Dietitian Reacts to ‘Is Being Fat a Choice!’ (My Answer Might SHOCK You…)

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4 ай бұрын

Thank you to Audible for sponsoring today's video! New members can try it free. Visit audible.com/abbeysharp or text abbeysharp to 500-500 to try @Audible. #ad
Hey everyone I’m Abbey Sharp welcome to Abbey’s Kitchen. In todays video, I am going to be throwing down some hot takes on weight, jumping off from the super controversial yet super fascinating panel discussion on the Jubilee series, Middle Ground.
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Пікірлер: 461

@AbbeysKitchen 4 ай бұрын

Thanks again to Audible for sponsoring today's video! New members can try it free. Visit audible.com/abbeysharp or text abbeysharp to 500-500 to try @Audible. #ad

@melanierosalez6989 4 ай бұрын

Abbey, re Set Point Theory about weight, I can't figure out how to ask this question well: I'm wondering about how the weight of my size small body when I was in my twenties work within the theory compared to my size XL body in my thirties. For many years I've held onto the hope that I get closer to my body that I knew and was a smaller size. It's hard to accept my obese body when it makes life a few degrees harder on a regular basis.

@angelmurphy2300 2 ай бұрын

Abbey I recently found your channel. I am 40 yrs old and have liver cirrhosis non alcoholic metabolic been a diabetic since I was in school. I'm looking for nutrition ideas for liver health. Everyone seems to disagree. Some say eat every 2 hrs because of malnourishment issues some say intermittent fasting is best. Some say Mediterranean diet Some say keto HELP!

@KatMTeach 4 ай бұрын

I think if everyone in the world ate a balanced diet and moved their bodies, there would still be a wide range of body shapes and sizes!

@AbbeysKitchen 4 ай бұрын

1000%

@Taywanee 4 ай бұрын

There would be, but no one would be morbidly obese lol

@meanjustine8266 4 ай бұрын

So no one would have medical problems that make combating obesity obscenely hard? Genius take@@Taywanee

@Taywanee 4 ай бұрын

@@meanjustine8266it still comes down to a calorie deficit. People with health conditions can still lose weight.

@meanjustine8266 4 ай бұрын

@@Taywanee no, that is not the be all end all reason for weightlosss or gain. Try again.

@aikanae1 4 ай бұрын

One thing I rarely hear addressed is poverty. Majority of kids live below the poverty line - has anyone looked at food boxes and choices in schools? Very little fresh foods, produce or meats. Highly processed with the bulk of calories coming from simple carbs. Taste is a matter of habit. There is a societal component to the epidemic of obesity and diabetes that should be addressed. Why did McDonald's take salads away? Why are salads the most expensive thing on a menu? Why do food boxes never, ever include salads?

@AbbeysKitchen 4 ай бұрын

Yep these are all important pieces of the conversation

@jennasaisquoi5174 4 ай бұрын

Children who experience food insecurity might encounter a meal and overeat due to the fear of not eating again for a while. They won't know when or where their next meal will come from, so overindulgence becomes habitual, possibly into adulthood.

@manda6299 4 ай бұрын

This. I was raised in severe poverty and when I got out of it I ate so much and gained so much weight and developed binge eating disorder along with bulimia. People don’t understand what poverty can do to a person, let alone a developing child and what it will do to their future.

@krystleboss8573 4 ай бұрын

Because McDonalds salads had more calories than a Big Mac (not saying that a Big Mac is better or worse b/c it depends on how you’re judging it).

@aikanae1 4 ай бұрын

@@krystleboss8573 if you turned the salad into a ranch dressing soup. Big Mac's have little valuable nutrition, more sodium and fats for the entire day.

@jorr107 4 ай бұрын

I was shocked and disappointed to hear that young lady justify shame as healthy and sustainable. I'm so glad you addressed that, Abbey. I really appreciate your work and this video!

@AbbeysKitchen 4 ай бұрын

right?! thank you

@MeloniousThunk 4 ай бұрын

That also stood out to me. It made me sad for her. I wonder what stories she is telling herself that led her to those beliefs. Her contempt for obese people, dressed up as concern for their health, looks a lot like a displacement of her self-contempt around her own body issues onto a “safer” target. Not the first time I’ve seen this toxic attitude. I can’t stand concern trolling for this reason.

@laulau194 4 ай бұрын

So true, but when both traditional and social media love to latch onto the examples of people who are strongly motivated by shame to lose weight and celebrates them, it's understandable why people find that narrative appealing...totally ignoring both the scientific evidence base and the simple step of looking around you and thinking for a second - if being shamed was all it took to get people to lose weight, no one would be fat!

@srslyawkward3095 4 ай бұрын

The people motivated by shame are the exception. That's what makes them noteworthy. Also, reality TV tends to manufacture more drama/shame, because they know That's what gets them viewers.

@srslyawkward3095 4 ай бұрын

Oh, also #2, we don't see what happens after the cameras leave. There was a big study done a few years back on The Biggest Loser contestants, and almost all had regained their weight. It's not a sustainable model of health.

@dl744 4 ай бұрын

Love the phrasing, "You can't hate yourself into being healthier." You can hate yourself into being skinner, but until you appreciate your body simply for being your body, you won't feel comfortable in it or healthy. Grace for yourself is how you make positive changes

@arinaira1417 4 ай бұрын

❤

@taylorhillard4868 3 ай бұрын

I dont know about hating, but i know you can certainly spite your way into health. Spite is the strpngest human force afterall, lmao

@RisaPlays Ай бұрын

My self-hatred contributed to more weight gain. So maybe it can work for some people, but it's the opposite for others.

@TheCatWitch63 4 ай бұрын

I’m so tired of (mostly skinny) people centering people’s whole identity around weight. There are many other characteristics that should be nurtured, encouraged or promoted that might be even more important than body weight. Also, being skinny doesn’t necessarily equal being healthy. I’m underweight due to an illness, but you wouldn’t notice it because I look very healthy. However I have been very close to losing my life because of my health issues, and I feel embarrassed, even a bit angry/upset, when people compliment me on my weight.

@AbbeysKitchen 4 ай бұрын

ABSOLUTELY. this is why we should NEVER comment on peoples weight loss.

@Joee003 4 ай бұрын

I agree with you, but I'd like to add that the whole F.A. movement is exactly that: fat people making their body size their whole identity and personality. I've never met a disabled person who made their disability the center of their life, yet fat activists do just that with their weight. People on both end of the spectrum are obsessed with body size because we live in a superficial world.

@Contained_enjoyment 4 ай бұрын

I agree with Joee003. I don't think advocating for normalcy is a good way to go about it. But also, I'm one of the forever and always skinny people, it's actually very difficult to gain weight for me. However I have so many deficiencies, I believe the main problem is food availability and lower income households. I grew up poor, I'm still in the lower class, and it is so expensive for a family of four to eat correctly.

@ggjr61 3 ай бұрын

@@Joee003The FA movement is embarrassing to fat people but it’s a backlash reaction to the enormous amount of discrimination and harassment fat people (in general) face. It really needs to stop though it’s definitely not helping.

@LouisaClare 3 ай бұрын

@@Joee003that’s just want you see, that’s not what we are doing.

