February 22nd, 2008 in Lifestyle

Living in Fat City

If you live in Australia, the US, the UK, Canada or New Zealand, then you live in the same place as me; Fat City. Fat City of course, being more of a collective mindset, and a culture of eating too much and moving too little, than any geographical location, or ‘literal’ place. And while it’s not a literal place, it is very real. If you know what I mean.

The weight of the average Australian increases by about 0.4kg (1lb) per year, every year, and it’s a pretty similar figure in most Western countries. It’s predicted that Australia (where I live) will be a totally obese population by 2050. There’s a thought. What an achievement. This is the forecast, despite the fact that we are now more educated, more informed and more aware, than we’ve ever been before. The truth is, in 2008 we are constantly bombarded with more and more information and education about diet, lifestyle, exercise, obesity, general health and all its variables, yet still, we grow.

As an Exercise Scientist, observer of humanity, and ex-fat bloke, there are plenty of things which fascinate me about living in Fat City (the culture, the habits, the behaviors, the thinking, the excuses, the lies, the marketing, the trends, the media), but here’s my short list:

1. We’ve never be more informed, educated, resourced or equipped to combat obesity, yet we’ve never been fatter. We live in the information age, yet we do nothing with it. I’m amused by those who suggest that obesity is primarily an education problem, when in reality, it is (for the majority) a self-control problem. Self control: yes, that crazy, outdated notion I’ve spoken of many times before. We are inundated with education but we choose not to learn. Real ‘learning’ would have resulted in a large-scale positive change in behavior, and of course, decline in obesity levels. It hasn’t. In fact, if there was a positive correlation between the increase in education and the decline of global obesity, then we would see virtually no obesity at all. But… if we wanted to be cheeky and use ’selective science’ (as many ‘experts’ do), we could actually conclude that the increase in education may have resulted in the increase in obesity. After all, there is a direct relationship: more education, more obesity. Yes I’m being sarcastic, but you understand my point. When it comes to diet and exercise, we know what to do, but we don’t do what we know.

2. I am constantly amazed at our ability (as a society) to complicate the simple. How many more books, programs and breakthrough weight-loss discoveries do we need? Really? Here’s a wacky concept, increase energy expenditure (exercise, general activity) and decrease energy intake (stop eating so much crap). A little scientific I know, but hey, it just might work. Of course it’s simple, but it requires genuine and consistent effort. Simple, of course, not to be confused with ‘easy’. And therein lies the problem. Which leads me to point three.

3. Our obsession with the quick fix. We don’t wanna work for those results. We want someone or something to do it for us. We are precious and lazy. We are addicted to the shortcut. Give me the pill, powder, potion, product or surgeon that will make me beautiful. I am allergic to sweat and hard work it’s so ‘1985′. We are a culture obsessed with ‘easy’ and sometimes creating amazing requires a little effort. Or a lot. And we hate that. Sorry about that. I’ll try and change it.

4. We love playing the ‘blame game’. We would rather justify, rationalize, explain and blame someone or something for our obesity, than take complete responsibility for our fat selves. Of course it’s not our fault. We are poor victims of situations, circumstances and genetics. So not fair. If what we do to our body (lifestyle, food, exercise) is the biggest influence on our level of fitness and fatness (which it is), then obesity is typically the result of poor decision making, rather than poor genetics. Even people with poor genetics can get in great shape, if they work with their genetics and manipulate the variables the right way.

5. I laugh when people get grumpy at me for telling the truth; what they don’t want to hear.“Okay John, it will only take two weeks to lose that hundred pounds and that huge gut you built over the last thirty years, and yes, it will be easy, fun and painless. You will definitely look incredible by next Tuesday. Wednesday, tops. In fact, just leave your body here; I’ll do it for you.”

6. I marvel that people pay thousands of dollars per year to walk/run on a treadmill with a built in TV, radio and fan, when they could get the same physiological benefit (or better) heading out their front door and returning thirty minutes later. No driving to the gym, no petrol costs, no waiting for machines, no travel time.

