I’ve seen how overweight (or should I chance it and just say ‘fat’?) people eat. No one really needs to eat that much food. All they have to do is cut down.
I am the oddball exception who gains weight on severe diets. Doctors are still trying to figure me out.
I think it spirals out of control for many, even if they had some level of discipline. It causes people to become depressed and many turn to food, exacerbating the problem. Once you’re big your body demands food, you probably have a larger stomach too - so just “cutting down” is hard than some realize.
I’ve been quite overweight, technically I still am but I’m down to a healthy level and able to be quite active. It was very hard, it took years and I wasn’t anywhere near where some people are. There’s still a lot of bad advice out there (low fat, high carb diets). Once you’re large, exercise is exponentially more difficult to do and is easily given up upon. I learned to eat a low carb, highly nutrient based & protein diet, only eating until I wasn’t hungry - never eat till full. Anything “golden brown” is pretty much a “no”. Along with walking a couple of miles a day.
In this country we “build outward”, requiring a vehicle for many. It is not a walking culture as are many European or Asian countries. This really doesn’t help. The other temptation are “buffets”, they’re the worst possible type of restaurant. The proportion of overweight people that eat at these places is very high, they’re almost a public health concern.
...just sayin’ - I tend to feel sorry for many because it didn’t happen overnight, none of them want-to-be, and what is needed to undo it can be a tough road.
I worked with a guy who as 5’9” and 320 lbs. We started going to the gym and walking 30 minutes each day right after work. He lost 30 lbs in the first 45 days without changing any other habit in his life.
We started adding weights and eventually he started jogging again. By the time we parted ways, he was down to 250 lbs and looked great (his weight as a linebacker in college).