Avenger Angel
Warrior of Heaven
There are other issues besides exercise and diet that rarely get brought up in debates like these.
We live in a culture that associates food with love. If grandma bakes a batch of chocolate chip cookies and you turn it down in the act of trying to stay healthy, you look like you're rejecting the time, effort, and love that went into making them, and you're practically insulting her gift to you by insinuating it's not healthy for you. Same thing goes if you turn down a slice of wedding cake, or the cupcakes a coworker brought in one day, or you sit out of having ice cream with a bunch of friends. Turn these things down in the name of dieting and exercise, and you'll look like the bad guy.
The hardest thing about a diet? It's not self commitment. It's everyone else around you. It's the people that are having big burgers and steaks while you're trying to cope with a not-so-fulfilling salad. If you're by yourself, you can make your own habits much more easily than if you're trying to fight with those around you. You'll also have plenty of people who will say you don't have a problem, or you're not as fat as you think you are.
This article is actually extremely good at pointing some of these things about (the last one is kind of a joke)
http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-8-people-who-will-ruin-your-attempt-to-lose-weight/
I'm sure we all know somebody who matches at least a few of those numbers. My own mother, for instance, is a definite #6 and #4, and she often makes desserts for no reason or no special occasion whatsoever. And just yesterday, my family went out to eat for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner just so my dad could get free meals for Veteran's Day from all three places. I highly doubt that did my weight any favors.
It's these kinds of things that nail us when we're trying to diet. Family, friends, and the perception of food, dieting, and exercise. It's not because we're lazy.
We live in a culture that associates food with love. If grandma bakes a batch of chocolate chip cookies and you turn it down in the act of trying to stay healthy, you look like you're rejecting the time, effort, and love that went into making them, and you're practically insulting her gift to you by insinuating it's not healthy for you. Same thing goes if you turn down a slice of wedding cake, or the cupcakes a coworker brought in one day, or you sit out of having ice cream with a bunch of friends. Turn these things down in the name of dieting and exercise, and you'll look like the bad guy.
The hardest thing about a diet? It's not self commitment. It's everyone else around you. It's the people that are having big burgers and steaks while you're trying to cope with a not-so-fulfilling salad. If you're by yourself, you can make your own habits much more easily than if you're trying to fight with those around you. You'll also have plenty of people who will say you don't have a problem, or you're not as fat as you think you are.
This article is actually extremely good at pointing some of these things about (the last one is kind of a joke)
http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-8-people-who-will-ruin-your-attempt-to-lose-weight/
I'm sure we all know somebody who matches at least a few of those numbers. My own mother, for instance, is a definite #6 and #4, and she often makes desserts for no reason or no special occasion whatsoever. And just yesterday, my family went out to eat for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner just so my dad could get free meals for Veteran's Day from all three places. I highly doubt that did my weight any favors.
It's these kinds of things that nail us when we're trying to diet. Family, friends, and the perception of food, dieting, and exercise. It's not because we're lazy.