How can some people not get why they are overweight?

[Angiepea]

I am sure this has been said somewhere, but heres my twopennys worth;

I am obese, overweight, fat...whatever you want to call it. Why? Because I over eat, as simple as that.....or is it? Just to clarify something I am not lazy, I get in the pool and can do 100 lengths, I can go on the crosstrainer for over 30 minutes and I do weights, I also work 2 jobs 3 if you include the looking after the house and kids.

Due to a lot of emotion issues, that started when I was just but a baby, yes when I was a baby, my sister died my parents didnt cope well and I was left to cope from being very young on my own, it didnt help when my second sister died when i was 3. Then theres all the issues sourounding it.....I turned to food, it never denyed my, it didnt expect things of me, it didnt reject me and it made me feel good.

Now due to all these emotional issues not being dealt with when i was a child, which they didnt back in the days of the dinosours, I am now 38 and have had councilling, which has help but old habits die hard so I have done something drastic, I need help, so 8 weeks ago I had a gastric band fitted, I have lost 16 lbs ......not a lot I hear you cry ...but believe me if I would have not had this fitted I could have put that 16lbs on.

So the next time you see a fat, chubby, obese or even super obsese person stop and think, its not just about food and for the grace of god that could have been you. People deal with emotion issues differently, some people self harm, but do it were others cant see, some people abuse there kids but people dont see behind closed doors, some people eat...but we see that.

Angie

 

[FreshTressa]

Know what my DH always says???

"People all over the world and since the beginning of time have been starving. Finally, we as a people have enough to eat...I'm going to enjoy! They died of starvation..I'm going to die of eating junk. At least I'll be full."

Now, he only weighs like 145lbs, and is not overweight...but says that it is natural for people to be overweight when there is too much to eat...our bodies are designed to want to eat and to want to store because of generations of people not having enough.

He does not blame being overweight on a character flaw.....more of an evolutionary flaw.

 

[ducklite]

I'm glad someone else sees this as one of the reasons. You're right - a mom is going to pick up frozen nuggets vs. filets of salmon at 5.99/lb. It infuriates me when I see morning talk shows, news reports, etc. showing people how to simply eat healthier. I can't imagine how a normal working-class family can afford to eat in the manner that these shows present. They show high end cuts of beef or fish with expensive side dishes. Come on! They are totally clueless as to how a typical American family has to budget for their food bill. The real challenge is to present healthy eating within a reasonable weekly grocery budget. I've yet to see it - gee...I wonder why?

I disagree. I think a lot of people could eat MUCH healthier if they set their mind to it. I grew up in a lower middle class income bracket, and we ate healthy. There were veggies--in the summer and fall always fresh from either our garden or a neighbors (we planted different crops and shared--two large families we were seven kids, they were six, and we did a lot of co-oping) In winter months those same veggies were eaten--although they had been canned or frozen. My mom seldom bought canned veggies--except creamed corn which my dad loved and we didn't grow corn. We had strawberries, tomatoes, squash, watermelon, beans, peas, cabbage, lettuce, more tomatoes, have I mentioned the tomatoes? We grew four varieties of tomatoes between us! We picked bushels of apples in the fall as a family outing, and kept them in the basement where they would stay fresh for several months.

We never had to buy Halloween pumpkins, they came from the garden. The seeds were raosted and jarred for snacking. Nothing went to waste in our house. Coffee grounds, bones, and egg shells were composted for the garden.

My mom and the other mom would order a side of beef and have it cut up and split it--that saved about 30% over buying it all from the grocery store. They bought frozen foods (mostly fruits/veggies we couldn't grow) in bulk and split them. We always had a five gallon drum of frozen blueberries (no sugar added) that we could use for pancakes, top top ice cream, make muffins, or just eat from a bowl in our deep freeze. They bought their chickens in bulk from the butcher, again about a 30% savings.

Bread and occasional baked goods were bought from the thrift store--day olds. When they had a sale, mass quanitites were purchased and frozen. We had a deep freeze in the basement that would have held a VW, and it was always at least half full. But it didn't start that way. My mom budgeted three dollars a week to buy extras with when things were on a really good sale. Those extras began to build, and she was then able to put away a bit of money every week towards her sides of beef or bulk frozen or day old bread on special (I mean even lower than the normal day old cost.) Turkey found on sale in September was bought in bulk and frozen, and Thanksgiving and Christmas were taken care of.

