Scott Sonnon - The Boy I Was, The Man it Makes Me

This article is from Scott Sonnon on the Good Men Project - it's an interesting discussion of how the way we are treated by others is shaped by how others see us, whether or not that is valid.

As a child he was overweight, but in his teens he lost weight and built muscle. Following a suicide attempt after yet another humiliating beating, he went from being invisible to being invited to play sports, receiving smiles from girls, and being invited to parties.

After defending another overweight kid from bullies, he was given a wake-up call that changed his perspective . . . and made him an advocate for the overweight, as well as a coach who could help them change their shape.

It's sad that any child has to get to a suicide attempt because of shaming, humiliation, and beatings. Nothing deserves that kind of abuse, certainly not being overweight.

The Boy I Was, The Man it Makes Me

February 2, 2014 by Scott Sonnon

Scott Sonnon has a mission to speak out for all of what he has seen.

—

I was invisible; and the only times I had been seen were the uncomfortable moments of public shaming and violent abuse. Is it any wonder that I began to prefer my invisibility over recognition?

I had been fat. And the differences between how I am treated today with how I had been treated in my youth, I still find extremely uncomfortable.

Please don’t misunderstand. I am healthy now, and rarely ill, like I was as a boy. My joints no longer constantly ache from the condition which had once plagued them. And with a family history of diabetes and heart disease, my path was being carved for the same, had I not departed from carrying so much excess fat, into the fitness I am now blessed to have for the time it remains.

I remember precisely the day when I had returned home from yet another humiliating beating that I had decided I couldn’t become any more invisible unless I committed suicide. So, I tried. Calling a friend, I divulged what I had done. She called the police, and I had been saved, thanks to her and God.

The next morning, I realized that invisibility couldn’t serve me if I were to remain alive, and more importantly, LIVING. That day, the changes in my nutrition and fitness began.

The path that I had adopted wasn’t the best, as I didn’t know anything about how to diet and exercise at the time, but it achieved external results. Within a year, my physique made obvious changes. Within two years, most people no longer recognized me when we passed each other.

As my fat melted, so did people’s demeanor toward me. The fights virtually disappeared within months. Many more people began to smile at me, start conversations and even make gestures toward friendships like inviting me to parties and events. Girls began to flirt with me, an artform that today I still remain incompetently unaware of.

I had thought, “Was this some new type of invisibility? Do they not realize I’m the same person?”

♦◊♦

Guys would slap me on the shoulder and ask me about my exercise routine and ask me to join their team for a game of… anything. Girls would linger their eyes upon me, something that had never happened before. I had felt enamored with the lavish attention, the sudden rush of validation; an extreme contrast with the prior horrifying periods of unwanted visibility.

As a fat kid, I had grown familiar with being picked last and begrudgingly, “Okay, we have to take Sonnon.” I had been acquainted to sitting alone at the school dances watching everyone snicker at my exclusion. I had learned to not be heard or seen. And I had learned to be thankful for that invisibility for fear of the repercussions its opposite held: public shaming and physical violence.

I had come to understand those behaviors were “normal.” So, when I had begun to be treated like someone whose presence was not only acknowledged but DESIRED, I was completely overwhelmed, unprepared and socially uneducated.

At first, I held my guard expecting that it would again be one of the jokes pulled on me of pretending to be my friend or girlfriend in order to humiliate me, but it didn’t have a punch line. They just continued being friendly and affectionate. Of course, I basked in that warmth. And the more I had changed my physique, the more the affection grew. I had become a very willing captive of social conditioning.

But then, I saw the injustice committed against other fat people, and my new “friends” began to invite me into their “humorous” atrocities against them. I became livid with anger. I was ONE of those fat people, even with my bodily changes. Didn’t these people understand the terror and depression they were creating?

No, they did not. Every time I spoke out against their mistreatment, they’d turn in surprise, like I had taken off some sort of mask; they realized again that I was one of “those ugly people.” Whenever I had removed my mask by standing up against those unjust remarks and behaviors, I was excommunicated out of the “cool” clique.

The fights began again as I let my anger take control of me. But by that time, I had become a champion fighter, and I found myself a vigilante to the bullyism once committed against me.

