In 2010, seventy percent of the United States population was overweight. Experts back then predicted that that statistic would increase by five percent by 2020. Until two hundred years ago, fatness suggested health, prosperity, and, in women, fertility. But in the nineteenth century's industrial revolution, being fat came to indicate laziness in a society of hardworking, mostly poor, often underfed people. Excess weight was thenceforth frowned upon.

This negative view persists to the present day. In the current highly automated era, when the output of manual labor is significantly reduced, most, even many who are themselves fat, perceive heaviness as a sign of laziness or generalized lack of self-control. According to author Marcoux, a practicing chiropractor for forty-seven years, they are not completely wrong. There is an element of laziness at play as well as an absence of self-control. But the doctor maintains that those with weight problems do, in fact, possess self-control but do not choose to exercise it.

Marcoux further asserts that those who are overweight or obese are so because, consciously or not, they want to be so. Those who have been heavy for years have come to see themselves simply as heavy people and are comfortable with that perception. It is often difficult for such individuals to accept responsibility for the eating behaviors that lead to the extra weight that causes joint and back pain, heart ailments, diabetes, and breathing and mobility difficulties. Many have sought Marcoux's assistance to lose weight. A fat exterior reflects a person's general worldview, he believes. A concerted and continuous effort that begins with acknowledging responsibility for one's food choices and a willingness to change one's overall attitudes and lifestyle are necessary if a person truly wishes to achieve weight-loss goals.

Early in his practice, Marcoux came to agree with a widely held view in medicine—namely, that poor diet significantly contributes to generalized health problems, among which are constant fatigue and chronic back and neck pain. Thus, he treats patients with a comprehensive approach. He declares any health condition, including those concerning excess weight, to be a whole-person state of being. This book, then, offers readers the opportunity to change their outlook and lifestyle if they truly want to make such changes.

Just as those Marcoux unapologetically calls fat are fat by choice, slender people, including himself, are trim for the same reason. Those he calls permanently slender cannot envision themselves in a fat body any more than obese people can imagine themselves in perpetually thin ones. Marcoux likens the firm decision to lose weight to his own decision to quit smoking. He made a conscious decision to experience himself as an addict by simultaneously allowing himself to enjoy the cigarettes' flavors and then suffer the chest and back pain that came with smoking. He eventually decided that the risks outweighed the pleasure and quit altogether. Marcoux encourages his discontented heavy patients to see themselves completely as food addicts, knowing that not everyone will reach his conclusion. He urges those wishing to remain fat to eat as healthily as possible to avoid gaining more weight and to learn to love themselves as they are.

The contention that one can begin a healthier lifestyle without losing weight (as long as one doesn't gain any more) sets this book apart from other weight management guides. The text concludes with twenty-five insightful principles for maintaining a new lifestyle and altered attitudes about body image. This book presents a cognitive and lifestyle change approach to weight management similar to those found in Stephen Guise's Mini Habits for Weight Loss or The Weight Loss Lifestyle by Eric J. Belanger. It will challenge and encourage readers ready to take responsibility for their extra pounds and overhaul their lives. By extension, slim readers who have encountered thin shaming may take validation of their chosen svelte builds from the author's experiences of weight maintenance as a slender person.

Return to USR Home