#dieting

After about 5 minutes of you silently staring as if the secrets of the universe may reside within a chunk of mozzarella he decides to ask if you need help. “Did you.. need help choosing..?”

You look over at him, big eyes filled with confusion. “How do you.. I don’t.. sorry- am I in your way?”

Now the intrigue, mixed with barely contained amusement, takes over. “What are you looking for?”

You huff quietly, waving at the cheese. “I just started some stupid diet and it’s so confusing.”

That really hooks him, when he isn’t deployed he works as a PT at his local gym. Hence, he knows a decent amount on nutrition.

A few minutes of careful consideration later and you’re happy with your cheeses. “Would you maybe.. want me to walk around with you, we can do our shopping together, I’ll help you if you need it?”

Your smile practically blinds him as you nod happily. “Yes please.. if you don’t mind?”

“Not at all..”

You both spend about an hour slowly walking around the store, filling your trolleys, chatting, and showing each other your favourite snacks.

(im on my phone and the image wouldn't fit in one screenshot so I had to stitch two together)

I would like to call everyone's attention to this lovely comment by @enbycarp, who, in just 96 words, managed to be wrong on 8 separate counts. That's an average of 1 lie every 12 words. So I'm going to go through them 1 by 1 and not only disprove them, but also cite at least one reputable source per claim, unlike the original comment, who failed to include even a single citation. I am also going to try to keep this post as short as possible, as there is a lot to cover. 1. "There is no objectively healthy diet or exercise."

Nope. According to the Mayo Clinic's official website, "The health benefits of regular exercise and physical activity are hard to ignore. Everyone benefits from exercise, no matter their age, sex, or physical ability." This immediately disproves half of your claim. Additionally, according to The World Health Organization, "A healthy diet is essential for good health and nutrition." This disproves the second part of your claim. You are wrong twice in the same sentence.

2. "Intentional weight loss, however, is linked to poorer health outcomes."

Wrong. According to the National Institute of Health, WHEN DONE IN A SUSTAINABLE AND HEALTHY MANNER, weight loss leads to "lower mortality in those with obesity related comorbidites." Additionally, "There is also evidence for improved health-related quality of life in obese individuals who lose weight." Based on this we can conclude that for obese individuals, intentional weight loss ultimately leads to beneficial outcomes, meaning you're wrong again.

3. "Also 95% of people who lose weight gain it back."

I see this statistic get used a lot in the fat acceptance realm, but the 95% number is misleading. According to the National Institute of Health, over a 6 month period, 91.2 percent of smokers failed to abstain from smoking. Does this mean quitting smoking is impossible? No. Does this mean people shouldn't even bother trying to quit smoking? No. Even if this 95% statistic is true, which is questionable considering I have not seen a source for it, that just means losing weight is very challenging. It does not mean losing weight is impossible or harmful, as you have also argued elsewhere in your comment.

4. "That means effective weight loss is not possible."

It's actually so hilarious that you said this after saying that 95% of people who lose weight gain it back. Do some math. What is 100-95. It's 5. That means for 5 percent of people it's possible. Though again, I question the validity of this statistic to begin with because you did not cite a source. Either way, you have literally disproven your own statement because you said that intentional weight loss is impossible while listing a stat that shows that for some people it is actually possible.

5. "The false category of 'obesity' is not caused by unhealthy decisions for the vast majority of people."

Laughably incorrect. It's like you didn't even try. Not only is obesity a medical catagory according to the National Institute of Health, according to a poll by The Associated Press, only 12% of Americans say that have "little or no control over their weight." This poll is literally asking actual people, many of them likely obese, if they think they have control over their weight, and only a measly 12% of people think they do. Since 12% is not "the vast majority," you're wrong.

Intermission!!

You also stated that the obsession with healthy eating has led to an eating disorder epidemic. And while healthy eating does not lead to eating disorders, rather it's over restricting calories that leads to eating disorders, according to the National Institute of Eating Disorders, the prevalence of eating disorders has increased since the year 2000, and you could argue that this is a result of an increased focus on weight loss. Therefore, while you are slightly off, I won't say you're 100% wrong. Alright, now back to the rest of your claims.

7. "Eating disorders are far more deadly than being extremely fat"

Nope. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, 10,200 people die per year, on average, as a result of an eating disorder. And while this a lot, according to the World Health Organization, 2.8 million people die per year, on average, from obesity and obesity related health issues. This means obesity kills approximately 274.5 times the amount of people every year that eating disorders do, meaning again, for the seventh time, you're wrong.

8. "The concept of the obesity epidemic was invented to sell weight loss drugs and products. Its not real."

Nope. The obesity epidemic is real. According to the World Health Organization, since 1995, the number of obese adults has increased by 100 million individuals, which clearly indicates that there is an epidemic of obesity. It's interesting that you claim there to be an eating disorder epidemic but not an obesity epidemic, when according to the National Eating Disorders Association, the prevalence of eating disorders has increased from 3.5% to 7.8% from between 2000 and 2018, while according to the statistic I cited early, obesity among adults has increased by approximately 33%. (There has been an increase, since 1995, from 200 million individuals to 300 million individuals.) And yet somehow, according to you, eating disorders are an epidemic while obesity is not, when obesity has increased by approximately 29% more than eating disorders have according to these same statistics. So there you have it. A comprehensive and methodical breakdown of 8 separate arguments from a single comment, and an analysis of why each and every one of them is incorrect. Out of the sources I cited, all of them are reputable and at least end with a .org. So what have we learned from this wild adventure, if you're one of the few people who will read this entire marathon of a post? We've learned that you can't trust someone who spews out claims with not even a semblance of a source or a whiff of evidence. And @enbycarp, if you're reading this, do better. The world expects more from you. I did some snooping on your blog, you were born in 1979, making you 47 years old. You are a fully grown adult, and yet me, a 16 year old junior in high school, has to correct you to such an extreme degree. You've had 31 more years of experience than me. 31 years. That's almost twice my entire lifespan. And yet this is the best you could come up with. People like you are the reason the body positivity and fat acceptance movement has slowly fallen out of favor with the public in recent years. If you want anyone to take your movement seriously, you have to not act batshit crazy.

Before I go, however, I want to mention the real reason why I made this post, and why I make similar posts. It's because not only is being wrong to this degree impressive, but it's dangerous. When you lie on an average of once every twelve words, as I calculated at the top of this post, about a topic as meaningful as obesity, you are actively encouraging the harm of others. Your rhetoric is discouraging weight loss, exercise, and healthy eating, all which contribute to people's overall health. I'm going to say it again. This rhetoric harms people. @enbycarp is trying to harm people. You are encouraging people to damage their health. Please for the love of god stop. And if you think I'm wrong, that's quite literally impossible, as all I've done is cite pure facts from reputable sources, which you would have to be anti-science to disagree with. However, if anyone reading this thinks I have misrepresented a statistic or made any other mistakes in my citing process, please let me know and I will make the necessary adjustments to my post.

Characters: Alastor, Lucifer, and Sir Pentious.

Trigger warning: talking about dieting to lose weight in a healthy way.