From: kolstad@cae.wisc.edu (Joel Kolstad)
Newsgroups: alt.support.big-folks
Subject: Re: <None>
Date: 15 Sep 92 00:33:28 GMT
Organization: U of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering

In article <_zynv+.shannah@netcom.com> shannah@netcom.com (Teri Miller) writes:
>In article <1992Sep14.115355.14319@doug.cae.wisc.edu> kolstad@cae.wisc.edu (Joel Kolstad) writes:
>>In article <1992Sep14.061325.1@happy.colorado.edu> ajmorrison@happy.colorado.edu writes:
>[reformatted to fit]
>>>
>>>Well, I just thought I'd jump in here. Something that my current 
>>>boyfriend says that annoys the hell out of me... "Amy, I like you 
>>>for who you are and not what you look like... but have you ever 
>>>looked into Weight Watchers?"  Well, he quit mentioning it after 
>>>I told him he could accept me the way I am or get the hell out of 
>>>my life. My two cents...
>>
>>I agree with you that it sounds like your boyfriend is acting like a jerk,
>>but you might want to consider that just maybe he is concerned about some of
>>the nasty physical problems that go along with being overweight and really
>>not concerned about your physical appearance...
>>
>If he's concerned about physical problems, why is he suggesting 
>Weight Watchers? Mea culpa to those out there who love Weight
>Watchers, but honestly, of the people I've known on Weight Watchers,
>none, repeat, none of them have kept the weight off when they left
>the program.

Ok, Teri...

Let's assume that you're right that people who go to WW don't tend to keep
the wait off.  Assuming that the original poster's boyfriend shared this
knowledge, you're correct -- he really is scum.  But I think that most
thin people who've never been to WW have any idea how effective it is, and
whether or not people who start on the program stay there forever.  Certainly
if you watch WW's ads on TV, you never get that impression... WW ads would
have you believe that WW is a reasonably permanent "cure" that can be
accomplished in a pretty short time span.  (Or at least that's my impressions
of their ads...)

>I know one man who is going to the gym 3 or 4 days a week, eats no
>breakfast, has a very very small salad for lunch, and eats spartan
>dinners most days (his *splurge* for the week is to actually go and
>eat sushi.  Plain fish and rice, and that's his SPLURGE!) and still
>has trouble keeping the weight off.  He was on Weight Watchers, got
>down to his ideal weight, then went off for a few months.  Last I
>knew, he was back on, and I believe he was planning to be on for the
>rest of his life.

Perhaps he should see a doctor?  Last time the weight discussion came up
on sci.med, the consensus of the doctor's responses seemed to be that many
people don't lose weight because they're not counting _all_ their calories
(between mean snacks, etc.).  From your description above, it does sound like
a medical problem.

>What has Weight Watchers done to his metabolism that he has to eat
>so sparingly?

?

>I also find your comment about "nasty physical problems that go along
>with being overweight" a little presumptuous.  Tell that to my friend
>who has been overweight for most of her life, and gets very very ill
>if she tries to get down to a "normal" weight.  Her doctor put her on
>a diet based on the assumption that she "should" be thin, and she got
>thin, all right, and was sick about 50% of the time.  

Ok, I apologize for that one... I was assuming that the original poster
didn't have any medical reasons for not losing weight.  Being sick 50% of
the time at your "normal" weight is obviously a very legitimate reason not
to want to be there!  (Too bad society views overweight people the same
way, regardless of why they're overweight...)

>If the original poster's boyfriend were able to pressure her into 
>joining a weight-loss program, and get her to be thin, would he really
>be doing her a favor?  What if she's one of those folks for whom being
>"overweight" is actually normal and healthy?

From the contents of her message, I made the assumption that that wasn't
the case.

>  Is he going to be happy
>having a girlfriend who is thin, but is sick all the time?  How would
>she feel about it?

I'm sure he wouldn't be.  I would assume that her boyfriend is assuming that
there's no medical reason she couldn't be at an ideal weight.  I seem to
recall that the percentage of overweight people in this country who would
be medically advised to stay that way is exceedingly small...

Really, all I wanted to do with my original posting was to point out another
possibility for the original poster's boyfriend's nagging.  I certainly
didn't mean to suggest that that MUST be his reason.

						---Joel Kolstad
Newsgroups: alt.support.big-folks