Posted on 03/08/2017 8:04:27 AM PST by BenLurkin
A lot of it depends on the genes. Some people’s bodies are really geared towards storage. Some people have really high metabolisms and not only can eat constantly but must. I have a body that’s geared towards endurance athletics, very little explosion (ie, I don’t do anything fast, can’t jump for crap) but I can keep going and going at anything for basically ever. Did a 54 mile bike ride in July in my 40s and wasn’t even sore, tired and needed to sit for a while and grab some nosh, but no pain. All of which sounds great on paper but in practice it kind of sucks because what it means is I have a very slow metabolism, I don’t burn as many calories in any physical activity as one would expect, and my body stores EVERYTHING. I can eat 2 mid-sized meals a day, no snacks, swim hard for half an hour and gain weight. I either need to do a LOT of exercise everyday, or eat so little I’m painfully hungry. And the math only gets harder as the normal process of aging slows my metabolism even further.
Which is again why the studies are telling us it’s not weight, it’s ability. Outside of the weight and some flexibility issues (working on those) I’m in fantastic shape and if I’ve managed to avoid some of my families other genetic pitfalls I should live to a ripe old age, but I ain’t gonna be skinny while I do it.
You’re a slow muscle type. Those I know like you, have no problem metabolizing food. They have lower body fat.
There are no fat people in my family, so you’re right, genes play a big part, but lets face it. You see people balloon when they get to college, or they work in sedentary jobs.
I used to own a Gold’s gym. women would join to lose wt. Guess what, most gained weight.
You shouldn’t exercise when you’re starting out on a low carb, high protein diet to lose wt.
The bottom line, it is a complex problem, but the American diet, that is rich with bad carbs, (ie processed foods, breads, soda etc), is the biggest culprit here.
I think too, the environment. I’m in West GA. I’ve never seen so many fat Adult II diabetics in one place in my life.
It’s almost like when you get older you return to like you were as a child...tiny.
Only because they either don’t eat or get a lot of exercise. Our genes also impact our appetite. I know some slow muscle folks that are skinny, but they don’t eat, I mean they think they eat, but they’re confused. They come in starving, eat one of out two tacos on the plate two bites of the sides and are stuffed. I kind of hate them. I can eat, I mean I can EAT. I try hard not to, but sometime you get tired of being hungry.
The biggest culprit is that we live a life other than what our body evolved for. The human body expects to eat a square meal every couple of weeks and mostly starve in between. It craves fat and sugar, which is why we enjoy them so much because the body rewards us with endorphins when we eat them. It wants to store up an extra 30 pounds because winter is coming and food will be hard to find. We simply aren’t geared for a reality without scarcity where we can acquire thousands of calories of food while expending basically none.
The freshman 15 is all part of that. I actually was skinny in my youth, had no food, had no money, walked an hour and a half to work which was on my feet. Went to college, got a real job, fixed all that. I ain’t going back to that. I don’t want to go back to one meal a day, I don’t want to be on my feet all day, I LIKE my life this way, I’d just like about 30 pounds of it to go away. But of course in the end I’m MUCH healthier now than then, I don’t get sick as often, I can do more with less pain. The fact is in my skinny days I was running my body on the edge, and it wasn’t a good thing.
Georgia, comfort food. Mmmmm.
I don’t disagree with you, but I’m a doctor, and it wasn’t until recently that I actually understood how we metabolize food, and the result of processed foods in America.
I’ll give you one example. Alkaline water. This is water that has a pH well above 7, closer to 9.5-10.
People in Japan have drank alkaline water for 50 years with remarkable results.
It lowers blood pressure, detoxifies your body, aids in digestion, increases energy, etc.
Tap and most bottle water is slightly acidic.
I don’t think this is a passing fad, and in fact I look for this the next biggest thing.
Look on the shelf at your grocer in the bottled water. You’ll be lucky to find it. Check back in six months and everyone will be selling it.
Alkaline water is easy to make. Add 1/8 tsp of baking soda in 8 oz of water.
But try this. Buy some store tomatoes or packaged vegetable that have been cleaned. Separate them into two batches.
Soak one batch in a bowl of tap water. Soak the other in a bowl of tap water with a couple tsps of baking soda. Wait five minutes and look at the water.
Next, rinse both groups quickly. Then taste and compare, tasting the batch that was in the alkaline water first.
Even if you eat non-processed food, I’m mostly out of the perimeter of the grocery store. But the body is the body.
I think a bigger part of the problem is how we talk to people about it. We tell people they’re fat and they need to fix it, we never bother to check their family history, we just blame them. So now they feel bad about themselves, they’re in a depressive cycle so now their brain is actually releasing chemicals that encourage them to eat (especially those comfort foods) and not exercise. Then of course America being America and worshiping the quick fix we sell them fad diets and other things we already know do not work in the long term. Now they’re on the yo-yo cycle (also known as the Oprah). And of course what do we know about the yo-yo cycle: most folks gain back more than they lose. And now they’re depressed. Lather rinse repeat.
And through all this we push variations of the food pyramid, almost all of which are crap for 80% of the population, and we use a math formula that was designed by eugenicists to “prove” poor people suck on the genetic level declare everybody who doesn’t look like Twiggy overweight. Which just puts more people on the depressive cycle, and then the yo-yo.
Where we need to be is telling people they’re individuals. They have their body, they have their family history, and some of us are just going to be overweight, but you CAN be healthy overweight, and don’t get on the depression cycle just because their genes made certain decisions.
As for alkaline water it’s a fad. It’s a fad that MIGHT have MINOR benefits, but like all the other superfood fads they aren’t nearly as high as the hype.
Nonsense.
Perhaps the incremental reductions over the decades of what constitutes the “ideal” weight for height *might* have something to do with folks no longer believing all the conflicting, competing claims? Then there is the whole “BMI” fiasco.
By today’s standards, Marilyn Munroe would be considered borderline OBESE! I thought that women were supposed to have curves.
LOL!
Been on it for 17 years, I have no problem going out to dinner, going to parties, or maintaining my weight. And carbs are not prohibited, you just can’t live on carbs alone.
Back to wearing my clothes from 25 years ago when I was far more active, my blood work and my wife’s comes back textbook perfect year after year.
Maybe you need a little BS in your diet!
Were you invited to these dinners, or did you just crash, as seems to be you habit?
Curious, which of Dr.Atkins books did you read?
Are you now or were you ever overweight? Anyone in your family overweight of have diabetes?
Ever seen a friend or loved one die from diabetes? It ain’t pretty, and there is nothing that comes out of a pill bottle that can help.
Lifestyle change is the ONLY hope to stave of early death for diabetics.
WTF? Why are you replying to me? Do you randomly babble about things to strangers?
In response to YOUR #90 post to me, there Skippy.
Perhaps you are the random poster! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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