!!WARNING!! You are fat!

[tkingdoll]

Concerning thermodynamics: Unless you are a professional athlete, the majority of your calorie consumption goes towards keeping your internal organs alive and working, and maintaining your internal body temperature. Your body has numerous mechanisms for saving on these, such as making you extremely tired, or shutting down capillary blood flow to the skin.

Quite a few studies show that fat people do not eat more than thin people, but that the fat people are less active. Once upon a time I clawed through the net and collected references, but I don't know if I could find them again.

There was a story very recently supporting exactly this - I'll see if I can find it. ETA: found it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6206572.stm

 

[Merko]

But is it such a stretch to imagine some enterprising ambulance chaser suing Donna Karan and Tommy Hilfiger for making fashionable clothes for fat people, thereby encouraging and abetting them in their dangerous lifestyle?

I think it's the other way round. I think lots of fat people just feel ashamed of showing themselves in public. Thus they stay at home and get even less exercise, and become even fatter. Clothes that make them look ok would actually help them to lose weight, then.

Instead of fat-warning labels on clothes, it should be on the food itself. McD's could silk-screen a Surgeon General's warning on to the top of the hamburger bun!

I think it would be much more motivated to put a warning on things like cars, then. "Warning: riding one km in a car prevents you from burning X calories. Lack of excercise can cause death, cancer or unhappy kittens."

Personally I'm underweight and I need to take every opportunity to eat some extra fat. Not that it makes me gain any weight, only excercise helps in this case too, but it probably keeps me healthier. Or so the experts say. I don't care because I like fat. I just hope they won't ban it..

 

[Elizabeth I]

Personally I'm underweight and I need to take every opportunity to eat some extra fat. Not that it makes me gain any weight, only exercise helps in this case too, but it probably keeps me healthier. Or so the experts say. I don't care because I like fat. I just hope they won't ban it...

Exactly where do you live? Those of us on the other side of the struggle would like to stop by and slap you around a little.

 

[Smart_Cookie]

Interestingly, the drive to get smokers to quit has succeeded, but obesity levels have increased as a result, because so many smokers turn to food instead.

You can certainly live without cigarettes. You can even live quite well without drinking alcohol.

But you're not going to get very far by quitting eating entirely. Eventually, you have to eat something.


sigh......

 

[Lisa Simpson]

Personally I'm underweight and I need to take every opportunity to eat some extra fat. Not that it makes me gain any weight, only excercise helps in this case too, but it probably keeps me healthier. Or so the experts say. I don't care because I like fat. I just hope they won't ban it..

Fat cannot be banned. Everyone needs to eat fat. Without some fat in the diet, we wouldn't be able to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins, like A, D & E.

My fine nutrition textbook says underweight people should:

Eat energy dense food
Eat regular meals daily
Eat larger portions
Eat extra snacks
Drink juice and milk
Exercise to build muscles

 

[Merko]

Fat cannot be banned. Everyone needs to eat fat. Without some fat in the diet, we wouldn't be able to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins, like A, D & E.

I know. But it actually does get increasingly difficult to find products that are not low-fat.

My fine nutrition textbook says underweight people should:

Eat energy dense food
Eat regular meals daily
Eat larger portions
Eat extra snacks
Drink juice and milk
Exercise to build muscles

I know. It's not that simple though. Eating too large portions makes you dozy, for example, which counters the last (and in my experience by far the most important) point.

Anyway I don't complain, I'm healthy and it doesn't really hinder me in any way. I'm sure my genes are just what is needed at this point in human evolution and my offspring will conquer the earth..

 

[Lisa Simpson]

Anyway I don't complain, I'm healthy and it doesn't really hinder me in any way. I'm sure my genes are just what is needed at this point in human evolution and my offspring will conquer the earth..

Sorry, but no. Underweight people are at as great a risk for death as obese people. It's us "middle of the road, neither fat nor thin" people that will conquer the earth.

 

[baron]

Ah, the Daily Mail. That explains it. Every time some no-mark with any form of higher education blurts out a halfwit idea, even if it's unrelated to their field of study, the Daily Mail will deliver it into the eager hands of its perpetually outraged readers like it actually has merit. Impulsive, ill-thought-out garbage masquerading as incisive thinking is the Mail's forte.

That aside, I personally have no idea what the solution is to the problem of obesity. I know what it isn't, and that's basically everything that's been tried. I'm happy to admit defeat on this particular topic.

 

[tkingdoll]

You can certainly live without cigarettes. You can even live quite well without drinking alcohol.

But you're not going to get very far by quitting eating entirely. Eventually, you have to eat something.


sigh......

Yes, something.

Now, what is 'something'? A healthy balanced diet with moderate amounts of food, balanced with regular exercise? Or fish and chips every day and no exercise at all?

It's both, but you will get two different people as a result of each.

 

[Merko]

Sorry, but no. Underweight people are at as great a risk for death as obese people. It's us "middle of the road, neither fat nor thin" people that will conquer the earth.

Nah. I'm not near-death thin or anything. They put me through a lot of tests to check if I was suffering from some disease, but finally concluded that there was no real problem. Basically, unless it affects your physical abilities (eg you're constantly tired etc) it's not really considered a problem. Though obviously I need to mind my health like everybody else, it's just that my dietary recommendations are reversed. Which, again, I don't complain about..

 

[BPSCG]

Personally I'm underweight and I need to take every opportunity to eat some extra fat.

Don't take this personally, but I hate you with every fiber of my being.

