I was super active, played a few sports, then seriously injured an abdominal muscle (some type of hernia - it was brutal). I couldn't do anything for a few months, I probably gained ten pounds. I couldn't imagine an injury that could last my entire life, in particular something like the one that I had. In a day I was burning the minimum amount of calories, anything I ate was potentially going to stay on me. Ten pounds may seem like nothing, but I tried as hard as I could to keep the weight off, had I been injured for a year who knows how much I would have gained.
Sometimes certain handicaps can cause obesity. Simply because you don't have the mobility you need. Also extreme obesity can qualify as a handicap, though it's a bit of a chicken or egg debate on which is the real problem.
Finally there is a very small portion of the population that cannot help it. But I say very small as there is a very large number of people that like to blame their problem on 'glandular conditions' or other things, when really it's just their lifestyle.
My step father was in the 320s and now he is down to 230 or so and falling. He's over 6 feet and was a linebacker in college at Washington State. I'm pretty proud of what he has accomplished.
I know I could lose 20 - 25 pounds. I was up at 215 and I got it down to 190 but this seems to be where I'm at for the last 9 months. I do need to exercise and eat more veggies. I just have to want it enough and I think I'm getting there.
Apparently two studies so far seem to find a link between Bisphenol A (BPA) absorption and obesity and type 2 diabetes. In the last decades canned beer has become more and more chosen over bottled beer, and same for soda; you can also find BPA in canned food.
So you could maybe think that the rise in the number of overweight people (if it happened) is partly because of the increase in absoption of some chemical substances that are used by industrials in our food/drinks. In short: some people might be overweight cause they buy canned tomatoes instead of fresh ones!
Apparently two studies so far seem to find a link between Bisphenol A (BPA) absorption and obesity and type 2 diabetes. In the last decades canned beer has become more and more chosen over bottled beer, and same for soda; you can also find BPA in canned food.
So you could maybe think that the rise in the number of overweight people (if it happened) is partly because of the increase in absoption of some chemical substances that are used by industrials in our food/drinks. In short: some people might be overweight cause they buy canned tomatoes instead of fresh ones!
I appreciate your insight, but people are just lazy and eat like **** all the time... that's why they are overweight.
Apparently two studies so far seem to find a link between Bisphenol A (BPA) absorption and obesity and type 2 diabetes. In the last decades canned beer has become more and more chosen over bottled beer, and same for soda; you can also find BPA in canned food.
So you could maybe think that the rise in the number of overweight people (if it happened) is partly because of the increase in absoption of some chemical substances that are used by industrials in our food/drinks. In short: some people might be overweight cause they buy canned tomatoes instead of fresh ones!
Link? I have doubts
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No problem, sorry if I stole your reply! I had the info on hand from something else I was doing.
From what I can find there is no "massive growth" in overweight/obesity. I haven't had the opportunity to research this myself in-depth, but the info I've heard recently is "The “epidemic” refers to a rise of 10-15 pounds in the average weight of US adults between 1980 and 1999. The rise was over before most of the “obesity epidemic” rhetoric began."
Not only that, but the rise in the number of overweight/obese individuals as classified by BMI may not actually be a rise in weight, but rather a change in what is defined as overweight. In 1998 the National Institute of Health changed the BMI number that determined people to be overweight from (if memory serves me correctly) 27 for women and 28 for men, down to 25 for both men and women. Overnight a massive number of people went from being "normal" to being overweight (and from being overweight to being obese). Nothing changed about their bodies or their lives, the only thing that changed was a label.
The reason that anorexia and bulimia are taken so much more seriously than people being overweight or obese is because being overweight or obese isn't a life threatening mental disorder, it's simply body composition. An anorexic or bulimic is going to be unhealthy (at the very least psychologically), someone who is overweight is quite possibly perfectly fine.
Edit:
And the reason anorexia/bulimia are taken more seriously is because we are more sympathetic to sometime with anorexia/bulimia than an obese person.
Last edited by Street Pharmacist; 06-30-2012 at 02:22 AM.
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There must be other articles talking about BPA in canned food and all that. Bottom line is, our BPA absorption is likely to be higher that it should be, and that is known to be linked to obesity, so...
And the reason anorexia/bulimia are taken more seriously is because we are more sympathetic to sometime with anorexia/bulimia than an obese person.
I don't think it has to do with sympathy, I think it's just worse. Because you can be fat because you just don't eat well and don't exercise, and as soon as your doctor tells you to change you just do it as soon as you can and gain all your health back; but I'm guessing the recovery rate for anorexia bulimia is much lower. I mean, it's a mental disease, right, it's way harder to cure than just bad habits. On top of that it's more likely to cause irreparable damage to you (increased chance of heart problems, of osteoporosis, of teeth problems, and of infertility). Maybe the sympathy factor plays there, but in that case it's a good thing cause anorexia/bulimia seems worse (health-wise) than being chubby...
