I give her credit..when my weigh goes up..I hide! Can you imagine how it must make her feel when she is fatting up..to have to go on the show and know that not only is she bigger..but the camera puts on more weight. Oprah is getting older and I know how I use to be able to drop the weight in a couple weeks....now it just sits and laughs at me.
So Oprah...good luck! Dropping the pounds becomes very difficult as you age. So young ladies and gents...get your act together and keep it off or you will end up looking like me. Not pretty!
Totally agree and specifically I know of very few women who don't begin to struggle with weight as they move through their 40s and 50s with fluctuating hormones, less muscle mass and frankly the feeling of "why am I trying so hard when I'm not 20 anymore."
I can't imagine having to be on air daily struggling with weight to the degree that she does. Tough tough situation. I applaud her for choosing to face it and make it a topic for the week in the new year.
i can totally understand oprah's reluctance to talk about her weight gain.. the thing that really bothered me was that she continues to have her signature cover photos on the "o" magazine photo-shoped so that she appears to have not gained the weight, all the while we could see her on her daily program obviously struggling and gaining just like anyone else with food issues.
Frankly, that is what I kept thinking - but on the other hand - it seems to be such a sensitive and difficult issue for her - I can understand the desire to just "not deal with it and hide it anyway I can." I don't envy her in the sense of being out there everyday for all to see her struggle. The reality is that we were seeing it daily even though she was "modifying the magazine cover to hide it."
Give me a break! I am the same age as Oprah-born in 1954-and since I began menopause I have gained weight eating half the amount of food I used to eat when I was in my 30's to 40's. No one knows the myriad number of things that happen to women's bodies (especially weight gain) until they actually go through it themselves. This is not an excuse-it is a solid reason. Judge not lest ye be judged when you are menopausal.
No one is saying it is not a reality - the weight gain struggles of peri-menopause/menopause. but let's be clear - i work with women and many of them grit their teeth, reduce their calories, add extra exercise and get their weight maintained, or in the case of several clients lose weight during menopause. No one is saying it's not hard - very, very hard in many cases - however, at the risk of sounding like a "know it all" - I've had to struggle with my weight all my life and when monopause hit - I simply dealt with the new "deck of cards" and re-visited my diet and exercise program and tweaked it AND dealt with the daily struggle to manage my weight because of the known risks if I didn't. Gaining weight at this time of life can easily put a woman at an elevated risk for diabetes/heart attack/stroke - so we need to be clear that you can't treat weight gain as inevitable. Oprah did her due diligence in having Dr. Oz on repeatedly talking about these very issues and risks so I applaud the fact that she is finally trying - again - to manage her weight and disease risk.
For some, weight is a life long battle. Some people are born naturally with more genetic ability to be fat or even obese. If you look at families, there ususally is a pattern, but then you see the skinny sibling who eats everything and doesn't gain a pound. Mystery it it, but will catch up. Energy in -- energy out. Same thing about calories, carbs., etc. I tell you all this because I was always a "chubby" kid, a fat teen and young adult and then within a flash became a morbidly obese person. I kept saying "look, I don't eat very much", which was true, but my activity level was nill. I got almost to 500 pounds -- really! One day I woke up and my brain kept making me think "I'm so tired of this. I'm so tired of being fat. I'm just so tired of ...." I made a decision at that point, which was May of 06 that I'm changing basic simple things and knew I'd be better. Well, it's 2 and 1/2 years later and I've dropped half my weight. I look better, feel better and the doctor's are all amazed, most of them actually telling me they never thought I would or could lose the weight. My way, which I can't say would work for everyone, is -- avoiding "white" foods! Sounds silly and it's a bit more than that. Avoid -- bread (all bread), cookies, cakes anything made with flour and the such. Avoid -- pasta of all kinds, pizza and all fast food. If you have to, get something not breaded or fried and take the bread off!! Avoid -- potatoes of all kinds -- fried, boiled, baked or anything that has potatoes in it, i.e., soups, stews (you can have an awesome stew with just meat and veggies!!). Be careful of the veggies -- corn is not a good veggie. Beans should be limited, they are great for protein but also have fat depending on which bean you're doing. If I can do this and lose weight, feel better and not seem like I'm depriving myself of anything life is good! I can have anything I want, and so can anyone else -- but think before you have something. Take all into consideration and if what you want isn't the best, try to think of an appropriate substitute (i.e., if you must have mashed potatoes then get cauliflower and boil it, mash it up and add seasoning and butter -- yes, butter is fine in moderation!!). I wish everyone who wants to lose, good luck. For those happy the way they are, again - the best to you all! This is just my story, I lost many of my kid's growing years and fun since I was laid up and hardly able to move. Now I play tennis, do anything I want and for those that understand, I don't have to choose a restaurant that has chairs, booths were a definite problem for me, I couldn't fit into them and needed the "extra" chair. Peace to all and to all Happy Holidays!
Amazing story and though I don't necessarily agree with every food you list as a condemned food - i agree that they may have to be included in "your personal list" of condemned foods.
FYI cold cooked potatoes in small servings have been shown to keep people satiated for hrs and hrs but if they are your "nemesis" then they should be on your "no list." ditto for corn. i do agree whole heartedly that we need to ge the 'white foods" mostly out of our diets except for occasional treats - again, only if you cna control yourself and just have a little.
Congratulations!!
Thanks! I wish I had woken up 32 years ago with such thoughts, not 2, but -- I agree wholeheartedly with you, a small portion can not only be healthy but help! I do eat certain things with corn, limited, but it had good qualities and helps digestion, besides being really good! On certain salads I've "allowed" almost welcomed the rice noodles, again in portion.
Take Care and thanks again :)
It can take people a lifetime to accomplish what you did - so never forget to keep giving yourself a pat on the back - you are a walking testimonial to the fact that there's no "one plan answer" but a very personalized approach that typically gets the weight off AND keeps is off. My book, Fat Families Thin Families offers a "general plan" that people can follow as a guideline but I repeatedly point out that it is "personal planning" that gets the job done and creating an environment that supports your personal commitment!!
Good luck as well!!
i'll check your book out! thanks :)
I disagree on your theory that Oprah or anyone else for that matter gains weight because all they do is eat. If you are the health expert that you say you are then you should know that there are several factors that can cause weight gain. Stress, depression, medical conditions, and medications all play a play in weight gain. And no matter how much you try to eat right and exercise you get the opposite effect. I should know, I am a witness to that.
I am not a big fan of Oprah, but I know a lot of people see her as inspiration. She teaches overweight people like me that there is no success in fad diets and that the only way to success is by changing our lifestyles in every way, not just by restricting ourselves of certain food or popping pills in order to make us be the size society thinks we all should be.
You have no right to criticize her for gaining weight because you have no idea what is causing the gain so to assume it is by closet eating is wrong.
I think you really need to re-read my blog slowly and carefully. My criticism lies in Oprah's bringing up weight and then hiding behind certain excuses that may have made it more difficult to keep the weight off - her thyroid and stress and other issues certainly contribute to but do not cause her weight issues. Her eating and lack of exercise clearly are the culprit this time around and she admits to that in her recent interviews - I very much point out that in her case she created an emotional attachment to food at a very young age and over the years has identified many things including that as her source of weight gain. Stress certainly makes you eat - so do some of the obesity genes and so does depression. So does keeping an obesiogenic environment in the home. Experts clearly indicate that these are all "pieces of the puzzle" but until people address the obesity as a disease with the need for long term ongoing therapy - typically the weight will remain.
Oprah herself admits that "she has relaxed her exercise routine, eaten everything and anything in the last months" and again - until the average person challenged with weight realizes that especially when they have added tendencies to gain weight - like being on certain medications, like coming from a family of overweight individuals - they may have to create a prescription of habits to battle the tendencies - they won't successfully take off the weight AND keep it off, which is even harder.
I also offer the fact that we severely underestimate the emotional component - be it stress, depression, anxiety, low self esteem or some event that led the person to bandage with food or some other issue - and many people need years of serious therapy to break that relationship with food.
I clearly offer in the blog the fact that I can only imagine how hard it is to struggle with weight before the eyes of the world as oprah has been forced to do and I also acknowledge her courage to re-visit and work on the issues that contribute to her weight story this coming January 2009.
Obesity is complicated and no one denies that. But the people who sign up on the National Weight Registry every year, who have lost massive amounts of weight and kept off that weight for years are testimonials to the fact that it can be done. Weight does not just "come on" - you have to eat too many calories to ultimately gain weight or not move enough. I agree you can have a tendency to gain weight or ongoing issues that can make you more suceptible to weight gain. Please also read "Hope's entry" on this site.