@WhatsBliss 4 ай бұрын

The thing that got me about that one girls comments about choices is that there are people who do everything she talked about-see doctors, eat whole foods, avoid junk food, move around all the time-but are still "overweight" and probably always will be. The only way they can achieve skinniness is through unhealthy behaviors like starvation, over exercising, and risky medical interventions. And even then there is no guarantee those changes will stick, be sustainable, or support a healthy lifestyle. Can people make healthy choices? Sure. Will others be able to see those choices by looking at them? Absolutely not.

@nady2296 4 ай бұрын

Thank you. I'm not overweight but I have too much belly fat and it's a real struggle to lose there. Im constantly counting calories and I've been going to the gym since October, not seeing much results on my belly.It's just genetically the last place where I will lose fat and I'm balancing a careful act of believing one day I can be skinnier and not going into underweight territories. I have friends that don't work out and never think about food and have flat stomachs. And we are so led to believe that our value lies in how skinny we are that I thought and I'm still thinking that I'm not doing enough and I'm not "worthy" enough. So even though I'm not in the exact same situation as overweight people and that each person is unique, I can understand the struggle of efforts vs results.

@WhatsBliss 4 ай бұрын

@@nady2296 Sending you love. You and you're body are worthy of love and care, no matter the shape. You don't need to do anything to qualify for it. So be kind to yourself, belly fat and all.

@nady2296 4 ай бұрын

@@WhatsBliss Thank you 🙏

@jlhn 3 ай бұрын

Definitely I myself, used to be a very fat kid, and my mom forced me to go through extreme diets where I was basically starving, of course everything was with a doctor's approval who didn't care about my health, but did care about me being skinny Nothing worked, and at the end I ended up eating at night when nobody watched me because of how hungry I constantly was, thankfully my mom seemed to see the light and stopped starving me Then I lost a lot of weight without doing anything. You want to know what happened? Puberty Literally my body had to change completely from top to bottom for me to lose weight, and I didn’t do anything! I didn’t exercise, or do a diet, and still I got very skinny. So for me, it's very obvious that being fat is not much of a choice Nowadays I actually want to gain weight to build muscle mass, but believe it or not, no matter how much I eat, it's extremely hard for me to gain weight 😅

@OCDandme123 3 ай бұрын

Key words CALORIE DEFICIT

@Miaow610 4 ай бұрын

As with everything in life, it's complicated

@AbbeysKitchen 4 ай бұрын

absolutely

@danastonerock 4 ай бұрын

Yup

@innocentnemesis3519 4 ай бұрын

I’ve always been skinny. I could eat McDonald’s every day and gain a marginal amount of weight, but still fall within my normal range. To say that the choices I make in the face of my personal obstacles will have the same outcome as someone in a different body is so reductive and absolutist. Bodies come in all shapes and sizes!

@AbbeysKitchen 4 ай бұрын

thanks for sharing!! Bodies are so diverse

@soybean3423 4 ай бұрын

I was the same! Until I started taking medication that made me crave food 3 times more often and 3 times more strongly. Gained more than 40 kgs in two years... but lost already half of that in a little more than a year ^^

@cbpd89 3 ай бұрын

My husband is the same way! He is fairly active, which helps, but it's not like he's watching what he's eating. It doesn't matter how much dessert he eats, he doesn't gain weight. The whole "you can't outrun a bad diet" definitely doesn't apply to him 🤣 I, on the other hand, do intensive exercise and calorie restrictions and I maybe lose 5 pounds after 6 months of effort. Not worth it to only eat 1400 cal a day for a year and have nothing to show for it! I might as well enjoy my life and just focus on dong activities and eating meals I like in moderation and no numbers 😁

@kochfeemiri663 3 ай бұрын

My Roommate is the Same! He‘s thin, but eat only „Bad“ foods. And i am trying so hard to make Good choices and i am fat 🫠

@LoriDawn6 4 ай бұрын

And then menopause happens and everything changes! It feels like I’m re-learning how my body responds to food, exercise, etc.

@TracyMclaughlin-je6of 4 ай бұрын

Yeap, it’s a whole new ball game and learning what works from scratch.

@happycommuter3523 3 ай бұрын

YES! If I ate what I eat now, back when I had a period, I would be in the hospital from malnutrition. I was very skinny as a young woman, and my body was very sensitive to changes in food intake and exercise. I could drop an entire dress size by skipping dessert for a month. Stress was another appetite killer. At one point, I was so thin my parents were seriously worried about me. That all changed after menopause. I have to diet very stringently just to lose a few pounds. The weight comes on very quickly now. I just focus on eating a well rounded diet, avoiding salt/ sugar because of blood pressure issues, getting enough protein/ calcium for bone health, and exercising as much as possible, a mix of cardio, strength, and flexibility. Sleeping adequately and managing stress are also crucial. It really is like learning to live in a completely different body.

@nikitalenzo6219 4 ай бұрын

THIS is advocacy. Thank you for using your privilege to bring awareness and compassion to people who’ve been silenced, stigmatized and shamed in this conversation. Thank you for educating others on food deserts/accessibility of food, sensitivity around body talk, genetic predisposition, etc. Been through eating disorder treatment 3x… and know many more who’ve lost their lives to disordered eating than to being overweight.

@AbbeysKitchen 4 ай бұрын

Absolutely!

@bethaniejify 4 ай бұрын

All that I know is that when I’ve been under a certain weight, it has taken all my energy and will to keep it there. It’s been that way my whole life. I have always been athletic and I ride my bike as transportation, but I’m still a large woman. However, at 54, having given up on trying to have a diet, I’m having a great life instead. ❤

@kbrennan3836 4 ай бұрын

Lauren won the genetic lottery without ever buying a ticket, and now nothing will convince her that she's not a self-made woman who pulled herself up by her bootstraps.

@jenem9618 3 ай бұрын

I actually suspect she hasn't hit the genetic lottery, and I think that's precisely why she's so smug. To me, it actually sounds more like she has an unhealthy view of weight, food, and herself-- and that managing her weight through this unhealthy lens is a lot of emotional "hard work". She seemingly therefore considers herself morally superior for doing that "work", when in reality, the main reason it's so hard isn't because it has to be, it's because she has serious emotional issues to work through. In other words, it seems she thinks she's so much stronger than everyone else because, for her, maintaining her weight is physically and emotionally difficult and takes up way more bandwidth in her brain than it should-- and she doesn't realize that's not everyone's experience.

@OCDandme123 3 ай бұрын

I agree with this take except I think she has a lot of the same cravings obese people have and is more resilient hence she is so entitled because when she sees obese people it's a reflection of what she could've been

@syd755 4 ай бұрын

As someone who's been "overweight"/fat/plus size my whole life, I knew I would not be able to emotionally handle the original 40-min video Jubilee posted. Because the topic is so charged, biased, and saturated with misinformation, I knew there would be harmful beliefs expressed that would just ruin my day lol. Thank you for allowing for me to engage with this topic in an empathetic and EMPIRICALLY-BASED way!

