Tag: weight

Do You See What I See?

Losing weight was something I thought was easy, and would not have many repercussions. For most of my life, I assumed I was ‘fat’ and at least knew I was larger than those who were around me. This is the first time I am going to be talking about this so bare with me here, it is a difficult topic. After losing quite a lot of weight and still thinking I was fat, I came to the realization I had body dysmorphia. Body dysmorphia is a mental disorder in which people imagine a physical defect that others cannot see. For me, I would see myself a lot larger than I actually was. If you look at the picture posted, I thought I looked huge and it looked as though I was the same weight than when I started. Although I was close to a healthy weight, I did not see myself as looking healthy, but rather still looking obese. It is hard for me to understand that I might never see my body the way it is, but hopefully with a lot of mental practice I will be able to break through. As the International OCD Foundation states, Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) affects 1.7% to 2.9% of the general population which is about 1 in 50 people. Due to the fact that people are often reluctant to reveal their symptoms, and often do not notice they have body dysmorphic disorder, it might actually be more common than it already is. The International OCD Foundation found that body dysmorphic disorder “is about as common as, or perhaps more common than, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and more common than disorders such as anorexia nervosa and schizophrenia”. Some studies have also found that more people had “BDD than other disorders that are considered to be common, such as social anxiety disorder (social phobia) and obsessive-compulsive disorder”. It is crazy to think how common this disorder, but how little people know they have it because they assume they are seeing their body the way it is supposed to be. Coming to terms with oneself and accepting the fact that they have body dysmorphia is the first step. Anyone who has body dysmorphic disorder will have a long journey to recovery, most likely with therapy. I know I am willing to make the change to better myself, and I hope anyone else who has to suffer with BDD will make the steps as well to see the beautiful, perfect, version of themselves.

Are We That Similar to Chimpanzees?

A few days ago I heard a good friend of my dads talking about obesity and how it is a major problem in America. The topic of obesity is one that I understand and can relate to due to the fact that I was obese (BMI greater than 30) from my senior year of high school to the beginning of my sophomore year in college. Looking back at my pictures and seeing how much larger my face and body was at the time is embarrassing to me. It is complicated for me to understand that I didn’t really do much to get to that point, meaning I was athletic and eating rather healthy, but the weight I gained was all from my hormonal disorder called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). Below is a picture of me when I was obese (on the right) to when I was at a much healthier weight (on the left). Duke University decided to do some research and compare people and their DNA to chimpanzees and their DNA. Despite sharing 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees, it seems as though there have been some changes to ours. Although the fat cells are not the only thing that has changed with our DNA, human’s brain sizes have nearly tripled compared to the chimpanzees, despite that being a positive aspect, most of our changes impact us negatively. It is clear though, that humans are much more obese than our primate relatives. It has been found that “the regions of the genome that help turn white fat to brown were essentially locked up — tucked away and closed for business”, according to the Duke University Study this was only found in humans, and not in the chimpanzees. Researchers are trying to figure out a way to change our bodies abilities to turn white fat into beige or brown fat which would eventually make it easier for us to slim down, or lose weight. It is going to take quite a lot of research in order to figure this one out, researchers from the Duke University Study already know it won’t be “as simple as flipping a switch. If it were, we would have figured this out a long time ago”. Researches have been working long and hard to try and reverse the changes we already made to our DNA. The question lies though, does our DNA change have to do with all of the process foods that we now consume, or does DNA change every so often on it’s own?