three throats. another indulgence: it was not I who was cruel, it was me who provoked them, they themselves wanted it.

The other side of this coin is hypocritical pity. At the expense of a fat person, you can always be kind: I’ll tell you how bad it is to be fat, and I’ll immediately become a good and caring kind person. Thank me! Who else will open your eyes to how you have let yourself down?!

“Fat people have no right to happiness”

And here fat-shaming turns its ugly face exclusively towards us, women. Because an overweight man has the right to happiness, but a woman does not. At the same time, both camps will attack it. And if men with their valuable opinion on the subject, “I wouldn’t fool you!” can be ignored, then women cannot be ignored. Because this is a question of hierarchy in a patriarchal society: you are fat, and I am not, which means my status is higher. It would seem, well, be happy, because the more fat women there are, the less competition for status males, who naturally prefer thin ones. Why bully losers, they are not your competitors?

Everything is very simple, let's return to point 1: beautiful is what society has agreed to consider beautiful. If you don’t poison fat people, tomorrow, God forbid, they might even be considered beautiful. And this means that all the benefits due to beauties will go to them, and not to you. Because benefits are provided by status males.

The second point is the idea that happiness must be earned, preferably through hard work and severe restrictions. Years of working in the gym and sitting on chicken breast with buckwheat - and for what? So that some fat woman who has been chewing cakes all her life gets the same piece of happiness? Why on earth? Let him achieve it first!

But the point here is not that only fat people supposedly do not have the right to happiness. The fact is that women do not have the right to happiness. Not for any happiness other than the one that society has recognized as the most correct: be thin and beautiful, attract the attention of men, grab the right one for yourself and never, never get fat or get older.

If you think about it, living in this paradigm is a great misfortune. For all of us.

Psychology of weight loss: thin and fat

But, and this is known to many, as soon as you let go of the reins a little, the weight immediately begins to increase, and sometimes even so quickly that we realize when we weigh even more than at the beginning of our weight loss.

The statistics are inexorable: only 5% of those who lose weight manage to maintain the achieved result over the next 12 months.

Causes of failures in weight loss

The causes and mechanisms of these failures are discussed. The versions they call are absolutely fantastic. Like, somewhere inside we have a kind of clock/scale hidden that has lost its settings and now perceives this obviously excess fat mass as normal. And they are trying their best to hold on to it and restore it. I wish we could identify these clocks/scales, understand how they work and “reconfigure” them!

But maybe everything is much simpler? Maybe overweight people DO NOT KNOW how to live the easy, cheerful life of a slim person? They know how to lose weight, but they don’t know how to live as they should. So they take back everything that was thrown away!

And I like this idea much more than fantastic assumptions about built-in regulators. After all, if I turn out to be right, all that will be necessary is to notice the differences in the diet and behavior of slim people, learn to behave the same way, and at least there will be no problems with maintaining weight, and perhaps with losing weight too.

Of course, if these differences were obvious, we would have identified and corrected them long ago. For example, if everyone fat everyone would be gluttons or lazy, then there wouldn’t be a problem: get up, go for a run, don’t eat anything, and you’ll thin!

But firstly, if there is among full people are gluttonous, then there are no more of them than among thin. This is confirmed by serious statistical studies.

Secondly, thin For the most part, they eat quite a bit and don’t particularly exhaust themselves with training. And they don’t go on diets, and they haven’t weighed themselves for years. However, this does not prevent them from remaining year after year. thin.

Thirdly, and from fat Many people try to fast and run, but even if they lose weight, it most often does not last long. So if they are different thick from slim, then these differences are by no means obvious.

From what other direction should we come? Yes, even with this one! A person’s given weight is most often the result of his given lifestyle in a very broad sense of the word. And the way of life consists of a whole mass of elements that are sometimes in rather intricate interaction with each other.

Lifestyle components can be divided into those related to nutrition (more or less fatty meals, frequent or rare, plentiful or not, rich in spices and delicacies or not, with or without alcohol, and so on), related to the image of mobility (physical or mental work, the presence and nature of loads, their nature, intensity, duration...) factors of a psychological nature - temperament (excitable, fast or, on the contrary, slow, phlegmatic), character (irritable, conflictual or, on the contrary, flexible), attitude to health, your appearance, etc.).

