Live data from Hacker News

As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up

latimes.com

91–100 of 139 posts

Re: As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up

#91
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you eat make harder or easier to eat less. It is not just genetics and it is not just self control. If you eat more fat and no carbs is much easier to eat less calories in total.

But carbs are delicious. That's a huge problem. Seriously. You can't just ignore how delicious carbs are if you want to actually change behavior.

The problem exists in the first place because carbs are delicious and cheap.

But sugar in particular has an addiction characterisc. Once you go some time without it, you don't miss it as much anymore.

And fat is also delicious.

Re: As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Every complexity you posted still comes down to consuming more calories than is needed. The reality is the vast majority of people eat way too much, and the dietary guidelines for caloric intake are far too high for a largely sedentary society.

My point is that you can't just tell someone this simple equation and expect them to adopt it due to the elegant rationality of the solution.

Somebody who is using food as a coping device has an underlying issue they have to tackle before they can reduce their caloric intake. I mean, you could force folks to eat less, but you really want them eating less because it's healthier for them and that they themselves recognize and embrace that truth so they adopt the healthier habits as their personal culture to re-transmit to family and friends.

Re: As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up

#93
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's the individual's fault. I was severely overweight a year ago and lost 80lb doing nothing other than eating healthy, exercising, and...being patient. The deferment of responsibility and lack of self-control is the problem. Of course, companies–and more specifically, their marketing teams/firms–know people are weak-minded and as a result, can more or less control people's habits (read: greed outweighs public c…

If "people are weak minded" then how is it their "fault"? You can't have it both ways. Also have you considered that you might have motivation and willpower far above average? Not to mention the time, money, level of education and understanding necessary to change your diet. Ultimately you are one single data point - do you believe that everybody can do all the things you can do just as well as you? No. Why should di…

My diet:

- Eggs (WIC) - Bacon (WIC) - Bananas (WIC) – a case of 100 is ~$20 - Yogurt (WIC?) - Almond Milk (justifiably more expensive, so swap with milk) - Salmon (justifiably more expensive, swap with chicken or another protein) - Cous Cous (justifiably more expensive, swap with another carb/fiber).

I'd argue that, yes, if you take the steps to build up the motivation, you can. I was a shell of a man before I started on my current path. It just takes time. I didn't start out where I am and I don't expect others to, either.

Re: As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not want to sound like I am arguing with you for the sake of arguing, but I have lost weight and several of my friends and family have lost weight without feeling hungry by switching to a low carb (ketogenic) diet. It was so crazy to eat mostly fatty food and green vegetables and lose weight very quickly. One major thing I noticed was how much longer I was able to go without eating on this diet without feeling h…

This matches my experience as well. The transition period (~1.5 weeks, but especially brutal on days 2-5) was rough, but once established, it was the easiest diet to stay on if you could control your environment and mostly cook for yourself or choose where to eat. It is somewhat harder to stay on the diet while traveling, attending conferences, or business meetings. Having a host choose a place to eat, offer you loca…

Keto is great but there's still a willpower component, it can be more or less difficult depending on the person. I don't really like cooking a lot, but I don't mind eating the same things most of the time. It would be a lot harder for someone who hates cooking and hates eating the same thing all the time. While raw hunger never bothered me I did find cravings an occasional issue (never constant, but even after months never quite disappearing) and sometimes they'd be for things I haven't had in years. Eventually it might be something easy to satisfy like a pizza and when you give in once it's easy to say "screw it", though some people can only continue if they have an occasional cheat day.

