Posted on 01/03/2022 8:23:46 AM PST by Mariner
In American culture, it's bad to be fat. Rarely is this more apparent than at the start of the new year, when diet culture, fat phobia and capitalism converge. Exploiting body shame and people's desire for renewal, weight loss companies ramp up ads, gyms reduce rates and diet companies promise to help people realize the elusive goal of weight loss that lasts.
Sociologists and medical professionals who treat patients using a model of health at every size say this yearly cycle underscores society's obsession with thinness and fuels dangerous misperceptions about the relationship between weight and health.
"I tell patients right off the bat, 'I'm not going to focus on your weight,'" said Dr. Greg Dodell, whose practice is based in New York City. "And first thing they say is, 'Oh my God, what a relief.'"
January's anti-fatness may be cloaked in wellness and body positivity, but its core message to potential customers is the same it has always been: Their body is not good enough, and they have not been disciplined enough to lose weight. Sociologists say that message also suggests weight and health are solely the product of individual choices rather than the result of sexist, racist and classist systems.
"People are doing this to avoid the social stigma, the economic stigma, the moral stigma of being fat or just not being as thin as they could be," said Natalie Boero, a sociology professor at San Jose State University and author of "Killer Fat: Media, Medicine and Morals in the American Obesity Epidemic."
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
>>We each have our own perception along with opinions, don’t we? If I don’t attempt to force mine on you, thus making no difference to you, then why is your perception of my happiness an issue with me? I lived my life. Now I settle down with my memories and my content or unhappiness. Either way, it matters little to anyone except me. So whose perception are we working with?
I believe some folks truly like the look of an overweight person - I can’t relate - but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
But that is not my point: my point is carrying excess weight is unhealthy - that is not a matter of ‘perception’ it is a matter of fact (being much too thin is also unhealthy), don’t have a problem with people being attracted to overweight people - not even a problem with people ‘choosing’ to be overweight - just have a really big problem with people who claim they can be 50-100-150+ pounds overweight, and still claim to be healthy - that is simply untrue.
Generally, if you eat the Standard American Diet - the one the US government approves of - then your energy comes from sugars. Carbs are just complex sugars that break down into simple sugars. So your body uses glucose for energy.
Some of us who eat carbs - I think it is largely based on how much sugar and simple carbs you ate as a kid - will get big blood sugar spikes and thus big spikes in insulin from eating carbs. The standard advice to eat lots of little meals results in lots of insulin spikes, so your body starts to tune out the insulin. Then your body starts producing MORE insulin as you become “insulin-resistant”. Taken far enough, insulin-resistance turns into diabetes.
I never became diabetic, probably because I DID diet multiple times a year and ran 30-40 miles a week.
But a good sign of insulin resistance is belly fat that just doesn’t go away. And insulin tends to put fat into long-term storage. So that when I lost weight down to 125, I was losing a lot of muscle and only some fat. And my body was fighting me because I was starving myself even though the fat was not being converted into energy - as it will for people who, for whatever reason, have bodies that are NOT insulin-resistant (such as my sister).
So my sister is OK with calories in/calories out. But it failed me because MY weight loss was as much muscle as fat. She also didn’t eat all the sugar and cookies that I ate as a young kid. Regardless, genetics or early eating habits, what works fine for her failed me for 50 years. What works for me now isn’t necessary for her.
When our hormones are right, our bodies regulate our weight. We WANT to eat less, or more, and our bodies respond correctly. But the enormous burst in gross obesity in the USA is due IMHO to the government preaching “low fat” - which then became “high sugar/high carb” - and a LOT of humans will respond by shifting into long-term fat storage. Not everyone, but a lot of us.
Those of us with that problem will then respond very well to restricting carbs. In my case, I need to STAY on a very low carb diet or I will start gaining weight back fast. Happily, I can live on a high fat, high protein, very low carb diet very easily. It isn’t a “diet” for me, but a lifestyle of eating differently from what many others do.
