'I've done all the diets and even surgeries and I always fail'

One in five Colombians is obese and half of the population is already above their recommended weight, according to the National Nutritional Situation Survey.

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istock

PHOTO:

istock

These people have tried everything in their fight to get out of obesity, but without success.

Related:

Obesity

Fast food

Obesity in Colombia

Overweight

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Find the validation of El Cazamentiras at the end of the news.

November 12, 2019, 01:48 PMUNEl Tiempo Health UnitNovember 12, 2019, 01:48 PM

Obesity is a cruel disease. She hugs without suffocating to make her visit comfortable and holds tight whoever tries to escape from her. And always, always, she is eager to open her arms to gladly welcome the one she left for a while. It is a monster that eats away years of healthy life and changes the days of those who suffer from it.

It is the epidemic of the 21st century, as some would say. And today it affects one in five Colombians, the same ones who are at latent risk of developing cardiovascular diseases or others such as diabetes or cancer. This Tuesday, November 12, when the world day of the fight against obesity, two testimonies in the first person that give an account of the drama that it is to try to flee from it.

“The decision is to eat or live”

One could say that being fat is a decision. Finally, one is the one who dedicates his life to the "pleasures" of poor nutrition. Because, let's not lie to ourselves, food that is not healthy is very pleasant to the palate. These days it's a sin to say so, but that's right, eating hamburgers, hot dogs, fried foods and desserts is a pleasure. And point. I have been fighting obesity for almost five years and I am losing the fight because losing weight is not as much fun as eating. Giving up eating habits acquired many years ago is not easy, not only because of habit but because it still tastes very good.

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However, I understood that this pleasure is lowering my life expectancy and the decision is to eat or live. Exaggerated? No, it is a reality that many people live. There are those who explain it with mental disorders, others with metabolic disorders, I point to a superimposition of pleasure and that's it. I came to weigh more than 140 kilos and I knew what it means to lose almost 100, basically I lost a person of weight and I do not deny that it feels good. However, there is a time when one would like to lose weight, but without giving up food, and that is the moment when 15 of the 30 kilos lost are recovered. I do not want to see myself as a victim of obesity or as a symbol of anything, I just I have the body that I have cultivated for years. One thing is certain, I have been happy, I have never felt self-conscious and I don't blame myself for having treated my body like this, but I do know that there are things that are wrong. Over the years problems associated with weight begin to appear: knees, hypertension, triglycerides and all those things that will end up killing me if I don't control them. I'm trying to control myself. I have already defeated the first enemy which is sugar, bye bye soft drinks, bye bye sweet bakery, bye bye sweetened coffee. I'm used to sweetening with something else that doesn't hurt me and I think I'm detoxified. I lack the carbohydrates that are a worse enemy. And although I'm on the road, I have to add to the exercise that until now I do little or nothing.

My first goal is to lose 100 kilos, that barrier has to be knocked down and I'm going to do it in the funniest way possible because just as I don't hate being fat, I don't want to hate the formula that made me lose weight. Once I get there, I have to enjoy “not fat” as I am enjoying fat, maybe in a few months I will write about how fun it is to live without hamburgers or empanadas.Mauricio Arias Rodríguez Journalist and comedian from Medellín.@chichoelmalo, on Twitter.

“I have tried everything and always fail”

I am 36 years old and more than half of my life I have dedicated to trying to get out of obesity. The first one who made me see reality, this heavy truth, was my mom. She started worrying about my weight when I was a teenager and, to tell you the truth, she didn't really understand what was going on. Until then, she tried to lead the life of any young person and she did not measure what she did to my body.

The fattest lies when it comes to losing weight 'I'm not fat, I just have a couple of extra kilos'

At that time we began to look for alternatives, the usual ones. We went to doctors and nutritionists and they sent me certain routines, very difficult to follow. Then came the first weird outlet: acupuncture. And it worked, although I don't really know how. At that time I lost several kilos that would weigh me down later because the rebound effect - the first time I heard those words - brought them back very quickly. Today I think that little needles can do if we do not change culturally and socially. It's easier for everyone to have a soda or junk food on hand than real food. It is a problem that, I say with certainty, is killing us without our being aware of it. And to continue speaking frankly, we must accept that the company of someone in this process is as important or more important than the nutrition plans formulated by the experts. I felt many times alone on this path and that's why I resorted to the stupidest paths. I did all the diets, the ones the doctors told me to do and the ones that were fashionable, the ones with only eating carbohydrates, the ones with milkshakes, and I looked for drops, pills and miracle fasts. One of the ones that "worked" for me -in quotes because I'm still fat today- was one that I found on the Internet and that I decided to undertake at my own risk. It was a diet based solely on shakes, four daily. I lost almost 30 kilos in six weeks and for the first time in my life I felt that I was coming out of that pit of obesity.

I was at 114 kilos and I got to 78 kilos and my body thanked me immediately, even if I got there with unholy shortcuts. I slept better, sweated less, my digestive system improved. And my mind was calm: uploading photos on social networks for the first time in a long time. However, today I accept that it was an irresponsible decision because I not only exposed myself to the risks of an extreme diet, but because I never intervened in my real risk factors. To top it off, what I did in that time I quickly lost. After a few months he was the same as always. I ate without limits. And as happens after finishing a diet, there are cycles of guilt. And the mind weighs, and everything becomes complex, and eating a hamburger is pleasure and punishment at the same time. Gaining weight again the worst frustration of all. Remembering that moment, I assure you with certainty that obesity is a terrible disease, perhaps as devastating as the worst. My last attempt was a gastric balloon and I also failed. It was a traumatic and painful experience with which I wasted time and money. I lasted a year with it, and although I lost kilos at the beginning, when they took it out I was just as fat. Because yes, the mind is so powerful that it accommodated itself to that intervention and I went back to eating as much as before. Today I weigh 105 kilos and I am 178 centimeters tall. I am approaching morbid obesity and I am aware of it. And that's why, after such a journey, I keep trying. I play tennis two or three times a week and hit the treadmill and elliptical. That's a help, although I understand that 70 percent of my effort should be food. Today I am empirically developing my own habits because at tea time I know the doctors' speech backwards and forwards. that obesity is a complex disease that escapes one's own will and that is why I would like a company in this process, perhaps someone who will teach me to be disciplined. And if nothing changes, I do not rule out surgery and bypass. (She preferred not to mention his identity.)

HEALTH UNIT Consult here all the news from the EL TIEMPO Health Unit. Contact us through @SaludET, on Twitter, or by email at salud@eltiempo.com.

November 12, 2019, 01:48 PMUNEl Tiempo Health UnitNovember 12, 2019, 01:48 PMRelated:

Obesity

Fast food

Obesity in Colombia

Overweight

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