I'm an on-and-off-again keto dieter (I appreciate that for me it seems to take at least 2-3x as long to put the weight back on as it takes to take off as I inevitably revert to former diet choices...) and I never find the transition period difficult, but there's a consistent point where I hit "eh, still fat, but don't feel super fat anymore" and that's when the cravings or the pressures of eating non-keto with company have the highest chance of getting to me. There are also unforeseen stressors that can make things difficult (in my case a forced house move) but I'm ok with the state of flux. I don't want a six-pack physique enough, not really, and that's the last willpower component -- how long can you stick with it (and introduce more exercise), even with bumps and setbacks? My friend who introduced me to the diet lost 100 lbs by forcing himself to do keto for about 5 months, but he was fat enough at the start that he could stand to lose another 50 lbs but it's not as easy now. Still, he's much happier and healthier now than before. One's level of willpower is still involved even with how great keto is and is the difference between losing 50 lbs (not bad), 100 lbs (pretty awesome), and 150 lbs (your ideal).

Re: As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up

#95
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If "people are weak minded" then how is it their "fault"? You can't have it both ways. Also have you considered that you might have motivation and willpower far above average? Not to mention the time, money, level of education and understanding necessary to change your diet. Ultimately you are one single data point - do you believe that everybody can do all the things you can do just as well as you? No. Why should di…

My diet: - Eggs (WIC) - Bacon (WIC) - Bananas (WIC) – a case of 100 is ~$20 - Yogurt (WIC?) - Almond Milk (justifiably more expensive, so swap with milk) - Salmon (justifiably more expensive, swap with chicken or another protein) - Cous Cous (justifiably more expensive, swap with another carb/fiber). I'd argue that, yes, if you take the steps to build up the motivation, you can. I was a shell of a man before I starte…

I dunno you're making Taco Bell sound pretty appealing.

Re: As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up

#96

Is 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 r…

At what point do people take responsibility for their own bodies and their own lives? We all know the secret to not being obese. Asking the government to step in and help us just seems... childish. Are we not adults? Do we have no agency?

I would argue that banding together as a society to stop a marketing industry whose goal it is (in many cases) to scientifically undermine our agency is exactly people taking responsibility for their own bodies and lives.

Is that not the effect of "asking the government to step in and help us?"

Re: As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up

#98
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My diet: - Eggs (WIC) - Bacon (WIC) - Bananas (WIC) – a case of 100 is ~$20 - Yogurt (WIC?) - Almond Milk (justifiably more expensive, so swap with milk) - Salmon (justifiably more expensive, swap with chicken or another protein) - Cous Cous (justifiably more expensive, swap with another carb/fiber). I'd argue that, yes, if you take the steps to build up the motivation, you can. I was a shell of a man before I starte…

I dunno you're making Taco Bell sound pretty appealing.

That attitude will get ya killed in the trenches, soldier.

Re: As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up

#99
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do we all know? I currently weigh 270lbs (and climbing) and I * Don't consume soda or sugary drinks of any kind * Go on 3 mile walks 3-4x weekly * Have switched to soylent 100% of meals to make calorie counting dead simple * Recently cut out alcohol too And yet pounds are adding on not coming off. I've been gaining about 10-15lbs a year every year since I hit 30 after being at a stable weight of 170lbs for all of my…

Fat is approximately 3500 calories per pound. If you are gaining 15 pounds per year you are overeating by 3500x15/365 calories per day. If you would like to instead lose 30 pounds per year, reduce your caloric intake per day by 3500x15/365x3 = 432 calories/day.

Once you cutout the obvious high calorie culprits like sugar, 400 calories is a pretty decent sized, healthy meal. Cutting out a meal a day is really hard to do. Hunger sucks, and had a lot of negative impacts on the rest of your day.

Re: As obesity keeps rising, more Americans are just giving up

#100
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fat is approximately 3500 calories per pound. If you are gaining 15 pounds per year you are overeating by 3500x15/365 calories per day. If you would like to instead lose 30 pounds per year, reduce your caloric intake per day by 3500x15/365x3 = 432 calories/day.

Once you cutout the obvious high calorie culprits like sugar, 400 calories is a pretty decent sized, healthy meal. Cutting out a meal a day is really hard to do. Hunger sucks, and had a lot of negative impacts on the rest of your day.

Yes, losing 30 pounds in a year will involve skipping about 1 meal per day and is not easy at all actually.
Post reply on HN