Programmed to be fat?

I used to think I ate alot and was a twig, turns out I needed an extra 2000 calories to actuslly put on weight. Like I said most big people underestimate their intake and skinny people overestimate. I know people are built different with different frames but most of us werent meant to be obese.
Look back 100 yrs ago, obesity was not an epidemic back then like it is now in america. Food is easy to get nowadays and lots of people gorge themselves and most are very lazy, thats why we are the fattest country.

I'm just gonna put this out there.....


Almost everyone knows that you need to consume less calories and/or burn more calories (w/exercise) then you consume to lose weight.

With this knowledge and plently of gym memberships, cardio work out programs, treadmills, low calories diets, px90 and Insanity DVDS all backed by a billion dollar fitness industry how come we are the leaders in fat assery?

I'm gonna give "big people" the benefit of the doubt and asume they know this too..

Yet it seems the obesity epidemic has only exploded since we started emphasising the whole "eat less move more" mantra..

Most overweight people are not glutonous slobs, it's just not realistic to type cast every obese person with this lable. Sure some might be but this does not account for everyone of them.

It's not an energy intake problem it's a dietary/metabolic problem....
 
I think it's all just due to over eating and under activity. My startling theory is based on this: we have a lot of Eastern European migrants coming to the UK. But the amount of obese or even chunky EE women in the 20-30 age group that I have ever seen I could count on one hand, out of thousands. Now take the same amount of UK women of the same age group (20-30) and look how fat they are!? (most obese in Europe :( )I think it's nearly all down to lifestyle and diet. Unless these EE women have amazing genes, however I have seen plenty of overweight men from there so I don't think so.
 
Entirely coincidentally, I happened to be discussing this exact subject over the last week in a different forum (although it turned out to be more like a personal debate rather than a discussion). If anyone is interested in reading the more detailed views/arguments presented there (as well as several relevant studies cited), this is the thread.


No that one went out of favour last year. Now the healthy thing is to not eat all day and gorge like a maniac at night, which is what everybody thought fat people were doing.

I loled.
 
Again I've never seen the prototypical "fat guy" gorge on tons of food of eat a gallon of ice cream.. I think its one of those perpetuated myths that is some one is fat they are gluttonous slobs...

You haven't been looking hard enough.

We had this big huge mammoth that used to work in our building. We were on the 2nd floor of a 2story building. He would walk by and literally shake the entire floor. I don't know how much he weighed but it had to be easily 500lbs. He would come to work in the morning with no less than 2 large sodas (64oz from the gas station), 4 hash browns, and 6 breakfast sandwiches from McDz. He would eat all of that in about 15 minutes and slurp on the soda for the next few hours. He would go to lunch and return from BK (or wherever he went that day) with 4 of their largest burger, 2 jumbo fries, and 2 large sodas from the gas station again. I once saw him power through 20 taco bell tacos in about 20 minutes. This dude may have had something wrong with him, but the fact is he ate too much fast food to be healthy in the first place.

I have never met a morbidly obese person that did not eat too much. I know a lot of people who have thyroid problems and they have trouble keeping weight off. I know diabetics who have trouble keeping weight off. I write posts where I regularly end sentences in prepositions. Key thing is the diabetics and thyroid cases I know that eat moderately are just sort of "chunky" where the people that don't control their diet go full on next-stage-of-human-evolution fat.

The way I see it is that we have an obesity epidemic in America that has become so overwhelming, so horrendous, that everyone and their mother is leaping at anything that could possibly be the cause of this epidemic. The fact is that it could be anyone of these things alone or a combination of the factors. Another common thread among the current generations of Americans is the lack of ownership. We as a people are fucking tremendously quick to shift blame. Nobody wants to take ownership of their problems. Its the government. Its my mom's fault. My mommy didn't love me enough and that's why I raped, killed, ate, and froze gay men (Dahmer). No! You don't have a job because you over-value yourself and won't accept a job that pays little but gives good raw experience to match your education. The government has nothing to do with you not having a job. You're fat because you eat too much and don't exercise enough. The fact your mom put you on formula when you were 6mos old was because her titties dried up and she didn't have any choice. That didn't make you fat. You eating fast food 2/3 meals per day and the only exercise you get is from your car to your desk is why you are fat. And the reason why Dahmer killed all them dudes was because he was twisted as fuck. His mother's treatment of him as a child was an excuse and he would have committed those atrocities regardless and he would have found a different excuse (bullied at school etc) had his mother loved him to his liking.

My gym plays these little commercials and they had the best fitness commercial I have ever heard/seen (usually corny, but this was great). They started playing it on 1/1/12 it goes: "HEY! You know that great 6-pack abs you've been wanting. Forget it! Those are about as realistic as asking NASA to borrow a space shuttle this weekend to take a cruise to Mars. But, in the meantime, here are some great ab workouts that hand help you towards your goal." Losing weight comes from hard work on the diet and in gym (or other physical activity). Genetic and environmental predispositions can only hold you back if you let them.

/rantoff
 
I'm gonna give "big people" the benefit of the doubt and asume they know this too..

