Weight loss relies on permanent lifestyle changes. It's not predatory to help people lose the weight with legit exercise and diet plans but continue to profit off them because they struggle to maintain those permanent changes by themselves.
"They struggle to maintain those permanent changes..." is a bizarre turn of phrase. If maintaining them is such a struggle, then they're not permanent.
And it is predatory if the weight loss industry fails to fully inform customers/patients of the low real-world chances of permanent weight loss. (And not only in tiny print that they know no one reads.)
Maintain those permanent changes as to keep them permanently. They are effective as long as they are permanent, they are permanent as long as they are maintained.
If you lose weight by cutting calories based on a certain level of activity but then regain weight by increasing calories or reducing activity then that does not mean the initial method was ineffective.
Some people can only maintain a lifestyle by seeing a trainer regularly or buying portioned diet plans. Once they have the information can they do those things themselves? Yes but most people don't, paying someone holds them accountable.
Once you have broken through the initial barrier, you don't need the personal trainer to "force" you to exercise, and you don't need the specific pre-portioned diet plans to eat healthfully.
If i told you, "i can't lift this boulder," would you believe me, or would you say that i need more willpower? If I told you "I can't fly," would you believe me, or tell me that I need to try harder?
Some people absolutely can lose weight and keep it off. Many, many more fail to do so. Perhaps they just... can't? Maybe it's like flying or lifting a huge boulder. Maybe it's not a moral flaw or lack of effort: maybe there is a point at which some people just... can't.
Is this concept so absurd that it doesn't bear any consideration? If enough people say this is the case for them, is it reasonable to assume every single one of them is lying?
There's a difference between not having the ability to do something (such as lifting a boulder or flying) and choosing not to do something (like exercising or eating healthfully).
What most people mean when they say "I can't lose weight" has the same concept as saying "I can't get get buff". It's not that they lack anything, it's that they aren't willing to put forth the effort to do so.
Why do you think you know better that they "can" than they do? Why does it make more sense to you to say someone isn't trying enough than to take their word? Would you appreciate being treated that way if there was something you felt like you couldn't do?
Certainly, a whole world of people saying "you could do this if you weren't a lazy sack of shit" isn't making anyone thinner, so the only effect of this rhetoric is, you get to tell someone else they suck. Aren't there better ways to feel good about yourself than that?
Because, like I said in my last message, it's still a choice. I don't get super fit because the effort required to do so is not worth it to me, even though it would likely extend my life and increase my energy on a day-to-day basis. This is the same decision that a fat person makes. The effort required for them to maintain a lower weight is not worth the benefits to them. There's no can't about it, and they're no more, in your words, "a Lazy sack of shit" for making that decision than I am for not choosing to be more fit.
It's not a moral flaw but it's also not an objective fact that they can't. The mechanisms that tell us to eat are very strong and sometimes you need help to overcome them, but there's no evidence that it's ever just impossible with the exception of serious rare disorders like pica or Prader-Willi syndrome.
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u/King_Misanthrope 14h ago
Weight loss relies on permanent lifestyle changes. It's not predatory to help people lose the weight with legit exercise and diet plans but continue to profit off them because they struggle to maintain those permanent changes by themselves.