What is the interaction between these factors? Look! The person has had enough sleep, his mood is rather good and he needs much less food. And you can tell the fat person all you want about the diet, what he can and can’t do, but if he doesn’t get enough sleep, following any diet will be painful for him. After all, with food he will “treat himself” from depression associated with lack of sleep.

One moves a lot, plays sports, and he likes it. The other moves even more, spends even more time on training and his training is much more intense. But he doesn't like it at all. He is forced to force himself, to overcome. And it seems that we already understand why he struggles and struggles every day, but cannot lose weight - a constant background of bad mood, anxiety, despair, breakdowns...

Now, without forgetting for a minute about the complex nature of the interaction of factors related to nutrition, physical activity and the psycho-emotional background of a person, let’s try to conduct a comparative analysis thin And full of people. Maybe we'll find something?

The role of nutrition and food in weight loss

The eating behavior of people has been studied quite thoroughly. So far, science tells us that thin and fat people eat about the same things in approximately the same quantities. And there is not a single convincing fact that fat people eat more. Gluttonous and small-fed ones are found equally often, both among those and among them.

However, the very formulation of the question, do they eat full more than thin, seems to me methodologically incorrect. Full even if they eat no more than thin people, they obviously eat more than they need, given their tendency to be overweight! Otherwise, we will not explain in any way why they have this excess weight, and we will not understand how they can get rid of it. The main thing here is not to rush to conclusions, not to rush to accusations of gluttony. The so-called positive energy balance in people prone to obesity may not occur every day, but only in short periods of life, and not only (and not so much) due to overeating, but also due to lack of energy expenditure.

Conventionally, we can say that full people are either too gluttonous for their given energy expenditure (maybe even relatively large), or they spend too little energy for a given (sometimes very moderate) food consumption.

How to fix the situation? So far, two exits are being looked at. The first, for the gluttonous, is to get used to eating little, to become a little eater. The second, more suitable for fat little ones, is to get used to moving more.

But how can you determine what type of nutrition you are?

I suggest the following - for one to two weeks we carefully keep a food diary. Then we calculate the calorie and fat content of the daily diet, and at the same time note the frequency of meals and the difference in calorie content between individual meals.

If it turns out that the calorie content of your diet is on average more than 2800-30002, the fat content exceeds 50 grams per day, you eat less than 3 times a day, your diet contains meals (say, dinner) that account for more than half of the daily calorie content, for You are characterized by so-called food excesses, when for several days under stress or under the influence of reasons unknown to you, you consume an unnatural amount of food, then you need to spend more effort on correcting your diet.

How to reduce its calorie content? It is better to approach this issue without fanaticism. Remember slim The people we strive to become, most often do not go on any diets and do not exhaust themselves with prohibitions. So we shouldn't. It will be enough to make meals more frequent, reduce portion sizes, redistribute foods so that there are more low-fat foods than fatty ones, treat treats wisely, at least try to eat them after meals, and not instead...

If the calorie content of your diet does not exceed 2000 - 2200 kcal, you do not particularly abuse fatty foods, eat at least 4 times a day, and food excesses are not particularly typical for you, then you should not particularly worry about your nutrition. Most likely, the matter is not in relative overeating, but in some lack of physical activity.

Of course, some principles of rationalization of nutrition will not hurt you, but you should not especially nightmare yourself with diets - this is not your case. The most common reaction of your body to a half-starvation diet will not be weight loss, but an even deeper suppression of energy expenditure.

If the prevailing tendency cannot be identified, then correction must be carried out in both directions - both activating mobility and learning to eat little.

Physical activity and weight loss

Now let's talk about how to increase your physical activity. I would advise everyone to get active. Especially when you consider that nutrition and mobility are related in a rather bizarre way.

For example, under conditions of physical inactivity, food consumption increases. This can be confirmed by a phenomenon known to many - on weekends, the calorie content of our diet is on average 20-25% more than on weekdays.

But excessive activity, the so-called high-intensity training, which leaves behind a long trail of fatigue, also contributes to overeating.

It turns out that moderate-intensity exercises are optimal for losing weight and maintaining weight - walking, recreational walking. After such exercises, muscle tone increases, and, therefore, the consumption of nutrients, including fat, increases.

What healthy walking helps you lose weight much better than intense running, is now being confirmed by more and more scientific studies. And this is good: we will walk, especially since it is much more pleasant than running.

