Living ~400lbs

… and believe me I am still alive


LEAN Works. Not.

After reading both the Association for Size Diversity and Health’s press release and Laura Frater’s post on the CDC’s LEAN Works site I went and took a look at it.

I was not impressed.

While skimming the site, a survey popped up asking me to give my feedback.  I answered it honestly, noting that, for example, I am not an HR professional.  Under “What did you like LEAST” about the site I wrote:

It’s totally focused on losing weight. Numerous studies have found that there is not a proven method to turn fat people into skinny people which means you are encouraging businesses to waste money that could be spent on things that actually improve health, like smoking cessation or exercise programs. For an overview of the research see: http://mann.bol.ucla.edu/files/Diets_don%27t_work.pdf

A USDA-funded study comparing the “Health At Every Size” (HAES) approach with a traditional diet found that the HAES group had better and more sustainable health results than the diet group. The USDA published the results at: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/mar06/health0306.htm

These two references are certainly not the sum total of what could be said, but they do make a good introduction to the topic.

In answer to the question about how the site could be improved, I suggested they make use of the “Active At Any Size” information from the NIH (it’s actually NIH Publication No. 04–4352, and I included a link to it as well).



7 responses to “LEAN Works. Not.”

  1. LEAN is only focusing on fat workers, with a discriminatory program built around myths that all fat people are physically unhealthy, have poor eating habits, and get no exercise. Also, it’s breaching on privacy. It is not the business of employers to monitor what their workers eat, how often they get checkups, and their exercise levels.

    Jobs are stressful enough, especially in today’s economy. The last thing any worker needs is a weight nanny following them around scolding them for having too large a waist size and basing their overall peformance solely on that.

  2. I agree with Bree!

    I checked out the calculator, went through all the steps, and it asks you to report someone’s BMI.

    We KNOW that BMI is a faulty gauge of health, first of all, but SECOND of all, how he HECK should an employer know what the BMIs are of its employees?!?!

    This STINKS of discrimination.

  3. […] LEAN Works. Not. After reading both the Association for Size Diversity and Health’s press release and Laura Frater’s post on […] […]

  4. Hello,

    I am writing a story and would like to talk to you about the CDC’s LEAN works website.

    Thanks,

    Daniel Heimpel
    [phone removed]

  5. Does anyone know who’s behind the funding of the obesity cost calculator. I forget what I heard I the ASDAH convention, but my understanding was that it was a drug or weight loss company of some kind. Am I mistaken?

  6. […] review of weight-loss studies and Linda Bacon’s HAES study are also featured.  Regarding the CDC’s LEAN Works site, Heimpel cites data that contradicts the LEAN Works claims.  Overall the article is well worth […]

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About Me

Former software tester, now retired heart patient having fun and working on building endurance and strength. See also About page.

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