I have a hypothyroid, it has RUINED my life. When i work and change my eating all it does is make me hungry and i do pack on the pounds. Having a thyroid does change your life and make it hard to drop pounds.
I read this article & as usual being overweigt is associated with overeating. I am not saying that in Oprah's case this isn't true. But I know that sometimes the opposite can be true.
In 1996, I had a class reunion coming up and wanted to look great. I had put on about 25 pounds due to menopause & wanted to get rid of it. I am 5' 10" and at 175 I can look fantastic in a bikini. I have a very large frame (size 12 shoes, 7" wrist), so I look absolutely gaunt at 160. Well, I joined and was given a program that had little boxes to check off to make sure I ate all the things every day that they said. My comment that first day was that I didn't think the program would work, because they wanted me to eat more than I was already eating. They told me to follow the plan & see what happened. What happened was that, if I stuck to the plan EXACTLY, I would lose 7 pounds in one week. So I started adapting it a bit and in a fairly short time I went from 201 back to my normal 175 and looked great at the reunion.
But then I made a big mistake. I decided that if I looked this good at 175, I would like to weigh 170 to look a little on the thin side, so I started skipping breakfast again. Instead of losing more, I started gaining, so I started skipping lunch, too. My weight kept creeping up. By fall of 2001, I was about 290. In October of that year, I spent three weeks eating nothing but 2 Slimfast shakes and a diet TV dinner (about 700 calories a day). I was never hungry so I never cheated. In those three weeks I lost -- ZERO!!!
The next month we went to Disneyworld & had the all inclusive meal plan. I decided to give myself permission to eat whatever I wanted, since it would only be for four days. How much could I possibly gain in four days? When we got home, I found I had LOST two pounds. Suddenly a light came on. I had always lost weight on cruises, too. So I started making a conscientious effort to eat at least three times a day. At first, it was very hard, since I wasn't used to eating at all until three or four in the afternoon. Plus, I was never hungry, so it was easy to forget. But I stuck with it and by the time our daughter got married in early February, I had lost ten pounds.
That summer there was another reunion, so I added working out to my agenda and by the time of te reunion I was down to about 260. I looked good enough at that weit that several old flames hit on me and one guy from anoter class that I didn't know in high school saw my photo name tag & told me I looked better now than I did then. So after te reunion I kind of coasted. At 260, I wear about a size 16, so I dn't look terrible. But in the back of my mind, I kept thinking I really ought to get the rest of it off.
This past October, I signed up with a personal trainer. Because I'm 60, I had to get permission from a doctor. Last spring I had gotten a heart scan because the hospital had gotten a new machine & wanted to run some baseline test subjects and my husband (who is a doctor there) was offered the chance to be a subject and he made me do it instead. After the test, the radiologist came out and said "You are going to outlive us all". I had NO plaque anywhere, which apparently is VERY unusual for someone my age. He sent the results to my family doctor who immediately gave me permission to start training.
So far I haven't lost any weight, but I know I am much more toned and stronger. Yesterday she had me on the treadmill an 3.5 mph and my heart rate was only 114, so she amped up the incline quite a bit and could only get my rate up to 118. I am very fit. But I am not thin. She had just come back from a training convention and said they discussed people like me who are overweigt but very fit. Basically, I have screwed up my metabolism big time. So I will continue to exercise, try to remember to eat and hopefully I will get back down to 175 in time for the next reunion in September.
But please don't be quick to assume everyone who is overweight is an overeater. Some of us are undereaters who have wrecked our metabolisms.
What you were doing is what we call "cycling or yoyo dieting" and it doesn't necessarily involve overeating but it does involve constantly eating for a period of time and then cutting out calories drastically or just skipping meals. The true source of this behavior is an "overeating or dieting mentality" so again, it all comes back to finding the amount of calories (including exercixe in the formula) that allows for a slow weight loss of a pound or two a week and not rushing the lifestyle plan by "playing with your meals or calories or even with obsessive exercise."
There are some who can be overweight or obese and never develop plaque or diabetes and experts assume they have some protective genetic predisposition - they are a very small group - and indeed, that may be a factor in your favor.
In any event - how great that you are training and building strong muslce and bone.
Yo-yo dieting would seem to indicate that my weight went up and down. That was not the case. Except for the time after weight watchers, when I regained the lost 26 pounds when I started skipping meals, my weight rose steadily. After I started eating again, it declined steadily and has been the same since 2003, when I decided I looked good enough and stopped worrying about it. At size 16, I don't really look too bad. My waist is a lot smaller than my bust (38DD) and I still have an hourglass shape (but with more sand!). When I was at my thinnest I was 38-24-38 and in a bikini my hipbones stuck out further than my stomach, creating a gap.
But when I turned 60 I realized this was my "last call" to look like a hottie, so I decided to get the rest of the pounds off. I told my trainer I want to look like Jessica Rabbit (or Barbie). She says it'll be a lot of work, but we can get close.
As far as a "genetic predispostion" to a healthy heart, well, I seriously doubt that is the case. My Dad died of a heart attack at two weeks after he turned 66. His father died of a heart atack. His mother died of congestive heart failure at 64. His younger brother died during open heart surgery at age 48 and his older brother had three massive heart attacks at 52 and survived after spending nearly a month in the hospital. On my mother's side, though, there is no extraordinary heart disease history, just a lot of diabetes. My healthy heart may very well come from the fact that my favorite foods are things like fish, chicken, salads, sushi, fruit, etc. I don't eat much red meat at all. My only weakness is dark chocolate and that is the best kind to eat. Plus I drink LOTS of green tea, to the exclusion of almost everything else (except for an occasional glass of skim milk). I almost never drink alcohol and I hate beer. So by adding an exercize program to my life, I fully expect to get back to looking hot by the next reunion, in September. But I do still have to remind myself to eat...
I think that it can be a weight loss and then subsequent weight gain - even one time - that's sets off some metbolic and control issues. I do appreciate that you eat healthfully and though size 16 may be large or even overweight it sound like for the most part you are eating healthy choices so certainly that is helpful to maintaining health.
i just want to point out that many people who overeat "healthy food" and justify it by putting a health halo on it have to still realize that being overweight due to overeating - even healthy food- is not a good place to be from a health perspective. So I would still tell a patient or client to target a weight goal that is reasonable and maintanable. That might be in your case a size 10 or 12 - and not a lower size or weight - especially if you are weight training, which will hopefully ad muscle mass to your frame.
With regards to your genetic makeup - without gene screening you - no one can know if you have a genetic gift of processing foods and being able to maintain a good HDL and little plaque so I merely offered it as one possible explanation.
Good luck in your quest but keep in mind your goal should alwys be "choices - habits - an eating and exercise plan" that yields slow weight loss and a good health profile.
I am so glad to see that others are troubled by Oprah's actions. I think that it is indeed a symptom of her troubles that she continues to photoshop her cover photos despite her true size and weight. When she can come to grips with her real issues maybe she can stop her emotional roller-coaster eating patterns, and dragging all of us with her for the ride.
As a fellow member of the "troubled eating" club, I also struggle with weight. I have gained and lost the same 70 pounds over and over during the past 25 years. I have finally gotten real about my eating issues. Nothing is perfect, but now I realize that when I stuff 5 donuts down in an hour, there is something else going on that donuts won't fix.
Oprah is a perfect example of "talking the talk" - she has all of the experts and specialists in the world. This won't fix her emotional eating issues in the least. Talking the talk is fine, in fact it is admirable that she brings these issues to the public awareness. However it is too simplistic to believe that if you hire a cook, a doctor, a personal trainer, etc. or watch a talk-show celebrity, that this is the answer. People gain weight because they eat more calories than they burn. It is as simple as that. Some people are blessed with fast metabolisms. The rest of us: binge-eaters, yo-yo dieters, those with thyroid deficiencies and metabolic syndrome, menopausal, etc., are not so lucky. For many of us, eating well and exercising in a manner that we can actually live with is all we can do, and we need to settle for being "overweight" according to the tables and charts, in order to avoid the insanity of yet another yo-yo, binge, exercise bulimia, whatever the quick answer appears to be at the time. This is maddening, but true.
Oprah can still be the purveyor of good information. A size zero omentum is a good thing, even if most of us will never achieve it. But if Oprah would only admit the level of hard work it really takes to overcome an eating disorder over and above just mustering the "willpower" to starve for 4 months on Optifast in order to squeeze into size 10 Calvins on national television, admit that looking "thin" is not the be-all-and-end-all and, most importantly own up to what she really looks and feel like, America would be better for it. If this is too self-revelatory for her, then she shouldn't personalize her weight issues. It's insulting to the rest of us who really live in the trenches day to day.