I came to my senses one day in college. I had pulled two thuggish students off an overweight boy they had been pushing back and forth like a pinball; his carefully prepared papers flying in the wind, presumably lost in those years before memory sticks. Throwing one of the bullies against the wall, I took the other down to the ground, hovering a fist above his face, cocked to unleash my vengeance. The bully flinched his hands over his face, squinting his eyes to avoid watching the impact, quickly muttering, “Dude stop! We were just having some fun!”

I wish that I could write that I had had some moral epiphany at that moment, that I had stayed my hand and realized I had become the thing I had hated. But I didn’t. That word “fun” undid me. His nose exploded in a pool of blood, and I stood to check on my fellow fat kid; my fist uncurling from its wrath.

When I saw him, he was terrified. And his words rattled my brain, “What the hell, man!? Do you know what they’re going to do to me the next time they see me and you’re not around to pull your Captain America routine? Thanks for nothing!” He stormed away running after his still flying papers.

What had I done? I had become the monster; only one of a different breed – one with pointed, skilled malice, camouflaged as one of “them.”

The affection of girls at my changed physique began to lose its luster, as did the members-only guys club of athletics I had willingly joined.

I couldn’t hold them accountable for the social quicksand into which even I, with my fat aware perspective, had fallen. There was a very distinct social stratification: fit was SOMETHING and fat was NOTHING.

I was only physically different but mentally and emotionally the same. I had been something before I was fit. I had had dreams, ideas, goals, loves and fantasies. They were dismissed by others because they had learned to define fat as nothing, but once fit – my ideas had gained aknowledgement.

♦◊♦

Today, when I write, I find a few students of mine sending messages. They ask me why I talk about past hardships, philosophies, and advocacies for issues not regarding elite fitness. They plead with me to “just be the coach that once” helped them change their “shape” and they ask me to stop wasting my time advocating for severe cases when a coach of my “level” should dedicate himself to “the best athletes.” I recognize that they are teetering where I had once stood: inside the door to the cool kids club.

Our culture lionizes fit and castigates fat. But fit or fat is not who we are. It is only how we appear. Myamoto Musashi once wrote, “You can see the shape by which I am victorious but you cannot see the form by which I guarantee triumph.” Our form, who we essentially are, cannot be defined by our shape. Who we are is shapeless, beyond any transient state of our bodies, beyond our illnesses or our vitality, beyond our disease or our health, beyond our fitness or fatness.

Make no mistake, as I walk down the beach here in Costa Rica vacationing with my family, I see the reaction men and women have toward my athletic, tattooed shape. But they don’t see my form.

This shape WILL pass, but my form will remain.

My walk in life may be more visible on the surface now but my thoughts, hopes and dreams for a better future together remain invisible if I allow my current appearance to mask my true form.

I may be a fit adult man now but I will always have my awareness of the world from a young fat boy. I will take this shape I currently have while others will choose to make it visible, and bring light to the invisible world we are missing by its distraction.

Sharing that awareness might help others realize that they can choose to change their shape, improve their health and enhance their physical capacity, but acknowledge that they are already perfect in form, beautiful and wondrous in nature. And sharing that awareness might also break down the gated prejudice of the cool kids club so that we can improve our insight into the transient nature of our physical bodies, that the world is rich in shapes and sizes, beautiful and wondrous in each…

Very Respectfully,
Scott Sonnon
www.facebook.com/ScottSonnon

–

Photo by author

More writing by Scott Sonnon

• 45 Ways to a Kick Ass Life
• Rules of Engagement for Becoming a Man
• The Undiscovered Genius Hidden Within Challenge

This Is the Average Man's Body (The Atlantic Monthly)

A friend over at Facebook alerted me to this article in an off-hand way - he jokingly asked his friends and followers, "Who would you rather?" among the four nationalities presented in the article below (United States, Japan, Netherlands, France). Of the four men (averages formed into a avatar), the "Todd" from the U.S. is 5' 9" tall, with a 39" waist and a body mass index (BMI) of 29 - 30 is obese.

As a personal trainer and athlete, I see these "average men" and feel sad that we have fallen so far from our potential - the average man in the U.S. is a fraction from obese . . . and that's AVERAGE!