If we wanted a snack we could have one of those apples, strawberries in season (we used to eat them right from the garden--picking and popping we called it ), or PB&J. We didn't have expensive prepackaged snacks like fruit rollups, granola bars, etc. For a treat on Saturday nights we had popcorn.

By stocking her house the way it would have been done during the depression, she had a few dollars extra every couple weeks to bring home fresh fish or citrus in season.

For many years DH and I (one child) were a "normal working class family", we made about $30,000 between us--when his boss saw fit to pay him instead of putting in a swimming pool or buying a Porsche. We ate reasonably healthy--fresh fruit and veggies were purchased at the Saturday morning farmers market. Tomatoes were grown in a pot on our porch. (We rented, so no large veggie garden) Dinners were chicken breasts, lean hamburger in "something"--often chilli with lots of beans and not so much meat, and homemade Bisquick Bisquits to go along. When fish was on sale it was purcahsed. The point is that we managed. Of course we didn't take vacations--spending $1000 on a vacation was not even in the backs of our minds. We drove older cars, and usually kept them for ten years--not a problem when you seldom go more than three hours from home--vacation was going to spend a few days with one of our families.

IMHO eating healthy is within reach of almost every family in the US. It's all about setting priorities. For everyone out there saying they can't do it--how many of you are driving large gas guzzling cars? How many have wide screen TV's, the latest greatest gaming console, sports memorabilia, a bunch of expensive scrapbooking or craft supplies? How many have take a vacation to WDW or another destination that cost you more than $200 for a week? How many either make their own bread or buy at a thrift store? How many have planted a garden, or even have a few pots of tomatoes and strawberries on your porch? Think about it...

Anne

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

from a YEAR AGO???

 

[mudnuri]

The worst part about this thread is people keep talking about their weight.....what exactly does that tell you- NADA!

Take my body- 5'8 140lbs- take my friend 5'8 135- you'd think she was better off because the scale tells her "135" and not me...HA! My body is much healthier than hers....my BMI is lower, and my blood work up is always better..

Get off the scale people- its a number that gets stuck in your head that doesnt tell you a darn thing...fyi- I have NEVER had a scale in my house...only get weighed when I go to the docs....

Brandy

 

[disneysteve]

Take my body- 5'8 140lbs- take my friend 5'8 135- you'd think she was better off because the scale tells her "135" and not me...HA! My body is much healthier than hers....my BMI is lower, and my blood work up is always better..

Brandy - I agree that you could weigh more but be healthier, have better blood pressure, cholesterol, sugar, etc. But how could you be the same height but heavier and have a lower BMI? BMI is a calculation based solely on height and weight. Yours would be 21.28. Your friend's would be 20.52. Of course, both are well within normal, at the low end of normal actually.

 

[Marseeya]

Hey disneysteve, what do you think of this stuff as a supplement: http://www.thindoctor.com/ ? I'd really like your honest opinion if you get a chance.

I bought some over a month ago and it really cleans me out. I lost around five pounds without doing anything differently.

One good benefit from it -- when I use it and eat right, I feel great. When I use it and eat unhealthy foods or too much, I am extremely gassy and bloated.

 

[bianca]

Has anyone here thought about "following the money"? The weight loss "industry" (and it is one of the biggest in the US) is the group that drives all the studies that show fat to be bad and a low BMI to be the best dang thing that will ever happen to you. There are lots of good books on this subject that dispute these so-called "studies" and PROVE that the studies are not only flawed, but are downright deceptive. All of this is done to keep you begging at the feet of the diet industry to just get to that magic number. Check out "The Obesity Myth" by Paul Campos ..... just for starters. I'm not saying that ALL fat people are healthier than thin, but it sure will open your eyes to a lot of false assumptions people have about fat.