You give me hope because I have spent 25 years offering this same information - unfortunately not always as eloquently as you did in this posting - trying to make people understand that I agree the deck may be stacked against them - but the reality of weight is the reality you just stated. I applaud your honesty and willingness to recognize the realities of weight issues and this disease called obesity - but at the same time trying to manage your weight and your personal realities the best way you know how. I appreciate your insights tremendously.
I have been skinny my entire life, but I have also been diagnosed and treated for a thyroid problem on top of perimenopause within the last two years. Not only do you gain weight more rapidly, I believe one of these two problems has also at times given me a ravenous and insatiable appetite at certain times of the months. No matter how much I eat, I feel empty. I am managing to maintain but it is extremely hard.
So unless you've walked the same walk, please don't be so harsh to judge.
I was not skinny all my life - I was born into a family with obesity as a primary generational concern, so unlike you I had to watch my weight all my life, every day, after deciding to lose more than 50 pounds as a teen. My weight was a struggle twice , again, thru two pregnancies, and I developed thyroid issues in my first pregnancy. I have been in perimenopause for 6 yrs and I am now moving into menopause - so IF ANYONE has had issues - it is me. With strategies like creating a balanced meal plan, the commitment to serious daily exercise of some kind and creating a home environment and away from home "decisions" to watch my eating - I better than anyone have the right to say - yes - the "eating plane is not always equal" but anyone can find help, support and strategies to cope with the changing physical and emotional concerns that can confound the weight picture.
I would offer to you that you were lucky to be "blessed" until these recent concerns became weight challenges - but if I, as a teen had the where with all to figure it out- and again repeatedly re-think my diet and exercise goals as I passed through different life challenges - I ask you to not "hide behind these excuses" but realize that many, many men and women faced with far greater health and life concerns, as well as serious emotional connections to food - do find ways to "cope and manage" and attain healthy, reasonable weight goals. Yes peri-menopause is challenging and it may call for working with a dietician or personal trainer or both - or if you cannot afford those options simply getting information on the best diet and exercise plan to cope with your current "weight gain issues."
So I think I've walked a far more challenging life walk than you (since there was never a period in my life where i could eat with abandon or simply not consider my daily calories without paying a weight gain price) and I simply acknowledge that weight will always be "my issue" so if I want to avoid health risks associated with weight gain - I have to manage my issues. It's not simple - but it is both necessary and doable.
HealthGal,
You really overreacted on this one. I definitely read Judge Not as having had her thyroid problem her entire life, and the perimenopause the last two years on top of it, not both the last two years as you did. She is not lucky to have had the thyroid issue, hence no overweight issue, and is not lucky as you state it to have the bottomless pit empty hungry feeling at certain times of the month that goes with it as you not imply, but blatantly put it, and practially shout and jump off the page with.
It's more than plain that you're sick of dealing with being fat, and read me correctly -- that despite probably being at an acceptable BMI, you still inside feel fat, and that's where your frustration comes from, and that you're mad at Judge Not because she got to be skinny. Comes through LOUD AND CLEAR. Read more carefully. You are getting as defensive as Oprah does about whatever she thinks she's an expert on whatever issue is at hand at the moment -- which is just about everything. You know about yourself and your weight issues, but you don't always read everyone's post correctly, and you certainly are no expert about my weight issue and why it won't come off of me for sure. You'd have to have an in depth discussion with my endocrinologist, who never saw a case like mine as of two years ago and he's in his late 70s, and he's seeing more cases now.
Not every case will respond to diet and exercise, no matter how tailored. Not even with the "right" insulin sensitivity drugs. And there are a lot more of us out there than you think. As these posts go on, you've become more fanatical, and have become a reflection of Oprah's fanaticism over the last year. She's been hiding something, but you're selling something. So it worked for you, and so it works for some people. Hooray. But there are more than a handful of us who have something that looks a lot like PCOS but isn't, and looks a lot like metabolic syndrome but isn't. Don't pretend that you have the answers for this one because you don't.
And for sure don't pretend that you read Judge Not's post correctly. You didn't. Her thyroid issue didn't come on in the last two years, and your defensiveness in your answer was appalling for someone who is supposed to be running this blog. Whomever employs you should reconsider at the very least.
I won't be checking back because you have no integrity insofar as you don't acknowledge that you don't know about those of us that even endocrinologists don't know what to do with -- though we exercise, and stay on the tailored diets and insulin resistance drugs and / or go off of them to try that too -- under a the endocrinologist's supervision. Naturally the endocrinologist tops you in medical education and knowledge, and mine does in nutrition as well. Don't hide behind the phrase of "I was generalizing, you're in the vast minority," because I'm really not, and you really weren't. And the fact that you're not aware of it is appalling. And the fact that you're not willing to educate about that is even more appalling.
There comes a time for bloggers and others like you to just, ironically, eat it, and become educated and start writing about the fact that weight is more complicated in some people, especially it seems, women. You seem to be selective in what you read, because in endocrinology news, we sure are out there, but you're sure not reading or writing or responding. The people who write in to you are the ones who are having the worst problems. GET that they aren't the ones who need the tired old DIET AND EXERCISE blah blah. Oh, but then you'd have nothing to say. Because there isn't a solution fot the rest of us yet. Don't you dare answer that I'm implying that we don't eat healthily and exercise in the meantime. I'm absolutely not. I'm saying that it doesn't work, and you MUST acknowledge that. WE'RE OUT HERE. And there's more than just a statistical few. And it's not just me, a simple nobody saying it. It's Endocrinology, documented, saying it, which is bigger than you.
You've lost this reader, and in addition, I'm definitely reporting this thread to whomever is your boss because you've been way out of line, but maybe Judge Not will check back in.
For her:
Just apologize.
My response to this comment will be simple - you did not read MY blog -
I have had my weight under control since figuring out AS A TEEN that regardless of what your issues are - there is a correct number of calories in and out that is required by everyone - it may be a different amount and quite "difficult" but there is a correct in and out balance that all experts agree works for you - personally. Pregnancy did seem to alter that formula for me to the point that i was very challenged - but again, after both births and the thyroid left curve - I worked to find a new formula for may caloric needs. Not easy - just necessary. There is no doubt that this formula "can be complicated" by a variety of issues - but I have NEVER had a client who could not lose weight - in some cases a hospitalized stay and "regimented observed calorie intake/exercise effort" was required to determine what was confounding the issue and in 90% of the time - the person was clearly under-estimating the number of calories they were eating and overestimating the number of calories they were attempting to burn with exercise. This is what most people do.
My weariness stems from the fact that "people need to own their situation" notwithstanding the fact that their metabolic rate may indeed be slow, their thyroid may indeed crop up as an issue, their life circumstance may place an emotional element in their relationship with food. It's still calories in and calories out.
Though there are many elements of The Biggest Loser that I deplore - the one thing that is so "in your face obvious" is that these morbidly obese individuals with all their physical and emotional excuses - were ALL - every last one of them - able to lose gargantuan amounts of weight because yes, they were put in an artificial environment - but that very environment proves my point - it is "all the other excuses" that clutter the weight loss situation - it is NOT impossible to lose weight - it simply may require more effort and intent for some people - and the road to keeping it off can be extraordinarily difficult.
It amazes me that we so willingly acknowledge in school that there are those of us who never have to study and get an "A" - even all through life when college and beyond become truly challenging - it is a gift that if we don't have it - we moan about it but we "figure out study and other techniques" so that we too can "score." Well, so there are also gifted people, for whom weight loss is never a problem, while for others it can be a protracted journey. Somehow we want to make weight loss (which for a tiny group of people may be extremely difficult) everything but "calories in and calories out." Sorry - I and almost all other experts who have 20+ years in the business of weight loss, have proven to patients and clients, time and again, that it can be done and until you and others are willing to "reckon with reality" you will hide behind excuses - which though they can complicate the picture - do not, particularly in the case of the blog you are defending, make weight loss impossible. Just difficult.
From a physical perspective let me point out - that if you live long enough - most people's thyroids will become inefficient and ultimately "burn out." they all do not become obese - they recieve medication, which may take time to adjust, and most of them adjust their calories and exercise if they choose not to gain weight. Again, those with no food issues find it far easier to cope with. I do believe too many people who struggle with weight issues do not acknowledge it as a disease- and do not seek both dietary, fitness and emotional therapy when indicated. I have always maintained that even transient weight problems require professional help.