I am not blaming the individuals . . . although there is always the option to change one's lifestyle. I also know from my years as a trainer how difficult that can be even for those who want to do so. If it were easy or simple, no one would go through the torment of being overweight in a fat phobic society (that is, ironically, overweight and obese on average).

A big part of the problem is the processed nutrition-void foods we eat, the marketing atmosphere we live in, the endocrine disrupting chemicals in the air and water (and in food packaging, water bottles, no-stick pans, aerosols, and so on), and the urbanization of human life (taking us away from a life spent working on the land, doing physical labor) - all of these things and more have contributed to this Todd avatar, from the U.S., at least, being a pudgy man.

We can only change it for ourselves, and lead by example . . . . How are you leading? What are you teaching your kids about health and fitness?

This Is the Average Man's Body

Graphic renderings of modern males

James Hamblin Oct 10 2013



Todd is the most typical of American men. His proportions are based on averages from CDC anthropometric data. As a U.S. male age 30 to 39, his body mass index (BMI) is 29; just one shy of the medical definition of obese. At five-feet-nine-inches tall, his waist is 39 inches.

Don't let the hyperrealistic toes fool you; Todd is an avatar. I gave Todd his name, and gave his life a narrative arc, but he is actually the child of graphic artist Nickolay Lamm as part of his Body Measurement Project.

Todd would prefer perfection—or at least something superlative, even if it's bad—to being average. But Todd is perfect only in being average. With this perfection comes the privilege of radical singularity, which is visible in his eyes.

Though in his face this reads lonesome, Todd does have three international guyfriends. They met at a convention for people with perfectly average bodies, where each won the award for most average body in their respective country: U.S., Japan, Netherlands, and France. The others' BMIs, based on data from each country's national health centers, are 23.7, 25.2, and 25.6.

I named them all Todd, actually, even though it could be confusing, because not everyone's name is a testament to their cultural heritage.

 

This is how Lamm made the Todds. It's also what zombie Todds look like.



And here are Todds from the right.

 

Most people look better from their left, but Lamm rendered the Todds from their right, just because he can. To these men, Nickolay is God.

Avatars of various ethnicities are important, because obesity depends on culture and genetics. The weight of every person's destiny is equal, but some countries are fat, and others are not. The World Health Organization cares about that, because understanding the differences should help to explicate causes.
 

(World Health Organization; based on 2008 data)

So does history. Fifty years ago, American Todd would not have been round. The trend is not unique to men, either; Lamm just chose to work with white male renderings. The same CDC data puts the female BMI in this age group at 28.7.

U.S. Obesity, National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 1960-2000

Americans are also losing ground in height. For most of two centuries, until 60 years ago, the U.S. population was the tallest in the world. Now the average American man is three inches shorter than the Dutch man, who averages six feet. Japanese averages are also gaining on Americans'. Anthropologists tie these recent changes primarily to diet and lifestyle, as we've turned habitable wilderness into excess. 

(All images by Nickolay Lamm)

George Maat, a professor emeritus of anthropology at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, has said that within another 50 years, the Dutch Todd could be six-foot-three. Several years ago the Netherlands was compelled to increase building code standards for door frames. If in the last half-century the American physical form has been expelled from international imagination as an ideal, we might presently look at the situation not just as failure, but with optimism for what we might become.

Fathers Pass Obesity to Their Offspring (and Their Offspring)

Here is yet another reason for men to stay fit and healthy (besides reducing the risks of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and cognitive diseases) - the sperm of obese men pass on obesity genes to their children and grandchildren. If you won't or can't commit to fitness for yourself, do it for your children and grandchildren.

Dad's sperm passes obesity on

THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE
TUESDAY, 16 JULY 2013

The sperm of an obese father can increase the risk of the next two generations being obese, even if they're eating healthily.

New research from the University of Adelaide shows that the sperm of obese fathers could increase the risk of both their children and their grandchildren to inherit obesity.

In laboratory studies, researchers from the University's Robinson Institute have found that molecular signals in the sperm of obese fathers can lead to obesity and diabetes-like symptoms in two generations of offspring, even though the offspring are eating healthily.

The results of the research are published online in The FASEB Journal.