7. Our inability to finish things. We start jogging. We stop. We go on a diet. We go off it. We join a gym. We go five times. We make resolutions. We don’t follow through. We lose fat. We regain it. We start. We stop. We get fit. We get unfit. We operate on emotion. We always find a ‘reason’ to give up. We experience momentary motivation, but we never truly commit. Real commitment (”I will do this no matter what”) creates life-long change, not temporary weight loss or occasional fitness. We’re great at starting, crap at finishing.

8. The Victim. “But you don’t understand my life, body, time restraints, problems, situation, history, challenges, injuries, medical conditions.” Your problem isn’t your body; it’s your thinking. Get your mind in shape and your body will follow.

WRITER'S BIOGRAPHY

Craig Harper

Craig Harper (B.Ex.Sci.) is a qualified exercise scientist, author, columnist, radio presenter, television host, motivational speaker and university lecturer. For the past 25 years he has been a leading presenter, educator, motivator and commentator in the areas of personal and professional development. You can visit Craig's blog at Motivational Speaker.

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41 Responses

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blerg says on February 22nd, 2008 at 9:35 am

I love Lifehack, but the two Craig Harper articles I’ve read so far were off-puttingly smug (the other one was “Exploring Relationships With the Single Weirdo”). Great, you’re perfect and everyone else is a stupid lazy a–hole. And…?
Thursday says on February 22nd, 2008 at 12:28 pm

I’m afraid I have to disagree with the idea that it all boils down to self-control. For the last hundred years we’ve been told it’s morally wrong to waste food, whether your mother told you that the starving children in Zimbabwe would be grateful for your lima beans or a Holocaust survivor describing fighting over potato scraps.

Sociological forces tell us that not eating is a crime, and until we can figure out a way of dealing with that sense of guilt, self-control will not be enough to prevent people from eating more than they need.
Riter says on February 22nd, 2008 at 12:39 pm

I agree with Blerg. I like Lifehack but found the tone of this article offensive. Let’s get other, better stuff on Lifehack and live the jerks off of it, Okay?
eamon.mack says on February 22nd, 2008 at 12:49 pm

That statue reminds me of when I lived in Costa Rica. It’s in the Avenida Central in the capital San José.
Aaron Griffin says on February 22nd, 2008 at 1:34 pm

This article gets my seal of approval. Anyone who is offended by this article is probably offended because they’re fat and don’t think it’s their fault (”I can’t help it!”, “It’s just the way I am”, “I’m big boned”).
Jeff says on February 22nd, 2008 at 1:54 pm

http://www.nataliedee.com/0214.....oblems.jpg

Come on people. Weight loss has one simple rule from physics:

Less energy in + more energy out = net mass loss.

If you are overweight, just follow this simple equation to success!

I’m trying to lose weight now, as I’m overweight, and I know it’s difficult. But it’s difficult mentally. It’s not actually hard once you are running, or once you eat that healthy smaller meal. It’s getting your fat ass to the gym, it’s choosing the 6″ sub over the 12″ sub.

Will power folks.

This article also gets my seal of approval.
Annie says on February 22nd, 2008 at 3:32 pm

This is a great article. God forbid we should have an opinionated piece on lifehack that polarises readers. I for one would like to see more articles like this on lifehack rather that Ten Ways to… Good work Craig.
Mel says on February 22nd, 2008 at 3:44 pm

Congratulations Lifehack.

As someone who is overweight, this is just the slap in face I need.

For years people have been telling me that my weight is not my fault when I am the one making the decision to put more food into my mouth.

If you are offended by this article you are probably in some form of denial!

I took the time to visit Craig’s website and found that he was a grossly overweight teenager. So he is speaking from experience.