Yeah lady, I read your blog. The problem is that I read your other comments too. I was responding specifically to your reply to "Judge Not," which you barely addrssed in your "response."
You are incredibly disrespectful and out of control.
I will do everything I can to see that you are either reined in, or that your blog is removed. Your "regime" may help some people, it may even help the majority. But it is not for EVERYONE. Absolutely NOTHING is for everyone. I am not morbidly obese, not even obese, and if I thought it was worth breaking my medical privacy I would open my endocrinology records so you could learn about the medical enigmas of not being able to lose weight, but you are so hard-headed you wouldn't believe what was right in front of your eyes anyway.
No doubt you'll just write me off as "angry," and I am. And I'm angry because your lack of knowledge, unprofessionalism, and hubris are hurting people.
I sent the following to comments@thcn.com
and I will continue to search for higher sources within HealthCentral to send it to so they know what you are doing here: at least, acting extremely unprofessionally. But at the worst, doing damage to women (mostly) who don't need anymore disinformation dumped into their lives.
Re: HealthGal / Amy Hendel I just read a blog authored by the HealthGal aka Amy Hendel with comments from readers, and answers from Amy Hendel, aka HealthGal. Amy Hendel does not foster a sense of open conversation, but clearly has to be right all of the time. Sometimes it's clear that the person commenting has not read or understood what Amy has written, but at other times, the person who comments has something to add that is legitimate, can be documented even, that contradicts Amy, and Amy dresses the commenter down, saying that she (Amy) is right, is the only one who is right, damn the torpedoes full speed ahead so to speak. Even in the face of medical fact, Amy insists she's right about weight issues in particular. No one else can have a contradicting experience or opinion. EVEN A DOCTOR, AN ENDOCRINOLOGIST cannot have PATIENTS with contradicting experiences. With Amy, it's calories in, exercise out, and if you have complications, your life is more difficult, period. She doesn't understand the nuances and intricacies of physiology and medicine's emerging understanding of the endocrinology of adipose tissue (fat), insulin, and other issues that affect -- especially women's quest to lose weight. She cites ghrelin in one reply, but a few years ago, we didn't know about ghrelin and surely she would have used that reader's hunger against her instead of explaining it like she can now with endocrinology: ghrelin. There's so much more than ghrelin, and I'm sure she knows about leptin, and some other obvious endocrinology hormones, but she is not on the cutting edge like research endocrinologists, and the doctors who work with extremely hard weight cases, and I'm not talking about "The Biggest Loser" and the cases we see on other TV shows. It's a case of she obviously does not know what she does not know -- and most dangerously, she doesn't care that she doesn't know it!! She cites her, and her colleagues 20+ years in the field. Well, 20+ years in the field is the past, and the dark ages because of the emerging science in this area. She isn't in the endocrinology trenches and won't admit that there are cases that diverge from her formula. We aren't talking about the guy who gets televised because they had to cut him out of his house. This is perhaps just a blog for her, and perhaps just a blog for your site, but it is dangerous for those who have legitimate endocrine issues who continue to struggle with Amy's Hitler-esque regime of calories-in / exercise-out, and it may just be harder for some people so tough beans point of view. She continues to spout this in different words and forms -- same song, different verse, and it starts to be oppressive and frankly worse than just not helpful. Some who genuinely need medical, endocrine help are probably not getting it because of her. There is the saying and feeling that "If I leave the world a better place by helping just one person, than I have done a good thing." She is doing such a dis-service to so many people, especially women, by not acknowledging that she, at the very least, doesn't know about the severe end of the endocrine end of the picture, and that these people should look other places for help -- perhaps she should provide a link if she can get over her hubris. She probably can't be sued, nor can you, but ask yourself why you would continue to have someone so negative and backward-looking on your site. She has probably helped some people over her career, but think of the people in despair because they can't lose weight because of being on that severe end of the endocrine spectrum, and her military way of coming across is just making them feel more and more depressed. She's leaving the world, and you by association, a worse place. Why would you continue to have her as a contributor on your site? Find someone to blog about nutrition and weight who is ALSO in touch with endocrine issues, and knows they are real, and that some people just can't lose weight at this time with the pharmacy technology (insulin resistance drugs, etc.) that we have. It's a reality that she won't acknowledge, and it's dangerous. Because of the women-have-to-be-beautiful = skinny culture we have, which face it, underlies this "health" fitness craze that we have, although the health byproduct is a good thing, it puts the women who absolutely try and try and TRY who can't lose without NOT eating into a deeper hole than they're already in. She says she's never seen one of them. It's because they don't go to military robots like her. They're already beaten down so low that they don't bother. Or they found their way to the endocrinologist and are doing what they can the right way, and are not about to beat their heads against her wall. My endocrinologist has never seen a case like mine. in 50 years of practice and he is the head of endocrinology at a major university, but AMY knows more and better than he. She is furthering the destruction of women's' self-esteem, not helping. I was glad to have something like the ObesityConnection until I read Amy's blog. She has a lot to learn about weight. She claims to know it all, and anyone who claims to know it all definitely doesn't. (In particular, read her blog "Oprah Confesses - 200 is My Number" and notice how anyone who contradicts Amy gets pounded into the ground for not agreeing with her. Some have obviously not read her blog, but others have genuine differing opinions -- but that's not allowed in Amy's world). At the very least, she is letting her temper get away with her, and it's incredibly unprofessional. I expect a LOT more from Health Central. I've been around Health Central in one way or another for a long, long time, and reading Amy's retorts made me feel like I was listening to a teenager (Amy) talk back to her mom. Replace her with a knowledgeable person. Someone who knows first the endocrinology of the physiology of obesity in depth -- not just pop endocrinology like ghrelin and leptin, but in depth -- then nutrition and exercise. Amy is too stuck in her 20+ year past and refuses to move forward; refuses to learn, and she's hurting people.
First of all JC, I am so glad you came back even though you said you weren't going to- blogs need comments and dialogue and even when strong positions are stated - the whole point of the blog is for "back and forth." Clearly you feel as strongly about your position as I do - and I seem to have struck a nerve on your part - but I very much do keep my finger on the pulse of "new findings" and I do not consider the current research supportive of anything other than - obesity is a complex disease - it has many factors - it has many confounding factors that can crop up as new issues inones' effort to cope with weight - so obesity conditions for many people are dynamic changing pictures.
That being said, I have consulted over the years -repeatedly with top experts in the field, Dr. Balckburn from boston a world authority, the Centers for the Science In Public Interest, Dr. jacobson, at the helm , a world noted authority, Dr. Heber out of UCLA , a noted authority and many otherexperts - all of whom are well-versed in endocrinology and the science behind obesity. Your unhappiness with me is confounding - but obviously you have your own perspective on the disease. I have repeatedly stated my position in a respectful way, simply pointing out that no matter what your physical issues, except in a few very small isolated cases, the many different components of obesity come down to finding the calorie expensiture necessary to lose the excess weight. for some, that may be a low calorie intake plus exercise. I have repeatedly acknowledged that health issues, slow metabolic rate, a thyroid condition and other problems can confound the weight loss and obesity situations - and it is with empathy that I point out that these factors may really challenge the effort to lose weight -but in most cases - if you do metabolic testing - even in the face of these issues - you can identify the calorie balance needed to lose weight - while still addressing the other issues medically.
I would offer to you that if this dialogie is so upsetting to you and if the comments being offered offend you - then maybe there is another website site which will embrace your perspective, which is what you seem to want. I believe that most sites will support much of what I say though possibly in a more forgiving fashion, which it seems, might also be more appealing to you. If you want to continue to trade opinions and perspective, do feel free to do so. I stand by my positions, my extensive training, my up-to-date evaluation of the science, more than 20 years of helping people lose weight and then maintain that weight loss 9even during trying and physically challenging periods of their lives) and my professional abilities to offer valuable lifestyle information, that most readers on the site have found helpful.
This is the first time you have become more "welcoming" and "gratuitous" Amy. It took me saying I was reporting you for you to calm down, but just a little. I came back because I couldn't resist seeing how angry and unprofessional your last reaction would be, and you didn't disappoint.
This is the first time you have written the caveat:
"except in a few very small isolated cases." My position is that there are more than "a few very small isolated cases," and that this will come to light in the coming years. You walk around the world seeing fat people who JUST need to take your advice and arent, and that's why they stay fat. Let's say, just picking a majority figure from the air, because you see the majority as being able to lose weight your way, that you walk around with the perspective in your head as seeing 98% of the fat people being able to lose weight your way, and Dr. UCLA has backed that up (so far), and other experts you have consulted, etc. have also.
