It's okay to NOT want to lose weight

As some of you know, I used to be a fitness guy, and I was pretty good at it. I began with a local magazine in 2009 and a year later I was the fitness columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Two years after that I was the columnist for the Chicago Tribune and those pieces were published in major papers worldwide.

Just a couple of months into my tenure with the LA Times I received an email from an obesity doctor who would become a good friend. At the time I knew a lot about the mechanics of fitness and weight loss, but not so much about the psychology and the human side of it. I was kind of a gung ho you can do it anyone can do it type. Fortunately for me, my new friend quickly educated me on such nonsense. It totally changed my perspective and I wrote a LOT of articles about the importance never engaging in fat shaming of yourself or anyone else, and being kind to yourself and just doing what you’re able and focusing on trying to live a good life and be happy. And if getting a bit fitter and losing some weight makes you happy and you can do it in a way that is both psychologically and physically healthy, then great.

Alas, there are toxic elements on both sides.

There are the fitness culture steroid bro fat shaming I got a two hour certification and now I know everything personal trainers on one end of the spectrum, and there are the “it’s impossible to lose weight and keep it off and even suggesting weight loss is possible is shaming” folks on the other end.

Extremism is rarely a good thing, and I know even discussing weight loss can be triggering. If this post is triggering you right now I apologize. This isn’t going to be a regular thing. I won’t be bringing it up again for a good while, instead going straight back to the history stuff. Speaking of, two years ago I decided on a career change to writing about history, and despite all the political extremists I get in the comments (Nazis on one end and tankies on the other), I prefer it to some of the weight loss extremists I’ve encountered over the years.

Here is my position: You get to do what you want with your body, and you shouldn’t be judged for it. The “concern trolls” who say “I’m worried about your health” or the “But what about costs to the healthcare system?” assholes can shut the fuck up. Live your life and ignore those cockwagons.

I published a piece in 2016 titled “The Hypocrisy of Fat Shaming” that contains a startling statistic: Only 2.7% of Americans “live healthfully.” That means fewer than 3% of people in the U.S. don’t smoke, drink moderately, exercise regularly, and don’t carry excess body fat. So just about anyone who engages in concern troll fat shaming is a fucking hypocrite because chances are they’re doing “unhealthy” shit too.

I probably drink too much, and scroll Facebook way too much. I might drink too much because of fucking Facebook. That shit is legit mentally unhealthy.

Anyway, as I said, you do you and fuck what other people think.

But what if what you want to do is lose weight? Well, that’s okay too. But it comes with a note of caution because holy shit it’s the most corrupt industry there is. Seriously, each couple of years the FTC does a survey and finds that people fall for weight loss scams more than any other. That’s one of the major reasons why the success rates for sustainable weight loss are so shitty: because most people fall victim to scammers who only care about money and not people.

I care about both money and people.

I published a weight loss book in 2014 with Random House Canada that I’m quite proud of, but because it wasn’t some paleo intermittent keto adrenal fasting dumbfuck fad diet du jour book it didn’t sell that great. Don’t care. It was a good book and it helped a lot of people.

If you’re male you should probably stop reading now, because what I’m about to promote is only for women.

Yes, promote. It’s affiliate marketing time. Bear with me.

I have a big following on Facebook. I could have made a lot of money by flogging a lot of shit over the years, but I don’t do that. I’m not an “influencer” who is for sale to promote a bunch fo crap. For the past few years I’ve only ever done it for a couple of friends, Annie Brees and Jennifer Campbell, who run a program called Balance 365.

Twice a year they have a sale, and I sell it, and I make money from every sale. And with each post I make on Facebook a ton of people chime in that for them Balance 365 was life changing, because it doesn’t focus on weight loss, but rather ditching the toxic mentality that surrounds it and finding the best way forward for you integrated in a kind, caring, and highly supportive community environment. And yeah that can lead to weight loss.

If it was crap, I wouldn’t sell it. So many women have told me it’s amazing that’s the only reason I participate in the twice annual sales. I trust Annie and Jennifer. I think you can too.

And so, it’s 25% off sales time again, until March 14. You can learn a bunch more about it here if you decide it’s something you’d like to investigate.