Is America really as fat as I think?

[Zanovar]

as for fatties.no excuse,exercise or not.stop eating so much.

 

[Zanovar]

Having a problem with my feet so I've cut out 3 of my 6 days of cardio for the last several months......I'm up almost 5lbs.🙁 I might need to cut out beer. 🙁🙁

Jesus,dont cut out beer!.Human happines should come first.Christ im sounding like oprah😛

 

[ImpulsE69]

Jesus,dont cut out beer!.Human happines should come first.Christ im sounding like oprah😛

LOL. You realize there are people with opinions on people who drink just like your opinion with being overweight. It's called being hypocritical. Some people think 1 drink is 1 drink too many.

 

[Zanovar]

LOL. You realize there are people with opinions on people who drink just like your opinion with being overweight. It's called being hypocritical. Some people think 1 drink is 1 drink too many.

Not sure what you are trying to say here?Read post 126

edit: oh ok start your drinking too much thread then?*scratches head*

 

[Muse]

Do you want a wake up call? I got one for you. This will do a lot more to alert you to the nature of the problem and what you can do about it, both in terms of policy and self-awareness-change than looking at any statistics. And yeah, seeing all those fat bodies and thinking to yourself about it does help, or should. It's an amazing documentary from 2014 called Fed UP, written and directed by Stephanie Soechtig, whose earlier films attacked GMO foods and the bottled water industry, it's narrated by Katie Couric.

You can watch it here for FREE

 

[ewdotson]

No perspective lost, and I get what you're saying. But think about what you said, is long distance running worth it if it makes you look skinny and sickly? Because that's how exactly how most long distance runners look like. Sure they can outrun me in a 15 or 20+ mile race, but I will outrun them by far in a 3 mile or even a 5 mile race.

That's because in addition to powerlifting I train heavily in HIIT and do sprinting. Sprinting/running at a very fast pace for 3 miles benefits your body more because you build your legs and increases your endurance for everyday tasks. What does running for 15/20 miles do for you other than eat away at your muscles? Which body type would you rather have, one of a long distance runner or one of a sprinter?

Elite 5k and 10k runners are generally pretty danged skinny as well. See Mo Farah for example.

From a track standpoint, anything over 3.2k is considered "long distance". "Sprint" distance only goes up to 400m.

 

[vi edit]

Meh. People just think far too often on extremes. I run half marathons. I train in cycles where most of the year I'm not running longer than 8 miles for a long run on a given week. There's only a handful of weeks leading up to a race that I'll start pushing past that to work my way to around 12 miles for a long run.

I'm positively "normal" sized. This is me, 10 minutes ago at 6' and 185 pounds. Not emaciated, just "normal". If anything I'm a few pounds overweight. I should be under 180 but I like bourbon and snacks tend to stick a bit more than they did 10 years ago. The last few years it's been harder to cut weight doing the same things I used to do. I sat at 175 or under for close to 15 years.

I'm competitive in my age bracket (in smaller races anyway, not elite events) but don't completely abuse my body training to get there.

 

[ewdotson]

Oh, sure. The vast majority of runners are perfectly "normal" looking folks. I was just taking issue with the idea that training hard for a 3-5 mi race is going to lead to a sprinter's build or that a sprinter's build was particularly ideal for races of that distance. In general though, "ideal build for sprinters vs runners" is irrelevant to 99% of the population and not worth stressing out about. Movement is good. Do what you enjoy and can sustain. The rest is just details.

