weight loss and its issues

Post Reply New Topic

Not to cut in but Mexico also has a huge obesity problem, and technically so does Japan while its not has bad its still enough to be of concern. Shoot just about a year ago Japan tried passing a law that would fine obese people for being obese.

Thats when they should introduce Subway!! !

Don't feel bad about cutting in, it's an open discussion forum!

You're right about what you've said, but bear in mind these are recent, upcoming problems. Even here in NZ, we're quickly catching up to America in our obesity problems, but...

I should also note that we're increasingly importing stuff like Doritos and Oreos from America, that weren't here 20 years ago. 20 years ago, we had no obesity problem. 20 years and several American food products later, we're developing an obesity problem.

Tell me I'm not a lunatic for thinking this isn't a coincidence...

Funny thing is a Japanese doctor actualy created a diet for japanese girls who want bigger breast and the diet mostly consist of fried fatty foods.

Oh boy, I just read the first few pages of this thread. Evolutionary psychology.

This morning I read the The Delicious Grace of Moving One's Hand by Timothy Leary(kicked out of Harvard so you know he's worth paying attention to ) and I found what he had to say really interesting. I feel if moths and birds can change color in response to pollution, the human psychology behind mate selection can adapt at least as quickly. If there ever was such a thing as the alpha male those personality traits serve no benefit to the betterment of humanity in it's current state. If anything they're a hindrance!

Then again what Leary says about women..... Not sure if I disagree, but I think it's true for men as well as women to have an (often) subconscious sense for people that will help to tell an overarching story in their life - in one way or another! This might be where the "alpha male" persona has some success, as you are told to think of yourself and project the idea that you are a "special" person. I feel the more sustainable goal might be to do something with your life that makes you feel proud of yourself and makes you genuinely special rather than putting on the "costume" of a special person. I feel more so than the average person we all have a strong desire to "be for real" and not wear masks in our interactions with other people.

It's possible that I'm as much a lunatic as you are, but I think we are both clear-eyed and sane.

I grew up in 1970s Scotland, in an area which attracted American tourists who could be identified as such, visually from a distance, by their enormous girth and slow waddle. Nowadays, it would be much harder to spot them as Scots are increasingly obese.

In 2005 I returned to study at the university I had graduated from some 16 years earlier. The most obvious differences were that there were now PCs instead of books in the Reading Room, and the sheer size of the students. Young men and women, in their late teens and early twenties who were huge! I had realised that Scots were getting heavier, had read about increasing rates of obesity particularly among children and young adults, but it wasn't until I was in a situation where I was surrounded by that demographic that I realised how many were overweight and just how fat they are.

I have thought about this, about what has changed about the way we live over the past couple of decades.

Students used to walk and/or use public transport. Now, many students have a car and drive themselves and friends to and from uni, so they are getting less exercise. For those who do use public transport, the zone card system (in which a pre-paid card entitles you to unlimited use of buses, trains) means that they are more likely to travel by bus rather than walk. (Two very fat girls in one of my classes would go one stop on the bus rather than walk for about 5 minutes up the hill to their next class).

Availability of fast food and the presence now of the likes of Subway, on campus, and off-campus, McDonalds and KFC. Now we can all eat like Americans we can all waddle like them too!

Cheap microwaves and convenience foods so no need to spent time cooking. If you feel hungry no need to wait, no need to make any effort. When I was a student first time round microwaves were new, expensive and if we did have access to one we used it to make baked potatoes.

Huge portion sizes and pricing policies which make the larger option the cheaper option. Last week I took my son to the cinema. I bought him a coke as a treat and when I asked for a small one I was told that I'd be better off buying a medium one as it cost less! I bought the small one anyway, which turned put to be not much less than 1/2 litre!

This isn't about genetics or metabolism - it's about choices people make without even thinking about it, and a refusal to engage with or take responsibility for their actions.

Those two girls who took the bus up the hill instead of walking would eat constantly - in between classes and during classes even, all the time bemoaning the fact that they had slow metabolisms and a genetic predisposition to weight gain. No, they were lazy and greedy and that's why they were so fat.

People make choices all the time about what and how they eat, and about how active they are. I just wish people would have the guts (no pun intended) to be honest about those choices and take responsibility for them instead of making excuses and shifting the blame.

Reducing people's weight to food and exercise habits would be all well and good if it was remotely related to the evidence on the concert of factors determining a person's size, IE, differences in leptin-blocking, endocrine disruptors in modern industrialized environments, the over THREE HUNDRED genes identified as being factors in what someone weighs, etc. Even the food "choices" themselves aren't to be considered isolated from the millions of years of evolution that produced every individual and endowed them with certain drives which aren't in sync with modern aesthetic preferences. What does it mean to freely-"choose" to eat donuts when you have eons of natural selection making your body scream at you to crave carbs, and store them once eaten, for they might not be found for again for a long time?

