Supposing my pets and I were stranded on a deserted island, I'd starve to death before eating them; the extra weight I'm trying to lose right now would constitute an aid for once.
You're in a position to know more than I do, so correct me if you find I am mistaken. Here it is: The more you weigh, the more calories your body needs to maintain your body's weight. Thus, if you were to restrict your diet to a fixed calorie intake independent from your actual weight, then, all else being equal, that diet would be more extreme the more you weigh. Therefore, assuming that starvation is not an appropriate weight-loss technique in any case, you would still have to eat more than a thinner person simply to lose the same amount of weight. And, consequently, we might say that extra weight is
never an (appropriate) aid to weight loss. The popular misconception that fatter people can simply stop eating and live off their fat is, I think, just that: a misconception.
I appreciate attempts to be the devil's advocate and challenge people's skills at justifying themselves, but as a general rule, I don't make serious arguments whose tenets I wouldn't be willing to back up personally.
I can appreciate that. But I make a distinction between making these arguments to oneself and making them before an audience. The former is an excellent case of knowing your enemy; the latter can be counterproductive with respect to whatever sensitivity is at issue. I, for instance, would not take the academic exercise of making arguments in front of any of you in favor of the subjugation of women. But, in order to better understand the people who believe that kind of nonsense, I try to anticipate their logic myself. For all I know you make the same distinction, and simply didn't mention it. But otherwise I would encourage you not to close your mind to things you don't like, because when that happens you begin to lose power to them.