I am saying, and you don't get it, you are "confounded," that there are more than just a "few very small isolated cases," more than that left-over 2%, that have a combination of hormones and unexplained things as far as modern medicine is concerned so far that go awry who can't lose weight your way. And in the coming years they will be exposed and explained. As insulin resistance was. As ghrelin and leptin were discovered. As it was discovered that adipose tissue has an intricate relationship to estrogen and insulin and obesity, not to mention the vaguaries of medical anthropology. As it was discovered that a skinny person could eat the same amount of food that a fat person could eat and the skinny person would lose weight but the fat person wouldn't (metabolism -- this is known now, but it wasn't not so long ago). This can all intertwine with a woman's reproductive hormones in ways that have yet to be understood -- not in just a perimenopasual or menopausal way, or a PCOS way, but in ways we don't even know yet. And yet you pretend to know, and you pretend that Dr. UCLA and other "experts" in the endocrinology know. They DON'T KNOW YET! Can you say with all honesty that 100% of everything is known about endocrinology as it is related to weight? I see one of those experts and he admits he DOESN'T KNOW WHY my body is doing what it is doing! And he ADMITS that there are other patients out there that have unexplained endocrine-related weight issues as well!
Don't you get that medical "experts" almost NEVER admit that they don't know something? I have one of the rare doctors who will say out loud to a patient no less that HE DOESN'T KNOW.
So you, in a few years, will get and know that you don't know that it isn't 98% of fat people who just need to diet and exercise to your philosophy, or whatever your number is that you walk around with. You will realize that it's actually around 90% (or whatever the real number becomes in the coming years) that can do diet and exercise and lose weight, no matter where they are on the continum of easy or hard regimin-wise. The remaining 10%, or whatever the much larger number is, will finally be recognized, and dr.s will admit that there are combinations of hormones and conditions going on that they just don't know what to do with, that don't respond. And then those conditions can be worked on and more hormoens will be found that have to do with hungar pangs, why our bodies hold onto fat, sociological issues like living in our 1st world fast food women have to be perfect culture (more in-depth than hopefully now), etc. It is so much more complicated than your take. You like it when it's simple. It's easier to bang the hammer down that way. And people who respond to that will use your blog if it's kept here, or you'll go somewhere else.
My problem with your blog is not that it's harsh, it's UNPROFESSIONAL. You can be a task-master without crossing the line into witch with a "b" territory, and you definitely did with many of your responses to writers above. I finally had had it when you first responded to "Judge Not" and that's when I first responded. You, ever since my first response, have still not addressed the things I said about her situation in that first message. You became defensive and unprofessional and things went way downhill from there. "Motivating" people by pushing hard is one thing, and some people are into it. Losing your perspective in writing in a forum like HealthCentral is WAY out of line.
As far as your blog being too harsh for me? Lady, if I thought you had anything to offer me, I'd say bring it on. My problem with your blog informationally is that you are putting out incorrect information and making some people feel more doom than they already feel. You are addressing those, say the 90% who can do the calories and exercise and lose weight, even if they have to try harder. But at the same time, you have to address the other 10% who it isn't going to work for NO MATTER WHAT. And you haven't accepted that because you haven't seen it personally. That's a problem. WE'RE OUT HERE, AND WE'RE DOCUMENTED MEDICALLY, though we might not be in a medical journal. You say you're connected to so many experts, so you should know how LONG it takes for them to recognize a phenomenon, coordinate a meeting or 10,000, put together a study, get it approved, get it funded, get the subjects, confirm the hypothesis, then that's one part. Then there are the possible pharmaceuticals. Amy, this takes YEARS, and in the meantime, you're spouting off like you have the tablets on the mountain! You DON'T know everything about every endocrine issue, and there are a LOT of us out there! If you don't want to be part of the solution, at least don't dump crap in our front yards by spouting your erroneous misinformation!! I'm not opening my medical records and breaking my privacy to prove it to you, but you shouldn't, just because of that, cause more depression to those who already feel bad because they are trying and trying and it's not working. I KNOW why it doesn't work for me, but many, many don't. You heard the relief and the sighs of joy when fat people heard the revelation that when skinny people ate the same thing that fat people ate they lost more weight -- I KNOW you heard that. Fat people were elated to learn that because they KNEW it was true but nobody believed them!! Those kinds of revelations aren't going to stop coming! Endocrinology hasn't stopped just because you say calories in - exercise out! is the only way! You don't have that much power! At some point that science will find out why my combination of hormones happened and why others have happened, and you will have to shut your mouth about us officially. It would be nice if you would NOW. It's damaging to most in my situation. To me, you're just disgusting and have no business in any forum on Health Central. It employs educated, open-minded professionals, not "motivational" hammering, closed-minded hacks, who only slightly calm down when they know their bosses are looking.
I personally don't feel any doom from you, but those in that place will feel more hammered than they already do -- they already do from the last so-called expert who did it, and by themselves, because they do it everyday, all day to themselves already, and then they read it from you. I'm assuming you have at least RN level physiology -- I HOPE you do. If so, you must understand the complexity of mammal physiology and how many things can combine to go awry in so many ways from so many glands in so many systems to affect weight among other things which cause feedback systems for weight. You are way too single minded. If you learned physiology, you must have forgotten it, or it was more than 20 years ago when you started and much, much less was known. You do mention that there is an emotional component to eating with a lot of people, but that's the extent of it what you say goes along with the physiological. That's IT. You are WAY too simplistic.
You're like a bulldog plowing through when the nose of a bloodhound is needed to extract and disseminate the different ways weight has come about in different individuals' lives. This is not me being overly sensitive. It is you not being throrough enough. It is so typical of people like you saying my reaction as being too sensitive to take the spotlight off of your bad behavior. If you could see me in person: lady I'm justifyably pissed -- in fact, I mentioned befoe that I'm angry -- and ready for battle with you. You are so in the dark ages on this, and in fact mentioned your 20 years' experience again, even after I pointed out that it's the future that counts with weight issues that don't respond to calories and exercise!! When are you going to get that in this field, those cases have nothing to do with the past!!! Weight loss with the generic majority, that 90% is calories and exercise, yes. But what you don't get, and that I keep reiterating is that there is a significant enough population, and this will be recognized because we're out there, that you need to also start speaking to -- that just calories and exercise but-you-have-to-work-a-little-harder is NOT the answer there!!! You, as a self-proclaimed expert have a responsibility to help find it!! DO YOU GET IT NOW??!! Include the population I'm in -- it's a lot bigger than you think -- at least as a caveat to your hitler-esque message if you refuse to expand your mind and look for an answer.
And believe me lady, In any position you've ever held in your life, I've been your boss, and you would be fired in a NY second for treating clients the way you've treated the readers of this blog. You are PRIVILEGED to be able to write on HealthCentral, but instead of knowing it, you act like a Queen Bee and you treat these readers and responders as if they are cockroaches to be stepped on if they dare to disagree with you. You need a LOT of training before you ever touch a live computer again.
JC - my most recent response was not a response nor a changed view from the way I always write my responses. You simply are "reactionary" because obviously you are in great pain and you would simply like to finally be recognized for that sufferring. I acknowledge simply, that you are a patient who "wants to be right" with your own diagnosis and have finally found a doctor to support that diagnosis. How wonderful for you -
I stand by my own position which is that if we look at the recent decades - Japan, China, Israel and various other countries have not all developed "medical conditions" nor have they developed thyroid or other metabolic issues (except in response to their now being overweight) and therefore have increasing rates of obesity - they have simply "indulged in the very same lifestyle that has helped Americans to have increasing rates of obesity" namely sedentary lifestyles filled with processed foods.
Again, we all as experts acknowledge that despite earlier decades of healthier living, some people (again I offer - a very small percentage) defy the "formula" we believe addresses most weight conditions. if you are the exception - then I'm glad you have a doctor to turn to for support. I suggest you watch Ruby on the Style network. Though she has struggled with "serious medical" reasons for obesity (700 pounds till recently) - amazingly, in a controlled environment she has lost 100 plus pounds. I guess science can, sometimes, even help those with "Medical diagnoses" of obesity caused by "metabolic and health issues.".