Congratulations Lifehack on having the courage to publish this article. I personally found it a timely wake up call.
Kate says on February 22nd, 2008 at 3:59 pm

I also love Lifehack and found “Exploring Relationships With the Single Weirdo” and this article by Craig Harper to be stimulating. I don’t know the people at Lifehack but I would have thought they were interested in articles that creating debate amongst visitors.
aussie mum says on February 22nd, 2008 at 4:43 pm

good stuff. As Pollan wrote in ‘Omnivore’s Dilemma’ (I think) “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.’

It isn’t the ‘told not to waste’ thing that we have trouble with though, its ages-old hardwiring that tells us to eat whatever food is available, because you never know where the next meal might come from. SO when food is available, we eat it. Add advertising messages that constantly trigger the urge, and self-control takes a battering.

I’m not overweight, because I make the right daily choices - and it isn’t always easy. But get moving, don’t eat crap. It isn’t rocket science.
Nora says on February 22nd, 2008 at 6:26 pm

I read lifehack to be inspired not to be preached at by a callous ignoramus about the debate topic du jour.
Linda says on February 22nd, 2008 at 7:31 pm

Also do two things: 1) examine if any of the meds you are prescribed can cause weight gain, 2) have a simple blood test to check your thyroid levels

I’m just saying that it isn’t ALWAYS as simple as food, exercise and willpower.
Bob says on February 22nd, 2008 at 9:29 pm

We all know we can do everything if we have more self-control: run the marathon, be awake 36h a day, have a perfect time management system, a uncluttered house, learn things in no time at all, never procrastinate, could take hard drugs without fear of being addicted and have no weight gain.

But we can safely assume that we do not have so much self-control. So preachers are just doing what they always do: preaching without any interest in result. In this specific case, it is almost impossible not to see that willpower is a vast failure. The insistence of the author that he will not listen to any scientific argument make this more a cult than a cure.

When almost nobody succeed in using your fabulous cure, maybe it’s a sign that you should invent something better ?

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.10/thin.html

I like lifehack and gtd because it’s an happy depart from preachyness in time-management and self-help books (Covey anyone ?). Lifehacking, for me, is exactly stopping preaching and moralizing and finding “hacks” to do things, be it to increase self-control, getting things done or even workign less. It’s a reality-based approach.

That’s not as satisfying for preachers than blaming people. But the difference is that it generally works better.

But forget it, again self-righteous preachers don’t care about facts, don’t care about science and don’t care about results.

But some of us at least do.
Bob says on February 22nd, 2008 at 9:44 pm

Here’s a metaphor. We just have this crappy pleistocene hardware as a brain. When it fails to work, crashing or slowing too much, we have two options:

-We could, as some people do, shout at it. Some people still do that in 2008.

-Or we could design better programs, optimized to run faster and to avoid crashing even with the crappy hardware, to run on it, so it will do what we want it to do - or what a part of it want the rest of it to do.

As I’ve come to understand it, it seems that lifehacking is more like the second approach. The first one allows you to ventilate, but hardly do anything else.
Warren says on February 23rd, 2008 at 1:16 am

Craig,

You mean this whole obesity thing is the responsibility of each individual?

Bummer!

I’m never reading your articles again
Nel says on February 23rd, 2008 at 1:22 am

At last! Someone prepared to remove the sugar coating! Helping people help themselves. I for one love this lifehack Craig even if it is confronting!
Gette says on February 23rd, 2008 at 5:45 am

I’m sitting here… eating something with high sugar content, ignoring the fact that it’s been a while since I did this “exercise” you speak of, and wondering why my jeans are tight.

Are you actually suggesting that it’s my fault? Lil ole me?

