A test, I guess...

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

 

A week ago, I learned about a cult called HAES from this website. Their beliefs fascinate me. I have written this piece about them. I’m not passionate about this subject or anything, I just find them amusing. I thought it’d be a fun writing exercise to dissect their philosophy.

 

HAES (Health At Every Size) is a movement that embodies the values of delusional thinking, self-indulgence, double standards, and bullying/hate speech. It masks itself under the guise of positive vocabulary, like self-acceptance and body love. In reality, HAES culture is saturated with individuals who are illogical at best, and dehumanizingly hateful at worst.

 

The following is a list of HAES beliefs and my responses to them. I am no expert, my responses are fallible. I welcome your criticism of my points, as I wish to develop as refined an argument as I can (while still keeping each response short). If I say something illogical or incomplete, or you have an alternative argument more compelling than my own, please tear me a new one. If I left out a common argument, please bring it to my attention. If someone has written something like this already and done it better, please send it my way. Here to learn.

 

In case there’s any ambiguity, my points are against a belief system, not a body of people. You can be a cool person at any size or weight. I’m sorry to the decent people out there with size/weight struggles whose image suffers as a result of how HAES portrays them.

 

HAES assertions about health; Slashy replies

HAES: Overweight/obesity can still be healthy.

-Define healthy.

HAES: Bloodwork came out fine, see!

-Syllogistic fallacy. All A are B. Therefore all B are A? Nope. Healthy people having good bloodwork doesn’t mean good bloodwork is automatically healthy. Bloodwork is no guarantee of health. Also, your bloodwork probably isn't good. There’s a reason they reject blood donations from people whose BMI doesn’t meet a threshold.

HAES: BP/EKG came out fine, see!

-Maybe it did. Having a normal lab value at one point in time doesn’t make the risk factors go away. The risk factors for obesity are well established. They are numerous, they are deadly, and they are irrefutable in evidence.

HAES: There is a successful fat athlete who achieved X.

-The dependent and independent variable both should be the same person, compared against himself. You can't assign two different people as the variables. It doesn't matter if a fat wrestler beats a fit wrestler. You have to prove that the fat wrestler performed better than had he been fit, otherwise there's no evidence being fat didn't hurt, let alone helped, the athlete's performance. Also, we're talking about the population, not exceptional professionals with exceptional lifestyles.

HAES: I can run an X-minute mile, swim X laps, etc. (where X is some impressive athletic number)

-No you can't. Regardless, it’s the same fallacy as the athlete example above. You have to compare times against yourself at a different weight and size. Lastly, health should be looked at holistically. Using one small component of athleticism, which in turn is but one component of health, is being super selective to prove a point.

HAES: I can do X yoga poses.

-I've seen the pictures. The HAES people do them incorrectly. Also, equating flexibility with health or athleticism is a notion I find hilarious and one physicians would not entertain.

HAES: I'm big-boned.

-You are regular-boned. Also, big-bonedness isn’t responsible for fat accumulation. HAES: I have a large frame.

-Same as above. The areas of the body where fat accrues are distinct from the parts that grow as a result of frame. It's impossible to mistake one for the other, i.e., nobody is fooling anyone with this line.

HAES: BMI is BS.

-That depends. For what BMI is meant to measure, it serves its purpose just fine. HAES: A BMI over 25 can be healthy.

-For lifters and genetic outliers, yes. Regarding the second group, it will be evident in their frame, which again, is impossible to confuse with excess fat.

HAES: I tried the calories in vs. calories out thing and it didn't work.

-User error. Proper tracking and recording will help.

HAES: Calories in vs. calories out doesn't work for some people.

-That would violate Thermodynamics.

HAES: Calories in vs. calories out has been disproven.

-There is no study that has disproven Thermodynamics.

HAES: Some people are unable lose weight.

-This is not true about a single person who has ever lived. Again, Thermodynamics. There is a difference between unable and unwilling.

HAES: I have a slow metabolism.

-Actually, your metabolism is fast. Thin people have slower metabolisms.

HAES: I refuse to be an anorexic who starves himself.

-More syllogistic fallacies. If not A, then B. Anyone who doesn't overeat must be a starving anorexic. They love to go attack twigs. Twigs covered in straw. (Get it? Cause the argument is a strawman) Nobody is arguing that being emaciated is healthy. The absence of obesity is not starvation. Be regular sized. Live long. Prosper.

HAES: I have to starve to lose weight.

-No, just operate at a caloric deficit. There are studies on obese people who did actually fast a long time to rapidly lose weight. It’s an effective method, and doing it would probably grant a person enormous gains in self-discipline and mental fortitude. It isn’t necessary though. Weight loss is not some extreme and painful thing if you do it at a slow and steady pace.

HAES: Must be nice to not have to work for your body.

-Biochemistry is biochemistry. The process of fat burn and and muscle gain is the same mechanism that takes place regardless of the person. There are not bodybuilders who are achieving results with the magic of wishful thinking and happy thoughts. There is not some mythical being whose body can build muscle out of diet coke. Genetics might make the biochemical pathways activate more efficiently in some people than others, but this variance is nowhere near a range where you could assert that someone got fit without working for it. An excellent physique is achieved through hard work, and pretty much everyone has the genetics to do it. Only very rare anomalies like those with muscular dystrophy can truly say they can’t. The easiest path to results is anabolic steroid use, but even they have to put in the work. No one has ever gotten jacked taking steroids and sitting at home. Bottom line: your body will reflect how much you worked for it.

HAES: I don’t want to look like those mass monsters or women with male-like proportions.

-Going along with the previous point, getting to those extremes takes incredible work. It’s hard to achieve those figures even intentionally, so it’s presumptuous to think that you could unintentionally become that way through exercise. Regular exercise makes a person lean out. You have to go the extra mile to start looking like a builder. It doesn’t happen on accident.

HAES: There's a paper about obese people having higher mortality after losing weight.

-There is, but the study dealt with obese people without co-morbidities. Also, the mortality is caused by complications resulting from obesity. Losing weight isn't the cause, it's the catalyst. Think of it this way: a normal eraser can erase things you write. If I completely distort an eraser by soaking it in green paint, and then rub it over my paper, was it the eraser that failed to erase my writing and caused my paper to be covered in green? Lastly, have you ever seen a scientific model that repeatedly cited the same 1 or 2 papers to support its point turn out to be valid? Yeah, me neither. Scientists don’t cherry pick.

HAES: My conditions are responsible for the way I am.

-When they bring up conditions, they’re getting their order of causality mixed up. Obesity leads to the conditions, not the other way around.

HAES: I have PTSD and am easily triggered.

-A very commonly used defense without evidence. Also, the claim is downright offensive to people with actual PTSD. Go ahead and tell a rape victim that you equate her trauma with your desire for cake. Sidenote: Food triggers are real in abnormal cases like Praeder-Willi Syndrome. A dear friend of mine’s kid has it, and sometimes seeing people eat makes him cry. He’s also just a child. And yeah, there are dysfunctions involving leptin. Even for these genetic anomalies, it’s still healthier to not be obese. It’s just more difficult to avoid.

 

HAES assertions about norms; Slashy replies

HAES: I don’t have to conform to society’s

/r/sandboxtest Thread