Living with obesity: The people who are hard-wired to store fat

BBC ^ | By Claire Kendall and Jeremy Cooke

[BenLurkin]

Shaw Somers, a consultant surgeon who specialises in weight-loss operations, has been treating people with severe obesity for many years. He says people like Sarah, who have an inherited set of certain genes, are much more likely to develop obesity compared with those who don't.

Historically, he says, people with these genetics would have done well in a famine, but with today's plentiful, high-calorie food they will put on weight "without strong determination and support".

Dr Denise Ratcliffe, a clinical psychologist...says that many of the people she sees, have experienced trauma, abuse or neglect, for example, which leads to a dysfunctional relationship with food.

Both the genetic and psychological components of obesity can be amplified when there is easy access to fatty, sugar-laden foods, which are available cheaply and conveniently.

Dr Abd Tahrani, a senior lecturer in obesity medicine at the University of Birmingham, says there are a lot of people who are "biologically pre-designed to conserve energy", which is stored as fat. He explains that signals from the hypothalamus - the part of the brain that controls appetite - bombard the person with feelings of hunger and a desire to eat, that are almost impossible to fight.

For many scientists and doctors who have developed a deep understanding of obesity, the condition is a complex illness driven by a combination of factors. To blame someone for suffering with that illness flies in the face of the scientific evidence, they say.

"If blame worked," says Dr Abd Tahrani, "we would have a very thin society by now. Everybody who has obesity has been blamed an endless amount of times, either by their doctors, by their neighbours or their family, or wider society. It's not working, please stop it."

[Freedom4US]

Individuals who have obesity issues in childhood have a much, much harder time losing weight and keeping it off. Those are the folks this article is referencing.

I think. iIt’s tough to reverse engineer articles these days, and “weight loss” or diet articles are among some of the worst.

The more common form of obesity is “late onset” or whatever they call it. As we age the pounds start to accumulate. The statistics are not very good here either.

One source claims that roughly 90% of the people who adjust their dietary intake and lose all of their excess fat, within 2 years they have gained it all back, and more. Not very encouraging!

I think the “blame game” is kind of a distraction. But at the end of the day, people have to take charge of their own choices and destiny. We’re all “body builders”, the question is what kind of body are you building?

It is very, very simple to lose weight for most of us, the folks with “late onset” weight issues. The folks with a genetic predisposition to become obese as children, I dunno how they can fix that.

Simple” most definitely doesn’t mean easy, but for some reason they try to muddy the waters to make them look deep. And I think it’s probably a little too convenient for some who are in the latter category to claim they were “born that way” and quit trying. It isn’t a matter of “dieting” for most of us, we have to make permanent lifestyle changes, we can’t go back to a “normal” diet once the weight has melted away, “normal” is what made us fat in the first place.

[cgbg]

A one year vacation in North Korea will amazingly cure any weight issues...

[Magnatron]

And in a related story, another company decides to woke-ify itself into oblivion...

Victoria's Secret says goodbye to Angels in attempt to redefine 'sexy'

Spoiler alert: Megan Rapinoe is one of their new models. CEO Martin Waters says -- "We needed to stop being about what men want and to be about what women want."

[Yardstick]

I can believe it’s a genetic issue for some people, but mostly it’s a cultural trend unrelated to genetics. We had the same genes back in the last century when people were thin. Covid hasn’t helped. When I’m out and about, people look noticeably more plus sized compared to last year. Maybe I’m just imagining it but I don’t think so, unfortunately.

[Pollard]

"If blame worked," says Dr Abd Tahrani, "we would have a very thin society by now. Everybody who has obesity has been blamed an endless amount of times, either by their doctors, by their neighbours or their family, or wider society. It's not working, please stop it."

Dr Abd Tahrani

I've got a couple hundred pics of family going back 4-5 generations. From the 1800s, there's one fat guy who is from the wealthier side of the family. He was also very well dressed and likely spent his time sitting behind a desk. Most everyone else worked with their hands in some form and outside of work, home life was also a lot of work. So it would seem not having to do any labor and having plenty of good food to eat might make someone fat.

I don't deny that some people are more predisposed to gaining weight. When I was in my 30s, I tried to gain weight. I drank protein shakes, ate three squares a day and was taking in over 3,000 calories a day. After two months I gave up because it was killing me digestively and I was only able to gain 5 lbs. I'm 55 and wear the same pants and shirt size as I did when I was 19. Same shoe size too now that I think of it.

[Freedom4US]

“If you are hard-wired to store fat, then you are eating carbs which are poisonous to you.”

Every human is hard wired to store fat. That’s just a plain natural fact.

Excess calories over and above necessary to maintain basal metabolism and any exertion are stored in adipocytes (fat cells).

Carbohydrate by itself isn’t “poison” for people who need lots of calories (in my opinion). But it’s like high octane, or rocket fuel, when most people are sitting on their ass in front of a computer, watching television, sleeping, etc.

A truly sedentary individual probably needs only maybe 1000 to 1500 calories a day to maintain their weight. That’s a peanut butter sandwich, chips, and a tall glass of milk. Done. For the whole day.

That’s why everybody has ballooned.

[FamiliarFace]

My dad had a bum knee and poor self esteem in many ways. He didn’t eat too much more than he should have, but he had trouble working it off because of his knee problem. (He could swim, and did, but not enough to keep his weight down.) At age 45 he was too proud to go for a knee replacement, not to mention, he probably couldn’t have afforded it because of supporting a family of 8. So that weight just kept adding on. He ended up becoming diabetic because of it. That and a heart condition killed him at a young 73.

