MOLLYJ's CalorieKing blog
Thursday, Jul 23 2009 - Getting sucked into stupid discussions and thoughts on behavior change
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Well I got a little sucked in to the forum topic on whether or not the Surgeon General should be overweight.
And from a lot of folks who are struggling to lose weight right now, some rather mean and judgemental things were said about whether a fat person would/should be fit to be surgeon general. A general concensus seemed to be that to be fat was a choice and someone who made those choices shouldn't be in a visible policy position. A POLICY position. She's not running for Miss America. She's not trying out for an ad campaign for the CDC. She's going to be in a figurehead position that when it is in the hands of a skillful person (tip of the hat to Dr. Koop), impressive things are done.
The consensus was that being overweight was a choice, a deliberate choice.
And so I wanted to say, so why aren't you all beating up on yourself for not having been here three years ago and gotten this thing taken care of for once and for all?
In working with myself and with patients, I know that sometimes it's just not time "yet" to deal with a problem. I myself probably perused this site 3 or 4 times before saying, "It is time. Get the debit card out." And I tried other "low impact" strategies that didn't get me anywhere and I probably knew they wouldn't (ie don't eat between meals).
I wondered about hard it is to be a woman in a public forum. For YEARS people made snide remarks about Hillary Clinton's thighs, for God's sake, and they were never any big deal that I could see. If people cannot find anything substantiative to say about your ideas they can always just call you ugly. If you're a woman. That must be terribly hard, no matter how self-possessed you are.
Even fat people are intolerant of fat people. The ultimate non-acceptance of the self.
But anyhow, all of this just takes me back to trans-theoretical change theory.
Here's to the contemplators--the people who know SOMETHING has to be done but it is just not time yet. The kids are too small. Your partner is too sick and it's time to take care of them, not you---yet--hoping there will be time later. You're too busy with the demands of advancing in your career. Whatever.
I've been there and likely will be again.
And from a lot of folks who are struggling to lose weight right now, some rather mean and judgemental things were said about whether a fat person would/should be fit to be surgeon general. A general concensus seemed to be that to be fat was a choice and someone who made those choices shouldn't be in a visible policy position. A POLICY position. She's not running for Miss America. She's not trying out for an ad campaign for the CDC. She's going to be in a figurehead position that when it is in the hands of a skillful person (tip of the hat to Dr. Koop), impressive things are done.
The consensus was that being overweight was a choice, a deliberate choice.
And so I wanted to say, so why aren't you all beating up on yourself for not having been here three years ago and gotten this thing taken care of for once and for all?
In working with myself and with patients, I know that sometimes it's just not time "yet" to deal with a problem. I myself probably perused this site 3 or 4 times before saying, "It is time. Get the debit card out." And I tried other "low impact" strategies that didn't get me anywhere and I probably knew they wouldn't (ie don't eat between meals).
I wondered about hard it is to be a woman in a public forum. For YEARS people made snide remarks about Hillary Clinton's thighs, for God's sake, and they were never any big deal that I could see. If people cannot find anything substantiative to say about your ideas they can always just call you ugly. If you're a woman. That must be terribly hard, no matter how self-possessed you are.
Even fat people are intolerant of fat people. The ultimate non-acceptance of the self.
But anyhow, all of this just takes me back to trans-theoretical change theory.
Here's to the contemplators--the people who know SOMETHING has to be done but it is just not time yet. The kids are too small. Your partner is too sick and it's time to take care of them, not you---yet--hoping there will be time later. You're too busy with the demands of advancing in your career. Whatever.
I've been there and likely will be again.
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