> Out of shape people give me hell all the time for being in excellent physical condition, but they don't know about the 10 miles of running every day
My major exertion this week was going to the doctor. I rode in a car, walked 20 ft, sat on a chair, talked, rode home, and had to go lie down and take medicine. As my doctor remarked, "You look grey." Because I have a chronic illness and nobody is sure what exactly it is or what to do about it. I've been like this off an on, without much rhyme or reason, since 2009 when I came down with mono for the second (yes second) time. I used to exercise every day, before I got sick. Now some days, if I do any kind of exercise -- for mere minutes! -- it'll knock me on my ass for days, a kind of exhaustion and pain and fatigue you can't understand unless you've experienced it. This they give the benign, cuddly title of "post-exertional malaise."
Luckily if somebody looks at me and thinks I'm fat because I'm lazy, I really couldn't give a shit, because having your vitality ripped from you at 26 really gives you perspective on stupid things like that guy's staring at my fat ass.
The irony, of course, is that you are guilty of what you claim others are guilty of… not having a clue as to the private lives or struggles of the people around you. Judging them based on appearance. Thinking you know them.
But if you, heaven forbid, develop a chronic illness and you're smart enough to do your own research, you'll find that millions of people all around you are suffering in silence. Of being told they simply must be lazy. Without a proper diagnosis or any kind of medical help.
I can relate.. I also have a chronic illness, with the gloriously vague name of fibromyalgia. I have had doctors tell me there was nothing wrong with me, accuse me of being a drug addict, lazy, etc etc. What fun. Have spent since 2008 doing my own research (with generous amounts of help from my wife and friends). I have discovered that I am in a club that I don't want to be in, the chronic pain and fatigue club.
I have to plan what days I exert myself on, because I know that the next few days will be spent in bed, unable to move. Gives me plenty of time to think, haha. "you should exercise more" is the least helpful advice, which I get all the time. People mean well, but they don't understand. It gives me an opportunity to reflect on when I do the same to others, when I mean well but don't understand.
Yes, I have fibromyalgia too. I consider it a non-diagnosis (like chronic fatigue syndrome, which may or may not be the same thing, but which I (also?) have). It doesn't tell you causes it or how to get better, or what it really is. So.
On most days, I'm much better than I described above. What really helped me is the protocol in the book _From Fatigued to Fantastic_. If you haven't read it, haven't tried his approach to fixing sleep and other imbalances, I CANNOT ENCOURAGE YOU MORE to check it out. The trazodone alone changed my life. Plus the magnesium, the B vitamin supplements, (sometimes) the adrenal supplements, heavily supplementing electrolytes with electrolyte pills (that's my addition)… these took me from being non-functional, unable to discuss facts or details or make decisions, or go further than the sofa, to being able to go out, see people, do things (with limits).
This week I've started naturthroid to support my normal-testing thyroid. So far it seems to be working. I have hope that it will stop the "crashing."
You should put things back into context, because I don't think the parent poster targeted you specifically; most obese people aren't obese because of chronic illnesses but because of lifestyle choices (most of the time, having been fed and addicted to unhealthy food since childhood; thus the lifestyle choice might as well be blamed unto parenting shortcomings, which could be blamed their onto poverty and lack of sanitary regulation on food...).
Some of the most prominent researchers in the US believe that 40-60% of Americans suffer from hypothyroid, possibly in combination with syndrome x. Both of which cruelly cause weight gain AND reduce energy/ability to exercise. That percentage would have to include "most obese people" -- heck, most people, period!
The thing with these 2 issues (hypo/syndrome x) is they are both a cause and a symptom. You can't tell who did what to themselves tabula rasa, or what was done to them (as you point out) by genetics, by childhood, by an environment laden with adrenogenic/estrogenic chemicals, etc. A parent's poor diet changes the expression of genes which can have effects on their children; the additives in food today can have toxic consequences and the food is engineered to be addictive. Sure, personal responsibility. But most people aren't smart enough, or educated enough, or well-positioned enough to fight all the odds against them. And doctors, in my experience, are worse than useless.
My major exertion this week was going to the doctor. I rode in a car, walked 20 ft, sat on a chair, talked, rode home, and had to go lie down and take medicine. As my doctor remarked, "You look grey." Because I have a chronic illness and nobody is sure what exactly it is or what to do about it. I've been like this off an on, without much rhyme or reason, since 2009 when I came down with mono for the second (yes second) time. I used to exercise every day, before I got sick. Now some days, if I do any kind of exercise -- for mere minutes! -- it'll knock me on my ass for days, a kind of exhaustion and pain and fatigue you can't understand unless you've experienced it. This they give the benign, cuddly title of "post-exertional malaise."
Luckily if somebody looks at me and thinks I'm fat because I'm lazy, I really couldn't give a shit, because having your vitality ripped from you at 26 really gives you perspective on stupid things like that guy's staring at my fat ass.
The irony, of course, is that you are guilty of what you claim others are guilty of… not having a clue as to the private lives or struggles of the people around you. Judging them based on appearance. Thinking you know them.
But if you, heaven forbid, develop a chronic illness and you're smart enough to do your own research, you'll find that millions of people all around you are suffering in silence. Of being told they simply must be lazy. Without a proper diagnosis or any kind of medical help.
Oh wait. I guess those are handouts?