@vapeck42 4 ай бұрын

I was fat shamed through out my teen years and it lead to an eating disorder. But I never got really skinny. I have always been over weight. I am currently on, well, not really a diet, more of a change of habit. I am also taking weight loss medication, that I also need for other reasons, and that is helping. I am doing this for my health and not because anyone is shaming me into doing it. I don't expect to become skinny, but a moderate amount of weight loss is the goal. I am down 27lbs and am very happy about it. So, yay me!

@saint1563 3 ай бұрын

congrats! That sounds awesome

@chudpunter 4 ай бұрын

the poverty aspect can't really be overstated. even outside of a full-blown "food desert", it can be absolutely crushing. I spent about a decade quite poor, mostly doing crappy retail work. I had good food available near me in stores. sometimes that's what I purchased. but having a miserable and exhausting job and never enough in my bank account made it *a lot* harder to _consistently_ eat healthier foods, much less get regular exercise. not impossible, but a lot harder. so I gained weight. which made me feel crappier, which made healthier choices even harder. then I got a better job. finally had more money, more spare time, and the mental and physical energy do most of my own cooking and get regular exercise. what do you know... most of that weight came off in the first few months with very little conscious effort on my part. it wasn't impossible for me to make good choices previously, but doing that consistently, especially during periods of extra high stress, was literal orders of magnitude more difficult than it is now.

@forrestfey 4 ай бұрын

The stress alone will make you garn weight.

@OCDandme123 3 ай бұрын

So you didn't just make good choices you had good choices to make

@kelwil977 4 ай бұрын

Hi Abby. I’m a family nurse practitioner in primary care in a federally qualified health center. This means I provide health care to people in very predominantly. I have always appreciated your no guilt, additive approach to nutrition. To your point about choice related to weight I have patients who have to walk or take the bus to the clinic to see me. They do not have the privilege to drive as they don’t have a car to get groceries further away from their homes. Obesity is related to poverty so our continued placement of the responsibility for it on the individual allows the American government to continue ignoring public services that would create a healthier population.

@AbbeysKitchen 4 ай бұрын

Well said

@forrestfey 4 ай бұрын

Also what the stress of being poor would do to your body.

@legobuilders6133 3 ай бұрын

"Having to walk to the bus" is a privilege. In Europe we do it all the time, also for groceries (or bike fe..) . It is good to walk. It is bad to drive everywhere. Really really strange comment about walking in post on obesity and health. People who walk to the grocery store will be healthier than people who drive there. Nevertheless, when you have poor mobility because of health issues, good care should be provided at home for a minimal cost (as is being done here in my European country). So I do agree with you on that if that is what you meant.

@gareth6525 3 ай бұрын

@@legobuilders6133they didn't say the walk to the the bus. The said they have to walk to the clinic, or use the bus. I'd imagine that's not the greatest feeling in the world since they're already going to the clinic for whatever reason. So you gotta read properly before you make comments like that my dude

@legobuilders6133 3 ай бұрын

@@gareth6525 Read my entire comment until the end "Dude".

@karynstouffer3562 4 ай бұрын

I sincerely appreciate this video, and your comments! As someone who has been on both ends of the weight journey, I can attest that shaming is never, let me repeat, NEVER, the proper "encouragement" to get someone to change how and what they eat. I have had such disordered eating patterns that my body doesn't know what to do any more. I'm now on a "fairly restrictive" diet. My insulin resistance (I have PCOS, so that's a given) has ramped up with menopause. I've been diagnosed as pre-diabetic. I'm struggling very hard to control it with diet alone, as I really don't want to take another damn pill. To keep my blood glucose under control, I have to severely limit my carb intake. Do you know how hard that is? I can't go fully keto because I don't digest that much fat efficiently. That much fat Hurts. Actual, physical pain. So, here I am. A middle aged woman, on the verge of being type 2. It's truly a struggle to stay nourished, lose weight, keep blood glucose control, and have to read labels constantly, all while being shamed for being overweight, AND have family try to feed me pasta dinners. I want to hide.😢

@anitafoss2133 4 ай бұрын

❤

@WiseMindNutrition 4 ай бұрын

facts!!

@wendym2544 4 ай бұрын

I'm sorry you're struggling so. I wish you lived close to me and I would help you for free. But you'd have to be willing (if necessary) to change your mindset and change a few other things.

@karynstouffer3562 4 ай бұрын

@@wendym2544 I am actually doing fairly well, thanks. I was just stating how much of a struggle it is. It should be easier. There is no singular, trustworthy, source of information, unless you can afford a dietary specialist, or have insurance that will pay for one. I have neither, as my work insurance hasn't kicked in yet. Even then, you're going to get differing opinions from different professionals. This one will suggest white rice, in moderation, is good. Um, no, not for me. I've already discovered that. And, OMG, if you look at what they tell you to eat, you would be doing nothing but snacking all day. I can't eat that much food. I can't eat right after I get up, never have been able to. I don't like snacking at night, unless I have a very early dinner. See what I mean? Too many med pros state advice that is contrary to what I am able to do. Reading labels is aggravating. All the manufacturers use some arbitrary "serving size." They don't even always follow what the USDA suggests. Aggravating to have to measure everything. Argh...! Sorry went on a tangent. 😏

@sallygreenfield6991 4 ай бұрын

I've been body shamed my whole entire life. I've literally never been at a weight where someone left it alone. I no longer have disordered eating patterns, but I'm definitely at a very unhealthy weight and terrified to do anything about it because of my past with extremely disordered eating. Shaming is NOT GOOD. No matter what the "in time" results are. I've been at a "healthy" weight with eating patterns that literally could have killed me, largely due to comments I received from well-meaning but poorly informed friends and family.

@user-xg8qj4nz2h 3 ай бұрын

"Just drive 40 minutes to get groceries" bold to assume everyone has a car and a licence

@clairbear1234 3 ай бұрын

And time, and babysitting

@mayhem875 4 ай бұрын

I use to be smaller when I was in high school then I gained weight. I didn’t really like how I looked so I started to take steps to lose weight, everyone was so excited for me. I lost 20 pounds and felt pretty good, but then people would be like “is that all? Don’t you wanna lose more?” Even though I had met my personal goal, there was this pressure to just keep losing weight, like I needed to be the same size I was when I was 14. I don’t think I need to weigh the same at 25. No one cared about my health or my doctors advice, they just wanted to see the skinner version of me, it was like the progress I did make didn’t even matter if they still had to look at a fatter version of me.

@StoneSaysHello 4 ай бұрын

Not every choice is available to every person.

@forrestfey 4 ай бұрын

So true

@clairbear1234 3 ай бұрын

Having lived in multiple neighborhoods within my city over a decade- it really is noticeable how the environment impacts ones choices- what foods you might tend to go for, if you feel safe exercising outside or if there is an affordable positive place to exercise.

@gloriaikeji9477 4 ай бұрын

I just want to say thank you abbey for using your platform in the best way. I’m so happy I found you on tik tok. I have learned so much and it has help r me to slowly deconstruct my binge eating/diet and culture habits I was taught growing up and through my own mother with ED. Thank you for using your voice to also explain all factors, like poverty and poc and culture and not finishing the human experience!

@sarahneubert3377 4 ай бұрын

I’m so glad you reviewed this! I was looking forward to it. And i thought your take was super interesting, respectful and helpful.

