Type the word “Obesity” into your favorite search engine. Seriously, go ahead, do it. What do you see in the results? Maybe a definition? Sign and symptoms? Causes? Health effects? What else? Obesity and associations to unhealthy food? An obesity epidemic? How to stop obesity? How to lose weight? Lose 35 pounds in 4 weeks? Diet pills? Link to an article saying we need more physical activity? Exercise and weight loss? It is a complicated issue, no doubt about it.
Looking at the stats, obesity is a serious issue. According to the CDC, from 1999-2000 through 2017-2018, the prevalence of obesity in adults increased from 30.5% to 42.4.%, and the prevalence of severe obesity increased from 4.7% to 9.2%. (Hales et al., 2020) Looking at the dollars, it is a costly issue too. So, what can we do? What is our perception of the obesity problem? What solutions are available? Let’s take a deeper look.
I believe one of the first hurdles we need to overcome, or to get right, is our mindset. When it comes to having the right mindset, Carol S. Dweck has a great resource in her book, “Mindset: the new psychology of success”. Some people believe that losing weight comes down to willpower, either they can do it or they can not. Dweck refers to that as a fixed mindset. Dweck recommends a better solution is to have a growth mindset. People with a growth mindset “understand that to diet, they need a plan. They may need to keep desserts out of the house. Or think in advance about what to order in restaurants. Or schedule a once-a-week splurge. Or consider exercising more.” (Dweck, 2006). To think that we can overcome this by ourselves or in silos, seems hopeful at best, but probably quite naïve. When taking into account the complicated issue that obesity presents, I think a growth mindset is an appropriate way to tackle this challenge. Fortunately, there is help available.