But I would like to draw your attention to the following circumstance: I have often noticed that thin people, unlike fat, seem to be such fidgets. They move and make a lot of small movements. They will stand up, sit down, stand up again, rearrange something on the table, adjust it... And even when they sit, they are also in motion: they gesticulate animatedly, sway, they have an active posture, they don’t spread out in the chair, their face is filled with facial expressions...

Of course, such “groovy” people can be found among full, but, it seems to me, still less often than among thin. But we don’t say that the overweight people are all couch potatoes. In our case, we are not talking about laziness, but about an imbalance between consumed and expended energy. A person can be short-lived but still spend energy very sparingly. If only he could become such a fidget! But how, how?!

I assure you, it is not difficult - in the arsenal of each of us there is a complete set of all behavioral programs characteristic of people - from the quiet “quieter than water, lower than the grass” to the fire-breathing dragon “just touch it!” It’s just that in our daily lives we use a very limited set of programs.

So, feel free to turn on your “fidget.” Sit with your back straight, maintain tension, rock back and forth or side to side, shake your head, move your arms. Do this whenever you remember that you should do it. Of course, at first it will be unusual and awkward, but gradually you will get used to it.

I recommend the following as exercises. Surely you have a girlfriend, a kind of fidget. Wonderful! Chat with her, visit her, take her to the cinema or to the shopping center. And while she goes about her business, try to copy her posture, gestures, and repeat movements. This is probably how, or something like this, the artist gets used to his new role. Speaking of actors, try playing the role of, say, Julia Roberts or Julia Rutberg for a few days. But these are very lively, active and slender people!

Some of my patients were helped to rebuild their motor image by a technique that can roughly be called “Live by dancing!” They imagined that nearby there was music suitable for a fast dance, say rock and roll, and they seemed to be listening to this music dancing. And indeed, at the same time, their gait changed, it became more springy, their posture changed, and their tone increased.

Finally, the psycho-emotional sphere of a person and weight loss

No one disputes the fact that the anxiety we feel can prompt us to consume more tasty foods in order to calm down. Indeed, treats are comforting. And since these are mainly excess fatty and excess fatty foods, it becomes clear that the more anxiety, the greater the likelihood of being overweight.

However, according to science, overeating during anxiety is not typical for all people. There are also those who, under the same conditions, on the contrary, eat less, but move more, fuss, run from corner to corner. As we say, they can’t find a place for themselves.

And we can hear a story about how a girl changed jobs and ended up in such a quarrelsome team that she ate and ate due to constant stress, and gained 10 kilograms in a year. And then another girl will tell us that, having found herself in the same conditions, she completely lost her appetite and lost the same 10 kilograms from her worries. What I mean is that the point is not in the nature of the conflict that generates anxiety, but in the nature of the response. Under the same conditions, some eat more, others eat less.

But if you have problems with weight and also overeat when anxious (even if not every time), or, which is also important, you feel increased anxiety when you try to “go on” a diet, you need to take action. Which? Or worry less or use “sedatives” not related to food. Or somehow combine the first and second. Regarding the first, the most effective advice looks like this.

If you are haunted by conflicts, if anxiety and depression interfere with your life, it’s time to work with a psychologist. Mental pain is, in principle, not much different from toothache. Both of them spoil your mood and prevent you from sleeping. But for some reason, if something happens to our teeth, we don’t run to a friend and tell her for hours how painful it is and how bad we feel. Because we know that with a toothache you need to go to the dentist. But when we experience mental pain, instead of turning to a specialist, we start calling our friends and complaining about those around us: how callous and heartless they are, how they don’t love us, don’t appreciate us, but only offend and frustrate us.

And of course, you should remember that not only food, but also a good bath, a walk and good sleep protect against stress. Try doing tonic exercises or dancing when you're nervous! You will see - the anxiety has decreased. Why? Because the brain is saturated with nerve impulses from working muscles, from moving joints. These impulses increased tone, improved mood, and gave rise to more pleasant thoughts.

These are the tips we got. We agree that they are not yet in the mainstream. More often than not, to lose weight, people figure out what they can and cannot eat, and how long (and at what intensity) they should exercise. However, for most, all these diets and workouts do not help. So let's try to get closer in nutrition and lifestyle to those we are trying to be like.

Some of us will become more moderate in our eating, others will be more active and fussy, others will learn “non-food” techniques for getting rid of stress, and others will gradually gain a little from both nutrition and mobility. In any case, it seems to me that they will benefit from this much more than from newfangled diets and grueling workouts.