I’m doing time restricted eating too, between noon and 6 pm, but I think I’m moving to OMAD: One Meal A Day. I increasingly find I can eat one meal a day and not miss the other two or feel a need to snack. And if one eats one meal a day, it is TOUGH to eat enough in that one meal to get fat again!
Others will have different experiences and that is fine. Part of the US Government screwup was and is preaching we should all eat the same things the same way!
“100% of the time is is consuming more calories than expended.”
“You keep repeating that but you are wrong.”
Individual metabolisms are quite varied by hormones, muscle mass, age and activity levels. That is indisputable.
“100% of the time it is consuming more calories than expended.”
That is also indisputable.
If you’re not happy with your burn rate, increase it through increasing muscle mass and making your mitochondria in every cell bigger and more efficient...through aerobic exercise.
And weight training.
40-50% changes are achievable. You just have to do the work.
And put down the fork.
Or, live in the deluded world of helpless victims.
Should add I agree with you. The question for those of us who struggle during calorie restriction is where are we losing weight? Because if we are losing bone density and muscle more than fat, then our bodies will CRAVE more food. Desperately! But it is possible to change how our body responds. Once we start using and losing fat, we can diet without fighting our bodies.
“The problem is the less calories you consume, the less calories you expend as the body goes into ‘starvation mode’. “
That’s the way it works for sedentary people.
“If you’re not happy with your burn rate, increase it through increasing muscle mass”
Dude, I also spent decades lifting weights. Along with running 30-40 miles a week. It was NOT a lack of exercise! But you cannot exercise your way into weight loss if your body is heavily into fat-storage mode. You need to change your underlying hormone issues. And that IS possible, but NOT by doing “calorie in/calorie out and lift weights”. Because I tried that for DECADES without success - and Keto/IF have brought success with almost no effort on my part.
“100% of the time it is consuming more calories than expended.”
Simple not true. That law of thermodynamics crap is just crap. We are not closed systems. Your body can shed calories by a variety of means, not just exercise. And your body can let food pass through as needed. And your body - this is critical - can tell you “Don’t eat any more, we don’t need it!” And THAT is when you are on the road to long term, healthy weight loss!
Maybe you’ve never known anyone who can eat like a horse and stay thin. In high school I knew a gal who ate like a pig and struggled to stay just above 100 lbs. She was miserable. Her body burned everything she could eat. I can gain weight breathing deep while passing a bakery. I lost 45 lbs in the 9th grade - the first of my big diets. I’d be eating 1/10th of what she ate, while I struggled to lose weight and she struggled to keep it!
You get skinny the same way you got fat: one fork-full at a time.
“That law of thermodynamics crap is just crap.”
Believing that is certain insanity.
I guess the laws of physics and thermodynamics don’t apply to the insane.
After all, it’s not your fault you are not at the weight you want. So there must be a supernatural explanation.
“One very simple way to lose weight..without any diet..without any pills, is to simply . . .”
how about . . . STOP EATING so much!
Unless you truly have a rare medical condition, for everyone else, you get fat if you put in more than you burn up.
Only country one earth where we have Morbidly Obese poor people.
Stop eating so much.
It really is that simple.
Everything else is just an excuse.
I have 13 lbs to go to reach my fighting weight but I'm giving myself until spring. Plenty of time.
My apnea is mostly gone now so I'm sleeping much better. My clothes fit way more comfortably, and it's sure a lot easier to reach my toenails these days too, not to mention seeing them =)
I think you will find a lot of people getting thinner because food is getting way too expensive. Gas as well so maybe people will walk more.
Amazing thing, the human body.
A symphony of intelligent design.
Perfect combination of processes working in wondrous, complex, arrangements.
Yet, the body’s processes are easily altered and damaged by a multitude of endless causes. Tiny hormonal deficiencies, medicines, diseases, to name a few.
It is not the exception. Hormones, disease, medicines, can and do effects weight.
Yes, there are many people who overeat and under exercise.
But most overweight people wouldn’t be if they had a choice.
Spoiler alert, lots of drugs and other environmental items are damaging the natural processes of the human body.
