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Being fat is a trap

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Re: Being fat is a trap

#51

Post by am17an »

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,…

Do indoor HIIT 20 minutes a day, and find a better way to eat. Your post seems like you the very little mental fortitude to change tbh.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#52

Post by 4gotunameagain »

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,…

Is everyone around you obese ?

I bet not. Sure it is more difficult for some people than others, but what would be the alternative ? Ban or regulate fast food ?

I want to be able to have a guilty pleasure once in a while, I am careful with what I eat in general. Why should I be deprived of that ?

Re: Being fat is a trap

#53

Post by Affric »

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,…

I used to believe this until I decided to eat right

Re: Being fat is a trap

#54

Post by cartermatic »

ido wrote: post #23
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.

> if I were, I do think I'd try a GLP-1 agonist to get my weight down. Don't they only prescribe these for the morbidly obese? As someone "merely" overweight (BMI ~27) I'd like to try but I don't think I'm fat enough to get a prescription.

For better or worse, most of the online pharmacies like Ro or Hims will prescribe it to anyone with a pulse. Some insurance companies don't cover it unless your BMI is over like 40.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#55

Post by arp242 »

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…

It's not so much about "time", but rather mental bandwidth. It takes effort and energy, that you may not have if you have lots of things going on.

When people say they "don't have the time" this is often what they mean.

It's like the joke from Airplaine!: "Guess I picked a bad time to quit smoking", "Guess I picked a bad time to quit drinking", "Guess I picked a bad time to quit sniffing glue", "Guess I picked a bad time to quit amphetamines", etc.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#56

Post by didgeoridoo »

LoganDark wrote: post #9

I feel like the author is generalizing by assuming that everyone who is fat has an "obsession with food".

I think he’s more saying that if you’re fat and you want to lose weight (and keep it off) you have to develop an obsession with food — that it requires an enormous amount of constant attention and effort, unlike the relationship with food that normal-weight people can enjoy.

This is why GLP-1s are so interesting. They suppress hunger, but more importantly they suppress “food noise” — the state of constantly thinking about food. You can separate this effect from appetite suppression due to its seemingly global (although still anecdotal) effect on ALL compulsive behavior, from drinking to smoking to shopping.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#58

Post by cenamus »

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.

Eat only every other day? Fast one week on and off? All entirely possible.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#59

Post by atemerev »

Absolutely all mental trap issues were resolved when my doctor finally approved Ozempic. Apparently, all this was caused by a tiny chemical disbalance in my neural circuits.

Snap, instant cure. No side effects. I lost 26 kg (57 pounds) in 18 months. I finally eat normally. I am no longer prediabetic. My cholesterol is now fine.

So, I constantly thank the researchers for making this wonder drug, and I hope the same success can be repeated for other disorders.

This is not a question of "discipline", or "willpower", or "mental trap". Just a physiological imbalance that can be easily resolved. For some people, staying lean is easier because they don't have this disbalance. For others, it is much harder, but this is not their fault.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#60

Post by ericmay »

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,…

> I live in a place where it is unpleasantly hot (upper 90s and humid)

Work out in the early morning or late evening?

> I hate gyms and toxic gym culture

Stop hating gyms. Stop over-analyzing "toxic gym culture". Get off social media because that's the only place this exists. Nobody in the gym cares about you or what you're doing as long as you aren't harming someone else, breaking equipment, etc.

> I have a quaint bungalow that doesn't have space for equipment

Give Crossfit Linchpin a try - they have 5 workouts/week including "no equipment" workouts.

> I live in a country that prioritizes fast, processed, sugary foods, etc

Yes but you don't have to prioritize those foods.

> I work an intense job that keeps me focused for hours at a time

This is fair. We all unfortunately have to deal with this in some fashion, but even then you can probably find 15 minutes/day to exercise in a way that you enjoy, if you want to.

> Much like fighting climate change, placing all the responsibility on the end user without changing some of the social conditions is a flawed approach

Our environments shape us. For sure. If you are surrounded by a bunch of obese people encouraging you to drink milkshakes all day and making fun of you for working out, that's going to be hard to overcome! But just like climate change, you can't control these social conditions, or at least you can't have much of an effect. But you can make a difference in your own life according to your own principles. Often times it just means being "less bad" instead of giving up.

Blaming corporations or the built environment is a convenient excuse you can use again and again and never have to overcome.

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