Gimme a sec, I need to go write a scathing email to the manufacturer of this sticky sweet confectionery I can’t stop eating, blaming them for creating unhealthy yummy stuff. After that I’ll come yell at you for popping the lovely bubble I made for myself.
Lisa says on February 23rd, 2008 at 9:59 am

I really expected better of you. Fat cells are created when you are a teen and NEVER go away. They may shrink, but they do not disappear. I started getting fat back when low-fat everything was the rage. I dieted all the time. I suffered severed headaches from low blood sugar. Do you think overweight people look in the mirror and at themselves and don’t despair on a daily basis? Do you think we all live in areas where it is safe (or the weather is appropriate) to walk? Do you think we all have enough money to buy quality foods? Don’t be such a self-righteous jerk.
richard20009@hotmail.com says on February 23rd, 2008 at 12:14 pm

Well, sell your car. Use public transit.
Werner says on February 23rd, 2008 at 1:54 pm

What a great post !!

As someone was was fat before and got on track to reduce it pound by pound I know both sides of the fence.
It is very easy actually: Just like anything else in life: If you want to achieve anything in life you need to work for it. Nobody will hand terrific results and achievements to you, while you are sitting on your ass complaining how bad the world is.

Yes, I had a strategy (The Zone Diet, but most other sensible diets will do) and went from a BMI of 30 to a BMI of 22 in 6 months and have never felt better in my life.

I do not consider myself especially willpowered, clever or anything else. Everybody can do this.

Eat right, exercise and avoid junk food, especially sugar and bad fats. That’s it.

Werner
Harry Chittenden says on February 23rd, 2008 at 3:39 pm

Craig, great article. But you’re swimming against a strong current. As you note, people get grumpy when told the truth about something as simple as eating. They look everywhere for some way around the simple truth. I was just laughing with a friend today about recent news accounts where it was proclaimed that this drug or that procedure could lead to a cure for obesity. A “cure” for eating too much? Overeating is a medical condition?

Don’t worry. It’s ok. Stuff it in. Someone will cure your gluttony.
Hrmph says on February 23rd, 2008 at 5:57 pm

The author is obviously biased in the direction of exercise, but he needs to understand the reasons people don’t want to do it.

1) It’s boring for many people. With so many things to do out there, why would you choose to do this? Not everyone enjoys video games, or movies, or reading. So what do they do? They don’t do those things. Exercise is unique in that its an “activity”, but you *have* to do it.

2) It takes too long. There are a great many people out there who might exercise, but are simply too busy. 80 hour work weeks, social commitments, long commutes - lots of things can get in the way. Not to mention that for many of us, time is money, and exercise is not “time well spent”. There are many other “health maintenance tasks”, but they do not take much time. Washing your face and hands, showering, clipping your nails, etc. - these things do not take much time. Exercising does.

3) Exercise, unlike many other things, is not goal-centric. It’s simply maintenance work. If you aren’t interested in having a great body, why exercise? You only have to go to a doctor for checkups or when you don’t feel well. You only get surgery when you need it. You only have to eat when you’re hungry or sleep when you’re tired. Exercise is unique in that you have to do it constantly without any of the rewards many of us would expect. Yes you get slimmer, a better body, and more energy *but not everyone cares for these things*. Some people like the idea of it “make you healthier”, but don’t like the commitment it requires. Again, I only need to see a doctor once a year, but I have to exercise every day/few days/whatever.

I personally exercise and am in good shape, but I do it because I know I *have* to for health reasons. If I could take one of those magic pills that the author sees fit to demean that would give the same results, I, and many others would take them in a heartbeat - the way we take vitamins today.
Leonard says on February 24th, 2008 at 12:47 pm

I think we should apply the same reasoning to drug addicts. “Come on, Bloke! It’s will power you lack, Mate! Just don’t snort that line or shoot that dope! WILL POWER!!”

You’re an ignorant ass, and have made it obvious why you are single (despite your posted lies).

LifeHack, please ditch this clown.
Les says on February 24th, 2008 at 3:02 pm

Re: I marvel that people pay thousands of dollars per year to walk/run on a treadmill with a built in TV, radio and fan, when they could get the same physiological benefit (or better) heading out their front door and returning thirty minutes later.

