Fat is the New Normal

Retailers would like to help us remain in a state of denial about our ever expanding waistlines.

What?

It's simple, actually. We don't like facing up to the fact that we're becoming fatter by the minute, and most of us don't particularly like buying "fat clothes". We'd prefer not to notice that those size 8 dresses that used to fit no longer do, or that when we try on those 32" waist jeans that used to fit so well, they now feel like they were made for just one of our legs.

Retailers noticed and they have a solution.

They changed the sizes.

"In recent years", writes Elizabeth Landau on CNN.com, "brands from the luxury names to the mass retail chains have scaled down the size labels on their clothing". "You may actually be a size 14, and, according to whatever particular store you're in, you come out a size 10" says Natalie Nixon, associate professor of fashion industry management at Philadelphia University.

Why?

Simple. It makes the consumer- you and me- feel good.

Participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for 1988-1994 and participants in the survey for 1999-2004 were asked to identify themselves as "underweight", "about right" or "overweight"; their answers were compared with the participants actual BMI, a measure of health risks associated with weight. (Calculate your BMI.)

Not surprisingly, the BMI of the general population increased from the early survey period to the later survey period, a good indication that as a population we're getting fatter. (No surprise there.) But the probability of people describing themselves as overweight decreased in the later survey. In other words, folks were significantly less likely to identify themselves as overweight even while they were packing on the pounds.

"Fat" is the new "normal".

Interestingly, women tended to have a slightly more realistic perception of themselves, but this may not reflect "healthy body image" campaigns. Rather, according to physician nutrition specialist Dr. Melina Jampolis, it's the relative increase in weight of the general population that makes people with high BMI feel more normal.

But feeling normal while being overweight- which seems to be the trend- may decrease a person's motivation to lose weight in the first place. And retailers subtly changing the size so that you don't "notice" that you're now a couple sizes larger than you were a few years ago, isn't exactly a good reality check. In fact, it helps keep everyone in denial. It's kind of like grading on a curve in school- if everyone in the class is getting 5 out of 10 questions wrong, the person scoring 6 right gets an A.

When it comes to weight, this kind of thinking doesn't do anyone any good. Smoking "only" a pack a day isn't any less of a health risk just because everyone around you is smoking 2 packs!

Weight loss may be one of the most challenging undertakings most of us can think of, but daunting or not, it's one of the best things we can do for our health, our well-being, our energy and our longevity.

The problem is, most of us see "dieting" only in terms of calories. Changing your lifestyle choices is a much deeper, more permanent (and more profoundly meaningful) enterprise, and it's about a lot more than just gritting your teeth and pushing away that second portion of dessert.

That's one reason why I designed Diet Boot Camp to be about much more than food. It's about believing in yourself, bucking the system, breaking the glass ceiling of your own expectations, and ultimately about transformation. People who just follow a "diet" for a while often don't do very well long term.

People who pursue strategies to improve their health, energy, and well-being are doing something a lot more than just "dieting"- they're changing their lives.

That's what Diet Boot Camp is about; creating the life you love in a body you love too.