@dmspeacock 4 ай бұрын

I'm so glad you covered this. I saw the video when it came out and I was really wanting your commentary.

@denisea8968 4 ай бұрын

I struggled with an E.D. the most around the ages of 11-21, my average weight was 145 which is considered overweight on the BMI scale. Because I was not considered underweight or even a “normal” weight, I didn’t think my Eating Disorder was even real- until I started to have severe dental and gut health issues. All of that to say, at 25 I’m still recovering from a horrific relationship with food and believe my weight regulation is solely due to the fact that I refuse to touch or even look at particular food groups. Even if someone LOOKS healthier, there is also chance that maintaining that weight is taking a toll on their mental wellbeing

@kalisue6573 4 ай бұрын

Mostly no. Even if it is a “choice” it’s so very ingrained in your being that it becomes not a choice. How you were raised, your income, your family history, etc etc it’s hard to separate it completely down to just choices. My friends who are thin eat less, they just do it automatically and always have. They don’t desire more. Obviously that’s not everyone and some people struggle really hard to maintain thinness BUT for some people, those choices are easier, sometimes so much that they really don’t feel like choices at all.

@AbbeysKitchen 4 ай бұрын

absolutely. exactly what i said as well

@taylorhillard4868 3 ай бұрын

Everything is still a choice. I used to be fat and chose to not be that way anymore. I had to make choices to work around my food addiction. I had to completely change my life, but my health was more important than the things I had to miss out on for the rest of my life. Pasta is not worth my life. Candy bars are not worth my life. No food is worth an early death, despite how happy they could make me in the moment. And if that requires breaking relationships, changing jobs, moving to a new place to live, or any other life altering change, then so be it. There is always a choice. Just because its a hard choice doesn't make it not a choice.

@OCDandme123 3 ай бұрын

True I believe in this

@OCDandme123 3 ай бұрын

It's good not to oversimplify it but still it is a choice I have empathy and sympathy though

@kalisue6573 3 ай бұрын

@@taylorhillard4868 right which is why I said “mostly”. I just think it’s kind of a stupid title and question, honestly. Because it oversimplifies things. Everything is a choice, but when you look closer, is it really? Yes, but also no. Depending on who you are and your circumstances. Most of us started being fat when we were kids. Was that a choice? Well yeah, because every action is a choice by your brain, right? But also no cause you were a kid not in charge fully of your own life and actions. Well now your body is addicted to certain foods, has a f-ed up metabolism, engrained habits and relationships around food, emotional issues, and a set point your body now likes to be at. So now you’re an adult and yeah it’s a choice now, so you can fight that by making choices. That’s true, but it’s so much more complicated than that. And your choices have more weight and burden than someone who didn’t have those circumstances. So yeah it’s a choice, but not in the way it’s presented when you simply saying “being fat or skinny is a choice!”

@jadastricker569 4 ай бұрын

Love your take on everything. Also, the 40-45 minute drive they may not have gas money for. It's hard. Additionally, we have a honest food dessert in northern Canada with our communities out there. Try flying in food, not to mention all the PTSD from the trauma these people have been put through. Our last residential school was closed in 1996. Real issues, its not always a choice. I should be positive! We are making leaps and bounds with how we view people and in our health. We are going to figure out how to honour and bless each other and celebrate the wins we all get in life. The skinny, the fat and all the in between.

@AbbeysKitchen 4 ай бұрын

so well said

@forrestfey 4 ай бұрын

And to drive you have to own a car.

@catseatingpeople 3 ай бұрын

I absolutely love these videos for my ED recovery journey!!! Whenever I’m feeling like pursuing some diet culture BS I just pop on your videos. Watching you kindly yet incisively review diet culture concepts keeps me on track in my own journey and avoid falling back into old, toxic patterns!

@mockingbirdnightingale7169 4 ай бұрын

This is such a tough one. I was obese my ENTIRE life, until 40, when I had weight loss surgery. Although I now spend an extreme (probably unattainable to 99% of people) amount of time on fitness and nutrition, in order to maintain a TINY body size, I find it SO EASY to do, because I am doing it from a thin point. Doing the things I do in a fat body is extraordinarily difficult. I'm not talking about mental aspects. I mean the physical tasks. If you were to strap all the weight I lost onto my body today, I would almost certainly not be able to walk. I think people who have never been morbidly obese do not understand the sheer amount of difficult physical labor and energy exerted in transporting the body and trying to get through necessary tasks. The amount of energy I have now is so excessive and absurd that I find it annoying at times. I never learned in my younger years how to waste energy because I had no extra. Now I wake up at 5am bouncing off the walls and don't stop moving all day, because THERE IS NOTHING TO MOVE. I feel weightless, all the time. My body is barely even there. It is INCREDIBLE. It feels like being unchained. It feels like I was treading water for 40 years and then someone dragged me onto the beach. I cannot describe to a never-obese person what the actual, material weight of 150+ extra pounds stuck to your body 24/7 for decades does to you as a human being. All I can say is that while it might have been a series of choices, to an extent, that got me there, the choices I took to get out of it (surgery, weighing every gram of food, gym for hours every day, running, hiking, walking to/from work and everywhere else, passing up every temptation for 4 years) were "hard" but like... the kind of hard that it is when you want to go to bed but you know you need to brush your teeth. The next time you wonder what xyz is like for an obese person, strap 150 lbs to your body for a week and then ask your question again. Except instead of a week we can be stuck like that for decades. Absolutely nothing is worth the torment of being smothered under hundreds of pounds. It's offensive even to suggest it.

@Alicia-kg3hs 3 ай бұрын

Just want to say very few people can afford weight loss surgery.

@mockingbirdnightingale7169 3 ай бұрын

@@Alicia-kg3hs and very few people can afford to devote as many hours to fitness and nutrition per day as I do which is why I said in the beginning of my comment that it's unattainable to 99% of people. I know plenty of people who have had WLS and no one has results like mine because they didn't also put in insane hours into it like I do, because like I said, very few people can. Even people who can afford WLS or get it on insurance can't necessarily treat fitness and nutrition like a full time job.

@legobuilders6133 3 ай бұрын

you do realize that carrying 100's of extra pounds costs hundreds/ thousand of extra calories? So to even maintain a plus size body you need to eat an enormous amount of food extra in comparison to en smaler body. Everything you do is burning a lot more calories. That is why it is easier to loose weight when you are obese: with a normal calorie intake of 2000 calories per day you lose weight very fast because your basic metabolism is much higher.

@mockingbirdnightingale7169 3 ай бұрын

@@legobuilders6133 obviously anyone who has lost a substantial amount of weight and kept it off knows about calories lol

@cristywyndham-shaw5111 4 ай бұрын

Shaming someone because of their size is never a good thing. Sorry Lauren, but it just adds to the problem in the long run.

@francesgiblin463 4 ай бұрын

Thank you for creating safe place to learn about diet and nutrition in a respectful manner.

@AbbeysKitchen 4 ай бұрын

Always!