“I guess the laws of physics and thermodynamics don’t apply to the insane.”
You need to READ the laws of thermodynamics, or at least LISTEN when I point out they only apply to a CLOSED SYSTEM - and the human body is NOT a closed system!
“After all, it’s not your fault you are not at the weight you want. So there must be a supernatural explanation.”
No, a BIOLOGICAL explanation. That’s what my degree was in - Biology. And if you’d get off your ‘know it all when you don’t’ high horse, you might be able to LEARN how our bodies work to regulate weight.
If you want to get a little smarter about a subject you love to post on, try here:
“Dr Zoe Harcombe - The Obesity Epidemic: What caused it? How can we stop it?”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPjKJfajhAw
Or “Interview With Dr. Jason Fung and Gary Taubes”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAim7IASsEg
Or you can go on assuming you know everything even though you don’t know what the laws of thermodynamics say....
And please notice BOTH of them agree with me: There IS a solution! Not the bogus one you are pushing, but a genuine solution that has also cured Type 2 Diabetes many times over....
Sort of like those diet-cola things: They drink them ostentatiously as if to ward off comments about their obesity.
Too late. Lol.
If we keep seeing grocery shelves like this, being fat will be a luxury.
It’s fun to listen to people say, “I was really hungry.” No. No you’re not. 90% of the people in US have not been very hungry.
smh
“It’s fun to listen to people say, “I was really hungry.”
Must be nice to be so morally superior! Hint: If someone is losing weight by losing as much or more muscle as fat, then their bodies probably ARE telling them they are starving - because our bodies don’t like it when we lose muscle and bone!
There are also cravings. Cravings are NOT hunger, but they are very real. And they are also associated with carbohydrates. If your body is hormonally balanced to run on glucose and NOT ketones, then initially running out of glucose means your body will crave carbs to make glucose.
That is particularly true when you are listening to the US government and most doctors who tell you to live on a high carb diet. But once you get your body used to getting energy from ketones, you can cut carbs drastically and not get cravings.
Many people who haven’t been very obese never face those issues. Many, many more don’t know WHY they have cravings. Fat people who CHOOSE to continue to eat to stay fat are on their own, but a great many people refuse to change their diet because the government and many doctors tell them, “Low fat is good. Fat is evil. Eat high carbs and just cut portions.”
Then blame the fat people when their advice fails - as it does 99% of the time.
There is an answer. I’ve never been obese but I’ve fought that battle for so many decades that I don’t laugh at others’ misery!
BTW, my son needs to lose weight. The VA dietician keeps telling him to cut out all the fat and continue to eat his high carb diet - only less so. And when I tell him otherwise, he replies, “These are dieticians and doctors. They are experts.” But I’ve LOST THE WEIGHT...and yet he believes his overweight, government-hired dietician! Because SHE’s an expert!
Why you gotta be a jerk? My guess is very, very few of the people on this forum have gone long without eating. Have you?
I didn’t call you names, or base any assumptions on your morality.
It’s a new year. You don’t have to type the first tripe that comes into your mind.
Be better.
Yes, I’ve gone a long time without eating. Irrelevant to the discussion. You find it amusing when someone says they are hungry while assuming they are lying. I assume they at least believe they are telling the truth and realize, from the perspective of their body, they may be.
It isn’t “tripe” although your comment was. I know what it is like to struggle for years against weight. I know what it feels like to win. And I don’t assume fat people deserve to be fat. Although many who haven’t struggled with weight make that assumption.
Nobody is arguing the human body is a closed thermodynamic system, that’s your straw horse. Weak as it is.
The human body is an open thermodynamic system, and all those bedrock physical rules apply.
If you consume 3,500 kcals of any/all nutrients, you body must dispose of it in some manner to maintain stasis of mass.
And the rules of thermodynamics apply equally to every living organism.
Burn it, or store it. It doesn’t seep into the supernatural ether of Mr Rogers neighborhood.
Burning it is a combination of base metabolism and movement.
Storing it is the extra fat you carry around.
I guess everywhere except for Mr Rogers neighborhood.
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