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Being fat is a trap

federicopereiro.com

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Re: Being fat is a trap

#71

Post by flkiwi »

paulcole wrote: post #33
flkiwi wrote: post #18

Ok, but there's also an environmental (and one completely reasonable mental) factor: I live in a place where it is unpleasantly hot (upper 90s and humid) most of the year and there are few public outdoor spaces generally thanks to rampant overdevelopment, I hate gyms and toxic gym culture, I have a quaint bungalow that doesn't have space for equipment, I work an intense job that keeps me focused for hours at a time,…

Isn’t it just a more fun way to go through life to believe that you do have enough mental fortitude, discipline, self-honesty, commitment to change, and persistence to be healthy? I just don’t get the appeal of throwing my hands up and going, “Yep, somebody needs to care more about me than I care about me.”

I knew I'd run into this reaction. Here's the secret: an individual can be fully dedicated to a cause, but the weight of surrounding circumstances defeats them. See, e.g., food deserts. No, it is not more fun to go through live believing you have enough mental fortitude only to have context tap you on the shoulder the moment you take that first step.

I don't, for the record, disagree with much OP's point, though I do have some misgivings about "food addiction" being explanation for everyone's struggle with weight (I don't think that's his point, really, but it's clearly what his experience has been and it's the focus of the piece). His approach mirrors my own (successful) approach with any of a number of challenges. I just question the effectiveness as a complete solution.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#72

Post by doix »

netdevphoenix wrote: post #22
maztaim wrote: post #12

For me, quitting tobacco was simple, don’t use. Quitting alcohol was simple. Don’t drink. I cannot simply abstain from eating. I can relate to the struggles and feelings from this article.

You don't need to abstain. You can either eat less or simply eat more low caloric food (greens, potatoes, lentils, etc)

Except stopping is much harder than not starting. I can relate, I can go weeks/months without drinking. But then I have a beer and it turns into 10+ before the night is over.

I'm lucky I don't have the problem with food, because you cannot just avoid it like other "bad habits".

Re: Being fat is a trap

#73

Post by nemomarx »

bravesoul2 wrote: post #11
Trasmatta wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. The emotional is the part of addictions that many people miss, and one of the primary reasons it can be so hard to break out of them. Addictions are almost always fulfilling some emotional need, or covering up some emotional pain, and if you remove the addiction without addressing the underlying issue, you almost certainly will either relapse or replace it with something else. It's not about willpower.

This plus abundance of bad food. It's easier to stay thin if your diet is what we evolved to eat. That norm would take most people incredible will power to stick to with all the high carb food. Harder than not drinking.

Having high carb food around at all does basically make it impossible. If you live on your own, clean out your cupboards and change what you buy. If you live with any other people... well, good luck getting them to also diet with you?

Re: Being fat is a trap

#74

Post by cowsandmilk »

SonOfLilit wrote: post #35

I have extremely lucky genes and have managed to stay just within the green BMI range despite eating all the carbs and fats you can imagine and at times consuming 200-300g of milk chocolate a day. Some of my friends are obese despite exercising heavily every day. Finding ways you enjoy to keep an active lifestyle is a great idea, probably the highest impact thing you can do for your long term well being (for people i…

I had an overweight BMI when I could run a sub 3-hour marathon, I’ve concluded my body just doesn’t match the normal range.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#75

Post by Zealotux »

SonOfLilit wrote: post #35

I have extremely lucky genes and have managed to stay just within the green BMI range despite eating all the carbs and fats you can imagine and at times consuming 200-300g of milk chocolate a day. Some of my friends are obese despite exercising heavily every day. Finding ways you enjoy to keep an active lifestyle is a great idea, probably the highest impact thing you can do for your long term well being (for people i…

>Some of my friends are obese despite exercising heavily every day.

Exercise -- even heavily -- will never compensate a bad diet; that focus we have on exercise as weight control is detrimental.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#76

Post by abirch »

timcobb wrote: post #44

> but you have the choice to step out of the fat trap. People should also talk about the volition trap. I'm 40 and it feels like I've had more than a life's worth of people talking about how "you can do it if you just try!" > ... advertising signs that con / you into thinking you can do what's never been done / meantime life goes on all around you The sheer scope of the obesity pandemic should make it clear that we a…

I love Dr Jason Fung. His position is that our current system focuses on calories and not eating all the time, not avoiding processed foods, being insulin insensitive, and eating real food. Here's a good video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgmFEb0b0TI His hypothesis is that having high levels of insulin is the issue.

People need to remember that being insulin resistant and being overweight are chronic conditions. You won't be able to fix them overnight. Don't focus on decreasing calories, focus on eating real food. The article mentions this too.

One thing that was counterintuitive to me is that most people's bodies produce insulin in response to artificial sugar so there's no real difference between diet coke and coke on your body.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#77

Post by almost_usual »

EbNar wrote: post #40
adamgordonbell wrote: post #15

Losing weight is hard. Maintaining weight is easier, except that you have to do it forever. It was incredibly hard and took me a long time to lose 15 pounds as a always had been skinny person whose weight slowly crept up. I've never been obese and I'm sure it's super challenging to change, considering how hard loosing 15 lbs was for me. But if I were, I do think I'd try a GLP-1 agonist to get my weight down.

Agreed. I lost about 10 kg back to ~60 kg of the teen myself (now I'm 50). It took quite a lot of exercise but that was the easy part. The most difficult part was avoiding eating off hours apart from avoiding alcohol and sugar altogether. Now. Maintenance is surely easier. On a side note, I keep exercising at least 2-3 hours per week and honestly I feel physically much better than I used to feel in my 30s.

Alcohol destroys any diet. I’m amazed how much more energy I have and how much weight I’ve lost being sober.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#78

Post by zffr »

flkiwi wrote: post #18

Ok, but there's also an environmental (and one completely reasonable mental) factor: I live in a place where it is unpleasantly hot (upper 90s and humid) most of the year and there are few public outdoor spaces generally thanks to rampant overdevelopment, I hate gyms and toxic gym culture, I have a quaint bungalow that doesn't have space for equipment, I work an intense job that keeps me focused for hours at a time,…

The article is about being fat. The primary tool to lose fat is diet, not exercise.

Losing weight is all about removing things from your diet. It’s accessible to anyone if they are willing to tolerate a little hunger.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#79

Post by imzadi »

EduardoBautista wrote: post #38

I am going to be blunt here. Why is everyone using time as an excuse? In fact, it should be easier to lose weight if you are truly busy, because the only thing that will make you lose weight is eating less. This whole idea about exercising to lose weight is unhelpful when the truth is that no amount of exercise is going to compensate for eating more calories than you have to. And yes, you will go to bed slightly hung…

The less time you have, the harder it is to make healthy choices. You're more likely to grab fast food or something that is easy to throw together in the microwave. It's not just time, but also energy. The more you work and the harder your job, the less energy you have to expend on preparing food. Add in mental health issues and/or chronic illness, and you have even less energy. Usually, when I say I don't have time, I mean that I don't have energy. I don't have enough time to mentally prepare myself for the task, then execute the task, and then recover from doing the task.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#80

Post by liveoneggs »

flkiwi wrote: post #18

Ok, but there's also an environmental (and one completely reasonable mental) factor: I live in a place where it is unpleasantly hot (upper 90s and humid) most of the year and there are few public outdoor spaces generally thanks to rampant overdevelopment, I hate gyms and toxic gym culture, I have a quaint bungalow that doesn't have space for equipment, I work an intense job that keeps me focused for hours at a time,…

Don't attempt to exercise for weight control. It's impossible.
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