Last week, I challenged you to identify whether 5 very common statements about obesity and health were true or false. 1,352 of you participated, but the number of people who were correct about all 5 statements was...well, a lot less than that.

I’m not sure of the total number of correct responses (it would have taken me all day to go through and find all of them), but I had to go all the way up to comment #265 to find the 25th winner of a 100 point SparkGoodie, and by the time I got to comment #500, the total of correct answers was less than 50. In other words, less than 10% of the responses were correct about all 5 statements.

So, if you didn’t get all 5 right, you weren’t alone (in fact, by far the most common answer—that all 5 statements were true—was wrong about all 5 statements). But don’t feel too bad–the questions were deliberately worded in a way that made it easy to make a mistake. In fact, that was really one of the major points of this challenge—to demonstrate that it’s very easy for anyone to take a “fact” and present it in a way that leads to a certain conclusion, when the fact itself doesn’t lead there at all. And it isn’t always easy to spot when this is going on.

Each of the 5 statements in this challenge presents a good example of how facts get turned into widely held impressions and assumptions that aren’t really accurate, and could potentially cause problems for people. So, let’s take a look at the statements and the correct answers, and then we can talk a little about what this all means in the real world.



Statement No. 1

Obesity causes health risks, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

FALSE. Obesity is associated with these medical conditions, but the evidence doesn’t support the idea that it causes them. Most researchers suggest that other factors (especially genetics and physical inactivity) most likely cause both the obesity and the other medical conditions.

Statement No. 2

People with a BMI in the “normal” range have a lower risk of mortality than those in higher (or lower) BMI ranges.

FALSE. The weight at which the lowest mortality rates occur is either very close to or within the “overweight” category, depending on your age, gender and race. For example, for Caucasians under 55, the lowest death rate is at a BMI of 24.5, and for African Americans it is at 27. For women over 55, these numbers are 26.5 and 29.8 for these two racial groups. (Overweight = BMI of 25 to 29.9).

Statement No.3

Losing weight will definitely reduce your risks of health problems and premature death.

FALSE. 15 of the largest and most comprehensive long-term studies indicate that dieting, especially repetitive dieting or “weight cycling,” is actually associated with increased health risks. Researchers suggest this is because loss of too much muscle, bone, and organ tissue may jeopardize health.

Statement No. 4

As long as it is not taken to extremes, dieting is a safe, proven, and effective weight loss method.

FALSE. There is no diet plan that is safe, proven, or effective for everyone, and there are no diets that have actually been proven to be safe or effective over the long-term. Most diets haven’t been studied long enough to provide evidence about their long-term effectiveness, and virtually all weight-loss treatments and approaches can only be considered experimental at this point, including medications and surgery as well as eating plans. There is even controversy over whether maintaining a calorie deficit will necessarily cause weight loss in all people, or what kind of weight will be lost (fat, muscle, etc). And finally, it’s clear that dieting frequently leads to unhealthy weight cycling and also to disordered eating for many people, and those things aren’t safe.

Statement No. 5

The two most effective motivations for losing weight are fear of the health risks caused by obesity, and the desire to conform to social standards regarding body size, shape, and appearance.

FALSE. It’s probably true that these are the two most common reasons why people set out to lose weight. But starting out and reaching your goal are two very different things, and the evidence indicates that, for individuals, “sticking with it” depends far more on intrinsic motivations than on these two extrinsic motivations. On a social level, it’s very clear that both increased social pressures to be thin and increased knowledge of the connection between obesity and health problems have gone hand in hand with rapidly rising rates of obesity. That makes it hard to see how these two things can be viewed as effective motivators for losing weight. The reality may well turn out to be that these external pressures are actually aggravating the situation for many people, leading to hazardous short-term weight cycling, poor nutrition, disordered eating, body hatred, increased size discrimination, confusion and despair regarding what actually “works,” and other factors that increase stress, aggravate health problems, and undermine the ability to stick with a weight loss plan.


What does it all mean?

Well, one thing it doesn’t mean is that you should stop trying to lose weight. But it probably does mean it’s going to be important for you to ditch the “diet mentality” and switch to a “live it” mentality.

Another thing it does mean is that you shouldn’t believe anyone who tells you they’ve discovered the “secret” to weight loss, or guarantees results if you just use their product or follow their plan. The bottom line is that you are an experiment of one, and you’ll need to find out what your body needs in the way of food and exercise to reach your healthiest weight and stay there. Doctors and experts can help you identify the particular risk factors and challenges you have to work with, provide general information, and help you monitor your progress as you go along. But they can’t give you an exact blueprint to follow, or provide the motivation you’ll need to do whatever you need to do.

The good news is that you don’t have to look like a cover model to be healthy and fit. Just as being overweight doesn’t cause illness, being a normal weight doesn’t cause good health. The things that contribute to both good health and weight loss are your own behaviors—healthy eating and plenty of physical activity—not finding just the right diet plan, or reaching some particular number on the scale.


Congratulations to The Challenge Winners!

Here are the first 25 respondents who correctly identified all 5 statements as false. You can expect to see your SparkGoodie award on your SparkPage in the next day or two. Don’t spend it all in one place!

BMOYERS01
ACHIEVE100%
~NANAK~
KARACITA
LADYRINO
PAISANS
PRTTYMSTNG
THINKSKINNY
GALDES34
SERENDIPITY22
BOOSCOOTS
HEYLIZ
MCHAVEZTEX
SCOTTIEDOG
SUECOK
BRIAN36
CWESTMORE
K5GCM07
DCT9000
NEVERNAKED
DAILYSPARKS
QUIETNEAL
CONNIEROD
CMARTIN9
CINDYSUITT

So, how'd you do on the quiz, and what do you think of the answers?