Good luck to you - however - let me point out that if you feel the need to continually "fire me" - we will have to block your continued responses. You are a guest in this blogsphere and of course your comments are welcome. I would love to hear from you again - without all the unnecessary comments you feel the need to include - just dialogue on the facts and your personal situation. You've made your personal pain and frustration quite clear, now we would appreciate just hearing valuable and insightful comments.
Where are all the other readers and bloggers who need to speak up to JC - what alot of drivel. Anyone who says they are not 'coming back" and then comes back - clearly has prepared themselves for the fact that noone will consider their comments worthy of a response - so they say "I won't come back" and that way they avoid humiliation. Anyone who can't post without simply stating facts (and I don't see any facts here just "my doctor supports me facts) has huge, huge issues. Get some help!! and not from the "yes man" doctor who finally threw up his hands and probably said - "I'll just agree with her to make taking care of her as a patient mildly tolerable."
I was menopausal, had a thyroid that went totally hypoactive, and somehow managed to conquer my weight with all that going on because I decided"to get real." Yes, I have to eat less than most people and exercise more than most people but the alternative was being overweight and miserable. and yes, I had all the same excuses as JC for years and years and i also found "supportive doctors." I'm a medical miracle then, right?? No I just decided to do the daily work that's required 365 days a year to solve my "intractable disease." So call me "miracle woman" but I'll call myself - "finally coping with the truth."
Every bit of research I've seen this year - from gene explanations to other scientific findings by reasearchers - seems to always end with the caveat - "but this is just a small part of the weight/obesity mystery and in no way disputes the fact that it's calories in and out that explains how to lose weight and keep it off." what medical degrees do you have and what journals are you reading JC?
To "TruthDriven," I was extremely irritated in the moment when I said I wouldn't check Amy's response, but then I was too curious to see what excuse she would come up with to justify her point of view, so I did check back. I feel too strongly about this issue to give up, so I just keep writing and pushing so hopefully Amy will understand.
I never had a weight problem until 2 years and 1 month ago. Then I suddenly gained 50 lbs in 2 months after feeling extremely hot all of the time -- like Palm Springs in Summer, but I lived in San Francisco. It was November in San Francisco and I grew up near Palm Springs, so I know what I'm talking about. I also suddenly got horrible cystic acne with the weight and heat. No extra body hair, so it would look somewhat like PCOS, but without the extra body hair, and with the added heat...not so much.
I did have a somewhat high testosterone level, but not high enough, again, to diagnose PCOS, and no cysts on my ovaries either, but the treated the acne with spironolactone, as with PCOS, and it worked. I was treated with an estrogen patch for the constant heat, and that worked. I did the standard tests for insulin resistance, and that was suddenly an issue (whereas it wasn't before; I had asked myself in the past to be checked for this because diabetes is an issue in my family history) and was put on Glucophage, and started on a strict diabetic diet, and upped my exercise accordingly.
My endocrinologist has never seen a case like mine: menopausal -- not hot flashes, but being hot constantly, and it responding to estrogen, combined with a sudden 50 lb weight gain without any change in diet, and the horrible acne accompanying the rest which corresponds with the increased testosterone and responds to spironolactone. So we have a partial PCOS picture combined with an atypical menopausal picture. He has never seen anything like it.
Now factor in that the Glucophage barely works, and I don't lose weight on the program we have instituted. Notice I say WE. I'm completely on board with this. I am not obese by the way, and I didn't start out overweight. This "syndrome" for lack of a better word, and it doesn't have a name, hit all at once, all "symptoms" together. They are related in some way endocrinologically, but he doesn't know how. He has researched it, but there is nothing there. I have done what research I can given my limitations -- I don't have access to the journals and other materials that he has, and I can't find anything. He threw at it what he knew to throw at the time -- 2 years and 1 month ago.
Fast forward to now. I moved to San Diego, a milder, somewhat warmer climate. Note that I had had to add, although it was unsafe 1mg of oral estrace to the 0.1mg estrogen patch I was already using, because I was so hot all of the time -- CONSTANTLY, that I was absolutely dying. This was not just discomfort, I was miserable beyond belief. I was so miserable that I was willing to take the risk of cancer from too much estrogen. Note ended. Back to fast-forward: Estrogen patch taken away in September of this year because constant Hell-like inner heat has calmed down to more like constant Earth-like heat, and only 1mg estrogen pill is needed and I can endure the inner heat that is not quite handled. Still on Glucophage, still on spironolactone, because experiment going off proved to let acne right out of the gate, although testosterone shows normal now. Dermatologist says that sometimes acne is treated with spironolactone even if testosterone is normal, so it's ok. Still eating right and exercising well except for a couple of months around April when my Mother was killed, when I didn't eat much at all, sometimes nothing, and THIS IS THE ONLY TIME I LOST WEIGHT DURING THE LAST TWO YEARS. When I went back to my normal healthy diet and exercise, I gained weight and went back to my now normal weight, which is where I was after gaining the 50 lbs suddenly over that two months, two years ago.
Did A1c test, first result is in the 5s. Decided to go off of Glucophage for 3 months and then do A1c to see how I am without it.
So girls, there's my medical history, the privacy I didn't want to break. I haven't gone from doctor to doctor to hear what I want to hear. And there are a lot of us out there who are going through the same thing.
I am not reactionary Amy; you are too single-minded. You need to include the caveat more often, in fact every time, that there are those of us out there like me who can eat healthily, eat perfectly, and exercise "just right," tweaking everything until the cows come home, and yet our endocrine issue is just not letting us lose weight, AND we haven't dr. shopped to find someone who will tell us what we want to hear. My situation is exactly how I described it to you: it's fact. The endocrinology is a mystery, the situation and combination is one my dr. (dr.s) has never seen before, and nothing we do affects my weight.
I feel very strongly that you need to stop pushing the diet / exercise is for everybody message, because it absolutely doesn't work for everybody. If you want to call that reactionary, then call it that. But that in itself is reactionary. You say you have not changed your message, but the problem is that you don't include in your message enough that there are those of us, and a lot of us, that are like me.
I am not in "great pain" and therefore don't want to be recognized for "great suffering." I want people like you to modify their message, as I've said in about three messages now, to include the caveat that there are people like me out there. I don't want to be right, I am right. I haven't "finally" found a doctor. My dermatologist first (for the acne, and who did the testosterone lab which was the first step) the PCOS specialist dermatologist (who confirmed that the testosterone wasn't high enough for PCOS and that I didn't have any extra hair growing, and referred to my gyn for a pelvic ultrasound to confirm it wasn't PCOS), my gynecologist (who had the pelvic ultrasound done and also poured over all of the data with a fine toothed comb and was puzzled like everyone else, and then referred me to the top repro endocrinologist in SF), they all agree that they have never seen a case like this. They all wanted me to see, and my gyn referred me to the top reproductive endocrinologist in the city -- a huge major city!
To say "how wonderful for you," and to assume that I dr. shopped to find one who agreed with me is flippant at the very least. I haven't given you my medical records, but I broke my medical privacy by telling you my history, which I didn't want to do. I had to do this in response to inaccurate assumptions by you, which if you had an ounce of professionalism, you would never, ever make -- or at least put in writing. This is a prime example of the discrimination of "health" "professionals" like you, who don't believe that there are people like me out there. When we say we have a legitimate issue and the weight doesn't come off, you come off with the sarcastic retorts like "How wonderful for you that you have found a dr. that supports you," but you believe that we really could lose weight if we would just do it your way. Again, an example of the off the charts unprofessionalism you show time and time again.
You talk about blocking my comments, but Amy, you show once again how you are not fit to write in the HealthCentral blog. Your sarcasm is never, ever appropriate. You may say that you meant your comment genuinely, but then you are saying that you genuinely mean that you think it's wonderful that I found a doctor who supports, in your view, a wrong diagnosis. Again, completely unprofessional and inappropriate.
Pointing to other cultures as not having the obesity issues that Americans have, and therefore thinking that nullifies my issues is also wrong. My issue could definitely have something to do with the awful way our culture eats, because I have eaten that way as well, and with our general strange (by other cultures' standards) sociology. You say that you are versed in physicology: why don't you think that applies in some way here? Most endocrinologists are not versed at all in physicology, though it would seem a natural that they would be. You are ahead of the game on them in this way, though you choose not to use this knowledge here. Maybe it's because your focus is on excercise physicology and not general physicology?
Amy, just because you have a blog on HealthCentral doesn't mean you are always right. You need to be big enough to take criticism in a graceful way. Even if you don't agree, sarcasm, and especially the above comment about it being "wonderful" that I found a dr. who supports my view -- that is extremely bad any way one decides to take it.
