Obesity: Society’s Uneducated Lack of Willpower

Obesity: Society’s Uneducated Lack of Willpower
As a future medical professional, I observe obesity as a plague that is causing dire consequences for our citizens. Obesity can be associated with a wide variety of medical complications that are often fatal such as heart disease, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), stress on other organs such as the liver and kidney, as well as diabetes. Treating these conditions requires long-term maintenance because they are chronic in nature and do not simply go away with treatment. This creates a spiraling abysmal money pit that continually drains insurance dollars of hardworking Americans.
While the solution to this problem would have been to manage weight in the first place by maintaining a healthy diet and exercising (as every damn good physician should tell you) such that these conditions never arose, if for some reason you happen to enter the realm of obesity, the best measure of correction would be to lose the weight in attempt to correct some of the ensuing problems. Better management of weight and healthy diet would almost undoubtedly prevent many of the complications that face medical professionals today. And as a result, we could certainly lessen the economic burden created by patients with these chronic weight-related conditions.
Not only is obesity an economically destructive force, it also manages to psychologically demolish patients by causing depression in addition to the clinical problems with which it is associated. I understand that as one gains weight, it becomes increasingly harder to gain the motivation to eat healthily and exercise regularly. This unfortunately is a feedback loop that often renders the patient helpless as their weight gain makes exercising painful or more difficult which then leads to further weight gain. So how then do we break this loop in order to avoid the seemingly inevitable downfall to which obesity leads?
My answer to this question is pure willpower. During my sophomore year of college, a stressful class load and poor personal choices lead to eating many late night meals and excess amounts of calories in the form of junk food and pizza. I will admit these were delicious, but they caused me to gain 20 pounds over the course of the year. Once summer rolled around, I recognized that I would soon be significantly overweight if I continued at the same pace. While it was quite difficult, my desire to maintain a healthy weight in order to avoid medical complications of weight gain in my future motivated me to lose the weight. I began eating healthier and also began a regular running routine. By the end of the summer (a mere three months), I had lose 17, and like magic, I was pretty much back down to my previous weight.
There is current scientific debate as to whether obesity is truly a disease that is regulated by our body’s internal chemistry that overrides our abilities to make personal choices. Interestingly, two hormones, insulin and another called leptin, work in conjunction to control and limit our appetite. In the brain, a molecule called neuropeptide y (NPY) is released between neurons and creates signals that tell us that we are hungry. The molecule leptin works to block NPY and therefore helps to suppress our inherent chemical desire to eat food. Unfortunately, if leptin is not working correctly, it is possible that we continually feel the need to eat which leads to overeating and obesity. As this happens, resistance to insulin can occur possibly resulting in Type II diabetes (acquired diabetes) or the inability to remove sugars from the bloodstream.
But this hormonal signaling process is normal. Obviously, it is important that our body recognizes the need for energy and continually oscillates between offering signals of “hungry” and “no need for energy.” It is possible that these hormones are incorrectly balanced either through over/underproduction or by increased natural resistance in patients that are obese. Certainly, there are cases in which hormonal imbalances either by destruction of part of the brain (perhaps during surgery) or a genetic predisposition could result in extreme dysregulation of our eating patterns. These cases could result in uncontrollable eating that leads to obesity, but these occurrences are rare at best.
The majority of obese people, even if there are slight shifts in hormone production still have the secondary defense called willpower. People know that they should eat healthily and exercise more often, but the fact of the matter is that these tasks take significant effort to implement into our daily lives. Often, we are too lazy to take care of ourselves and act responsibly in making the choices that we do. Even if we do have slight hormonal imbalances that tell us to devour a delicious and heaping plate of food, our unique human ability to override our animalistic instincts and refrain from doing so must activate at some point in order to maintain a healthy weight.
I hope that you have the willpower to prevent yourself from gaining weight, and if not I certainly hope you have the willpower to lose the weight once you do reach obesity. To be blunt, there is nothing good that comes out of being obese. Not only does the risk for a whole slew of medical complications increase dramatically, but there is an economic and social burden placed on the individual as well as the society that must support this person. As a conqueror of weight gain myself, I challenge all that are afflicted with this internal conflict of defeating obesity to dig deep within and find the willpower necessary to overcome any possible stereotypes or chemical dispositions that cowardly excuse you and prevent you from attaining a healthy lifestyle.
Use your brain, and be healthy. It is as simple as that. Don’t let anything else stand in your way.
Final thoughts on obesity written by Steven Dotzler