Obesity is a lifestyle choice

[CAnnoneer]

Brad, you are mostly right, but I must disagree with your comment about the high-metabolism people. There are many whose genetics dominates by far. I knew a guy in college who would attack a gallon of icecream with a huge spoon sitting in front of his computer all day. He did not gain a pound. But taking into account how skinny he was, he was never cold. Why? Because he was burning calories like a stove. That guy will never be fat, notwithstanding the pizzas and icecreams he stuffs himself with.

[Brad Johnson]

If it truly is his genetics then I put him in the same category as those very few people who do have a genuine physiological weight issue.  I had an uncle just like that but he was the exception and not the norm.

However...

You are talking about an adult male, age approximately 20-21, in college.  That usually means lots of being up and around along with a generally active lifestyle.  When we were that age many of us could eat like that and get away with it.  Look him up in a couple of years (say, when he turns 40 or so) and see what the results are.  I'd put good money all that ice cream and whatnot has caught up with him.  My ex BIL was like that, all trim and cut even though he feasted on double cheeseburgers and pizza with abandon.  Fast forward fifteen years and he looks less like Schwartzeneggar and more like Schwartzkopf.

Brad

[280plus]

Somewhat related? 

Somehow, Wierd Al seems to cover what's going on here...

Besides, I think this one is pretty good.

(Always did like Wierd Al)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO08cs2r0kg&feature=related

[grislyatoms]

I was taught a hard lesson to eat when I COULD, not when I was hungry, from a very young age.

The folks who raised me (my Mom's "adoptive parents") did not feed me breakfast. They did not give me lunch money, or try to make sure I had access to lunch. Usually, they were too hung-over to care.

Consequently, when dinner time rolled around I was extremely hungry.

"Look at this damned kid, stuffing his face, he's gonna eat me out of house and home."
"Stuffing your face again, huh? Worthless little POS, get out of my sight."
"Typical stupid kids. Have a child and then expect someone else to foot the bill."

I used to hide in a closet when I heard a car pull in the driveway, afraid it was THEM.

I also learned to eat as much as I could right after school when I was home alone. Babysitters, friend's houses, neighbors, whatever I could find. Things would get worse by degrees if THEY found food missing.

I lived like that for 10 years.

It has been very difficult unlearning that behavior. I have had fair to moderate sucess, but I got it by the horns now. Especially with no more cerveza.

(On a better note, I did get to spend summers with my Grandparents. Only little bit of peace I had back then.)

Point is, folks might want to consider other issues for circumstances before making blanket statements and knee-jerk judgements.

"Lifestyle Choice", indeed.

[Brad Johnson]

Gris, not to be brutal, but your situation is SO aberrational as to be irrelevant to the discussion.  Your situation was one of a unique (and very negative) social conditioning far outside what most of us will ever know.  It is an implanted behavior due to extreme circumstances, not a general issue of making yourself push back from the table.

I feel for you, buddy.  Really.  Sounds like your situation well and truly sucked.  But, again, it's the exception and not the rule.

Brad

[grislyatoms]

That's only scratching the surface.

And anyway, I didn't post that 'cause I want sympathy, only to try to make a point. But I hear ya.

It's all water under the bridge, now.

[Brad Johnson]

And anyway, I didn't post that 'cause I want sympathy, only to try to make a point. But I hear ya.

I know, and point taken.  That's why I've been very careful to always except those individuals with truly mitigating circumstances like yours.

For the rest of us fatties it still boils down to a simple issue of practicing self-control, eschewing excuses, and general getting it through our thick skulls (and guts) that our weight problems are no one's fault but our own.

Brad

[Finch]

But you can't say if you quit going to the drive-through, exercise more and eat more vegetables, you'll lose weight. There are so many more factors involved.

So let me understand something. You quit eating bad foods, increase your exercise, and eat healthier, you're not going to lose weight?

[Gewehr98]

To the OP, I have one simple question:

What was the purpose of starting this thread?

IOW, you've been on a rant lately about big-*expletive deleted*ss this, and fat-*expletive deleted*ss that. 

What's the real deal? 

[CAnnoneer]

Brad, I ran into the human stove again some years ago, seven years after graduation. He was still a 6-foot twig, although I don't know if he kept up the icecream binging.

[Antibubba]

Globally, only Saudi Arabia fares worse than the United States in terms of the percentage of adults with a severe weight problem -- 35 percent of people in the oil-rich desert kingdom are classified as obese, the book says, citing data from the World Health Organization and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

It's the robes--I tell ya, if they had to squeeze into a tight pair of jeans before leaving the house, those numbers would drop by ten percent.