You’ve obviously never lived through a Canadian winter. I pay good money to exercise in a gym because running outdoors is dangerous at this time of year. Nothing to marvel at.
Beth says on February 24th, 2008 at 6:23 pm

You seem to be ignoring the fact that the highest levels of obesity occur within the working class, i.e. the area of society with probably the lowest level of education, the highest (and cheapest) availability of junk food and the least time for the middle-class pursuit of self-improvement. If there has been an upswing in obesity, it is because there has been a change in conditions, not because people have suddenly become incredibly lazy. The massive, multi-million-dollar fast food companies advertise to children from the word go - people are innoculated with the idea that there are foods you should eat because they are healthy (but boring) and there are foods you shouldn’t eat but should want to eat because they are unhealthy but delicious. The power of advertising must not be underestimated in people’s relationship with food. There may be a million reasons why someone might overeat, and refusing to examine them in favour of assigning blame just sidesteps the root of the issue. This narrow view of obesity as an individual problem, rather than a society-wide change allows overweight people to be further stigmatised and the problem to be sidelined into not being the responsibility of anyone but the person in question, allowing wider society, the food giants and the governments of western countries to turn a blind eye and create a new group of social pariahs.
Ross says on February 24th, 2008 at 11:57 pm

As someone who has spent thousands on weight loss products over the years and blamed everyone but myself I just want to say that I personally agree with you.
Maria says on February 25th, 2008 at 7:58 am

Dear Lifehacker, I love your site but his article made me really sad. It is exactly this kind of pressure of others (family, society, media) but also of our own brain on our tired body (it has to carry the extra weight after all) that makes us fat: you are not self-disciplined, you are weak, you are not capable… You have to work for your body and not against it, you have to love yourself and show understanding to its attempts to make life more comfortable/bearable with food. Most of us have lost the connection to our body, to its perceptions, we don’t even realize if we’re hungry or not, and this is easily done if you force a child to clean her plate. I recommend reading the superb book of Martha Beck’s: “The Four-Day Win: End Your Diet War and Achieve Thinner Peace”- it really helped me change the way I think about myself and learn to love my body again. And guess what? Getting thinner is not a war anymore.
Argancel says on February 25th, 2008 at 9:32 am

Well I see your number 5 point is also applicable in the comments!
Cheers, I love this article.
Leonard says on February 25th, 2008 at 10:09 pm

Argancel,

Horse shit. I could use number 5 to short circuit any criticism I receive for ignorant utterances.

1. Blacks are inferior
2. Jews are evil
3. Asians are sneaky
4. Whites are pricks
5. Anyone who I piss off is just mad cause I told the truth..

See? Think.
Wendy says on February 25th, 2008 at 11:15 pm

I disagree with this article. You appear to be basing all your assumptions on your own experiences. Education was the key for my weight loss.

I was mildly overweight all my life until the last couple of years where I lost everything and got into the mid-range for my height. How did I do it? By seeing a nutritionist and having them break down everything for me, go through the different kinds of fats, high and low GI foods, high fibre foods, nutrient-rich foods etc.

I never ate ‘crazily’ in my life, but everything I ate was incredibly high in carb. Most of my diet involved cereal for breakfast, toast for dinner… that kind of thing. Although usually I never ate breakfast at all, so it slowed my metabolism right down. And even though I was active, I ate so little protein that building muscle was incredibly difficult.

Through education - and it took many months to slowly learn all this stuff in a way where I didn’t have to think about it anymore - I solved my weight problem.

Tarring everyone with the same brush must make it really easy for you to write articles.
Emma says on March 24th, 2008 at 5:48 am

I would just like to say thankyou for that great post. I think that everything you said was totally true and I agreed with it all.
And to the comment from Werner, I really like the phrase you used: “Nobody will hand terrific results and achievements to you, while you are sitting on your ass complaining how bad the world is”. It really encompasses what the author of this article was saying. It is not anyone else’s fault for not giving you the support or not telling you not to eat that hamburger. It’s all you, and you need to work at it. Thankyou.