"A father's diet changes the molecular makeup of the sperm. With obese fathers, the changes in their sperm - in their microRNA molecules - might program the embryo for obesity or metabolic disease later in life," says the lead author of the paper, Dr Tod Fullston, who is an NHMRC Peter Doherty Fellow with the University's Robinson Institute, based in Dr Michelle Lane's Gamete and Embryo Biology Group.

"For female offspring, there is an increased risk of becoming overweight or obese. What we've also found is that there is an increased chance of both male and female offspring developing metabolic disease similar to type 2 diabetes.

"This is the first report of both male and female offspring inheriting a metabolic disease due to their father's obesity," he says.

The study also extended into the second generation of progeny, which showed signs of similar metabolic disorders, including obesity, although it was not as severe as the first generation.

Dr Fullston says even if the obese father does not show any signs of diabetes, metabolic disease similar to diabetes was being seen in two generations of their descendants.

"It's been known for some time that the health of a mother before, during and after pregnancy can impact on her child's health, but the father's health during this period is often overlooked," Dr Fullston says.

"If our laboratory studies are translatable to humans, this could be a new and as yet unexplored intervention window into the epidemic of childhood obesity.

"A focus on the mother's health is extremely important, but we're seeing that the father's health is also important for conception. It's possible that by showing additional attention to diet and exercise in the father, this could have a positive impact on his future children and grandchildren."

~ Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

This is some seriously bad news for American men, 66% of whom are overweight or obese. One of the most debilitating side effects of obesity is that fats cells create estrogen - the more fat cells, and the bigger the fat cells, the more estrogen in the body. It gets worse, fat cells also support high levels of aromatase, an enzyme that converts testosterone to estrogen. More fat, less testosterone due to the aromatization of testosterone into estrogen .

High fat levels (through increases in estrogen due to aromatase conversion) reduce testosterone, which has its own downside: depression, loss of libido, muscle wasting, bone density loss, heart attacks and other cardiovascular issues, and higher risk of early death.

The evidence has been building for years that many neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's Disease and other forms of dementia are linked to neuroinflammation (see this article). More recent evidence is showing that inflammation may play a crucial role in depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.

A 2012 article (Maintaining Brain Health by Monitoring Inflammatory Processes: a Mechanism to Promote Successful Aging) in Aging and Disease looked at how inflammation contributes to mental decline, as well as structural and metabolic dysfunctions. The article is freely available at the link above.

Abstract 

Maintaining brain health promotes successful aging. The main determinants of brain health are the preservation of cognitive function and remaining free from structural and metabolic abnormalities, including loss of neuronal synapses, atrophy, small vessel disease and focal amyloid deposits visible by neuroimaging. Promising studies indicate that these determinants are to some extent modifiable, even among adults seventy years and older. Converging animal and human evidence further suggests that inflammation is a shared mechanism, contributing to both cognitive decline and abnormalities in brain structure and metabolism. Thus, inflammation may provide a target for intervention. Specifically, circulating inflammatory markers have been associated with declines in cognitive function and worsening of brain structural and metabolic characteristics. Additionally, it has been proposed that older brains are characterized by a sensitization to neuroinflammatory responses, even in the absence of overt disease. This increased propensity to central inflammation may contribute to poor brain health and premature brain aging. Still unknown is whether and how peripheral inflammatory factors directly contribute to decline of brain health. Human research is limited by the challenges of directly measuring neuroinflammation in vivo. This review assesses the role that inflammation may play in the brain changes that often accompany aging, focusing on relationships between peripheral inflammatory markers and brain health among well-functioning, community-dwelling adults seventy years and older. We propose that monitoring and maintaining lower levels of systemic and central inflammation among older adults could help preserve brain health and support successful aging. Hence, we also identify plausible ways and novel experimental study designs of maintaining brain health late in age through interventions that target the immune system.

Full Citation:
Rosano, C, Marsland, AL, and Gianaros, PJ. (2012, Feb). Maintaining Brain Health by Monitoring Inflammatory Processes: a Mechanism to Promote Successful Aging. Aging and Disease; 3(1): 16–33. PMCID: PMC3320802

Two easy ways to control and reduce inflammation are an anti-inflammatory diet and regular exercise. Over at Integral Options Cafe, I posted information this morning on foods and supplements that reduce inflammation.