Gris, not to be brutal, but your situation is SO aberrational as to be irrelevant to the discussion.  Your situation was one of a unique (and very negative) social conditioning far outside what most of us will ever know

Grisly's specific story might be unusual, but the negative social conditioning is not.  I've dated a lot of "fat girls" (because jutting hip bones and ribcages aren't one of my turn-ons), and what I've discovered is a lot of them were sexually abused as children.  When they went from adorable little girls to fatties the "attention" went away.  I'm certainly not claiming this to be the reason in every single case--some of them were "fat" in the same way that Marilyn Monroe would today be considered "plus-size".  Certainly the addition of high-fructose corn syrup to every processed food on the market hasn't helped any.

[280plus]

The food industry makes an ongoing in depth study on how to make you hungry and eat. It has done so for well over 50 years now I'd say. They're really good at it. That's what you're up against. Things like the McDonalds logo have been ingrained into your psyche and you have been conditioned to illicit a hunger response from it. How many of us think of our favorite brand specific treat and could maybe use one right now when I say, Little Debbie? Drakes? Hostess? Wendy's? Taco Bell?

I'll give you an example of how powerful a logo is. I used to drive all over the Northeast to service the HVAC in big name stores. Payless Shoes, A&W, Pizza Hut. I got so good at finding these places in the commercial district of virtually every big town up here that I could spot the specific logo / street sign of the business from miles away as long as my eye could make contact with it. It was uncanny. I'd be driving down the commercial strip in a place I'd never been before and way off in the distance the distinctive charactertistics of that specific logo would just pop right out of the scenery. Even though I couldn't make it out clearly there was something about that sign that said "Payless Shoes" way off into the distance. It got so that's the way I used to work, I'd find the commercial section of town and just drive around till I spotted the right sign. Usually it never took be more than a few minutes.

Now, apply that concept to the Golden Arches. Probably the single most recognizable logo on the planet. Subconciously, from MILES away, that logo will be like a shining beacon to all, a siren song of greasy salty goodness that has been specifically designed and promoted to lure us all to our untimely and gruesome deaths, if only we would submit... (how am I doing  )

 

Apparently brown and gold make you hungry. I don't know why, but you can be sure the food industry does. 

[Perd Hapley]

What's a Drakes? 

[280plus]

You poor soul, you've never had a Drakes coffee cake?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake's

 

I like Funny Bones a lot too. Mostly casue they come three in a package. 

 

[Perd Hapley]

Must be a Northeast thang. 

[280plus]

Where the heck are you again?

[Jamisjockey]

Brad, I ran into the human stove again some years ago, seven years after graduation. He was still a 6-foot twig, although I don't know if he kept up the icecream binging.

Can you speak to his actual health?  You only know that he is skinny.  If he still eats like a garbage disposal and doesn't exercise, he's just as doomed as a sedentary fat body.

[mtnbkr]

Can you speak to his actual health?  You only know that he is skinny.  If he still eats like a garbage disposal and doesn't exercise, he's just as doomed as a sedentary fat body.

Yup.  There's more to health than your bodyfat percentage.  Prior to my brother's gastric bypass, his blood chemistry and cardiovascular health was better than mine, yet he was over twice my weight.  I'm not sure what it is these days though.  Even with my diet and exercise, my BP is "high normal". 

Weight is just an quick visual indicator, but not the most important one.

Chris

[CAnnoneer]

Where the heck are you again?

IIRC, fistful is in St Louis.

[280plus]

OKm thanks, we'll need to make an emergency Drakes Coffee Cake run to St Louis then. It's a matter of their survival! 

[280plus]

I'd say an air drop would be in order! 

[Perd Hapley]

I wikied Drake's and they apparantly are only found in the Northeast, like I thought.  They have been sold in places like Florida and California, but it looks like they're not available anymore, there, either.  They apparently do make some stuff for Hostess, under the Hostess name, but that appears to be only in the Northeast, too.

When it comes to brand names, you guys really live in your own little world.  No TasteeCake's here, either.   

[280plus]

I don't know how you people survive... 

[Perd Hapley]

I think it's the chicken-fried steak and mashed taters, with the whole plate smothered in gravy, that keeps us going. 

[280plus]

Damn, Drakes or chicken fried steak and taters with gravy,,,tough choice! I may be moving out that way...