HealthCentral will have to examine the way you've handled yourself during this particular thread. This is the first one I've read of yours. Every other blog on every other subject I've read on HealthCentral has been extremely professional. I'm not referring to your assertion that you are "tough" and that maybe I need to find a different kind of blog. I'm referring to the fact that you get personal, and are unprofessional.
If you have any kind of diagnosis for what I've described happening to me endocrinologically over the last two years Amy, bring it on. Obviously you're going to cite metabolic syndrome, but that happened AFTER the constant heat, weight gain, and acne, and though we have tried treating it like metabolic syndrome, it doesn't respond. If you think about questioning my veracity with sticking to the food and exercise programs, and how much we've tweaked them over the past two years to get weight loss to happen, don't even go there. Offer a diagnosis if you have one. Two dermatologists, a gyn, and a repro endocrinologist don't have one, and I'm a researcher extraordinaire and can't find a thing. You call yourself an expert, and now I've revealed to you my details in response to your unfounded sarcasm, criticism, and unprofessionalism. What do you have to offer that is thoughtful and legitimate?
I just answered part of your message in answering Amy above. Part of it says that I came back to this blog after saying I wouldn't bother because my curiosity got the best of me, and I also wrote back because I feel that people, mostly women, in my situation, sorely need to be recognized.
As for the rest of it, years ago, researchers and doctors thought that genes, etc. had nothing to do with weight loss. They also thought that menstrual cramps were all in womens' heads until it was found that prostaglandins were responsible, and that they could be blocked with certain kinds of drugs. Did you know that all medical research, including the human phase trials for drugs used to be carried out on men because women used to be thought of as just abnormal men? Even though it's been known for at least a decade that women die just as much as men of heart attacks, and that they have different symptoms, they are STILL not believed in emergency rooms when they present with those different symptoms and are sent home to subsequently die of a heart attack, which is why more women die of heart attacks then men -- even though it's taught in medical school, and cardiologists know, and ER doctors know that women present differently than men, and it's been known for a decade.
Science takes a long time to catch up. Most people, also, won't speak up to someone with a strong personality like Amy's. I've been the type to speak up all of my life, and when the "party's over," those who didn't speak up but shared my point of view congregate and thank me for doing so. I'm sure that's the case here. I've had to speak up extremely strongly to Sheriff's deputy's and their superiors when my Mom was sexually assualted in a nursing home -- especially to the superiors. The top guy who was on the night shift said absolutely that the deputy didn't do something because it wasn't protocol. I said that absolutely he did, and we went back and forth, with me adding that the superior wasn't there. Finally, the deputy who was standing there, admitted to his superior that he had done it. Most people wouldn't stand up like that, getting to the sub-point of needing to yell over the top Sheriff superior because he wouldn't stop talking, so I could be heard. My Mom had 99% been sexually assualted. I wasn't going to let that go.
Standing up to Amy when she needs to affect a change is nothing. Most people won't even do that in writing, much less stand up to an officer of the law even when they're in the right. Science is slow. They didn't recognize that gene expression had anything to do with weight in the past, and now recognize that it has something to do with a very minor portion of people. If you bother to read my response to Amy, you will see that I have broken my medical privacy and described to her my situation. I know, from talking to other women, that my situation, and others similar to it, are very common, but they haven't seen a doctor. We are out there, but we're not documented necessarily. Who are you to say that it won't be different in the future? You ask what journals I have read (I'm sure you want me to cite), but what I've said in my messages is that they will be documented in the future, and I want Amy to get on top of this, to be the leading edge because it's so important. Why she's fighting it so hard and being so unprofessional, I have no idea. Why you retort with the word "drivel" I have no idea, except that people who are closed-minded usually think that something they haven't thought of is drivel.
If you read my response to her, you will see that my case is legitimate. I don't have time, nor the inclination to dr. shop. I dislike doctors as most are as arrogant as you were in the moment you called my messages drivel. I continue to eat in a healthy manner and exercise, though my body doesn't respond. I challenged Amy to come up with a professional response and with a diagnosis since she continually answers that my situation doesn't exist. We'll see what she writes.
Sorry JC but you get pity from me because Amy repeatedly has pointed out what you yourself now say - "My case had never been seen before", "I was not fat all my life" - so how dare you presume with a unique medical issue to know what many of us have struggled with all our lives? Kids are not obese because of problems similar to yours - there's an epidemic because they are eating too much fo the wron thing and not moving - and that goes for most adults - that's most adults. You also do not seem to be able to just write - but as soon as someone has a differeing opinion - someone with far more education than yourself since "you don't research or read journals" - you feel the need to attack - you sound like you had a horrible case of weight gain either due menopause or early monopause coupled by other hormonal complications. I know women who struggle with horrible hot flashes (all day and all night) and weight gain for years and years and they "get a grip" and don't blame doctors or the people around them offering perspectives. They DO research and get facts and second and third opinions. They are proactive rather than wallowing in self pity. I can appreciate that you suffered - but this blog is meant for dialogue and not contempt when someone points out valid facts.
I will repeat again - we all (people like myself and health professionals) know of "extreme cases" in medical history that seem to defy logic or science -ususally until some expert figures out cause and actions that therapeutically help, they suffer. When you say you"stopped eating entirely" I assume that means "very little food not no food for days and days" other wise I assume you ultimately would have been hospitalized. So working with that theory - during this illness - you might indeed have had to go on what is called a VLCL - very low calorie diet - in order to achieve weight loss and then with diet modification and a rigorous exercise schedule you might have been able to maintain most of that weight loss. The fact that you can lose weight means...you can lose weight however the caveat in your case is - it requires extreme dieting.
Most of the obese population do not have your story - as you again pointed out "my doctor had never seen anything like this." So again, you may be a unique situation and I daresay there are others out there -but most people who claim -problematic weight gain - simply are unwilling to work on the issues that have resolution - namely diet, exercise, stress and emotional therapy and I as anyone who has battled weight knows - it takes an awful lot of effort and daily due diligence.
Again, you demean your responses by finding a need to include emotional content - but I can see you have serious ongoing issues and so I accept that you cannot simply respond objectively. Like the rest of us.
JC - maybe you find doctors arrogant because they find you tiresome, opinionated, difficult and simply unpleasant to be with. i think amy has had far more patience with her answers to you than you deserve. I also think you are writing here - so passionately - because no one else really want to hear from you in your life. You've calmed down considerably while writing and I think that's thanks to Amy's continued respect in her answers - a respect i'm not sure that i could have maintained myself - and I am a professional womanwho deals with all kinds of personality types.
That being said - I have been reading amy's blog for months and if anyone is up-to-date on health news, research and new findings - she is - this site is lucky to have her here. I would finally point out that you seemed to have scared away all the other people who were posting - I doubt anyone wants your wrath.
I'm moving on to some of the other blog postings which are real news - and which have "intelligent give and take" dialogue, so you won;t see me again here.. And for the record - several doctors had told me that significant weight loss with my own ongoing health issues would be "nearly impossible." They not only are delighted to find that I did - they are recommending patients to the very professionals I worked with. It can be done JC and it's "no miracle" nor defiance of science - just seeking help with a respectful and open attitude.
Hope the new year brings you.......truth.
Ms. "Truth",
If you had read carefully, you would have noticed that I said, and I am, a "researcher extraordinaire." I research to the nth degree. I am a professional researcher. It seems, not from tone, because tone isn't ascertainable usually from a written message, but from the words you use that you are angry and didn't read my message very carefully.
I am still very passionate and angry. The reason it probably didn't come across is that I was relaying medical facts. Dry facts don't convey passion very well. I'm also getting very tired and I have an earache and a cold.
Most people do find doctors arrogant. This is a well accepted fact. The doctors I worked with on my weight problem, with the exception of the PCOS Dermatologist, were all wonderful. The PCOS Derm had an arrogant attitude, for what reason I don't know. It's not uncommon at all. Where you have been with the media reflecting this, and common people saying it, I don't know.
I never said I had anything in common with the people who have to diet and exercise like Amy says for the general population.
I have said over and over and over that she needs to present the caveat -- do you know what a caveat is? She needs to present the caveat that there are people like me out there who can't respond to her method. The beginning of her writings in this thread, and her responses in this thread have said that if people would just do the appropriate calories in, and exercise enough, they would lose weight.
I'm saying that she needs to include a caveat -- look it up -- that that method doesn't work for everyone. Not just the genetic exceptions, but for people like me, and there are a lot of people like me out there, more than she thinks. This is something for her to look into.