 

[Exterous]

We're on a European trip and i thought about this thread. It used to be a pretty good guarantee that an really obese people we came across were American. Not so much anymore. Seems to be mostly German followed by Spanish. We've seen quite a few >300 lbs people so far and not an American accent to be found

 

[PricklyPete]

We're on a European trip and i thought about this thread. It used to be a pretty good guarantee that an really obese people we came across were American. Not so much anymore. Seems to be mostly German followed by Spanish. We've seen quite a few >300 lbs people so far and not an American accent to be found

A few years back I used to work quite a bit in Europe. I remember a project in Denmark where I spent a lot of my weekends in Scandinavia and Germany. During that trip I got particularly ridiculed by a Danish colleague (who herself was overweight/smoked) about how unhealthy/overweight Americans are. Clearly she had some insecurities in this area...but it had me paying a lot of attention to the Europeans around me during that project/travels. So few were actually skinny with most having a good 10-15 extra pounds on them. I started to think...these people have no right giving Americans a hard time. Then on my flight home through Frankfurt, a church group from Georgia took up nearly the whole plane on there way back from a trip to Jerusalem. It was a mix of people generally from ages 40-70. Hundreds of people. They were all GROSSLY overweight...all of them. A lot of them even wore sweatpants and had fanny packs to really round out the stereotype. The only thin person I saw in the whole group was an 80+ year old women who looked like she was terminally ill. That quickly brought me back to reality about how bad the obesity crisis is here in the US.

It is certainly getting worse over in Europe. It was by far the worst in England when I was there in projects (not London...but smaller cities/countryside just like US). Still doesn’t compare to US.

I live in a State/city that are noted for being thinner. Even my neighborhood is singled out for thin people. So in my day to day, exposure to large people is rare. As soon as I take a trip to relatives in the Midwest, South, and even the NorthEast to some extent...the obesity is shocking to my system.

 

[highland145]

I live in a State/city that are noted for being thinner.

We might be fat but it's O.K. since we aren't out running fire storms.

😉

 

[repoman0]

A few years back I used to work quite a bit in Europe. I remember a project in Denmark where I spent a lot of my weekends in Scandinavia and Germany. During that trip I got particularly ridiculed by a Danish colleague (who herself was overweight/smoked) about how unhealthy/overweight Americans are. Clearly she had some insecurities in this area...but it had me paying a lot of attention to the Europeans around me during that project/travels. So few were actually skinny with most having a good 10-15 extra pounds on them. I started to think...these people have no right giving Americans a hard time. Then on my flight home through Frankfurt, a church group from Georgia took up nearly the whole plane on there way back from a trip to Jerusalem. It was a mix of people generally from ages 40-70. Hundreds of people. They were all GROSSLY overweight...all of them. A lot of them even wore sweatpants and had fanny packs to really round out the stereotype. The only thin person I saw in the whole group was an 80+ year old women who looked like she was terminally ill. That quickly brought me back to reality about how bad the obesity crisis is here in the US.

It is certainly getting worse over in Europe. It was by far the worst in England when I was there in projects (not London...but smaller cities/countryside just like US). Still doesn’t compare to US.

I live in a State/city that are noted for being thinner. Even my neighborhood is singled out for thin people. So in my day to day, exposure to large people is rare. As soon as I take a trip to relatives in the Midwest, South, and even the NorthEast to some extent...the obesity is shocking to my system.

A similar thing happened to me on a trip to Germany a few years ago. I was hanging out with some Germans for a few days and one of the girls, who wasn't the skinniest herself, was talking about how she would never visit America because she has no desire to see a bunch of fat people everywhere. I live in Boston and really only have spent significant time in Colorado, coastal California, New York and New England mountains and have never set foot in most of the southeast and midwest, so I had no idea WTF she was talking about and argued with her for a bit, saying it's a silly stereotype and doesn't represent reality. I've since been to Disney in Florida on a family trip with some younger nephews/nieces and it was .... enlightening ...

 

[purbeast0]

My experience in Europe in summer of 2016 was completely different. I was in Spain (Barcelona, San Sebastian, and Valencia) and France (Paris) and there were hardly any fatties over there at all that were not tourists. I also noticed the portion sizes there were a lot more manageable, and I noticed how much bread (carbs) was served with meals especially in France.

 

[vi edit]

Yeah, midwest is definitely fat. I've lived in IA, downstate IL, NE and KY. There is an exception, the drug addicts are at usually fairly thin.

