>>Yes...I’m going through pictures of family from the early 1900’s....not a fat person among them.<<
Is your family Eastern European?
Because when I look at my Grandparent’s wedding photos from 1910, there are chunkers. Not the young people, but the older folk. Especially the women that dropped 12 kids and survived. Fat is not just what you eat.
Take a look at Eskimos from the 1900s, you’ll see overweight people.
The problem in this country is people saying that they have the latest fad diet (one that restricts calories to the point that the metabolism goes into starvation mode) which everyone goes on. Then when they go back to eating like everyone else, they balloon.
Exercise is the key to losing weight. Strength training, not just taking a walk. Not aerobics, not walking. Running or swimming laps (for example) takes real muscle and that’s what you need.
Yes, this. Taking a walk does nothing unless it is a 5 mile cross country power walk. A casual walk around the neighborhood isn’t going to induce weigh loss. Running 20 miles per week will not induce weigh gain, no matter what you eat. You can eat more (cake, doritos soda, red meat, pasta, bread, cheese) and the only result is you get faster. I know from experience. I actually had to cut back my training and start racing half marathons instead of marathons because I was losing too much weight and looking emaciated. I usually manage to put on about 10 pounds in the winter, but it disappears by the end of May by doing nothing different other than sweating in the heat.
How do all of you who say exercise and reduce intake respond to tht fact that I am 6’2” and 155lb at age 55, with no exercise and always made fun of because I am always eating? That is lots of fats also.
Yes, in general for the whole population it is best to avoid starch and sugar, exercise regularly. But there is more to it when it comes to individuals.
Exercise IS NOT the only thing....too many carbs and calories for energy expended for many...my ancestors (in the pictures I mentioned) are German and English...but, yes, building and using MUSCLES helps minimize weight gain...which may be why I weigh near where I weighed in Sr year of high school...altho I am still more than I should be (and have been in the past). Actually I think we are conditioned culturally to eat MORE than we need.