An Entry for the Fatties

     I wanted to use "rude" language to grab your attention. Fat has become an "empowered" word. I don't know if you have cruised "body positivity" Tik Tok or Instagram lately, but fat activists have decided to take that word back. There are now all sorts of categories you can be lumped into: small fat, medium fat, large fat, and super fat. All of these can be boiled down to one word: obese. 

    No one wants to say the word obese, because it is clinical and sounds scary. Well, it should sound scary, every day that a person is obese or morbidly obese is another day closer to an early death. THAT is why I am trying to reach obese people, or even skinny fat people (these people have no muscle mass and appear skinny but have a very high bodyfat percentage). Anyone with a bodyfat percentage over 30% is doing a HUGE disservice to their health and longevity. 

    I am NOT saying that an obese person is not beautiful, is not a kind soul, is not hilarious, or that they are bad parents or people. I am saying that the amount of bodyfat that has accumulated around your organs is slowly strangling your liver, heart, and lungs to death. 

    Obesity is a trap. Your BMR will go up with every pound of fat you gain, meaning you will be HUNGRY like you have never been before. This hunger is linked to your high BF%, it might not be the reason someone got to their current situation, but it makes it THAT much harder to get on a program and stick with it. 

    The list of diseases linked to obesity (specifically a BF% over 30) is long and terrifying. But let's just focus on the big ones: heart disease and cancer. I once read on a long enough timeline, if everyone lived to 150 years, 100% of people would get cancer. Obesity is simply stacking the odds in your favor that you will get cancer at a younger age and it will be harder to treat. 

    If you are over 30% bodyfat, you are INFLAMED like you wouldn't believe. This chronic low level inflammation will not effect someone for a long time, so you fall into the sense of security that you will be one of the "specials" that can escape the consequences of being obese. But as you stay inflamed for months or years, your blood pressure goes up, your triglycerides skyrocket, and your joints hurt so much you don't want to and / or can't move, further exacerbating the situation.

    Do you know what cancer is? It is out of control cell growth. Do you know cancer's favorite food? Sugar. I believe that cancer is a SYMPTOM of chronic inflammation, not a root cause. Do you ever wonder why cigarette smoking causes lung cancer? We have studies that link smoking to lung cancer very clearly, but the constant inflammation and stress in your esophagus lungs, and liver might just be the root cause. 

    So if smoking causes localized inflammation and that leads to esophageal and lung cancers, that MIGHT mean obesity, which causes total body inflammation, may be responsible for many other types of cancers. 

    Now let's talk about heart disease, once again a disease of inflammation. Your triglycerides go up, your HDL goes down, your blood pressure goes up, you might even develop diabetes, which will do irreparable damage to your arteries and heart. All obesity related diseases lead to heart disease, the number one killer of American's today. It MIGHT be a coincidence (correlation does not equal causation) but in my opinion, the fact that obesity has skyrocketed in the last 30 years and that heart disease became the number one killer in the same span of years is not a coincidence. 

    So once again, you are beautiful, you are funny, you are smart, you are kind. BUT you are also obese, and if you are not doing anything about it, like the body positivity folks advocate for, you are choosing to die an early death. You are choosing to miss out on activities that you would have been able to do were you not obese, you are choosing to miss walking your kids or grandkids down the aisle at their wedding, you are choosing to have bad knees and ankles, and you are choosing to have your kids take on the responsibility of keeping you alive for a few more years, in and out of the hospital, solidifying that as their final memories of you. 

    I am sorry to get so dark, let's lighten it up a little bit! It is NOT too late, do not lie down and just accept that this is your new life. When I realized, many years ago, that I was 400 pounds(!?), I immediately became angry, not sad, not accepting, just angry at myself and my lack of stewardship to this body God gifted me. I vowed then and there that I would do something about it. I did not touch a carbohydrate for 8 months, and I was in the gym 6-7 days a week. Was this necessary? Absolutely not. Did it work? I lost 170 pounds in those 8 months. I completely changed my health outlook for the future and refused to just accept my fate. 

    I am not special, I am just a guy with an above average IQ and a high pain tolerance that refused to let my bodyfat order me around. Do you know what this means? It means you can too! The reason I like to let people know that I am just "some guy" is because it means that they can do it too, only now I know A LOT more about the mechanisms at play inside the body and in the mind. You don't have to go down the same path I went, because the path I took was rocky and meandering. I can get you out of the obese category more safely and more comfortably than I did. 

    The first steps are to buy my books. I am not shilling here, I only make about $5 a book, I will not get rich from book sales. But the treasure trove of information available in my 2 books, "Go Fit Yourself Volume 1",which covers nutrition, and " Go Fit Yourself Volume 2", which covers training is PRICELESS. They are quick reads, so you can read them every day if you want to. Any other questions can be answered via FB in my group "Go Fit Yourself Swoldiers" or on this blog. I will answer your questions personally and I will change your life for the better. 

    So that's it, do NOT take the slow death of obesity lying down, we will fight, we will make the next years the BEST years, and I will be there for you every step of the way. Stop eating sugar (and all carbs are sugar), increase your consumption of meat and saturated fat, and get your steps in every day while lifting weights 2-3 times per week. The changes will be dramatic and come as fast as they can naturally, no pills, powders, or potions necessary.