I'd have no problem with "food and exercise, herp derp, fattie", if it was remotely representative of scientific understanding of weight.

Can we stop for a moment and remember obesity is a height-weight relationship and doesn't involve an actual disease process?

but but but valentine...If we do that, how will we feel superior to the fatties?
What justification will be be able to use to post ab shots of ourselves?
How else are we supposed to derail threads if we aren't allowed to be sh*tlords?

I was writing a long post earlier but then my finger slipped and hit ctrl-w instead of shift-w and it was gone.

For someone like me there is nearly no motivation to lose weight and get in shape and it's just something that seems difficult or impossible. I don't buy the food so I mostly just have whatever is in the house to pick from. I don't like to cook. I don't like to exercise. I don't even leave the house much. I don't have sex or wear revealing clothing so I'm not interested in looking all sexy. I don't care about pleasing others that may disapprove of my fatness. I don't want to give up my enjoyment I get from eating things that taste good.

Getting anything accomplished or doing anything regularly is a big deal for me. I can't even manage to shower and get dressed every day, never mind doing a long and difficult exercise routine.

Edit: To sum it up, why would I want to put so much time and effort into something and have so much misery for so little reward?

Last edited by hanyo on 15 Jul 2012, 10:17 am, edited 1 time in total.

The majority of people are fat because they choose to eat too much and move about too little.

For the past four months I have been eating less and moving about more, and I have lost weight.

I could say, "oh, well, I've put the weight on because I'm in my mid-forties, nearing the menopause and my metabolism and hormones must be all over the place" but that would just be an excuse. I put on weight because for the past couple of years I've been eating too much and moving about too little. End of. My weight gain was the result of greed and laziness - nothing to do with my age, nothing to do with my metabolism or my hormones. Greed and laziness.

Sometimes my bladder screams at me to be emptied, but I don't urinate in the street. I choose to exercise self-control and find a toilet. If my body screams at me for carbs I don't have start eating - I can choose to exercise self-control and either not eat, eat something else, or have one ring doughnut instead of 6 jam doughnuts.

People choose what they eat, where they eat, how much they eat, and they should be able to acknowledge those choices and the consequences, not seek to shirk personal responsibility.

People have got fatter in my country in the past few years because it is now much easier to consume high calorie foods with a minimum of effort. If I feel hungry, look in the fridge and find lasagne all I have to do is take it out, pierce the film with a fork, press a few buttons on the microwave, and wait for the "ping" a few minutes later. Mmmmm.... several hundred calories on a plate with hardly any effort. If I look in the fridge and find minced beef, tomatoes, milk, cheese and butter, then in the pantry to find pasta sheets, flour - how likely is it that I'll be sitting down an hour or so later to eat lasagne?

Increased obesity is down to the Americanisation of wider society. Maybe if you've grown up in the US or another country with a longer history of widespread obesity, then you can't see it, but I don't have to read studies about obesity rates in Scotland. I can see how fat people are getting, and I can also see why.

cool anecdata brah
totally shifted my perspective on what female people desire in romantic partners

I assume that you're commenting on the fact that my comments are unrelated to the original purpose of this thread. I appreciate that, but this thread has been off-topic for some pages now.

also the anecdata part

dude, who pissed on your cheerios? Must your sole purpose be arguing? Why not bother t help some?
But lets negate that, bringing up things that havent even been talked about in a conversation, what do you hope to accomplish with this? Do you have a power trip, control problems, small attention span, some arguing fetish, what is it?

l went to the trouble to look up the word "brah", which you used in an earlier response to me, and I am quite sure that if you bothered to look up stats and studies about the issues I've commented on you'll be able to find them. I haven't said anything particularly controversial or outlandish, just written about what I have observed and thought about.

oh yes, absolutely. did you see my post where i stated i lost 90lb?

those genetic problems aren't absent from the rest of the world, at all - nothing strange or mysterious there. it's just that the american/canadian/uk lifestyle tends to promote obesity.

but in my case, i have always eaten very little processed or fast food so the greater cultural tendencies don't apply to me. i also don't drive ad i stay active. so my lifestyle has never been like the one that is supposed to be problematic. i would have been overweight or obese regardless of the greater cultural tendencies (just like ALL of the women in my family going back at least 125 years and living in many nations - long before obesity was an "epidemic").

this is due to my natural attraction to fatty and sugary foods, my naturally slow metabolism (my body temperature rarely reaches 97'C/36'C) ,and my lowered threshold for become addicted to substances (close to 75% of my extended family have had substance abuse or alcohol addictions). lots of people are like me, and we'd be fat no matter which culture we live in or in what era.

other people may be strongly affected by their parent culture, so if they grow up with a fast-food/low-exercise lifestyle, they may reach adulthood with weight issues. there are lots of reasons why people may be overweight or obese, and it's not possible to just guess why.