Here is the press release:

Obesity Leads to Brain Inflammation, and Low Testosterone Makes It Worse

June 17, 2013 — Low testosterone worsens the harmful effects of obesity in the nervous system, a new study in mice finds.

The results will be presented Monday at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

"Low testosterone and obesity are common in aging men, and each is associated with type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease," said the study's lead investigator, Anusha Jayaraman, PhD, of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. "Our new findings demonstrate that obesity and low testosterone combine to not only increase the risk of diabetes but also damage the brain."

The study -- which was conducted in the laboratory of Christian J. Pike, PhD, Professor in the Davis School of Gerontology at USC and funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Aging -- consisted of three groups of male mice that received a high-fat diet (60 percent of calories were from fat) to induce obesity. Each group had eight mice and varied by testosterone status. One group had normal testosterone levels, and the second group underwent surgical removal of the testes so that the mice had low testosterone levels. The third group also underwent castration but then received testosterone treatment through a capsule implanted beneath the skin.

The high-fat diet, Jayaraman reported, resulted in obesity and evidence of diabetes -- abnormally high blood glucose (sugar) levels and poor glucose tolerance, which is the ability to clear glucose from the bloodstream. Compared with the group that had normal testosterone levels, the testosterone-deficient mice had more body fat, higher blood sugar levels and poorer glucose tolerance, she said.

After blood testing, brain tissues from the mice underwent analysis for changes. The brains of obese mice showed substantial inflammation and were less able to support nerve cell growth and survival, according to Jayaraman. These damaging effects of diet-induced obesity were significantly worse in mice with low testosterone, she said, adding that control groups of mice fed a normal diet did not show these changes.

"Our findings suggest that low testosterone and obesity interact to regulate inflammation of the nervous system, which may increase the risk of disorders such as type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease," she said.

Because many of the negative outcomes of the high-fat diet were eased in the group of mice that received testosterone therapy, Jayaraman said that "testosterone treatment may be useful in reducing the harmful effects of obesity and low testosterone on the nervous system."

Ellen Goldbaum-Buffalo - Obese Boys Have Up to 50% Less Testosterone

While I have known for a long time that higher levels of fat storage equates to lower testosterone levels, I had no idea the numbers were so alarming in growing boys. The problem is that fat cells create estrogen and have estrogen receptors, so the more fat storage there is, the more estrogen is in the body. The more estrogen there is in the male body, the lower the levels of testosterone produced.

In developing boys - not to mention adult men - this has all kinds of negative effects, including enlarged breasts (and increased risk of breast cancer), reduced muscle mass, depression, impotence, and possible infertility. The fat storage combined with the reduced muscle mass can eventually lead to diabetes.

We have to stop this trend of obesity in our children, both boys and girls (who experience earlier menarche when overweight). It starts with parents and the choices they make around food and family entertainment. But it also involves city and neighborhood planning (more parks and green spaces), returning recess and P.E to schools, making healthier foods more affordable, and reshaping our cultural beliefs around food. The future does not look good - and I don't see anyone really devoting resources to the problem.

The full article is available for free online at the Clinical Endocrinology site.

Full Citation:

Mogri, M, Dhindsa, S, Quattrin,T, Ghanim, H, and Dandona, P. (2012, Sept). Testosterone concentrations in young pubertal and postpubertal obese males. Clinical Endocrinology, Vol. 77, Issue 5. doi: 10.1111/cen.12018

In obese boys, up to 50 percent less testosterone

Posted by Ellen Goldbaum-Buffalo on Tuesday, October 16, 2012

A 50 percent reduction in testosterone seen in obese boys is "frankly, horrendous, because these boys are potentially impotent and infertile," says Paresh Dandona of the University at Buffalo. "The message is a grim one with massive epidemiological implications." (Credit: "overweight boy" via Shutterstock)

U. BUFFALO (US) — Obese adolescent boys have up to 50 percent less total testosterone than do normal-weight boys of the same age, significantly increasing the risk for impotency as adults.

“We were surprised to observe a 50 percent reduction in testosterone in this pediatric study because these obese males were young and were not diabetic,” says Paresh Dandona, professor of medicine and chief of the division of endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism at the University at Buffalo.

