Let us remember that government guidelines (including the global warming idiocy) are often not based on science, but on a drive for political power.
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Do you trust government guidelines for ANY thing?

This lady doesn’t
Jean S

I was skinny as a child. I was skinny as a young adult… but starting around age 25 I started gaining weight.

At the time I was following the absolutely stupid Federal government nutrition “guidelines” aka, the Pyramid diet. I ate mostly whole grains, then fresh fruits & veggies, with moderate amounts of proteins (meat, poultry, fish, & soy), 3 cups of milk a day plus other dairy, and small amount of fats. I almost never drink alcohol. I was at that time physically mobile and walked at least 5 miles a day (and often walks of 15 miles on a weekend) with frequent bike riding up to 20 miles a day. Despite all that I continued to gain weight, until I was 100 lbs overweight. No matter what I tried (increasing walking, very low fat diet as then suggested)… nothing worked at all.

Eventually the “guidelines” changed but it was harder by then to change my supposedly health behavior. I finally got so frustrated by not being able to lose weight I started going to doctor’s about it. I went for a few months to a diet support group where the leader insisted that what I wrote down I was eating in my food diary that I was lying. I was not lying. She also made totally unhelpful suggestions like “If you eat a whole chicken at a meal, eat half the chicken.” or “If you eat a whole pie, just eat one piece”. In my whole life I have never come close to eating a whole chicken in one meal or a whole pie… I only had 2 pieces of pie for Thanksgiving, and usually kept them small. I told her that, she claimed I was lying so… I quit going to that program.

Then eventually I developed osteoarthritis and started having mobility problems and gained more weight. I considered bariatric surgery but it freaked me out when I found out what it entailed… basically the “gold standard” is to remove most of your stomach… despite the fact there is no scientific evidence whatsoever that having a stomach is what causes you to become obese.

Then I went for a year to a medically supervised weight loss program, was put on a <900 calorie keto diet which consisted of specific food products (not normal food) and weekly meetings. I lost 130 lbs and went into the maintenance part of the program which transitions you to eating regular food … but then moved two months later and found that it was harder and harder to eat by the recommended maintenance plan which made me feel constantly hungry (I never had that problem on their low cal keto diet). Enter the stupid lockdowns and over time I ended up gaining back most of the weight I initially lost.

SO yeah, I’m disgusted with government guidelines on a lot of things these days.