Why Do People let Themselves Get Obese?

[GePap]

Originally posted by Jon Miller


wow

I would be estatic for 30 lbs loss

I try, and maybe do 10 in three months.. (usually 5.. and it will go away after a week of being naughty, for whatever reason)

JM

Welll, see, the things is this:

I decided to start losing weight back in february, and at that point I began with a pretty active and time consuming excercise program. At the point I weight 222lbs. From the Middle of February till the start of June, doing excercise 6 times a week, I had only gone down to 215lbs. What I had not done was change my diet, because I was stubborn and I thought that my problem was only excercise. Well, around the beginning of June I read a book about serving sizes, and what they actually are (like knowing that a regular bowl of pasta at most restaurants equals basically your entire days carbohydrate needs). So I decided to try to change the way I ateas well, since the excercise had made me stronger and I felt more energy, but I had only lost 7 lbs in basically 3.5 months.

At that point, I was still at 215, and I decided to set a goal of losing 20 lbs in 3 months, which comes out to about 3 lbs a week. Well, I did it and I got to my goal of 195 in the beginning of August. After that I decided to keep going down to my ideal wieght range, trying for 5lbs a month, which is little more than just 1 lb a week. I found out that even thought I slackned significantly in my excercise routine, the weight kept coming off actually faster than scheduled.

So honestly, I have been trying to cut down for 8 months now, and the point is that weight lifting (which is actually simpler to get started with than aerobic, in terms of your body being able to make gains without feeling like you are about to die) set up the basis for sucess by increasing my base metabolism, allowing me to brun more calories, period. And then I made a change in eating styles (as opposed to dieting), and actually, I have not once ever felt hunger, and I still eat the same things I like, only in different portions and percentages. And one finds the body adapts to the change actually.

[Jon Miller]

there was a period when I Was trying to eat less then 1800 calories a day

I was hungery for that entire week, and din't keep to it

JM

[Snotty]

Ive never really dieted by trying to stick to a calorie limit, I would just eat a couple of times a day and try to remind myself what I was trying to acheive every time I reached for a snack. That works unless I get really hungry, but I didnt get that hungry all that often.


sometmes it works sometimes it doesnt

[Whaleboy]

To be perfectly honest, I kinda agree with PA here. I used to be a chubber, not massively overweight just a little rounded. I'm not all the way gone at the moment but my physique is improving, I spend an hour in the gym five/six times a week and I feel bloody fantastic! Possibly look healthier and I certainly feel like I have more energy.

It's all too easy when you're tired and have had a bad day to sit back and munch on a bar of chocolate and that's fine every now and again, everything in its balanced measure is fine. Just when that chocolate or bag of crisps becomes seconds.... thirds... we've all been there.

People just need to feel positive about themselves so there are more important things to do than comfort eating. TV is greatly to blame here imo. I think it's inethical and idiotic to be encouraging "fat pride" and "big is beautiful". Political correctness gone (more) mad; it's unhealthy, it's unattractive, it's socially irresponsible as long as we're picking up the tab for the NHS. If you've got a problem, fix it. Simple.

[Snotty]

presumably fat people pay more total VAT because they eat more. Its only fair that extra tax goes into medical care and reinforced public seating

Its those bloody drug takers that are truly scrounging off the state

[Datajack Franit]

Exact- obesity is not about aesthetics.. it´s a disease

[Provost Harrison]

But soooo tasty

[GePap]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
there was a period when I Was trying to eat less then 1800 calories a day

I was hungery for that entire week, and din't keep to it

JM

I have never once in my life counted a single calorie. Its not my point either.

There is a range of the amount of food adults need to eat in order to be fuctioning adults.

You need between 4 and 8 servings of grains
2 and 4 servings of fruit
1 to 3 servings of fat
2 to 3 servings of protein
1 toi 3 servings of dairy
3 or more servings of vegetables.
8 Servings of water.

The problem is that most people thinks if they had a bagel, a sandwich, and a couple servings of pasta in a day they think they had 4 or 5 servings of grains because the judge servings size by portion size. IN reality, they probably had 10 to 12 servings of grains, because portion and serving size are separate.

If you are an adult male, then you probably need to eat the high end of that scale in order not to be hungry. BUT if you have even moderate amounts of physcial activity, even eating at the highest levels should not mean weight gain. The problem is that not only is the physical activity not high enough, but that without knowing it, you are eating FAR more than you think. Maybe 1800 calories is way to little- you might need to take in 2400 calories a day to be fine, but the problem is you are probably ingesting 3000 calories a day plus without knowing it.

[Datajack Franit]

I eat 1200 calories daily.. it sounds so wrong

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Originally posted by GePap
There is a range of the amount of food adults need to eat in order to be fuctioning adults.

You need between 4 and 8 servings of grains
2 and 4 servings of fruit
1 to 3 servings of fat
2 to 3 servings of protein
1 toi 3 servings of dairy
3 or more servings of vegetables.
8 Servings of water.

Cool. I'm not a functioning adult.

[Winston]

Re: Why Do People let Themselves Get Obese?

Because to most people, eating beats the hell out of exercising.

[Last Conformist]

Originally posted by GePap
There is a range of the amount of food adults need to eat in order to be fuctioning adults.

You need between 4 and 8 servings of grains
2 and 4 servings of fruit
1 to 3 servings of fat
2 to 3 servings of protein
1 toi 3 servings of dairy
3 or more servings of vegetables.
8 Servings of water.

(Un-)fortunately, I've got no idea how much a serving is here.

[Provost Harrison]

It's about that big...

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Lazarus and the Gimp
Cool. I'm not a functioning adult.

But are you fuctioning?

[GePap]

Originally posted by Last Conformist

(Un-)fortunately, I've got no idea how much a serving is here.

A serving size is tha same everywhere. Its portion sizes that differ. In general, portion sizes in the US are much bigger than anywhere else.

When it comes to water, in the imperial system one serving of water is 8 ounces, or ~230mL.

A serving of protein is equal to 3 ounces cooked, or about 84 grams. So in total an adult male never needs more than about 250 grams of cooked animal flesh.

For grains, volumewise its usually 4 ounces, or ~ 125mL, be it rice or pasta or oatmeal.

One fruit is one serving of fruit, unless you have a grapefruit, a large mango or so forth.

The simplest way to know is actually look at the nutrition lables. I know in the US you have to talk about serving size- I don't know if in Europe they do it fundamentally different.