@stellarae8257 4 ай бұрын

like everything else, this conversation needs tons of nuance. there are choices you *likely* have control over that will impact your weight, like whether you have 3 ice cream scoops instead of 2 or if you'll push yourself for the extra 2 reps in a set. there are also things you have no control over, like if you need a medicine that makes you gain weight or if you spend 16 hours a day working and dont have time to do anything physically for yourself outside of that. one thing i will say though, is that science needs to be listened to. you can have an opinion like "skinny shaming is as bad as fat shaming" but you cant have an opinion that "shame is a healthy motivation tool" because it factually isn't. i'd also argue that the difference is that i've never heard of someone not getting their medical issues looked into because theyre skinny, where as countless overweight and obese people are ignored just because of their size. both hurt the individual greatly and can be deadly, but one is a systemic problem that kills people on a large societal scale. criticizing peoples bodies and making assumptions based off of them is just so unproductive and unhealthy. you cant automatically know everything about someone's health from the outside.

@happycommuter3523 3 ай бұрын

Fantastic video-so compassionate and intelligent regarding an incredibly fraught and sometimes controversial topic. You’ve picked up another subscriber!

@Bmaessg 4 ай бұрын

There are also risks to intentional weight loss: weight cycling, lowered bone density, amenorrhea, muscle loss, frailty in people over 65, eating disorders, obsession with food, loss of time and energy for other important things in your life, modeling body obsession and manipulation to your children.

@racatiwood 4 ай бұрын

I kinda get the vibe that Lauren puts most of her self-worth on staying slender

@ChantelleHale 4 ай бұрын

She absolutely thinks that she's slender because she works for it, and assumes everybody who is fat just doesn't work as hard as she does. Every time a clip of her was shown, she was saying something completely uninformed that showed a massive lack or respect for anybody who doesn't look like her.

@racatiwood 4 ай бұрын

@@ChantelleHale I do think she made an effort to not judge people to their face on camera, but was rather unsuccessful at it. In a way, a lot of it is cultural.

@sue9037 4 ай бұрын

I’m so glad I found your videos when I was in recovery you helped me so much

@Plumpquail 4 ай бұрын

I absolutely loved your comment at the end “two things can be true” ! Yess!

@gaywrestlingclasses4724 4 ай бұрын

Probably the hardest video to watch I've seen you do. As a personal trainer I've felt in recent years when I've been struggling with my own motivation is the question, why do I want to be here? So much of what we face as trainers is weight loss focused and adherence is the biggest challenge. I've also changed my own attitudes about being overweight with much of my attitude has changed toward favoring ability and activity. It really only takes a couple weeks of increasing activity for your endurance to improve and with it is heart rate variability (which is among the biggest determining factors for survival of a heart attack). When we become more active our mood, attitude, outlook, etc all improve as does insulin demand within cells. Same is true when I eat better, I feel different. High nutrient foods with great satiety factors make you feel better. I think that if we focus more on how positive changes make us feel, how much more able we feel, then we are much more prone to want to make the changes, to stick to the changes. None of that comes from body shaming and I think lifestyle changes which make us happier is where it's at.

@kaciewarren2626 3 ай бұрын

OK I'm sorry but the single mom working three minimum wage jobs still isn't doing her grocery shopping at the convenience store down the street that only has chips candy. The food desert situation is such a weird excuse. I have lived in a food desert my entire life and you still grocery shop at the grocery store. I don't know anyone that's living off of gas station food especially if they're close to the poverty line, you can't afford to live off of gas station.

@cjtorres5917 4 ай бұрын

Some insane privilege going on in that panel.

@kasial210 4 ай бұрын

Ridiculous statement

@linochka64 4 ай бұрын

From the obese side

@vincilai6531 4 ай бұрын

Amazing video!!! I love your evidence based points and informed perspectives! ❤️ I would also add more info in the social determinants of health as they are hugely related to health, wellbeing, and weight. You definitely touched on this which I appreciate :)

@aleidalg 4 ай бұрын

Love all your takes. Thank you for this!

@tbryan5437 4 ай бұрын

My daughter loves to cook and makes us healthy meals. Last night she didn’t feel well when she started cooking, so I had to do it. It took me almost 2 hours to chop all the veggies she had sitting out and cooking the chicken. I hated every minute of it and was ready for a nervous breakdown by the time I was done, and I hadn’t even completed the meal. There was at least another ½ hour of work to put the salad together, make the homemade dressing, open cans of corn and beans…etc. At least it’s all prepped for her to make today. If it were up to me, our meals would be much simpler, and not as tasty and appealing. Not saying non-cooks like me can’t eat healthy, but the vision of a person cooking dinner and happily chopping healthy veggies etc., is not something most people can do, either because they hate it (like me), or don’t have the time or energy.

@eliannahankin2971 4 ай бұрын

I get it but if health is a priority and saving money too then making meals at home is a win. I don’t feel like doing things daily but I can’t afford nannies and personal cook

@raeb84 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for another great video. I get so mad when people just reduce weight down to “choice.” Everything is a choice if that’s the case, but would they say that it is just a “choice” to get over trauma? Or to stop being depressed is just a “choice”? Or, heck, if you want to be taller that’s just the choices you make? Nothing in life is strictly choices you make - if it was just down to choice, I’d have a mansion with a pool and 50 dogs, but that isn’t reality. Outside (or other internal) factors, that are not within an individual’s entire control, are always part of the conversation when it comes to anything in life. We don’t all live in perfect bubbles with no effect from the outside world.

@sdennen 4 ай бұрын

Exactly! Many people who say everything is "choice" and "hard work" seem to have benefited from an awful lot of good luck. They can't see it because they can't get past the concept that their lived experience is not *everyone's* lived experience 😓

@OCDandme123 3 ай бұрын

Not always sometimes they deal with the most difficult obstacles and circumstances and say it's a choice because they've become self righteous and desensitized due to being an outlier

@OCDandme123 3 ай бұрын

And many of them see themselves in fat people I know I did

@krisztinanagy1626 4 ай бұрын

Thank you Abbey for this video, not as simple as it looks, life is complicated sometimes,that for sure,and it’s really interesting how body and mind work together,🙏🤩🌻

@AbbeysKitchen 4 ай бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

@art.junk13 4 ай бұрын

Yes. You and Mickey around have drastically improved my perspective around weight.

@Rose-dj6hc 4 ай бұрын

Abby I love you you saved me from my Ed I was depressed for not eating enough like I just ate two times a day and that's all and now I'm so much better thanks to you I'm feeling happier this days because of you💞❤

@AbbeysKitchen 4 ай бұрын

Aw I am so happy to hear

@irenek9548 4 ай бұрын

I love your thoughts on this topic.Thank you..

@jessinf123 4 ай бұрын

Hi Abbey - I’d love to see a collab with a Marketing expert to discuss the positioning of “health” foods

@arescue 4 ай бұрын

Maybe The Financial Diet

@skoopman2675 4 ай бұрын

Very good video in which you absolutely nailed it!

@k.a5765 4 ай бұрын

My sister who’s a mom of 2 is super skinny and has always been. She eats out every other day and still skinny. She has never worked out. She wanted to lose a little weight to look good in a bathing suit and she stop eating iced cream at night and lost 20 pounds. Me on the other hand I’m the opposite. I have to work on staying my weight. During my period last month I had a bad week and ate out almost everyday and gained 10 pounds. I’m saying this cause bodies are different.