As for the very low calorie diet being pertinent to when I was severely grieving for my mother, who was murdered, that logic can't be applied here. Losing weight while almost not eating while under severe stress because of a murder does not implicate that one can lose weight from a very low calorie diet. The circumstances would have to be normal. Also, my immune function has totally gone to Hell since her murder, forgot to include that. I don't heal as fast -- skin -- it takes about twice as long, and I have developed seborrhhic keratoses all over, which started about a week after her murder. No, you can't apply the very low calorie diet in this circumstance. It would be nice to have that answer, as unenjoyable as it would be, but it doesn't apply.
You won't read this, but it will be more information for Amy, and will diffuse some of your scattered anger. I feel extremely strongly and fight for my side, but your attack -- hmmm.
i don't get the feeling that the blog leader here needs anymore of your story - I read all the strings and it's clear that PCOS is a diagnosable condition that has "weight gain" as one of its side effects - you would be better served on the sexual health site where they discuss these matters. You have weight issues because of a medical issue - most people don't and the wave of obesity sweeping thru out nation's adults and kids (and now other nations who eat and behave like us in these modern times of sedentary living) have obesity issues because of their lifestyle. You have diabetes in your family so you are probably more prone to diabetes - especially if you continue to carry the excess weight. What part of this whole discussion did the expert not make clear??? It came through to me and many others who are reading this - you can continue to bluster your way through all kinds of research comments and statements but you missed the boat on the point of this blog - Oprah herself admits that much of her weight was due to her own lifestyle falling apart - even while others were there to support her with good nutrition and exercise help. She is now devoting 2 weeks to it on her show - go to her website and state your case because it has little merit in the point of the discussion. or just watch her show and then argue with "all the experts who don't know what they are talking about" - cause that's what you will say, right?? We get that your case is due to "sudden health issues."
That's not the point of this discussion - the wave of obesity is mostly due to denial and the reluctance of people to do the hard work necessary to keep weight off, especially as you age or encounter other complicating issues. Now it's you who sounds pompous and righteous and full of hot air.
TS,
Follow the ENTIRE thread, keeping the ENTIRE thread in mind. It helps to look at the Subject which has 12 "re:"s in it now to the original message "Judge Not." My issue with Amy is not my own health issues, which I only revealed at the last minute. If you had read the messages closely you would have noticed that I said about a million times that I didn't want to break my own medical privacy.
A note, my issue is NOT PCOS. How MANY times did I say that the dr.s said that, and WHY they said that?!! If you know anything about PCOS it's crystal clear!! I made that clear about a thousand times, and it was per the PCOS Dermatologist and my repro endocrinologist. Another sign that you are not reading carefully. But my personal medical history is not the point. I was only forced to reveal it because Ms. Truth (can't remember her actual handle) and Amy made grossly slanderous assumptions, and got extremely sarcastic and personal.
I only posted the first time because Amy responded in a very unprofessional way to "Judge Not." That is the ONLY reason I responded, and I responded then to say and ONLY to say that there are people like Judge Not, and I who are different from the majority of the population that Amy addresses who benefit from calories in, and exercise, and that she should always present a CAVEAT that there are those of us who are not of the minute genetic population who should not be discouraged because we have conditions that are -- pick the words, maybe more elegant than "weird," science hasn't found out why yet, whatever, who will not benefit from her formula. It would be nice if Amy would do some work on the problem given that she calls herself such an expert and says she knows everything there is to know.
I SAID IN MY ORIGINAL POST IN RESPONSE TO AMY'S RESPONSE TO "JUDGE NOT" THAT SHE SHOULD INCLUDE THE ABOVE CAVEAT, and because Amy replied so incredibly unprofessionally, this incredibly distasteful thread has drug on and on.
I'M the one who alerted HealthCentral to watch this thread and Amy's behavior when she replied to "Judge Not." Amy was not the one who alerted. She has been so indredibly out of line it's unbelievable. You may think I have been, but here's the deal: No matter how out of line a "customer" or "client" or "respondent" is to a message, it doesn't give license to the writer of the blog to become unprofessional, slanderous, and sarcastic, etc., like Amy has time and again. My Southern relatives would call it "getting too big for her pants." It seems she's gotten too impressed with herself perhaps, as those who do TV spots sometimes do. She has health knowledge, but she's not a doctor, nor is she a Ph.D. in any subject I'm pretty sure, unless her Physician's Assistant degree is equivalent to a Ph.D. That's what she is. She's a Physician's Assistant. She has an undergraduate degree in psychology, but that isn't squat when it comes to really having the knowledge to counsel people, to know about human psychology. Given her behavior here, it's very scary and more, dangerous for the people she counsels about the emotional side or weight loss that she only has an undergraduate degree in psychology. Ph.D. candidates in psychology are only barely let loose on their own with clients, and then only the simplest of cases. The emotionality of weight can be, and usually is extremely complex. It frightens and saddens me that she is working with people who are working through these issues, and yet she spouts such venom at someone she doesn't know, with circumstances she doesn't know, because that person wants her to include a caveat about a group of people who can't lose weight -- and Amy disagrees mostly because she refuses to understand. AND she does this publically, on the internet, about as publically as one can get. I at least hope she thinks twice before she does it again to someone who challenges her (lack of) knowledge in a particular area.
But again, my intended reply and my intended ONLY reply was to Amy's message to Judge Not because she was incredibly unprofessional in that message. It has turned into a whole different animal. I never wanted to reveal my personal medical history, but after Ms. "Truth" and Amy decided to assume untrue things about me -- again, more unprofessionalism on Amy's part -- I wanted to set the record straight. I'm not enjoying this any more than anyone else.
Let it be DONE unless Amy has had a miraculous insight as to what is going on with my endocrinology. She would know more than the chief dermatologist, the PCOS dermatologist (again, it's not PCOS), my gyn, and the chief repro endocrinologist at a major research university. But she does represent herself to know all, and will not admit she doesn't know at least some things about weight issues.
As for Oprah, when she proclaimed in a show...about 8-ish months ago that anyone in her audience who was fat was only fat because they weren't eating right and exercising...well, you know where I stand on that. From that point on, Oprah seemed to keep getting fatter and fatter. I wanted to write in and describe my situation to Oprah and tell her that none of the dr.s I've listed here know what's wrong with me and why I can't lose weight, but I knew I would get the same hysterics that have happened here.
Unless someone has something sane to say, so long. For those who have criticized me, I feel the same way about you that you feel about me, except that I do wish you luck. Maybe you won't be so critical if you are happier in your bodies.
Based on the comments we (the community) seem to be posting (and i've looked at them all) the only one everyone seems upset with is you - you keep trying to cover your tracks by referring back to "judge not" and yet everyone finds your postion/insights/anger/disgusting remarks deplorable. No tto mention the fact that if you go back you will clearly see that she "was skinny all her life" and then in the last two years developed thyroid and menopause issues. Maybe you need a lesson in grammar - there is a comma missing but the point is very obvious. PAs are well regarded health professionals and this site's expert and bloger has a strong background in nutrition, a personal training certification, and from what i can tell having seen her resume posting 20 plus years in constant CME - I don't think all the TV news outlets, publications and other opportunities where she has been quoted are unqualified - in fact - I think it's a sure bet they use her because they respect her education and professional degrees as well as her experience and insights. Repeatedly she writes - that there are some exeptions - buy you don't want to see that. You are so commited to making your point that it is you who are closed off. I'm surprised your posts are not blocked at this point. I think you throw too many stones JC and it's obvious to everyone that you are very frustrated, unhappy and really marginal at best. When you get your own book - show - journal publications and YOURname becomes famous - then criticize others - till then -go bother Oprah!!
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And give everyone else a break. So, she's rich. She's also human and I think that's the real point we need to take from this.
Frankly, she does not have to share her personal information with anyone. We are not entitled to know everything about her nor judge her. What I like about Oprah is she is not afraid to reveal her vulnerablities. Not being perfect all of the time and being open about it is part of her charm and huge factor in the other aspecfts of her life being successful.
My point was that if you are going to"mention your weight" again and again - which she did over the past 2 yrs - don't then make "excuses" like "my thyroid is off" - anyone in medicine and anyone who has had mild thyroid disease knows it can add on some poundage - but not 40 or 50 pounds. that comes from eating too much and not exercising - which she now admits was going on. I agree that she owes no one an explanation BUT if she is going to talk about it - simply be truthful - everyone who has struggled with weight knows the deal and in most cases - we are very sympathetic to the true issue which is simply that - with all the money and education - it is still a daily struggle.