Profile Post

Melting Mama, also known as Beth, is a career blogger. She writes about weightloss, primarily as it relates to bariatric surgery. This site has been well thought out from the design, titles, aesthetics, and advertisers. Melting Mama has about 50 advertisements all related to healthy eating, which is currently supporting her family of 6, as stated Writing this blog has helped my family immensely, allowing me to provide income as an at-home parent, and while "disabled." She does not have any credentials related to her work, nor is she a college graduate. But, her source of research comes from her personal struggles with weight-loss and GI bypass surgery. As she is discovering and coping with low blood sugar, and resulting epilepsy she is trying to develop a career in weight control and health prevention. Melting Mama writes about 3 times a week, and I'm assuming during the times in between carrying out extensive research which she quotes regularly in her posts. Melting Mama's blog provides an extreme and personal perspective of weight management that I cannot relate too. So, I can foresee her experience as assisting me in my personal research and tactics of expressing my thoughts in a more balanced manner. Her posts prove that she is capable of finding and identifying valuable research, but her lack of academia limits her analysis. Most of her research is hearsay or general quotes from renowned scientists. But, by providing contrasting theories made by conflicting scientists' makes her posts and statements strong. What makes her blog appealing is that it provides a safe place for people considering bariatric surgery to learn about the risks and contributions from a detailed and revealing person. From her comments I would assume that a large portion of her audience is from people struggling with the need to loose significant amounts of weight. One post entitled "Who Says Americans Are Too Fat? Overselling the obesity epidemic isn't getting us anywhere. You can be big and healthy at the same time;" is one of her more controversial blogs. The title suggests that Melting Mama is encouraging obesity or "fatness," or at least providing a new theory about how being fat is healthy. The first half of the blog describes evidence of how obesity isn't as much of a health risk as we (Americans) think, then she comments on the other side of the argument about cardiovascular health and statistics. She finishes the statement by revealing her opinions on failed weightloss treatments and diets. But, what she concludes is that it's clear that Americans are getting fatter but weight isn't the issue, unhealthy choices are the issue. So, instead of focusing on weight and obesity as a health risk, we should focus on unhealthy choices as a health risk. To get people off the weight-goal oriented health kicks, and into permanently changing habits. Which I found to be a new and comforting tactic; instead of scaring people into becoming healthy maybe trying to sell them on a lifestyle they are missing out on. Another Melting Mama's blog titled "You're not losing weight, you're losing water and muscle," is a more sarcastic and direct post. She clearly states what is needed to lose weight, "The general rule to follow is 1 gram of weight loss for every reduction of 7 calories needed to maintain existing weight." And she delves into the reasoning of caloric balance without sugar coating anything: PLEASE NOTE: If a person takes in less calories a day than is needed to maintain his or her existing weight, and does not take in adequate protein, the overall weight loss does not mean that only fat is being lost. On the contrary, the body will first lose retained water (about half the total weight lost the first 3 weeks is water), and then the body will lose muscle. Fat loss will be last. Although, her directness is appealing for those who understand the theory, it might be more complicated for someone who is trying to learn this concept. This post is not one of her more active posts, probably for this reason. People don't want to feel stupid, but at least she is stating the facts. http://www.meltingmama.net/wls/2009/08/who-says-americans-are-too-fat-overselling-the-obesity-epidemic-isnt-getting-us-anywhere-you-can-be-.html