“The implications of our findings are, frankly, horrendous because these boys are potentially impotent and infertile. The message is a grim one with massive epidemiological implications.”

Published online in the journal Clinical Endocrinology, the small study included boys between the ages of 14 and 20—25 boys who were obese and 25 who were lean—and was controlled for age and level of sexual maturity. Concentrations of total and free testosterone and estradiol, an estrogen hormone, were measured in morning fasting blood samples.

The researchers say the results now need to be confirmed with a larger number of subjects.

“These findings demonstrate that the effect of obesity is powerful, even in the young, and that lifestyle and nutritional intake starting in childhood have major repercussions throughout all stages of life,” Dandona says.

In addition to the reproductive consequences, the absence or low levels of testosterone that were found also will increase the tendency toward abdominal fat and reduced muscle, Dandona says, leading to insulin resistance, which contributes to diabetes.

“The good news is that we know that testosterone levels do return to normal in obese adult males who undergo gastric bypass surgery,” says Dandona. “It’s possible that levels also will return to normal through weight loss as a result of lifestyle change, although this needs to be confirmed by larger studies.”

The same authors reported in 2004 the presence of low testosterone levels, known as hypogonadism, in obese, type 2 diabetic adult males and confirmed it in 2010 in more than 2,000 obese men, both diabetic and nondiabetic. They now intend to study whether or not weight loss accomplished either through lifestyle changes or through pharmacological intervention will restore testosterone levels in obese teen males.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Source: University at Buffalo

Obesity and Radical Prostatectomy

This post is based purely on anecdotal reports, but I think it bears sharing. This may change how you think of your health and (I hope) increase your motivation to lose fat (if you are one of the 2/3 of Americans who are overweight or obese).

A young woman I know who is on her way into medical school next fall has been shadowing a surgeon on his rounds and in the O.R. over the last couple of weeks. The surgeon has performed several prostate surgeries in that time, ranging from biopsies to full removal of the gland and the associated tumor tissue (radical prostatectomy).

Among the many risks and side effects of a radical prostatectomy include (all quotes are from WebMD):

• Sexual impotence - "About half of men are able to regain some of their ability to have erections.³ But this takes time. It can take as little as 3 months. But for most men, it will be 6 months to a year.⁴"
• Urinary incontinence -  "Up to half of all men who have a radical prostatectomy develop urinary incontinence, ranging from a need to wear urinary incontinence pads to occasional dribbling. Studies show that one year later, between 15% and 50% of men report urinary problems.⁵"
• Additional issues - "Damage to the urethra," "damage to the rectum."  "The same general risks as other major operations, including heart problems, blood clots, allergic reaction to anesthesia, blood loss, and infection of the wound."

Once of the ways modern medicine has tried to reduce these risks and outcomes is through nerve-sparing surgery. The hope is to preserve as much nerve function as possible so that these men do not become impotent or suffer from urinary incontinence. Outcomes are better with this approach, but still not ideal.

And this brings me to the point of this post. After seeing several "normal" men (i.e., overweight, and mostly with intra-abdominal fat) get this procedure, with the attempt to spare as much nerve tissue as possible, she saw the same procedure performed on a man with very low bodyfat, probably 6-8%.

With the prior men the surgeons literally had to dig through yellow adipose tissue to find the prostate, and then identifying and preserving the nerves was difficult, but with the low-bodyfat patient there was no significant adipose tissue to dig through, the nerves were easily identified and marked, and in all likelihood, he will suffer none of the negative side effects.

The moral of this story is that if you are a man, about 1 in 6 will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during our lifetimes, but only 1 in 36 men die from the disease. Since this is now a disease that most men will live with, who wants to live those years with impotence and wearing an adult diaper?

We reduce the risk of that outcome significantly simply by being in good, healthy shape, which means regular exercise and healthy diet. It's not too much to ask, is it, if it will allow you a better quality of life? 

2.5 million British Men Too Fat to See Their Own Penis

Dudes . . . . !?!?

Some of the guys said they would use a penis pump before losing weight?! Is that in lieu of sex, or to make their penis bigger? WTF!?

I'll bet the number in the U.S. is way bigger since there are more of us (maybe even a higher percentage of the population, as well). This is craziness - being obese has become the norm, not the exception, and there is no reason for reason it.