 

[vi edit]

I think in Europe, age played a big factor. It's like people are thin through most of their life and then once they hit their 50's they just stop caring and ate whatever they wanted and stopped being as active. Most of my experience of overweight was in the elderly. Didn't seem to be a significant thing for kids/young adults.

 

[Exterous]

A few years back I used to work quite a bit in Europe. I remember a project in Denmark where I spent a lot of my weekends in Scandinavia and Germany. During that trip I got particularly ridiculed by a Danish colleague (who herself was overweight/smoked) about how unhealthy/overweight Americans are. Clearly she had some insecurities in this area...but it had me paying a lot of attention to the Europeans around me during that project/travels. So few were actually skinny with most having a good 10-15 extra pounds on them. I started to think...these people have no right giving Americans a hard time. Then on my flight home through Frankfurt, a church group from Georgia took up nearly the whole plane on there way back from a trip to Jerusalem. It was a mix of people generally from ages 40-70. Hundreds of people. They were all GROSSLY overweight...all of them. A lot of them even wore sweatpants and had fanny packs to really round out the stereotype. The only thin person I saw in the whole group was an 80+ year old women who looked like she was terminally ill. That quickly brought me back to reality about how bad the obesity crisis is here in the US.

It is certainly getting worse over in Europe. It was by far the worst in England when I was there in projects (not London...but smaller cities/countryside just like US). Still doesn’t compare to US.

I live in a State/city that are noted for being thinner. Even my neighborhood is singled out for thin people. So in my day to day, exposure to large people is rare. As soon as I take a trip to relatives in the Midwest, South, and even the NorthEast to some extent...the obesity is shocking to my system.

I'm not saying we're not fat just that other countries seem to be catching up quickly

 

[PricklyPete]

My experience in Europe in summer of 2016 was completely different. I was in Spain (Barcelona, San Sebastian, and Valencia) and France (Paris) and there were hardly any fatties over there at all that were not tourists. I also noticed the portion sizes there were a lot more manageable, and I noticed how much bread (carbs) was served with meals especially in France.

You were in major metropolitan areas...and particularly ones that attract thin, beautiful people. Paris is not even close to the norm. Neither is Barcelona or San Sebastián (love that place). You need to go to smaller cities/towns to get a better feel. Still, not close to what we have going over here.

 

[PricklyPete]

I'm not saying we're not fat just that other countries seem to be catching up quickly

For sure. England and Australia are doing their best to catch up.

 

[highland145]

For sure. England and Australia are doing their best to catch up.

jelly...for reaslz.

😀

 

[darkswordsman17]

Fat acceptance needs to be rejected and fat shaming needs to make a massive comeback.

That's not going to fix the issue, but it is going to make sure that people end up with mental disorders that will likely lead to other health problems.

Full stop, I think a huge reason why obesity has gotten so bad is that mental health is not being managed well at all in the US. And people are very prone to compensating, couple that with how food is designed to be addictive these days and modern lifestyles and you can easily see how we got here.

Everyone has time. The problem is they are too fucking lazy to use that time to eat healthy. They would rather sit on the couch and watch Netflix while stuffing their face with McDonalds.

No the problem is that people like you think that's the simple solution. You're ignoring a huge fucking part of the problem in that average people straight up do not know what is even healthy food (beyond maybe veggies which they'll drown in salad dressing or other stuff that ends up defeating the point and making it less healthy than a fucking cheeseburger). I'm not kidding about that. I see people who have bizarre ideas about food, and their only knowledge of healthy eating is cutting out gluten or other dumb shit because of idiocy like anti-gluten or anti-HFCS (where specifically its about HFCS and not sugar in general, and people don't know how to look at labels and understand what is in the food).

Yes I blame them and no one else. I'm not one of the "blame everyone else for my problems" people and this is EXACTLY their fault and no one elses.

