Women's Fat and the Supposed Dangers of Dieting Continued

Even if Naomi Wolf were not on the too thin side of the weight divide, I find it hard to believe "that women may in fact live longer and be generally healthier if they weigh... [more] and they refrain from dieting'" (187). I think that since she has this history being underweight, she sees gaining weight as only being a positive thing. However, there are articles that I found which clearly illustrate that being overweight or obese is a problem. Obviously, Wolf is not encouraging obesity, but I think encouraging weight gain as a hard and fast rule is not the way to handle the problem of women's weight. I will give the author the benefit of the doubt; perhaps in 1990, obesity in women was not a national problem across the United States and the United Kingdom, among other countries. However, in the twenty first century, encouraging weight gain is not the answer, because although there are many women and girls who are unhealthily skinny, there are also women and girls who are unhealthily heavy.

I take Wolf's subtle attack on dieting somewhat personally. As a member of Weight Watchers since September, I do not see dieting as a negative lifestyle change, but rather, a positive one. Wolf claims that women's bodies are "programmed to weigh a certain amount" (192). However, my personal experience throughout my older years proves this false. Looking at my weight from seventh grade to now, it has fluctuated massively. By about tenth grade, I resolved to keep three difficult sizes of clothes in order to combat this: big, medium, and small. Therefore, once again, I do not think Wolf's weight claim is applicable to everyone.

She then goes on to say, quoting Roberta Pollack Seid's research, that dieting "'may indeed cause... obesity itself,'" which I find to be an outdated statement (196). My Weight Watchers leader Nicole recently said at a meeting - and I agree - that the causes of obesity have to do with fast food, increased portion sizes, and decreased movement required for daily tasks, just to name a few. I personally, felt I reached a point where I needed to join Weight Watchers when I realized my portion sizes were too large and I was eating beyond fullness, in addition to making the wrong choices about what food to eat in what amounts. I did not exercise. I think I was eating the wrong things in the wrong amounts and not moving enough to put any of the food to use.