Yes, but people don't realize that 8oz of soda is like, what, 350 calories of almost pure sugar and other chemical crap.

Counting calories is hard work. Also, getting someone who eats 6k calories per day to cut down to 2k or even 3k is also hard work. They feel like they are starving. They get cranky. Most people want a 90-day solution to a problem they created over 20/30 years. Losing weight doesn't work like that. Getting up to 400lbs is an achievement that is unlocked by a series of decisions made over a lifetime. Getting down to 200lbs from there is an achievement that is unlocked from a series of decisions made over what can be considered as a lifetime as well.
 
I have never met a morbidly obese person that did not eat too much. I know a lot of people who have thyroid problems and they have trouble keeping weight off.

My understanding is that hypothyroidism can simply be treated with daily exogenous T4 administration (i.e. pills). Once treated pharmaceutically, there are zero symptoms. I don't see how thyroid problems would result in obesity, unless they are undiagnosed/untreated.

I have three friends that have hypothyroidism and take medication for it (none of whom is anywhere near obese). One of them is one of the leanest people I know.
 
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My understanding is that hyperthyroidism can simply be treated with daily exogenous T4 administration (i.e. pills). Once treated pharmaceutically, there are zero symptoms. I don't see how thyroid problems would result in obesity, unless they are undiagnosed/untreated.

I've known three people who have hypothyroidism and take medication for it (none of whom is anywhere near obese). One of them is one of the leanest people I know.

You mean "hypo".

Also, the specific cases (two people unrelated to each other) I'm speaking of they still have trouble keeping weight off, are on pills, and do keep active. But they aren't "obese" by any means.
 
And the reason why Dahmer killed all them dudes was because he was twisted as fuck. His mother's treatment of him as a child was an excuse and he would have committed those atrocities regardless and he would have found a different excuse (bullied at school etc) had his mother loved him to his liking.

Doesn't this go against every other argument you just made, though?

If he just killed all those dudes "because he was twisted as fuck" and would have committed those atrocities regardless of his mother's treatment of him as a child, or of being bullied at school, or of any other environmental influence, then that means him being twisted as fuck was 100% genetically determined for him.

You mean "hypo".

Yes.
 
Doesn't this go against every other argument you just made, though?

If he just killed all those dudes "because he was twisted as fuck" and would have committed those atrocities regardless of his mother's treatment of him as a child, or of being bullied at school, or of any other environmental influence, then that means him being twisted as fuck was 100% genetically determined for him.

Nice parallel you drew there (serious). To the point I was making, no; people make excuses. I didn't say Dahmer being twisted was genetic. I said he would have found any excuse he could to justify his sickness. The only thing that could have stopped Dahmer from doing those things was Dahmer. His predispositions aside, HE made the choice to do those horrible things. Just like fat people make the choice to sit around and eat too much food. When Dahmer realized he needed help, he didn't help himself and didn't seek help. This is just like fat people who realize they're too fucking fat and don't do something about it or seek medical attention.

I believe Dahmer was a twisted fuck not because of genetics, but because a series of decisions he made in his mind allowed him to justify his actions to himself. This is just like obese people making a series of bat decisions leading to them becoming obese. Coincidentally, the only person I knew that was obese from my neighborhood growing up ended up being about 6'4" and 225lbs by the time we were in high school. He hit about 200lbs in 4th grade and his mom put him on a diet and exercise routine. The key here was, corrective steps were taken to alleviate the problem. Patience and perseverance were key in to him overcoming his obesity.

Long story short:

1. People make excuses
2. People have no patience
3. A series of bad decisions takes a series of good decisions to undo
 
You haven't been looking hard enough.

We had this big huge mammoth that used to work in our building. We were on the 2nd floor of a 2story building. He would walk by and literally shake the entire floor. I don't know how much he weighed but it had to be easily 500lbs. He would come to work in the morning with no less than 2 large sodas (64oz from the gas station), 4 hash browns, and 6 breakfast sandwiches from McDz. He would eat all of that in about 15 minutes and slurp on the soda for the next few hours. He would go to lunch and return from BK (or wherever he went that day) with 4 of their largest burger, 2 jumbo fries, and 2 large sodas from the gas station again. I once saw him power through 20 taco bell tacos in about 20 minutes. This dude may have had something wrong with him, but the fact is he ate too much fast food to be healthy in the first place.

I have never met a morbidly obese person that did not eat too much. I know a lot of people who have thyroid problems and they have trouble keeping weight off. I know diabetics who have trouble keeping weight off. I write posts where I regularly end sentences in prepositions. Key thing is the diabetics and thyroid cases I know that eat moderately are just sort of "chunky" where the people that don't control their diet go full on next-stage-of-human-evolution fat.

