Is being overweight something that you do have control over?
Being overweight is a choice. And that is a good thing.
Being overweight is a choice, and that is freeing. Because it gives you the ability to do something against it.😅😅
It gives you control over your situation. It puts you in the driver’s seat of your life. 😎
If being overweight would not be a choice, there would be nothing we could do against it. It would make us a slave to exterior circumstances – which we’re not.
So while it’s true that overweight is a choice, it’s also true that the food and beverage industry has produced foods that literally make us addicted to them.
Our brain is not used to these refined foods, and we keep craving these foods over and over again.
A shocking example of this, is if you put people in an MRI scanner, and show them a picture of a chocolate milkshake, the areas that light up are the same that light up in other addictive behaviours, such as cocaine and alcohol.
Even worse, the fitness industry is selling us products that do not really work.
We train 7x a week in the gym, when the truth is that nutrition is often the limiting factor in weight loss.
We do week long juice fasts even though deep down we know, that this is not really going to help us take this weight off long-term.
The card is really stacked against us. While being overweight is a choice, being overweight is not our fault. It’s an important distinction there.
It’s as Dr. Greger said: The question is not “Why are so many people fat?” But rather, given how obesity inducing our food system is, “Why isn’t everyone fat?”
So here’s what you can do if you find yourself in the situation of being overweight, and are not happy with the status quo:
It all starts with realizing that being overweight is a choice. It’s something that you do have REAL, tangible control over.
The 2nd step is realizing that the cards are stacked against you.
So yes, you do have control over your situation – but your exterior circumstances tend to not make it easy for you.
The 3rd step is to focus on the things that move the needle. The things that give you the most rewards for the effort that you put in.
That is usually systematic observation and record taking. Which is a fancy word for measuring your weight in the right way. Meaning every single morning, after you wake up and went to the toilet.