From Paul Campos discusses the failure of a “sophisticated and expensive attempt” to validate the hypothesis that “significant long-term weight loss improves health outcomes”:
It will probably come as a surprise to most readers to learn that this hypothesis remains almost completely unconfirmed by the medical literature – in part because we simply don’t know how to produce significant long-term weight loss in a statistically significant group of people, so the hypothesis has been impossible to test.
The study, called Look AHEAD, has been covered elsewhere. Participants lost 5% of their body weight and maintained that loss for over 11 years. Yes, the researchers considered a “significant” weight loss to be a 5% loss from baseline. Not “reducing BMI to “normal””. Losing 5%. If losing 5% of your weight would put you in the “normal” BMI bracket, it’s likely you’re there already.
And the study found that maintaining that “long-term, significant” weight loss didn’t improve health outcomes.
Lesley Kinzel discusses “glorifying obesity” with sarcasm and smarts.
If reminding folks that fat people are people first — that they are individuals and not some monolithic amoeba of disease rolling itself over the planet, and that their bodies are not shameful, not ugly, not embarrassing, not immoral, but as worthy of acceptance as every other body is — if THIS is the same as glorifying obesity, then bring on the glory. I will carry the banner. I won’t be sorry, not for my part in changing our culture around bodies in general and not for my own body that I live in, right now — I won’t be sorry, and I won’t apologize. Neither should you.
And if you want a smile, you should read Jess Zimmerman on Moses, the baby elephant, and his adoptive family. Moses also has a blog maintained by his human family.
Living ~400lbs 
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