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Being fat is a trap

federicopereiro.com

341–350 of 373 posts

Re: Being fat is a trap

#341
post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Or BMI is a bullshit health metric. Ask any bodybuilder or powerlifter.

It is bullshit, but for most average people with average levels of exercise (or no exercise at all, sedentary lifestyle is pretty common) it's good enough to tell if something is wrong.

It's not A1C or something that's actively tracking your success and management in the long term, it's just the kind of thing where you look at it, look at the person, and say "is this a problem?" and usually it's clear.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the definition of "fat enough" will come down quickly as these drugs become better understood. If the side effects are mild or manageable, why not prescribe it to anyone who even comes within striking distance of "overweight"? There are other kinds of medications, like those for high cholesterol, where it's a no-brainer to just start taking them when your cholesterol crosses some threshold.

>no-brainer Many experts including cardiologists maintain that the current mainstream protocols for statin drugs do more harm than good.

Some* experts, and frankly I really doubt their perspective because it's all a risk management thing.

It's not that statins are good for you, it's that heart disease is the number 1 killer in the US and surgery is very risky. If we're able to better control cholesterol and hypertension without invasive methods that's very good.

Also GLP-1s lower cholesterol too. So it's possibly statins will be going out a bit out of fashion in the future.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#343
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

It takes the same amount of time to quit all sugary drinks and alcohol and only drink water for the rest of your life. It’s an extreme, but just doing that alone will save you a couple thousand calories a month. Fast food doesn’t necessarily mean high calorie either. Almost all fast food places have meals for under 600 calories, yes even McDonald’s.

Because if you're crunched for time then you're stressed, which for most people leads to much less reasonable decision making.

When I quit smoking, the hardest days were the stressful ones. It didn't matter that just the previous day I swore I would never have a cigarette again. I'm sitting in my car, I'm down on myself, and I would give anything in that moment for just a hit of release.

We're not robots. We're not efficient, we're not productive, we just kind of... do. Our systems don't make sense, they're not linear, they're not necessarily predictable. How the mind feels isn't the kind of thing we can just land a dart on.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#344
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 don’t want to disagree with you but I have a hard time with preaching that people are not be personally responsible for themselves. I get your point that genes are important and some are blessed while others are not. But regardless what your genes are, you need to find a way to take care of yourself. You are not entitled to someone else taking responsibility for you and your problems.

It's not genes here, it's the food industry, constant advertising... There's an entire industry predicated on keeping people fat through overconsumption.

Telling people they should "take care of themselves" is cute, but it's completely pointless. You have to solve the systemic issues.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. genetics play a huge role in satiety signaling, and you can't just willpower your way out of it the way someone who simply lacka discipline can.

Not genetics is forcing people to order a whole pizza instead of a bowl of soup for a lunch? And a can of coke (30+g of pure sugar) on top to make sure they'll get diabetes later.

Not sure how this relates to what i wrote.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With absolutey no side effects, right? Just take steroids right?

Of course not. That's why I've provided an alternative – grind.

I try to avoid meds usually but sometimes gotta wonder if people who flag+kill comments about GLP or steroids are just thin and buff people who lucked out on genetic lottery and secretly want to maintain their superiority.

Like why, gene editing a baby is okay but if your gene expression sucks and your parents couldn't afford crispr you now are to suffer the entire life from body dysphoria and bringing up an easy way out is to be silenced or stigmatized?

What are downsides exactly? The rich do these things all the time right?

Re: Being fat is a trap

#347
post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A modern diet is a restrictive diet. We live in a time when half of our produced food is thrown away. That's why veganism makes so much sense nowadays. Nothing about the modern diet is "natural" for most people. Meat was awesome when calories were sparse/intermittent. Now it's just excess for the sake of a status symbol. Same can be said about a lot of our foods.

How does veganism help in this case? The problem is not meat, the problem is junk food, high sugar and carbs. If by "veganism", you simply mean healthy diet, then I agree.

[deleted]

Re: Being fat is a trap

#348
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people mentioning willpower but not as much attention is given to the fact that everything in our millions of years evolutionary design is biased toward heavy reward for caloric foods, and within the past 100 years we are suddenly in an environment where those cravings can be fulfilled in abundance.

Something being evolutionary is not an argument for anything. Just like something being natural isn't necessarily good for you. Sometimes I really really want to punch a certain coworker in the face, but I still don't, and that's despite the temptation by "evolutionary design".

> [...] I still don't, and that's despite the temptation by "evolutionary design".

This too, is downstream of evolutionary design. What drove us into becoming that which cares about discovering and conforming to complex social structures / rules?

Re: Being fat is a trap

#349
post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people only burn 150-200 calories when they work out. If you were eating the exact same and just not working out, you wouldn’t have put on “a bunch of fat” at all. Maybe 10lbs over two years.

Assuming not working out vs. working out for 150-200 calories burned 3-6 times a week, you would gain (assuming the entire surplus went to fat, @ 3500 calories surplus -> 1 lb fat gain), 13.37 to 35.66 lbs of fat, which assuming starting at the US median adult male weight of ~200lbs, is a gain of 6.7-18% of starting body weight, all in fat, which would, especially at the high end but even near the middle to low end,…

You can’t assume the entire surplus went to fat. That’s nuts.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you need to find a way to take care of yourself Here's the crux of the issue; for most people who are fat, finding a way to take care of themselves is so onerous, complex, and difficult that they're not technically stuck, but they're effectively stuck. If you need to drive more than an hour to get access to food that won't be terrible for you, it's not surprising that so many people have a problem.

But no one needs to eat above BMR? Eat whatever you want but control the portion. Who is shoving food down your throat for years on end?

Millions of years of evolution.
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