@danastonerock 4 ай бұрын

This was so good. Thank you.

@AbbeysKitchen 4 ай бұрын

so glad you liked

@manda6299 4 ай бұрын

This was a wonderful video Abbey- super insightful and I appreciate your professional input. As a fat person I can say that there is SO much that goes into WHY people are fat, why they may not want or can’t lose weight,etc. me for instance- I grew up in severe poverty( like I didn’t get to eat for days at a time ). Then when my mom died when I was 11 and I was in a healthier more stable environment I began binging on all the food I could get because I didn’t know when I would get it next, that then lead to weight gain and shaming from my family and peers that then turned into my bulimia. I still suffer to this day with it. I’ve been fat, I’ve been skinny, and now I’m fat again. I have a lot of privilege now as an adult so I am working on my weight and that is my ability and choice but I recognize that SO many people can’t do that and THATS OKAY. It’s not my body to be concerned about. Bodily autonomy is everything and I wish people would stop making fat people feel like they don’t deserve to even exist. If we said that about an extremely skinny person( and yes I know it happens from time to time but not at the rate it is said to fat people ) we would be attacked for saying such a hateful thing. I’m almost 30 now and happily married and getting healthy to try and have my first baby. My motto to others now is if you don’t like me- don’t look, but I won’t be hiding.

@Soyunakaren 4 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for having a broad nutritional vision, these people are too privileged to be debating

@Bee37351 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for another great video Abbey! I think weight has so much more to do with how your body processes it than what you eat. If you’re breathing in chemicals because you’re living in a toxic house, your metabolism and organs will eventually give in and you won’t process food appropriately. Leading to weight gain. Thats what happened to me. I had to work hard to maintain my weight in my old home, but now that I have cleaned up my environment I don’t have to any more, and I can eat pretty much anything I want .

@ebonitompkins 4 ай бұрын

This can also be true in a stressful environment!

@stephaniemiersch 4 ай бұрын

Great video! Thanks!

@rebeccabowen101 4 ай бұрын

I've been on both ends of the spectrum. Until I was 28 I could not gain weight to save my life. I hated it! Then my thyroid quit, I had three children, menopause came along, etc. Now, at 50 pounds heavier, I can't drop the weight no matter what. So very frustrating!!

@ahuman5772 2 ай бұрын

Being "normal" weight is also not a healthy goal for some people. My girlfriend eats a very balanced diet (some of her food even looks like wellness influencers - like a breakfast that's just raw carrots and hommus dip, sometimes just carrots by themselves as a snack, that sort of thing). She's mostly plant-based, so not much processed meat. She is also overweight. She used to be normal weight, and had heart problems (unable to even walk up the stairs), felt dizzy and faint, really weak. She was only able to be "normal" weight because she was annorexic and basically didn't eat. We go exercising together now and she's feeling much better now that she doesn't have the eating disorder anymore. We don't drive so we walk a lot. Sometimes, people are just healthier being bigger. One thing that isn't talked about is that even if being overweight can have risks, for some people being a "normal" weight is worse.

@MarjolaineDaudrumez 4 ай бұрын

Thank you Abbey. Thank you.

@MollyWiseViola 3 ай бұрын

Amazing video Abbey❤

@JustFionaGallagher 4 ай бұрын

Fat person here. This was surprisingly good to watch. I’ve watched you for years and generally enjoy this sort of discourse. I highly recommend the podcast Maintenance Phase to anyone who enjoys unpacking diet culture nonsense.

@shenandoah1322 4 ай бұрын

❤❤❤thank you for this❤❤❤

@Prismalpink 3 ай бұрын

I remember Selena Gomez once said she puffed up because of lupus and other health issues related to drinking in the past. Sometimes looking chubby or fat is not a choice, but bc of medical conditions.

@spirituallysafe 3 ай бұрын

Drinking too much is a choice.

@warlordbuggy 4 ай бұрын

Hey Abbey! Can you please watch “diets and weight stigma are making you mentally ill” by Mickey Atkins? I felt like you said a few things that were so similar to some of the things Mickey brings up in this video but still had a bit of a bias on weight that may be misplaced to some extent. I think there was a bit of nuance missing here that really would have been nice to see. Thank you so much if you get a chance to read this or watch the video suggestion! As a woman who has been all sizes and healthy at every one I think there is a lack of understanding from our health care providers that are just following what was taught to them by a broken system and may need some push back. I think you would find the information and research Mickey includes really interesting at the very least. Thank you again! Loved your video and the open conversation about weight and health! 💜

@5fingerjack 4 ай бұрын

Mickey Atkins - A licensed clinical SW and person in a bigger body who has struggled w/ED - & Abbey Sharpe... What a great chat they could have!

@juliachen9781 4 ай бұрын

I've been skinny my whole life. I've had years where I ate ice cream and drank beer every single day, and years where I ate extremely "healthy", and the number on the scale didn't change (although I did throw out my scale, so now I only know my weight from the doctor's office) My weight is not a choice for me, so why should I assume it's a choice for someone in a larger body?

@ThingsAbove333 4 ай бұрын

Lets just love each other right where we're at 🎉🎉

@rachelsalamone2207 4 ай бұрын

Great video!

@KiraRagged 2 ай бұрын

Shame is a terrible motivator, it's one of the worst. I saw a quote from a different video that I think sums this up. "We change when we believe that we are capable and worthy of changing." Shame has exactly the opposite effect.

@rosekang553 4 ай бұрын

This is my favorite video of yours!!!

@mendicantcrow 4 ай бұрын

I feel like the question they posed was problematic. For one, why was it "is being fat a choice" and not "is your weight a choice?" Secondly, the question is posed as choice singular. Your weight can be the result of thousands of smaller choices, each with their own complex hurdles and potential barriers from genetics, illnesses, and your social situation. So I would have said no, it's not a single choice based on that poor wording. It's a thousand choices, with a thousand variables each.

@BeYounique...Maryanne 3 ай бұрын

Abbey, you are such a breath of fresh air! I just found your videos and I love them! The thin woman in the red dress is annoying. You don't shame people, you INSPIRE! Thanks Abbey for giving a voice to those who are overweight. I was thin all my life, then gained 15 pounds when I hit 50, so now I'm a medium/size 6 instead of small. (And I eat all clean too, everything fresh, I just gained -- period). The doctors say I'm in a good weight range. I'm 60 with perfect blood work and on no medications. Yet, interesting how some thin people see me as "fat" and aren't afraid to let me know either.

@KCreationsbyKaylie 4 ай бұрын

Could you do a video that talks about pcos and meal prep when having it?

@OliviaKruis 4 ай бұрын

Loved 'this could mean losing the job they need to provide for their family or working an extra job and never seeing their family' very much the position I'm in and I'm not even overweight but def not feeling healthy recently bc I have to work overnights to make ends meet and this made me feel so seen. It is definitely a real challenge to have to work so much to just make it or worry so much anytime you're unable to work that you don't have enough to provide for your family let alone yourself

@333Abs 4 ай бұрын

I honestly do think being very underweight or very overweight is caused by our choices. That’s not to say there are not VALID outside factors which effect the choices we make.