2.5 million British men too fat to see their own manhood

Sep 3rd 2010 By Caroline Cassidy

According to doctors, the best way for men to find out if their beer belly is too big is to check whether they can see their willy without looking in a mirror.

Stop sniggering at the back, ladies.

And alarmingly, a new study conducted by weight-management specialists Lighter Life, reveals that 43 per cent of men haven't seen their own penis in the last two years – and 16 per cent can't remember the last time they saw it.

2,000 men took part in the survey, which suggests that, proportionally, 2.5 million British men are too fat to see their own penis.

Even worse, most of the men surveyed weren't especially bothered by this, and weren't motivated to lose weight and change their appearance.

Over half said they would lose weight if they were constantly embarrassed by their appearance, while others said health risks, inability to perform in bed and man boobs would make them change their lifestyle.

Some of the men who took part said they would resort to creative pubic shaving to make their equipment look larger, and others said they would consider a penis pump before weight loss.

A penis pump?

Has the world gone mad?

Still, at least now we know why so many blokes always miss the toilet when they're going for a wee – they obviously can't see what they're doing.

Tags: men, obesity, health, culture, Britain, penis, 2.5 million British men, too fat to see their penis, penis pump, Caroline Cassidy, beer belly

Being Obese Can Cost a Man Eight Years

So you still don't exercise, you think the four food groups are pizza, burgers, chips, and beer, and it's been a few years since you've seen your, uh, manhood without a mirror. No biggie, right? After all, 2/3 of the population is overweight or obese. You are the norm - it's the skinny people who are in the minority, right?

Being overweight/obese is going to cost you 8 years of your life - yep, eight fewer years with your wife, eight fewer years to see your children, and eight fewer years to be a doting grandfather. If you smoke, it's even worse.

There's no reason for this. I'm a trainer and nutritional coach, so I know it's not as easy as "Just Do It" - but yeah, it is that easy. You might need some help from a trainer, a nutritional coach, and maybe even a therapist - is it worth 8 years of your life? Do you want to see your grandkids grow up?

You probably even know how to eat healthy, and you may have been a jock in high school or college, so you know your way around the weight room. Even if you you don't, you can learn - and I'll bet you know someone (a friend, a family member) who can help you.

So it comes down to discipline. That can be learned too, and this is where a life coach or a therapist comes in handy. We often have mental/emotional issues that we need to overcome - I understand this, and I know you can beat it.

Eight years - is it worth it to you?

Being Obese Can Cost a Man Eight Years

By Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Managing Editor

Men who are obese at age 20 die about eight years earlier than other men, a new study in Denmark suggests.

Researchers tracked more than 5,000 men starting at the age of 20 until up to age 80. They found that at any given age, an obese man was twice as likely to die as a man who was not obese, and that obesity at age 20 appeared to be a constant factor in death rates up to 60 years later.

"As the obesity epidemic is still progressing rapidly, especially among children and adolescents, it is important to find out if obesity in early adulthood has lifelong mortality effects," said the study's leader, Esther Zimmermann, a researcher at the Institute of Preventive Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital and the Institute of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen.

Zimmermann told LiveScience she isn't sure whether the results would hold for Americans, but that a recent study in Sweden echoed her study results. The study will be presented Tuesday at the International Congress on Obesity in Stockholm.

BMI and death risk

Zimmermann and her colleagues compared mortality among military draftees, including 1,930 obese men and a random sample of 3,601 non-obese men. (Zimmermann said she wasn't sure which men actually were accepted into the military.) They looked at participants' body mass index, or BMI, at the average ages of 20, 35 and 46 and then matched the results with death rates in the next follow-up period.

BMI is an indicator of body fat calculated from height and weight. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, a BMI below 18.5 means the person is underweight; between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered normal; 25 to 29, overweight; and anything higher, obese.

The results were adjusted to eliminate any influence on the findings from year of birth, education and smoking.

A total of 1,191 men died during the follow-up period of up to 60 years. Of the survivors at age 70, about 70 percent had not been obese at age 20. Though the other 70-year-old survivors had been obese, just as many obese men had died by then.

Results showed men with a BMI of 25 at age 20 had the lowest death risk. Underweight men had a slightly elevated risk, and the risk of early death crept up steadily by 10 percent for each BMI unit above 25.

