Comments on: Living Life Overweight: 10 Reasons Why You’re Not To Blame

By: Niles Gibbs

Niles Gibbs — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:52:12 +0000

@Joel: When I say coffee, I mean brewed and black. Sure, my first cup of sugar sweetened, milk rounded “less than coffee” wasn’t that bad…

Also I appreciate the first response to any of my comments, even if it is concerning my coffee history. ;)

I’ve yet to decide whether anyone is actually reading these comments before posting (due to the 85% homogeneous answers that suggest otherwise), or that if the people who are reading the comments aren’t responding, or are just shying away from any of my many propositions.

I’d be daft to think that no one’s countering me because I’m right.

I’m just assuming that I’m long winded and people prefer quick and dirty you’re all lazy bastards responses.

At least there was a personal trainer a while back that had the daily experience to support their claims of “personal responsibility”, (not withstanding that their job is to get people to exercise, and that as a hammer they’d see only nails).

By: Joel Falconer

Joel Falconer — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:26:38 +0000

Niles, if your first cup of coffee didn’t taste good, it was probably instant. ;)

By: TriFatboy.com » Links: Cleaning out My Firefox Tabs

TriFatboy.com » Links: Cleaning out My Firefox Tabs — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:40:07 +0000

[...] Why we’re over weight, and how to fix it [...]

By: Shrkey

Shrkey — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:21:19 +0000

I disagree very much with this post. Most of those ten reasons are excuses not reasons. Just because McDonalds is four minutes away from you doesn’t mean you have to eat there. Sure we might have sedentary jobs but maybe try walking to your colleague and having a conversation rather than picking up the phone. Weight loss has always been a simple equation of caloric input being less than caloric output. Genetics may contribute to being larger but it is combatable. This post is bad advice.

By: A

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:30:40 +0000

Ok.. so 6 out of 10 of your points all come down to an inablity or willingness to accept personal responsibility. Two of the remaining points aren’t really valid either. No, fad diets don’t work. Yes metabolism can slow down. But you can reverse the metabolism issue, and there are obviously ways to lose weight that don’t involve fad diets.

By: Is Summer Costing You a Good Habit, And What To Do About It? -- Jarkko Laine - Insanely interested

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:04:30 +0000

[...] There are many reasons why a it’s hard to stay in shape throughout summer. [...]

By: Weekly Link Post 50 « Rhonda Tipton’s WebLog

Weekly Link Post 50 « Rhonda Tipton’s WebLog — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 23:04:26 +0000

[...] Alex Shalman has a guest post on Zen Habits titled Living Life Overweight: 10 Reasons Why You’re Not To Blame. [...]

By: chris

chris — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:08:58 +0000

Thank you for posting this. As an overweight person who is in the process of shedding some pounds, I found your post very inspirational.

By: okita

okita — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:16:29 +0000

I’m shocked this has become so controversial. Weight loss can have extenuating factors…but the math is normally simple (unless you suffer hypothalamus or something).

Burn more calories than you consume. Granted salads are better for your body than Krispy Kreme…but it’s normally a lack of calories burned that causes the excessive weight gain.

I’ve been up and down on the weight game. And I’ve finally accepted that the only thing that controls that is MY level of commitment. When I start putting on weight, the reason is simple. It’s obviously not important enough to me to be thin.

It’s a hard truth to accept…but I have to say I reject the entire basis of this article. Yes, there are medical exceptions. But for every “actual” medical condition, there are dozens of LAZY FAT people out there looks for something to blame.

So….it’s it your fault? Maybe not…but it IS your CHOICE to do something about. Provided it’s important enough to you.

By: Mike OD - The IF Life

Mike OD - The IF Life — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:08:52 +0000

“10 Reasons Why You’re Not To Blame”

Sorry, can’t agree with this. As a professional trainer I see people everyday in overweight situations, and the ones who get fit and healthy are the ones who take “personal responsibility” for everything. The mass media and fad diets may not be telling the truth, McDonalds may be trying to sell you crap as food, Subway may be tricking you into thinking their 1000cal sub is healthy….but it still has to be up to the individual to educate and take action….no one will do it for them. I help people daily and try to tell them the truth in what works…but they still have to take action. Thinking you need to blame someone else or genetics is an excuse, no matter what condition you are in…or happened in the past…you can only decide to do 2 things, blame others and get no results….or stop blaming anyone (including yourself) and just focus on what you need to do from this day forward. Live in the past or present…that is our choice.