@KatieStAmand 4 ай бұрын

Some things I think are missing from this discussion are 1) weight cycling and the ways in which efforts to lose weight, aka eating in a calorie deficit for a prolonged period, damages or at the very least changes your metabolism. For most fat people, it just gets harder to lose weight and easier to gain weight as time goes on, exacerbated by repeated dieting and extreme efforts to lose weight. 2) Even IF we agreed weight came down to choices, these are not moral choices. One of the most insidious aspects of this is the underlying judgement that being fat says something about the kind of person you are - bad, lazy, immoral, gluttonous, undisciplined, stupid, disgusting, etc etc etc. You can see from this video - especially the girl in the red dress - their is an air of superiority. Like “I’m a better person than you because I’m skinny” This is also an important undercurrent of weight stigma, which brings me to 3) “Fat shaming” is not equivalent to skinny shaming because it is just one element of social and structural inequities that fat people face, from job discrimination to accessibility in public spaces. Feeling insecure about your body or being upset about something mean someone said is not the same as living every day in a society where you are reminded that your body is deemed unacceptable and something that needs to be fixed. Also - changing the way we treat fat people would benefit skinny people as well! If being fat wasn’t treated like the worst thing you can be, it wouldn’t be so devastating for someone to gain 30 pounds after pregnancy or to go from a size 6 to a size 10. Plus if we stopped commenting on peoples bodies and weight IN GENERAL we could save ourselves a lot of trouble.

@sdennen 4 ай бұрын

Yes to all this

@kaemccorkle 4 ай бұрын

Say it louder for the people in the back! Abbey’s explanation of fat shaming and judgment was so validating.

@onwardupwardfurtherin 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for this video! Do you have a video about best practices when on a medication that causes weight gain, or have a health condition that makes it harder to be consistent with getting enough movement. I do eat clean and in a calorie deficit, but my weight still seems to be climbing. I have EDS and endometriosis, along with some heart issues (autonomic dysfunction). The heart issues are interesting - while exercising, my heart can go too slow (I can't break 120bpm while doing hard cardio) or be too fast (my heart can be too fast while doing extremely gentle cardio - like 180-190bpm). This really limits how I can move on a given day, or how many calories I am able to burn. I also have a lot of digestive issues with the EDS, and have lots of food I cannot eat. I eat an exclusively clean diet that's gluten free, fairly low fodmap, and lots of homemade soup with homemade broth. I do try to exercise or move for an hour, 4-5 times a week (but this can fluctuate - especially post surgery or post injury). Anyway, not looking for medical advice! Just wondering if you can point me to a video on this kind of topic - when medications cause weight gain, or health issues prevent certain kinds of calorie burning.

@dencampo 4 ай бұрын

I want to see all of the video . Where in can find it ? I didn’t in the description

@maryshannon3326 3 ай бұрын

I like Abbey's science-backed and comprehensive take on this sensitive subject. We need more civil discussions like this and less of the hateful blaming and shaming and judging that is found all over the internet and in schools, families, medical clinics, magazines, all forms of media, etc. in the USA.

@DanielleMisc96 4 ай бұрын

I would say, that I've known many people who were, at one point, thin, and gained weight in their 20's beginning when they were away for university and never stopped. The inverse is that I've also known people who were large for most of their life and embarked a journey to lose the weight. They have been able to remain a healthy weight. I would say that for some is a choice, and other suffer medical issues and environmental circumstances it is a more challenging choice because they have factors stacked against them. Your life is what you make it, at the end of the day. I agree with Dominic.

@justjuli 4 ай бұрын

I dont think being overweight is a choice, but it can be the result of the choices we make. I think most people could loose weight if they tried, however most people will never be "skinny" whether that be due to health issues, genetics, weight history, hormones etc.

@NaomieYourHomie 4 ай бұрын

Hey Abbey, how do you find things out/ know gut biome is messed up; how can you [if possible] whats causes it & how to fix it?. some info I was healthy weight in college[yr1= 147- yr3= 187], started meds at 24 and haven't been under 200lbs. since meds[ highest 232.4; lowest ive achieved since is like 205/210 without starving or strict diets]... its taking physical tolls on lower back etc.. lot is emotional eating/depression bingeing.

@TangoYankee7611 4 ай бұрын

I reckon this is your best video ever. Science and sass absolutely

@nothanksmegan 4 ай бұрын

Someone who is 5-15lbs “overweight” that truly eats a protein rich whole food diet with plenty of fruit & veg, low in ultra processed foods and alcohol is far healthier than a skinny or underweight person who’s drinking a bit too much and primarily consumes mac, crackers & nuggets. Nutrients matter!!

@autumnelaines 3 ай бұрын

In a matched sibling pair research study of breast fed and formula fed babies there were no significant differences in weight outcomes. The only health difference were that formula fed babies were at a slightly higher risk for eczema in infancy (mild not serious long lasting eczema).

@bibibabblesasmr7644 4 ай бұрын

Dear, brilliant Abbey, I'd love to hear your thoughts on "Is your weight under your control?" video by Miche,PhD? As a person struggling with an ED, I found that video to be controversial 🫤 Thank you for yet another thought-feeding video ❤

@mostlywholenicole 3 ай бұрын

We all have choices, but we don’t all have the same choices!

@katiekilgore6319 4 ай бұрын

I've never been "skinny" I'd say im midsized, as an adult I've alway been between 140-160ish, even when I was eating really low carb, high protein,and working out several times a week I could barely get below 140, i was thinner than I ever had been but didn't look anything like my cousins who have always been skinny. It became so hard to get smaller i just gave up, I'm back to 160 now and hoping to lose some weight before my wedding in November but not seeing a hard goal

@jacezeimantz1 4 ай бұрын

You summed it up perfectly Abbey! We should be promoting and encouraging lifestyle changes to have a healthy body and healthy weight, rather than quick and dangerous methods for simply the result of fat loss

@LatulaArts 4 ай бұрын

I'm disabled and have been desperately trying to lose weight. I struggled with food insecurity for many years which destroyed my metabolism beyond what it already was from genetics. So my bmr is a mess. Plus the disastrous results of years of adhd medication that I didn't actually need that made me barely eat, then overeat when I was off the medication and food no longer made me sick. I manage to gain weight at around 1200 calories per day. People say its impossible but I've been weighing out my food for YEARS and tracking my calories. Making my meals at home, spending the extra I had to to get fresh and healthy food and cutting out all fast food, soda, alcohol, and excess sugar. And I still gained weight. For 8 months a few years back, I was walking around 3-5 miles a day for my job and eating no red meat, very few sweets, no fast food, and mostly salads with my meals equating to around 1500 calories per day. I went from 180lbs to 230lbs in that time and none of it was visible muscle. I cut down to 1200 and was still gaining. I ended off at 240. I did not start losing weight until I cut down to 800 calories per day which is VERY UNHEALTHY. I had to go on medication to try to get my body to stop doing this and have barely managed to lose 30lbs in the past year. Given, I wasn't disabled back when I was walking so much, but I am now and I can't go to the gym or walk very far because of it. I'm still struggling to get down to my goal of 160 before my wedding next year.. and even that 160 is still considered overweight for my 5'6 frame. But I also have 12lbs of breast tissue and that hasn't changed since I was skinnier, so I'm calling it "technically 148lbs" lol

@jemimahgertrude590 4 ай бұрын

Thanks so much for raising this. I too am disabled and struggling to lose weight at 1200 calories. So glad I'm not alone in my struggle ❤

@LatulaArts 4 ай бұрын

@jemimahgertrude590 contrave did help me, but it's a nightmare to start. It made me feel horrid for the first two weeks and even then my insurance would only cover a month and a half of it :( I'm sorry you're going through this too. So many people on weight loss boards reply to me saying shit like "that's physically impossible" or "you can't break physics" but my base metabolic rate is just THAT low that 1200 isn't really a defecit.