The way I see it is that we have an obesity epidemic in America that has become so overwhelming, so horrendous, that everyone and their mother is leaping at anything that could possibly be the cause of this epidemic. The fact is that it could be anyone of these things alone or a combination of the factors. Another common thread among the current generations of Americans is the lack of ownership. We as a people are fucking tremendously quick to shift blame. Nobody wants to take ownership of their problems. Its the government. Its my mom's fault. My mommy didn't love me enough and that's why I raped, killed, ate, and froze gay men (Dahmer). No! You don't have a job because you over-value yourself and won't accept a job that pays little but gives good raw experience to match your education. The government has nothing to do with you not having a job. You're fat because you eat too much and don't exercise enough. The fact your mom put you on formula when you were 6mos old was because her titties dried up and she didn't have any choice. That didn't make you fat. You eating fast food 2/3 meals per day and the only exercise you get is from your car to your desk is why you are fat. And the reason why Dahmer killed all them dudes was because he was twisted as fuck. His mother's treatment of him as a child was an excuse and he would have committed those atrocities regardless and he would have found a different excuse (bullied at school etc) had his mother loved him to his liking.

My gym plays these little commercials and they had the best fitness commercial I have ever heard/seen (usually corny, but this was great). They started playing it on 1/1/12 it goes: "HEY! You know that great 6-pack abs you've been wanting. Forget it! Those are about as realistic as asking NASA to borrow a space shuttle this weekend to take a cruise to Mars. But, in the meantime, here are some great ab workouts that hand help you towards your goal." Losing weight comes from hard work on the diet and in gym (or other physical activity). Genetic and environmental predispositions can only hold you back if you let them.

/rantoff
I don't know how people can do that to themselves. I was always slim growing up and ate whatever I wanted but at the age of 20 I started to gain a few pounds so I switched my diet around as soon as I noticed my midsection. I can't imagine what I'd be like if I didn't adjust my diet. I just find it crazy how people can just totally let themselves go and not care at all. Yes, some people accumulate fat easier but they just have to learn to be more diligent than others, just like other people who have different problems or challenges in their life that they have to work harder on than others.

When I was doing a dietetics course we had to learn how to prepared these super high calorie smoothies for the undernourished and they ended up being about 900 calories or something like that. This extremely overweight girl in my class smashed hers back in 5 minutes and then had mine which I didn't want. 20 minutes later she went out and had a huge lasagna and bottle of coke for lunch. Amazing.
 
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I'll just leave this here...

multifactorial
mul
 
^ Agreed

It's not even as simple as 'calories in/calories out'. When you start factoring in modern food quality/diet composition, the effects of metabolic syndrome, low amounts of (and poor quality) sleep, etc.

You expect anyone to buy that lifelong lean individuals are either naturally programmed or super vigilant calorie robots to always ingest their correct caloric balance day to day over the course of multiple decades? The amount of variables involved is astounding.
 
It's not even as simple as 'calories in/calories out'.

Yes it is that simple.

If you consistently (read: 1+ years) intake less calories than you put out, you will lose weight. You won't get ripped abs in every instance, but it is a fact you will lose weight. It is that simple.
 
I omitted to tl;dr the article posted upthread. Some excepts pertaining to digestion...

The microbes in your body at this moment outnumber your cells by ten to one. And they come in a huge diversity of species
 
Yes it is that simple.

If you consistently (read: 1+ years) intake less calories than you put out, you will lose weight. You won't get ripped abs in every instance, but it is a fact you will lose weight. It is that simple.

It's actually not that simple.

Newsflash: humans are not engines. There is more than one chemical process going on in the human body at any given time.
 
It's actually not that simple.

Newsflash: humans are not engines. There is more than one chemical process going on in the human body at any given time.

Are you really bringing your probiotic fucking propaganda in here spewing that garbage like it makes the difference between a skinny person and a fat person.

Caloric deficit is all it takes to lose weight. It won't be magic. It won't give you abs. But if you eat at a caloric deficit for long enough consistently you will lose weight. There are no magic stomach bacteria that can change that.
 
Are you really bringing your probiotic fucking propaganda in here spewing that garbage like it makes the difference between a skinny person and a fat person.

Caloric deficit is all it takes to lose weight. It won't be magic. It won't give you abs. But if you eat at a caloric deficit for long enough consistently you will lose weight. There are no magic stomach bacteria that can change that.

I stressed that it was a factor, of which there are undeniably many.

Whatever the actual implications of the gut microbiome turn out to be, it seems fairly clear that it has some measurable impact on energy metabolism. Are you seriously proposing the human body is as simplistic a system as an engine? Because I really think we'd have obesity beat already were that the case.

Please try to limit the rampant anecdata in your riposte.
 
I always thought it was simple, eat less and move more to lose weight. Anybody can lose weight, learn nutrition, count calories and weigh food and watch the pounds fly off. Go to a bodybuilding forum and read about the success of people who have done it.
Why are these microbes a problem now and they werent hundreds of yrs ago, the main cause of obesity today are so many high fat foods that are easy to get and the change from active to sedentary lifestyle, obesity was not always a problem.
 
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the main causes of obesity today are so many easily available cheap foods made entirely of refined carbohydrates advertised as healthy, and the lack of easily available accurate education in personal nutrition, combined with the general change from active to sedentary lifestyles

Fixed.
 
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