Someone asked me the other day what I thought the biggest issue was around obesity, and I said, “Denial!” Most people don’t realize that they are overweight, and if they do realize it, they don’t seem to care because everybody else seems to be overweight too. That seems absurd to me. That mindset reminds me of what my father would say when I would ask to go somewhere because all my friends were going: If all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you? I know that sounds silly, but in a way it’s true. We all have a tendency to follow others, even when doing so is not in our best interest.
I recall a study done that reported that gaining weight was contagious. It stated that if your friends are overweight, you have a greater chance of becoming overweight too. I suspect it’s because of our need to belong, to be like others, to fit in. Being different in a circle of friends could lead to ostracism, the death knell of teenagers and young adults.
Back to the idea that most overweight people are in denial makes me think about two people I know who have knee problems. Both are obese, and neither has given the possibility that their knee problems are the direct result of having too much weight on so little support much thought. I actually had the audacity to suggest to one of them that losing eighty pounds could really help, and I was told that being overweight had NOTHING to do with the problem. Say what?
I learned firsthand what happens when a support structure is inadequate for a massive amount of weight just a few weeks ago. I hired a handyman to look at some wood rot on my balcony, and he noticed that one of the cedar posts holding up the balcony was “sinking.” Apparently, the inside of the post was deteriorating, and the balcony had sunk a little over an inch. Four years ago, I noticed a crack in the stone on the side of the house, and a crack in the ceiling in my living room. I panicked, thinking my foundation was faulty, and I quickly called a foundation company. No, there was not a problem with the foundation, and he said the cracks were cosmetic only. He suggested I build a short retaining wall alongside that part of the house and fill it in with dirt to help support the foundation and to keep the moisture consistent. I did, but I still heard the creaking sounds at night. When Wade the handyman replaced the bad post and added an additional one for more support, the creaking sounds stopped, and the stone on the side of the house closed up! That one post was insufficient to support the balcony, and it began to deteriorate under the weight. And so it is with our bodies.
The other person I know had surgery, and his knee never healed quite right. Even after a year, he was still limping. I didn’t know him well enough to suggest losing weight – he was at least ninety pounds overweight. I lost track of him a couple of years ago, until yesterday. I discovered that he twisted his knee again, and again he had more surgery. His knees are like the post on my porch; they are not sufficient to support the extra weight and never will be.
Our bodies are not designed to be pickup trucks that can be loaded with massive amounts of weight. A pickup truck has a weight limit, and so do we. That weight limit should be our ideal weight.
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