Ok, so what do you say when there's factual proof that the ag/food industry knew how horrible sugar was and worked to cover it up (and instead blamed fat), including knowing that sugar was quite addictive. No "personal responsibility" for them?

You know that whole "breakfast" push? You know that was straight up just marketing by the ag industry to try to bolster (especially dairy) sales, right? Because they've been bastardizing a lot of science to try and claim all manner of things. And people are more exposed to that than real proper knowledge.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/nov/28/breakfast-health-america-kellog-food-lifestyle

You people need to realize that you've been gaslit like fucking crazy

Eh, it takes me about 4 hours a week at the gym and not eating like a fat fuck to stay in shape. It's far from an obsession, it just takes a little discipline.

Again, people are lazy so they won't do it. There's a reason we have a show called "My 600lb Life" on TV. Those people didn't get 600lbs overnight, they were lazy as shit for years.

You need to actually talk to scientists because your "oh well I just do this and I'm not a fat fuck" diet doesn't fucking work for most people these days. I'm not making this shit up either, scientists are freaking out because they're finding out that a lot of people have genetic time bombs that make them put on weight excessively compared to others, and they're finding more and more of them (meaning, they're finding out it won't be a simple fix by trying to find something to block some specific gene, as they keep finding more and more of the genes, and they're finding more of a variance of them in people making it even more difficult to target them; and they don't know if trying to do something about some of them will have adverse affects - some of the genes are probably part of what helps us develop, and some of them might be tied to brain health and healthy development of different organs, like for instance where some people can be fat bastards but not have heart disease or get diabetes). And they're finding out that diet and exercise, unless taken to extreme (in which case getting your stomach stapled/reduced is actually a better long term solution - they're actually finding that reverses diabetes in some people even), does not magically fix the problem, and those diets tend to not be sustainable for a lifetime (hell most people can't sustain them for a year).

I know it has to piss off you "self control" assholes, but its true. That's not to say self control, and managing your diet and exercising (seriously, look up the science, exercise does practically nothing for losing weight for average people any more, unless its done to very high levels and paired with a big diet change; I don't think you realize the extent we're talking about here either, its not a "oh well just a few hours a week, its more like workout 4 hours a day and I mean work out, which a lot of people don't know how to properly do either) don't matter, they absolutely do (exercise is great for your health even if it won't really fix your weight problem).

Weight and health is a lot more complex than you're willing to admit. That you want to act like its all a simple easy fix is every bit as lazy and ignorant as you feel the people that just don't do that are.

Since I will need to constantly say this because, in my experience you (especially you yourself because you've shown to do this a lot, but people in general on this topic) will just completely ignore most anything that doesn't just agree with you, eating healthier, and exercising do matter, they do help, so they should be done. But they do not work long term for an ever growing number of people. Yes, a lot of that is because they simply stop doing it, or they actually let it push them to being more unhealthy in the opposite direction (oh, I've been good, I've been following this diet, so I can eat the whole cake!). But that you're trying to dismiss that there are lot of reasons for that or acting like oh well people just need self control, is incredibly naive. As I'll denigrate someone else for, its like you trying to go "hey addict, just stop doing it!" and that magically fixes things. Because you're ignoring the underlying issues, like why they started doing that in the first place. Let alone how much genetics does matter on this subject (which is something I know you don't want to hear, to the point that you'll straight up refuse to).

You can literally cook a healthy meal in like 15-25 minutes of prep + cook time. You don't have 20 minutes a day to make a healthy meal?

Or you can meal prep on the weekends and use a microwave to heat up the food and prepare a side in like 5-10 minutes.

Again, it's all excuses.

The problem isn't just time (plus, tell that to people making meals for a family of 5+ your 20 minutes goes out the fucking window immediately; although I don't disagree that its very possible to eat a lot healthier even on time crunch, but it requires knowledge and education that most people don't really have - and a lot of the education people do have is all over the place like eggs are healthy no they're terrible for you, no they're healthy, where people hear that certain foods are healthy or not). There's a lot of other factors.

