As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up
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Re: As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up
#2> Replicated by other studies, that research helps explain the discouraging finding that within five years of having lost weight, 95% of dieters will regain all the weight they lost. And most will gain a few extra pounds as well.
I'm part of that privileged 5%. I lost around 60 pounds in 2009-2010 and I've kept it off. It really is a lifestyle change. You have to be constantly aware of the portions you choose and remember what you've already eaten that day to keep in "budget". There are tools and processes that can help, but it's a constant struggle against your body that is constantly lying to your brain. I can definitely see why many people would give up.
Re: As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up
#3> Replicated by other studies, that research helps explain the discouraging finding that within five years of having lost weight, 95% of dieters will regain all the weight they lost. And most will gain a few extra pounds as well. I'm part of that privileged 5%. I lost around 60 pounds in 2009-2010 and I've kept it off. It really is a lifestyle change. You have to be constantly aware of the portions you choose and rem…
Do you still have to actively manage your calorie intake?
Re: As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up
#4Until this is treated like the public epidemic it is, and promote education, this will only get worse.
Calories in - calories out = fat accumulation. It is literally that simple.
Re: As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up
#5Until this is treated like the public epidemic it is, and promote education, this will only get worse. Calories in - calories out = fat accumulation. It is literally that simple.
Education does not work. Mexico has shown that regulation does work, they regulated sugar which has had a positive effect on health. The food industry needs to be regulated. The few conglomerates are engineering unhealthy people. It's that simple. There is very little actual food choice because the market optimizes for profits, not for health. In order to give health a fighting chance you need to regulate the market to change the game. Food is an addictive drug, we regulate all other addictive drugs.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/nov/03/obese-soda-suga...
Re: As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up
#6Until this is treated like the public epidemic it is, and promote education, this will only get worse. Calories in - calories out = fat accumulation. It is literally that simple.
> promote education
IMO it's not so much about education as about how to help people shape their habits. People already know that candy-bars and french-fries correlate to obesity, after all.
> that simple
Or at least, so close to being that simple that there's no point confusing people with erroneous details.
Re: As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up
#7Until this is treated like the public epidemic it is, and promote education, this will only get worse. Calories in - calories out = fat accumulation. It is literally that simple.
You're of course leaving out the complexity in how "Calories in" and "calories out" are derived for individuals.
Some people consume too much calorically as a mental-health coping mechanism. Some people consume too much calorically because the food culture they were raised in promotes that. Some people consume too much calorically because they have a lack of real options to purchase fresh whole foods.
Some people don't expend enough calories because their lifestyle makes it difficult (work + family + etc). Some people don't expend enough calories because the lifestyle they were raised with doesn't promote that.
These are just some of the ways that simple equation you've posted become immediately more complex.
Re: As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up
#8Is it really in the best interest of society to allow food makers to advertise superstimuli-level [1] food products that we know in aggregate make is less happy and likely to die earlier? Why? We regulate all sorts of substances that we know are harmful when ingested. We shouldn't make exceptions for things that happen to be called food. Even if we don't want to enact anything as drastic as a "soda tax" or a ban on refined sugar, we can at least stop processed-food companies advertising to children and creating life-long bad habits.
The FDA could also be more eager in approving appetite-regulating drugs, allowing people to choose to take on certain risk in exchange for large potential weight loss. Several effective agents have been known since the 1920s; is a small risk of cataracts or heart valve damage in a small number of people really worth allowing millions of people to be sicker than they would otherwise be?
Speaking of drugs: smoking decreases BMI quite a bit. Granted, it damages the lungs, but like most things, tobacco has a mixture of positive and negative effects. Given that we have an obesity crisis, was taboo-ing one of the more popular and effective anti-obesity tools really the right choice?
Re: As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up
#9Is this really different from smoking or another harmful unhealthy lifestyle choice? It's abusing food, and it has negative consequences.
The cost of health care to manage obesity and related issues is staggering and will only increase.
Maybe the USA should start having a BMI tax?
Re: As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up
#10[deleted]