Because of his diabetes, I paid attention to my doctor telling me that the best way for me to not do the same thing as Dad was to work on losing weight. I don’t have bum knees, so I can exercise, and do. What I needed was motivation. At one point, I saw a photo of myself, and felt disgusted for what I done to my body. I resolved to work it off. It took me about 18 months to lose 50 pounds, with the help of Rx medicine. Felt great! That was in the Fall of 2018.

Then it started sneaking back on after treatment was stopped. I knew I would gain some back. Within a year, I had gained 10 back. Still felt ok, but somehow couldn’t get my weight to go back down. Always up. Then CoVid came. I started putting the pounds on more quickly than before. In 9 months I put 10 pounds on! Ugh!

So I started trying to diet again sensibly when the New Year started. I’ve been doing something different this time. I’m focusing on not just what I eat, but when I eat, and why I’m eating. I’ve upped my exercise and drink more water. I’m getting better sleep, and learning that stress is a factor, too. I am trying to be my best self. I’ve lost the 10 pounds that I put on during 2020. I’m not stopping either. Plateaus are no fun, but I know I can do this, because I’ve done it before. I want the weight to STAY off this time.

I eat a lot of variety of foods, I am experimenting with all different kinds of things, not limiting myself to one certain diet. When I do have a craving, which is much less common for me now, I “treat” myself as a reward instead of considering it as “cheating”. My attitude towards food is much healthier. I think this time, I’m going to be able to hit my goal and stay there. I believe I can be successful!

[setter]

As comedian David Brenner once quipped: “There are no fat people in concentration camps”

[setter]

Are you a man or woman and what height?

[bk1000]

Al was the greatest. You probably couldn’t make that show today.

[Freedom4US]

Hard to tell from that pic, but it looks like the good doctor might be a bit of a porker.

I know people say never trust a skinny cook, but maybe we shouldn’t trust a fat doctor? At least insofar as any dietary concerns. One thing I’ve noticed about doctors and nurses in those fields, a lot of them are thin and trim and jog and things like that. They see the effects day in and day out of obesity on individuals and know the key to staying healthy is based on lean body mass.

[central_va]

Was at 240 pre pandemic. Now I am at 180. I’m still losing weight. My BMI is still to high.

[IWontSubmit]

[heartwood]

Women want to be what men want. They want to identify with women who are young and beautiful. I say this as a feminist.

Now maybe you come to a point in your life where you realize even if you buy that bra, you won’t come closer to being 20 years old and a 10. And then you question your consumerism and your need for that bra, whether it will really make you feel sexier.

But if I see Rapinoe, or a 70 year old (even though I am closer to 70 than 20) or a woman who weighs 250 pounds, or a quite convincing MtoF transsexual, the consumerism and would be identification is going to be turned all the way off.

I wonder what the internalized beauty standards of the next generation will be. I think women will still want to be what men want.

[GBA]

“Calories in” must be burned up or they will become “Calories stored”.

It’s just that way.

If we eat a lot of calorie dense foods, like snacks, desserts, cheese, etc., the “Calories in” will be greatly inflated and soon we will be greatly inflated, too.

It’s just that way.

Otoh, it’s hard to get fat eating a healthy diet that is heavily loaded with whole foods as grown, but is low on oils and sugar, especially if you add just a little bit of exercise each day.

The only inflation you’ll get if you eat that way is gas from digestion … but you don’t see that inflation on the bathroom scale! Win!

Instead, what you will see, and maybe hear/smell, too, is your deflation(!) as those calories melt away! Life is good!

The best place to fight disease is not in the doctor’s office, operating room or the pharmacy, but in the kitchen, with food that’s as close to the way God makes it as possible.

Do this now, while you feel good, to avoid the other “last hope/last chance” options later and enjoy a good life in between, instead, exactly as God intended for us all.

[Freedom4US]

The AMA editorial board came out with a scathing rebuttal of those magazines in the New York Times, right? Right? The American Diabetes Association, and the CDC and WHO said “that right there is authentic frontier gibberish and will get people killed.” Right?

Let me guess. Nobody said shit, am I right? It’s Lysenkoism reborn.

[Mariner]

They are not hard wired to store what they do not eat.

I will never see them as a sympathetic “victim”.

If they would move enough they could eat anything they want.

I’ve seen Marine recruits eat 3500-4000 calories a day and maintain <10% body fat. Hundreds of them.

I’ve also seen people become obese on <2000 calories a day.

The difference being movement.

And it’s time to stop telling the big lie, that obesity has nothing to do with how much you eat or how much you move, when it is directly and provably the ONLY factors in the equation.

Don’t give anyone a pass on this lest you become an enabler.

[poinq]

These people are Insulin hyper-producers. While the calorie counting explanation of weight gain works as a simplistic model for most people it does not work for these people. They too readily store fat. Because they too readily produce Insulin. Most people could not be as heavy as these people get. The opposite are people with Type 1 diabetes. They have no ability to gain weight without Insulin injections. Type 2 are people who have taught their body to ignore their own insulin. They are normally fat low energy people with bad diets.

The people who gain huge amounts of weight would be fine if they stayed away from any carbs. Even if they never left the couch, they would lose weight in buckets.

[redangus]

In some cases I think this is true. Yes there are plenty of people who are just lazy and over eat. But I’ve known my fair share of people who can gain weight regardless of their efforts not to. I also know people who can sit around all day stuffing their face and never gain a pound. It’s not always genetics, but sometimes it truly is. You can usually tell be looking at family members. If fat or thin run in the family it’s pretty obvious.

[oh8eleven]

The people who are hard-wired to store fat ...

Sounds like the same-old BS type excuse they made up to explain black violence - remember the dastardly 'black violence gene.'