Food is a straight up addiction for people. Fuck listen even to you foody assholes and you quickly see that. Now throw a bunch of cheap food tailored to feed food addiction, all in ready to eat, easy to just pop it open and consume, packaging. If you think just telling people to stop doing something that hammers endorphin releases for them multiple times every day is going to work then you're just a dumbass. Simple as that.

People stress eat a lot too, and the modern world is full of stressors too. You're not going to resolve binge-eating without getting people to also start understanding how to manage stress in their life. And the thing is, people don't understand what all causes them stress, and some of those stressors are addictive themselves (video games for instance, looking back, I absolutely see how while I was enjoying games a lot, they also introduce stress; but similar thing with social media). And that's ignoring the multitude of other stress that people have little control over.

as for fatties.no excuse,exercise or not.stop eating so much.

Ah yes, your magic fix. That certainly works for drug users too! "Hey just don't do the drugs!" That definitely always works. Just tell them to stop doing the drugs and they do. Damn, you just solved the opiate crisis too. Yay, you should run that right up to experts and try to not get them to laugh you out of the room.

 

[Zanovar]

That's not going to fix the issue, but it is going to make sure that people end up with mental disorders that will likely lead to other health problems.

Full stop, I think a huge reason why obesity has gotten so bad is that mental health is not being managed well at all in the US. And people are very prone to compensating, couple that with how food is designed to be addictive these days and modern lifestyles and you can easily see how we got here.



No the problem is that people like you think that's the simple solution. You're ignoring a huge fucking part of the problem in that average people straight up do not know what is even healthy food (beyond maybe veggies which they'll drown in salad dressing or other stuff that ends up defeating the point and making it less healthy than a fucking cheeseburger). I'm not kidding about that. I see people who have bizarre ideas about food, and their only knowledge of healthy eating is cutting out gluten or other dumb shit because of idiocy like anti-gluten or anti-HFCS (where specifically its about HFCS and not sugar in general, and people don't know how to look at labels and understand what is in the food).



Ok, so what do you say when there's factual proof that the ag/food industry knew how horrible sugar was and worked to cover it up (and instead blamed fat), including knowing that sugar was quite addictive. No "personal responsibility" for them?

You know that whole "breakfast" push? You know that was straight up just marketing by the ag industry to try to bolster (especially dairy) sales, right? Because they've been bastardizing a lot of science to try and claim all manner of things. And people are more exposed to that than real proper knowledge.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/nov/28/breakfast-health-america-kellog-food-lifestyle

You people need to realize that you've been gaslit like fucking crazy



You need to actually talk to scientists because your "oh well I just do this and I'm not a fat fuck" diet doesn't fucking work for most people these days. I'm not making this shit up either, scientists are freaking out because they're finding out that a lot of people have genetic time bombs that make them put on weight excessively compared to others, and they're finding more and more of them (meaning, they're finding out it won't be a simple fix by trying to find something to block some specific gene, as they keep finding more and more of the genes, and they're finding more of a variance of them in people making it even more difficult to target them; and they don't know if trying to do something about some of them will have adverse affects - some of the genes are probably part of what helps us develop, and some of them might be tied to brain health and healthy development of different organs, like for instance where some people can be fat bastards but not have heart disease or get diabetes). And they're finding out that diet and exercise, unless taken to extreme (in which case getting your stomach stapled/reduced is actually a better long term solution - they're actually finding that reverses diabetes in some people even), does not magically fix the problem, and those diets tend to not be sustainable for a lifetime (hell most people can't sustain them for a year).

I know it has to piss off you "self control" assholes, but its true. That's not to say self control, and managing your diet and exercising (seriously, look up the science, exercise does practically nothing for losing weight for average people any more, unless its done to very high levels and paired with a big diet change; I don't think you realize the extent we're talking about here either, its not a "oh well just a few hours a week, its more like workout 4 hours a day and I mean work out, which a lot of people don't know how to properly do either) don't matter, they absolutely do (exercise is great for your health even if it won't really fix your weight problem).

