Deciding to stop being obese is an act of courage

Being obese has allowed me to see the world through the eyes of the overweight. Of those who are always ready to eat but not ready to exercise. Who is always hot and tight. Of those who constantly put off the changes they know they need to make.

"The height of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results"

As Einstein said, "the height of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results". No one can beat obesity if they don't change. It's not just the diet, it's the whole lifestyle.

To be effective, the changes are great, becoming too evident to pass unnoticed. Changing habits, behaviours and habitual choices, maintained over years and years, prevent the journey to weight loss from being private. It becomes public.

Mine was quite a lot. From one day to the next, I stopped being seen in places where I used to be once or twice a week. "Damas never came here anymore... is everything ok with him?", they asked. "He's on a diet", was the comment. When they texted me, I confirmed: "Everything's fine, I'm trying to diet".

From the moment we assume the goal of "losing weight", expectations are created. We no longer have to deal only with our own expectations but also with those of others. The pressure increases because everyone wants to see the results of this effort, or eventually its absence.

"Will he finally succeed or will he fail at that attempt again?".

When we start the journey, we don't know if we're going to make it. We want to, but we don't know.

It is a period when we feel vulnerable, exposed and fragile. On the one hand, success depends on our action, strength and motivation. On the other hand, there is so much uncertainty that we feel we are entering a war with a high probability of failure, which can result in increased guilt, feelings of failure and weakness.

And despite all that, some people decide to go ahead and assume they want to stop being obese.

Deciding to stop being obese is an act of great courage.

An obese person needs to take all his courage to be able to face the fears, insecurities and vulnerability he sees in front of him. He sees a very distant dream that he genuinely wants to achieve but also many pitfalls and difficulties in his path. Even so, she decides to move forward.

How cruel is it for someone to make this decision, to take the first steps and seek expert help or a plan that can guide them on the path to no longer being obese and, when they are presented with it, it is a plan just to lose weight, based on false premises (such as "what matters is how many calories you eat and expend") and not on the most up-to-date evidence, and, above all, without having support mechanisms, motivation and daily feedback?

It is impossible for anyone who has never had 20, 30 or 40 kg more than their ideal weight to understand... To stop being obese is much more than just losing weight.