8. Everyone Has An Opinion About Weight Loss. And They Want To Share It.
It's weird: people will readily admit their ignorance on things like rocket science, quantum mechanics, or piloting large aircraft, but when it comes to other topics on which they're equally ignorant, that ignorance no longer matters. Much like politics and sports, weight loss is also a topic on which every jerk on the street has a nuanced opinion that they feel they MUST share with you (and, as often as not, has little to no basis in reality). If anyone you know gets wind of your weight loss effort, sooner or later they're going to bend your ear about the topic: Atkins is out; low sugar is in; you have to go vegan; you can't go vegan; you should focus on strength training; you should focus on cardio. On and on it goes, whether it's your mother or Sherri from accounting. Sometimes it's helpful, but most often it comes across as a weird concern troll power play. Even if you try to do the sensible thing and keep your diet more or less under wraps, weight loss is a veritable Hydra of a conversation topic, with heads cropping up with sad regularity on magazine covers, newspaper articles, TV shows, and all over the Internet. It's difficult to cut yourself away from unwanted, unsolicited dieting opinions, and such a contradictory collection of messages can be enough to make you want to give the whole thing up because apparently nothing is true and everything is permitted. At the least, it will at least keep your heart rate up out of rage - but then again, if you're trying to lose weight, maybe that's a good thing.
After obtaining a BA in Philosophy and Creative Writing, Katherine spent two years and change teaching English in South Korea. Now she lives in Sweden and edits articles for Turkish science journals. When she isn't writing, editing, or working on her NaNo novel, Katherine enjoys video games, movies, and British television.