Weight and health is a lot more complex than you're willing to admit. That you want to act like its all a simple easy fix is every bit as lazy and ignorant as you feel the people that just don't do that are.

Since I will need to constantly say this because, in my experience you (especially you yourself because you've shown to do this a lot, but people in general on this topic) will just completely ignore most anything that doesn't just agree with you, eating healthier, and exercising do matter, they do help, so they should be done. But they do not work long term for an ever growing number of people. Yes, a lot of that is because they simply stop doing it, or they actually let it push them to being more unhealthy in the opposite direction (oh, I've been good, I've been following this diet, so I can eat the whole cake!). But that you're trying to dismiss that there are lot of reasons for that or acting like oh well people just need self control, is incredibly naive. As I'll denigrate someone else for, its like you trying to go "hey addict, just stop doing it!" and that magically fixes things. Because you're ignoring the underlying issues, like why they started doing that in the first place. Let alone how much genetics does matter on this subject (which is something I know you don't want to hear, to the point that you'll straight up refuse to).



The problem isn't just time (plus, tell that to people making meals for a family of 5+ your 20 minutes goes out the fucking window immediately; although I don't disagree that its very possible to eat a lot healthier even on time crunch, but it requires knowledge and education that most people don't really have - and a lot of the education people do have is all over the place like eggs are healthy no they're terrible for you, no they're healthy, where people hear that certain foods are healthy or not). There's a lot of other factors.

Food is a straight up addiction for people. Fuck listen even to you foody assholes and you quickly see that. Now throw a bunch of cheap food tailored to feed food addiction, all in ready to eat, easy to just pop it open and consume, packaging. If you think just telling people to stop doing something that hammers endorphin releases for them multiple times every day is going to work then you're just a dumbass. Simple as that.

People stress eat a lot too, and the modern world is full of stressors too. You're not going to resolve binge-eating without getting people to also start understanding how to manage stress in their life. And the thing is, people don't understand what all causes them stress, and some of those stressors are addictive themselves (video games for instance, looking back, I absolutely see how while I was enjoying games a lot, they also introduce stress; but similar thing with social media). And that's ignoring the multitude of other stress that people have little control over.



Ah yes, your magic fix. That certainly works for drug users too! "Hey just don't do the drugs!" That definitely always works. Just tell them to stop doing the drugs and they do. Damn, you just solved the opiate crisis too. Yay, you should run that right up to experts and try to not get them to laugh you out of the room.

Its not difficult.just stop throwing food in your mouth.And no i didnt read your boring wall of text.

 

[vi edit]

Its not difficut.just stop throwing food in your mouth.And no i didnt read your boring wall of text.

His point is that for many people that isn't so simple, nor is as effective as you think. Genetics, stress and learned habits can generate a constant state of hunger for some people. Even if they aren't. And science is finding that we don't all process or metabolize food the same way.

 

[Zanovar]

His point is that for many people that isn't so simple, nor is as effective as you think. Genetics, stress and learned habits can generate a constant state of hunger for some people. Even if they aren't. And science is finding that we don't all process or metabolize food the same way.

Hmm,not sure about that.Are you?

 

[vi edit]

Hmm,not sure about that.Are you?

You could try reading. That helps.

We are rapidly reaching a point where number of people are fucked from birth. There's a strong genetic component to being overweight as well as a learned response through your parents. Put both together and it's a terribly difficult thing to fix when you are obese and showing insulin resistance by the age of 12. They are setup at an incredibly early age to be overweight the rest of their life.

 

[Zanovar]

You could try reading. That helps.

We are rapidly reaching a point where number of people are fucked from birth. There's a strong genetic component to being overweight as well as a learned response through your parents. Put both together and it's a terribly difficult thing to fix when you are obese and showing insulin resistance by the age of 12. They are setup at an incredibly early age to be overweight the rest of their life.

as you said.i have some reading to do.