Since this thread took that turn of 'hurting people's feelings' I wanna know why people give a #### about what others say about them? Honest question because as a kid I was always a bit chubby and kids would make fun of me and then I lost a bunch of weight and got really fit and people would just find something else to make fun of.
People who get hurt feelings over name calling need to see someone and get help.
Well, if you can live like that, then kudos to ya. Most humans are not wired that way. As social animals we are more like dogs than we are like cats. We crave positive feedback from other people and dislike negative feedback. For MOST people, our own self worth is measured by what others think of us. If being hurt by being insulted is worthy of "getting help" I think we're going to need far, far more psychiatrists in our society.
Cats are born thinking their #### smells like roses and nothing can convince them otherwise. I don't know if society would be better off if humans were built that way. I do know the world would be a lot different.
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A lot of this thread is going into why someone is obese. "Maybe that person has bad knees because they are overweight due to a glandular problem"; "Maybe they are fat because of a chemical imbalance"; "Maybe they had a bad injury and couldn't exercise for an extended period". And then there is the "Probably the person was just lazy and eats #### all the time". Personally I JUST DON'T CARE. Even IF the person overeats and does not exercise, we don't know their life or what got them to this point.. but if their knees don't work, then let them park closer to the store.
As for anorexia and bulimia being mental disorders and overeating is NOT a mental disorder is very ignorant/misinformed view. I have attended Overeaters Anonymous on the advice of someone here who PMed me the details about the group. For many, many people it is a neurological disease. For some, like it was for me, food was a major source of happiness in my life. I was alone, in a job I didn't like, didn't feel like I was contributing to society... but damn, that Pizza Hut stuffed crust pizza made me feel good. Some people suffered some kind of tragedy in their life, like the death of a loved one and they turned to food to mollify their grief. For others, it just truly is an addiction. Their brains have become hard-wired to always wanting more food. So again, if I see someone that is overweight, I don't think "lazy overeater"... I think "I hope that person gets the help that I did".
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Apparently two studies so far seem to find a link between Bisphenol A (BPA) absorption and obesity and type 2 diabetes. In the last decades canned beer has become more and more chosen over bottled beer, and same for soda; you can also find BPA in canned food.
So you could maybe think that the rise in the number of overweight people (if it happened) is partly because of the increase in absoption of some chemical substances that are used by industrials in our food/drinks. In short: some people might be overweight cause they buy canned tomatoes instead of fresh ones!
It couldn't be what is in the cans, it has to be because of the cans themselves!
There must be other articles talking about BPA in canned food and all that. Bottom line is, our BPA absorption is likely to be higher that it should be, and that is known to be linked to obesity, so...
Seriously? I don't know if you're obese or not, but this is the attitude of a lot of obese people which makes them the center of ridicule.
If there's a link, sure. BUT, which of these is the right solution?
a) drink non-canned drinks (wine, cocktails, high balls)
b) buy bottled beer
c) stop drinking beer
d) blame the cans, and continue drinking canned beer while being obese
For you, and a huge majority of obese people, d) is their choice. And they should rightfully be ridiculed for it.
For the record, I'd just like to say that even IF there was a link between BPA and obesity, it's minor at best, and what's inside the cans is probably causing obesity far more than any sort of BPA absorption effect.
For you, and a huge majority of obese people, d) is their choice. And they should rightfully be ridiculed for it.
You think it is right to ridicule people? Where is that Picard face palm picture when you need it? You do realize that by ridiculing people for being obese, you just make them feel worse about themselves and push them AWAY from getting the help that they need? It was people like you that made me hate myself and fall into a deep, deep depression that I wallowed in for years. What do you get out of ridiculing people? Does it get you off to feel superior to these people?
As I said previously, I am now going around the province (well two provinces... I've been going through Nova Scotia as well as Ontario) and visiting chapters of people wanting to lose weight. And I hear the stories from people where they tell me that their self worth is in the toilet and sometimes they don't want to leave the house and face the world. It's heartbreaking. And I'm there to give them a pat on the back, give them encouragement and applaud their efforts to lose the weight. One word of encouragement is infinitely more helpful than your scorn.
It's my opinion that the only people that should "rightfully be ridiculed" are those that willfully cause suffering of others for their own twisted pleasure. Which is what I have seen in this thread, in the funny pictures thread, and every day out on the street. If I had a nickel for every time I was called a "pig"... what does that even do for you? Does it make you feel like a man to ridicule people? I just don't get it.
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There must be other articles talking about BPA in canned food and all that. Bottom line is, our BPA absorption is likely to be higher that it should be, and that is known to be linked to obesity, so...