Obesity is persistent

Zimmermann said it is unclear whether the higher death risk was a result of being obese at age 20 or of remaining obese for many years afterward.

"More than 70 percent of the obese young men were still obese at the follow-up examinations, whereas only 4 percent of the men in comparison group developed obesity during follow-up," Zimmermann said. "Obesity seems to be a persistent condition, and it appears that if it has not occurred in men by the age of 20, the chance[s] of it developing later are quite low."

Zimmermann said her group planned to study what diseases might be responsible for the early deaths in the obese group. She suspects the known obesity-linked diseases played a role, including cardiovascular diseases, endocrine disorders and some cancers. In addition, looking at these diseases over time could shed some light on the mechanisms through which obesity works at different ages.

Her study was funded by grants from the Cluster for Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Copenhagen.

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Tags: fitness, health, nutrition, culture, death, Being Obese Can Cost a Man Eight Years, Esther Zimmermann, LifeScience, overweight, men, obesity

Obesity Time-bomb: Eight in 10 men will be overweight by 2020

Damn, guys! This is horrible - and there is no reason why this has to happen. If you are one of these men, get up and do something, or you will never live to see your grandchildren grow up. There is tons of info on this blog and lots of others to help you lose the fat and build some muscle.

Obesity timebomb: Eight in 10 men will be overweight by 2020

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:32 AM on 17th February 2010

Rising levels of obesity in adults is putting tremendous strain on the National Health Service

Eight out of 10 men and almost seven in 10 women will be overweight or obese by 2020, according to a new report.

While data suggests childhood obesity may be levelling off, the picture for adults is far 'less optimistic'.

Not only will people be fatter but the incidence of diabetes, stroke and heart disease will dramatically increase, according to the National Heart Forum report.

Led by Professor Klim McPherson from Oxford University, the study has updated predictions in a 2007 Foresight report, to predict future levels of obesity in England.

The study said: 'Unlike the recent report on child obesity, which showed some indications of a plateauing or at least a significant reduction in the rate of obesity, the future projections for adults are less optimistic.'

Some 41 per cent of men aged 20 to 65 will be obese by 2020 and 40 per cent will be overweight, the new predictions show.

Meanwhile, 36 per cent of women will be obese and 32 per cent will be overweight.

Obesity shows no sign of decreasing among adults and the incidence of associated illnesses - such as heart disease - will only rise, said the report.

By 2050, there will be a 23 per cent rise in the prevalence of obesity-related stroke, a 34 per cent rise in obesity-related high blood pressure, a 44 per cent rise in obesity-related coronary heart disease and a 98 per cent rise in obesity-related diabetes.

Prof McPherson said: 'These trends demonstrate that the cautiously optimistic picture we presented in November 2009 for a levelling off of future obesity rates among children is not mirrored in adults.

'There are already more men who are obese than who are of a healthy weight and by the end of the decade obese men and women could out-number those who are overweight.

'The serious health problems associated with obesity mean that these continuing rising trends will impose a substantially increased burden on the NHS.

'The Government needs to redouble its efforts to tackle obesity.

'We are being overwhelmed by the effects of today's 'obesogenic' environment, with its abundance of energy-dense food and sedentary lifestyles.'

'Don't become a statistic'

Joe Korner, director of communications at The Stroke Association, said the results were "shocking".

He added: 'Obese people are more likely to suffer a stroke which can leave people with paralysis and communication problems.

'But you don't have to become a statistic; you can do something about it. By eating more healthy foods and taking regular exercise you can help reduce your risk of stroke.'

The report comes as the Government launches a new campaign to urge adults to lose weight and get healthy.

The Swap it Don't Stop it part of the Change4life campaign says people do not have to give up all the things they love.

It includes suggested 'swaps' like swapping watching a favourite sport on television for taking part, increasing fibre intake by choosing brown rice over white, or swapping bigger plates for smaller ones to choose smaller portions of food. Television and poster adverts will air from this Saturday.

Tags: Obesity, time bomb, Eight in 10, men, overweight, 2020, health, society, Mail Online, overweight, diabetes, stroke, heart disease, Klim McPherson, Oxford University