*sigh*
You guys are making this WAY too simple.
Overweight is a MULTIFACTORIAL problem.
I have been there, and even though I tried and tried and TRIED to do something about it over and over for ten years, I'm still fat. If there were a simple answer, do you think ANYONE would still be fat after all the hazing we get from folks like you?? You must be kidding!!!
Well, OK, maybe there are some individuals who might. (I think I just met one over there.) But most of us would get back to work on it if we knew something that might actually work.
The reasons fat people don't are:
1. The "eat salad and do aerobics" game is pretty much the only game in town in their minds. When you hear it over and over and over and it's entrenched in your mind, you don't really even know enough to *look* for any other info. I didn't. I had even seen Body for Life before and thought, simultaneously, "Ugh! I don't want to look like THAT!" and, "There's no way that's possible for someone like me." The only way I came over here is because I was pissed about someone from here coming over to our board and posting this thread, and then someone else over here was actually NICE to me and this inspired me to look around.
2. People THINK they know about bodybuilding, but of course they do not. Think how many times you have to explain to people right here on this board: "No, you don't look like that without years of hard work. No, some people even need pharmaceutical help to get results like that." If you know that these stereotypes are out there even among the thin, know that they are out there among the fat, too. It kind of reminds me of a certain mindset here.
You cannot open your mind to learn *unless and until* you let go of what you already THINK you know. People who don't bodybuild are like that about bodybuilding ... and people who do bodybuild are the same way about fat, it would seem.
3. Why don't more people check this out? Yes, the books are out there. But, um, some people, and I don't say this to offend, don't like the bodybuilding physique at ALL. It seems to me that this lifestyle, like the more mainstream "weight loss plans," seems to sell itself mainly on the image of WHAT YOU COULD LOOK LIKE. So there's always some ripped example of success on the cover, which just feeds people's perceptions. Secondly, someone who looks like us is often ashamed to approach someone who looks like you, say, at the gym or whatever, because they are afraid that they will be laughed at. I know I felt the same way when I first went to a trainer. They know they will have to demonstrate EXACTLY how out of shape they are, and the person may laugh at them behind their back. The only reason I swallowed it and went anyway was because I was having backaches and had to be on my feet over 10 hours a day for a job and knew if I didn't do *something* I'd be toast.
I haven't seen too much on *this* thread that would make me think otherwise.
Guys, you can't have it both ways.
If bodybuilding information is ever going to be more mainstream, it needs to learn how to talk to that audience. I saw on another thread where some women were lamenting the number of girls in their gym who were working out with tiny pink weights and doing aerobics forever, and how they felt this wasn't helping them.
I can't stress this enough: When I was doing that kind of exercise, I seriously thought I was doing the best thing for myself. Then I thought it wasn't working (fed by the worthless goals the media encourages one to adopt), wondered why it wasn't working (must be MY fault! Everyone around me says this works "if only you work hard enough"), and why I hated it (must be MY fault! We're supposed to *like* running down the road for hours and hours every week ...)
PLEASE READ:: Years and years and years of "must be MY fault" depress the overweight and convince them that they can never be anything BUT overweight. That's why you HAVE a group today whose credo is, "Please. Just leave us alone and accept us the way we are."
*I* personally don't think I am ever going to change my body shape. Yeah, I know, self-defeating attitude, but when you have been devastated by failure again and again and again, you *have* to give up any attachment to being slim in order to do any kind of program at all. The risk of failing ("Maybe I'm just born to be fat no matter WHAT I do") AGAIN and feeling horrible YET another time is just too daunting to approach exercise and eating any other way. Basically, if they are basing self acceptance on WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE, most people are never going to get started.
As I said, if you want this information to get out and you seriously want to help people, YOU MUST LEARN HOW TO TALK TO YOUR AUDIENCE. (And I respectfully request that if you don't want this information to get out and you don't seriously want to help people, please just shut up.)
We do this all the time in veterinary medicine. If I know your dog should be vaccinated for parvo, and I think you should know because the last four puppies you brought home from the pound came into your house and died from it and I've explained that you have parvo on your premesis, can I say: "Look, you idiot. I don't know why you didn't hear me last time, but here's what you have to do ... LISTEN!!" No, I can't. That just alienates people ... and she who alienates clients at the veterinaary practice loses business, doesn't get her message out, and gets fired.
Look at advertising. Do they show you a car and talk demeaningly to you? No; they know that doesn't interest people.
I realize that for all of you, weightlifting is very much about what you look like. If you didn't look "ripped," you would consider the experience all for nothing. But I certainly would not, and neither would someone else who perhaps you would call "skinny fat" who is just trying to have an easier time keeping her weight down at her current shape and size. Somebody from here could write a book, "weightlifting for 'regular' people" (OK, title could use some work!) using models that aren't "ripped," and cover the basics and the benefits without the emphasis on appearance, include a chapter on how to learn more about getting "ripped" if you're interested, and make a lot of money. I think most people would be interested to hear that the type of diet and exercise they thought they were doing right actually is working against them.
But it seems to me that bodybuilding is an insular, elitist, and in some instances snooty and arrogant group. IF YOU WANT MAINSTREAM PEOPLE TO DEVELOP AN INTEREST IN WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY YOU HAVE TO SPEAK "MAINSTREAM." And derogatory shit like "You fat fuck, this is all your fault," won't help you.
You DON'T know how people got there, no matter what you think you know. And focusing on "how they got that way" does not address, "What are we going to do about it?" It KEEPS you from addressing, "What are we going to do about it?"
As I've said here before, you can put people down and just laugh at them, or you can employ a little compassion, learn something about your audience, and actually be of some help.
PICK ONE.
You don't know all there is to know about the problem of overweight any more than I know all there is to know about your lifestyle. I put aside what I THOUGHT I knew and came over here.
I now extend that same challenge to you.
Boldly go.
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