I bolded the relevant part.
Likely could be the same for Pop/Soda too.
I'm sure it's been commented on already, but I haven't finished the thread. But if I was an obese American what I have likely finsihed is a few BPA obesity causing cans of delicious healthy soda pop in the time it took me to read the rest of the thread.
You think it is right to ridicule people? Where is that Picard face palm picture when you need it? You do realize that by ridiculing people for being obese, you just make them feel worse about themselves and push them AWAY from getting the help that they need? It was people like you that made me hate myself and fall into a deep, deep depression that I wallowed in for years. What do you get out of ridiculing people? Does it get you off to feel superior to these people?
The point is that every single person has problems. Obesity, low self-esteem, lack of confidence, money problems, girl problems, family problems, medical issues. Respect is given to the people that can actually identify their problems and put themselves on a path to be able to get through it.
For example, let's say I had $30,000 of credit card debt, $100,000 of student loans on an arts degree. I come to this board, wondering why the world conspires against me, and that i'm "addicted" to spending money that I don't have. I blame rampant US consumerism and TV advertising for this as well, and blame the rich. Do you really think I deserve sympathy in this case?
Because that's exactly what obese people do. All the time. Because, as your personal example shows, anyone that puts in even a year of discipline, hard work and sacrifice can completely eliminate this problem.
There are very very very very few obese people that actually have a genetic disorder, and it's unfortunate that they are put into the same basket as all of the lazy, undisciplined people, but that's reality as well.
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As I said previously, I am now going around the province (well two provinces... I've been going through Nova Scotia as well as Ontario) and visiting chapters of people wanting to lose weight. And I hear the stories from people where they tell me that their self worth is in the toilet and sometimes they don't want to leave the house and face the world. It's heartbreaking. And I'm there to give them a pat on the back, give them encouragement and applaud their efforts to lose the weight. One word of encouragement is infinitely more helpful than your scorn.
I'd actually like to hear more about this. People want to lose weight, so what are they doing about it? Are they trying the latest diet fad, then quitting after 2 weeks? Are they at least trying to exercise or be active? Are they trying to cut down on their food intake and look at what they eat?
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It's my opinion that the only people that should "rightfully be ridiculed" are those that willfully cause suffering of others for their own twisted pleasure. Which is what I have seen in this thread, in the funny pictures thread, and every day out on the street. If I had a nickel for every time I was called a "pig"... what does that even do for you? Does it make you feel like a man to ridicule people? I just don't get it.
You don't get it? Obesity is a problem that people bring on themselves (in the vast majority of cases). Then they go out and start campaigns to somehow make it okay and they try to tell people that are of healthy weight or slightly underweight that they're ugly and the right way to live is a size 18.
I'll even back off my statement slightly. Rather than "rightfully be ridiculed", I'll say "I don't feel sympathy when they get ridiculed." Another disclaimer is that this is generally for people ages 18-45ish, who have the actual physical ability to do this - Again, most people as they get older develop medical conditions that may cause them to become obese, and since you can't control getting older, that's absolutely okay.
There are so many personal issues that people actually can't control, and get made fun of for, and THOSE are the people that deserve sympathy. I'll give you a couple examples: height, hair loss, facial features, speech impediment, actual disability.
I'm down 47 lb since January (starting at 284, 6'2") but according to the BMI, I have about 40 lbs to get to high Normal. I can see where 20 lb could come from but I have big skating legs and I think I'll be quite lean (though not NHL-player lean) at 210-215.
I've noticed that some people can eat like truckers and never gain a pound, while others just look at food and start gaining weight.
I think the problem is a combination of genetic and environmental factors, although I understand it is difficult to separate the two. I remember years ago, at Disneyland, seeing a family of mother and father and 3 kids, all overweight, walking along eating 3 decker ice cream cones. Obvously the caloric intake was a contributor, however the fact that all were obese suggested something more on the genetic side. I believe studies of adopted children have shown that their weight problems are more associated with the natural than the adoptive parents, which suggests a strong genetic link.
As far as the environmental element is concerned, I recall reading an article where poor diet at a very young age can lead to obesity in later age. I believe it is somehow related to the expansion of the cells in the body.
So I guess the answer is for parents to be aware of the importance of diet, in combination with the familial predisposition to being overweight, as they pertain to their child's development and future happiness.
The older I get, the more I have swung to the genetic side of the spectrum. That would mean that many conditions like obesity can be attributed to "luck of the draw", and one should not beat onself up for having to fight it...not to say that one shouldn't do everything necessary to prevent it.
So all you stigmatizers should thank your lucky stars that you and your kin don't suffer from obesity. Leave the obese people alone, and start judging a person on their inner and not outer self.
Last edited by flamesfever; 06-30-2012 at 01:43 PM.