@sdennen 4 ай бұрын

This is a problem I struggle with too - I have multiple health conditions and I have to listen to my body and rest or risk flares and be out of commission for weeks or months. On bad days, my Fitbit says I'm burning 1500 calories. For a long time, I was eating 1250 calories and felt like I was starving. I had even less strength and energy. It was taking weeks to lose even a pound. I felt awful and it wasn't sustainable. My body was just not cooperating. When I started doing better and could burn 1700-2100 calories a day, I was still tracking my food (matched in/output or deficit) and, wouldn't you know it? I'm STILL gaining weight, a pound every few weeks.

@jemimahgertrude590 4 ай бұрын

@@sdennen Listening to your body as regards to rest is so important! I try to have at least one rest day a week to portion out my energy and prevent exhaustion creeping up on me

@freelynourished949 4 ай бұрын

As an RD who works in public health I was screaming watching the original video. I think it would’ve been much more helpful having a video with those in the medical field. Something like anti - diet dietitians vs weight loss dietitians

@amyfrey4753 3 ай бұрын

I was a size 2 until I turned 28 and my dad died. Nothing else changed but I gained 40 pounds nearly overnight. At 30 and 32 I then had two babies and more trauma as my births were traumatic. I eat an extremely healthy and balanced diet but I am not a size 16 very obese according to my bmi. My diet has only improved in the last 8 years since my initial gain. And yet I’ve continued to gain weight. It’s maddening when people are ignorant to the reality that obesity isn’t always about what you do or don’t eat.

@xx1983xx 3 ай бұрын

So most of my childhood, my maternal grandmother "teased" me on being chubby in a negative way. I chose to ignore her comments as an adolescence, but it still hurt. My body went through puberty, and I briefly was the "perfect skinny sized teen" for a couple of years before my eating habits caught up. I've only been about 20-40 pounds over the "ideal" weight for someone my size, but I was always athletic enough to make the nay-sayers hush. Grandma died, ironically, from starving to death. (Dramatic, but the relatives were taking care of her, or lack thereof. Murder mystery that I don't bother about. ) Anyhew, now I'm 40 years old, former "athlete," and I recognize the illness in both the "fat and skinny." Both are opposites of the health spectrums, and yet neither will see it in themselves. My paternal grandmother was a chubby, stereotypical grandma who loved her grandkids. And when she died, she was a few decades older than my maternal grandmother. The life lesson to me is: do you want to die a skinny young thing, or a happy sized grandparent? Of course I'm biased, but my story isn't a lie. I miss my happy, overly healthy, grandma.

@heidih8556 4 ай бұрын

Thanks Abby for your thought provoking and insightful video "Is Fat A Choice". Everyone is an individual and unique, especially here in the US where we have such a mix of cultures and ethnicities as well as income levels and diverse demographics in general. I think that today's marketing strategies and especially social media have discouraged and encouraged the "fat shaming" culture. It does seem and probably is a fact that society and maybe US society as a whole is more obese than in the past. My worry is more for the health of society than the actual portrayal of what everyone looks like in their clothes. I guess I just want everyone to enjoy health and happiness, no matter what the scale says.

@brittanysimpson3145 4 ай бұрын

I have had severe binge eating (29 year old female - 5'4 103-113lbs ) for 13 years and I have educated myself on nutrition in every way for my personal gain (besides going to school as a dietician like Abbey - I wish I was as intelligent and committed as you, but it just wasn't the path I took). I do not typically track everything I eat, but I wanted to see where I was at, and I really like data which in my case last month translated to (TDEE/calorie consumption etc.) it was not a punishment and it did not affect how or why I ate or worked out it was simply a little self examination. I accept my binge eating disorder and although some people are against it, I weigh myself every morning and record it in an app and the reason is because I know if I don't weigh myself, then I am giving the number on the scale more power - trust me, no one wants to weigh themselves the morning after a 7000 calorie binge. Weighing myself is just a simple acknowledgement (this sounds weird, but if you have binge eating you understand the shame and guilt surrounding the morning/day after). Anyway, I wore my Apple Watch from the second I woke up to the second I went to sleep. I binge ate 4000-7000 calories 17/31 days of the month - *not intentionally - I hope that's obvious. I never EVER restrict or purge or over exercise after I binge, I always consume at least 2200 calories, but I am a "thin" person. Based on the amount I eat, it makes no sense to be the weight I am. Binge eating has ruined my quality of life entirely. I won't leave the house for a week straight because I feel so disgusting after. It took a lot to convince my family doctor that I had binge eating just because "I wasn't big enough". I've struggled with this disorder for 13 years. These people are larger and eat far less than me on average. I don't know that I believe being fat is a choice. Eating x amount is a choice if you don't have binge eating disorder or any other eating disorder, and TDEE to some degree is controllable, but based on my calorie consumption and my TDEE - I should be at least overweight, if not obese.

@nopenope2951 4 ай бұрын

As someone who grew up on welfare, my mom had to buy what she could afford and make. She was a single mom, so she didn’t have the perks of being a middle class stay at home mom. I think people over simplify other people’s situation based on their own experiences. Yes, we are accountable for our choices….but how much control do we have over nature vs nurture?

@TraceyBoyland 4 ай бұрын

I love this episode. Thank you Also. I .iss rate my WIEIAD. Are ypu planning to go back to those episodes.?

@PrissyHippie 2 ай бұрын

I had been overweight since early childhood. I'm from the South USA. I was raised on sweet tea, SWEET tea. It was in my bottles as a baby. I ate lots of home cooking, my mother and grandmother were excellent cooks, Southern Soul Food. My Mama even had a restaurant and catering business. We ate breads and potatoes at every meal and desserts were normal. Lots of fried foods. I honestly thought God just made me as a fat person. I honestly didn't think there was a thing I could do about it. But, I finally decided to do something about it with the help of my doctors, nutritionist and therapist. I went keto/low carb and lost 85 lbs on my own and decided to have wls. I had the sleeve in 2021. I have lost a total of 200 lbs. since deciding to lose weight. I still eat in a calorie deficit as I'm trying to lean out as much as possible for my upcoming skin removal surgery. I feel amazing! I am a completely different person than I was 5 years ago. It is a choice... being fat is a choice. I'm proof of that. You have to get out of your comfort zone and venture into unknown territory. But it is doable. Eliminating most processed foods and choosing whole foods was my key to success. Of course, the wls was a terrific tool for me. It helped me get my appetite under control and allowed me to eat in a calorie deficit for the first time in my life. I just wish I had done this years ago. I really enjoy your content Abby, thank you for all you do.