 

[Elizabeth I]

Anyway I don't complain, I'm healthy and it doesn't really hinder me in any way. I'm sure my genes are just what is needed at this point in human evolution and my offspring will conquer the earth..

That's interesting, because I have often thought that in the current battle against obesity it would be important to take into account that, up until the last 200 years or so, the ability to gain weight quickly, as well as having a taste for fats and sugars, would be an evolutionary advantage. It would mean that certain individuals would be able to take advantage of times of plenty to build up reserves against the inevitable scarcities, and would be especially important for women, who had to ensure not only their own survival, but also that of their children.

Not saying that obesity is a good thing, just that considering that some tendencies and behaviors might be hardwired would be helpful and could lead to more effective medical and public health strategies. It seems to me that humans all too often have a tendency to overlook or deny our animal origins, many times to our own detriment.

 

[Merko]

That's interesting, because I have often thought that in the current battle against obesity it would be important to take into account that, up until the last 200 years or so, the ability to gain weight quickly, as well as having a taste for fats and sugars, would be an evolutionary advantage.

Obviously! That was the underlying assumption of my joke, but it seems nobody got it.

 

[Kerberos]

Ahem:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothyroidism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prader-Willi_syndrome

. . . amoung other causes.

Weight gain is also not an uncommon side effect of some medications, and if the choice is between psychotic illness and normal body weight, I'd choose sanity over being sveldt.

Ahem:

First link doesn't say anything about being unrelated to overeating.

Seconds link: "Extreme hunger, overeating, obsession with food after infancy., obsession with food after infancy."

My objection wasn't that there aren't other factors to obesity than purely personal lifestyle choices, but to you claim that there were causes for obesity that was entirelly unrelated to overeating.

 

[Merko]

I'm definitely no expert, but: Every year we see some new theory about how to lose weight. One year it's no fat. One year it's only some special fat. One year it's only fat. One year it's no sugar. One year it's all sugar. One year it's no flour. One year it's only vegetables. One year it's only meat. Ok, some of these theories may be sillier than others, but my impression is that even the most serious of nutritionists can't claim with any certainty that about half of these theories would be better or worse than any other.

All the while, everyone agrees that exercise is the key.

So why is most of the focus on food? I think it's because there's more money to be made by selling supposedly healthy food/diets, than there is by offering physical training for fat people.

 

[RandFan]

All the while, everyone agrees that exercise is the key.

I don't believe this is true.

The "key", if it can be called that, is to burn more calories than you intake or intake less calories than you burn. Both have been demonstrated to be effective at removing fat equally. That said there is no "key". Both require behavior modification and obese people have been shown to be largely immune. The vast majority of obese people who lose weight regain it regardless of method.

Everyone I meet has an opinion on the subject and I find that the notions are all wrong. Every obese person I know has tried excersice to loose weight. I lost 50 pounds on an excercise routine but put all of the weight back on and more when I quite as most obese people do.

 

[tkingdoll]

I don't believe this is true.

The "key", if it can be called that, is to burn more calories than you intake or intake less calories than you burn. Both have been demonstrated to be effective at removing fat equally. That said there is no "key". Both require behavior modification and obese people have been shown to be largely immune. The vast majority of obese people who lose weight regain it regardless of method.

Everyone I meet has an opinion on the subject and I find that the notions are all wrong. Every obese person I know has tried excersice to loose weight. I lost 50 pounds on an excercise routine but put all of the weight back on and more when I quite as most obese people do.

Well duh.

You can lose weight three ways:

1) eat less fattening food (either less food in total, or the same quantity of food but different items. 50gm of spinach is the same weight as 50gm of Big Macs going in...but a week later it's not sitting on your thighs).

2) exercise but eat the same amount of fat as before.

3) a combination of both.

If you go for 2, you will lose weight. But if you then stop exercising, you will regain the weight because your food intake is the same as during the exercising.

I am sorry to patronise but the only way to keep the weight off whilst not having to reduce the amount you eat is to keep up the exercise routine. It's not just obese people who put the weight back on when they stop exercising, it's everyone. So don't stop.

PS No-one is immune to behaviour change, and that's a thinly-stretched excuse when you're talking about a third of the population.

 

[Merko]

I lost 50 pounds on an excercise routine but put all of the weight back on and more when I quite as most obese people do.

Does this not support the proposition that 'exercise is key'? You seem to take for granted, that if you had not quit, you would not have gained weight again. This seems reasonable to me.

I have not ever claimed that it would be a novel idea, or that obese people would not be aware of it, or have not tried it. I'm just saying that it's the key. And I'm asking how it can be that most of the discussion always focuses on food, not on exercise.

 

[RandFan]

I am sorry to patronise but the only way to keep the weight off whilst not having to reduce the amount you eat is to keep up the exercise routine.

Well duh.

Tking,

I have lost hundreds of pounds. I'm not exagerating. I know what it takes. I've done 1, 2 and 3. Many times. It amazes me when someone honestly thinks I haven't tried something. Or that there is this little trick that will finally work. I've fought this for 20 years. I own many books, videos, programs, equipment, lifestyle philosophies, tried drugs, foods, combinations, times of eating, etc., etc., etc., and there is always someone to tell me, well duh silly, just do ________ (fill in the blank).

I've not given up but please believe me when I tell you that I'm not naive, ignorant, stupid or uneducated about weight loss. Please take me at my word that it isn't a simple proposition.

 

[casebro]

Didn't I read few months ago that one study showed that once corrected for high blood pressure, obesity is NOT a cause of excess deaths? All I heard was that as a headline, and haven't been able to find the article or the study.