What happens when you try to turn a fat body into a thin body?
Most of the time it simply does not work.
Some bodies are just naturally fat bodies; and nature does all it can to keep those bodies fat.
Fat bodies are the GOAT at holding onto their fat.
It’s one reason why diets don’t work. Restrict calories and your body’s metabolism becomes more efficient in order to hold onto the calories you give it; and once you stop dieting, that efficiency remains, so your body keeps holding on to more calories than it did before.
And now it turns out, the same goes for exercise.
Some researchers have found that when they exercise, people “with obesity” (aka fat people), start burning fewer calories when they are at rest.
Yup.
Fat Body Efficiency (trademark – I called it) strikes again!
Don’t believe me? Read it for yourself (and if you can wade through this paper, you are a better person than I – I’m just going to take the word of the author of the article (second link, below).
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/926541
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.08.016
So how about we quit obsessing about weight and start thinking of weight-neutral health?
You would think we would have learned from how dieting fucked up people’s health and metabolism – wouldn’t you?
Let’s stop trying to change the appearance of fat bodies and just help people (of all sizes) live their best lives – whatever that may be – in the bodies they have.
Thoughts from a Fat Old Lady 
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An eloquent post–thank you! I could not access the second linked article, but the first one was great! Tells us what we suspected all along. Fat bodies just don’t want to become thin bodies, despite the wishes of the bodies’ occupants. However, exercise might make you healthier in other respects, if you don’t overdo it, and you don’t incur new risks as a result of exercising.
I used to hike several miles a day, when it wasn’t icy out. (A fall on the ice is not helpful. Trust me.) But I finally stopped when I encountered a bear. Oh well.
I have exercised all my life, much of it for 4 hours per day. I got toned, I got somewhat stronger muscles (because of CP, there is a limit to how strong my muscles can get), but I didn’t get thin, & what few pounds I lost when I returned to walking an hour or less daily, like a fairly sane person, came back & brought company with them. I am trying to still walk every day when it is not icy, but I have to adjust to the fact that I can do less than I once could & accept the fact that I do not have to exercise as much as a college football player in order to get the health benefits of exercise. Also, that exercise is not a mark of character & how you move & how much you move is no one’s damn business but yours. I have been considered weird in my family for walking so much, & considered by people who lived into their late 80’s to mid-90’s.
Personally, I hate walking. But my husband loves it. I am glad that it is a form of movement that you can do and still enjoy. I modified the end of the blog from being as “healthy” as you can be in your body because whether or not a person chooses to exercise or do “everything” to be “healthy” is nobody’s damn business! We are all making the “best” choices that we can live with and deal with in our particular circumstances! All I can say is, keep on keeping on.
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