As for me, yes I'm overweight. I also have had a previous TSH (thyroid test) of 477 when normal is 4 or 5. My metabolism is seriously screwed up, but that is another long story wherein the bulk of blame goes to the medical community. I eat healthy (I mean really healthy ...... DH says that I eat stuff that would make a bill goat throw-up), I exercize DAILY and I work endlessly around my property. I have friends that are skinny, have eating disorders, don't exercize and smoke ...........all to keep that lovely low BMI. Guess what, I run circles around them. I'll take my fat body over their low BMI any day of the week and just wish that people would stop looking at fat as something absolutely horrible, wretched and disgusting.

On a side note, I have a theory that if the bird flu ever hits our country, the fat will inhabit the earth! Fat holds more water and we will be less likely to dehydrate and shrivel away than our counterparts with a low BMI!

 

[Chicago526]

I've always thought you don't really need a scale or a BMI to know if you're overweight. For most people, you know you're overweight when you look in the mirror! Have your clothes sizes gone up over the years? Guys, do you buy ever larger belts? Heck, my bra size goes up if I gain too much weight! I use my scale only to show my progress (up or down), not to determine if I'm overweight to being with! While height/weight charts and Body Mass Indexes are a good place to start, everyone is differant, not every woman can be a size 2, nor should they be a size 2! That's actually physicaly impossible for me, I cannot be anything smaller than a size 10, my hip bones are just to wide! So I try to stay in a size 10, if I feel my clothes getting too tight, it's time to watch what I'm eating a bit more closely, and to take the dog for more walks!

As for healthy food costing more, I hear ya! I just wanted to offer a tip. Frozen veggies are often very cheap, and many times I prefer frozen to fresh because the quality can be much better (expecially when the veggie in question is out of season). I get my store brand frozen veggies for $1 a bag on sale, and one bag is usually enough to be a side dish for 4 people. They have a huge variety now, and they take no time at all to prepare, just nuke 'n' serve! My store brand even has an Asian stir fry blend, I just poor them straight from the bag into the frying pan, heat until hot and crisp, add lean chicken, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic and you've got chicken stir fry, just serve over rice or noodles! Because the rice and veggies are filler, you don't even need to use as much meat! This works great with beef, shrimp, or don't add any meat at all and it's a meatless meal!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Brandy - I agree that you could weigh more but be healthier, have better blood pressure, cholesterol, sugar, etc. But how could you be the same height but heavier and have a lower BMI? BMI is a calculation based solely on height and weight. Yours would be 21.28. Your friend's would be 20.52. Of course, both are well within normal, at the low end of normal actually.

Muscle weighs more than fat, but results in a lower BMI.

An athlete and a non-athlete could be the same height--but look different nad have a BMI that is different. (as an example)

 

[FionaLovesShrek]

Has anyone here thought about "following the money"? The weight loss "industry" (and it is one of the biggest in the US) is the group that drives all the studies that show fat to be bad and a low BMI to be the best dang thing that will ever happen to you. There are lots of good books on this subject that dispute these so-called "studies" and PROVE that the studies are not only flawed, but are downright deceptive. All of this is done to keep you begging at the feet of the diet industry to just get to that magic number. Check out "The Obesity Myth" by Paul Campos ..... just for starters. I'm not saying that ALL fat people are healthier than thin, but it sure will open your eyes to a lot of false assumptions people have about fat.

As for me, yes I'm overweight. I also have had a previous TSH (thyroid test) of 477 when normal is 4 or 5. My metabolism is seriously screwed up, but that is another long story wherein the bulk of blame goes to the medical community. I eat healthy (I mean really healthy ...... DH says that I eat stuff that would make a bill goat throw-up), I exercize DAILY and I work endlessly around my property. I have friends that are skinny, have eating disorders, don't exercize and smoke ...........all to keep that lovely low BMI. Guess what, I run circles around them. I'll take my fat body over their low BMI any day of the week and just wish that people would stop looking at fat as something absolutely horrible, wretched and disgusting.

On a side note, I have a theory that if the bird flu ever hits our country, the fat will inhabit the earth! Fat holds more water and we will be less likely to dehydrate and shrivel away than our counterparts with a low BMI!

I hear you! I just had a full cardiology work up because of numbness/tingling in my arm and fingers and chest discomfort. The cardiologist came to this conclusion: My heart is a perfect working muscle. All my arteries are clear, bloodwork excellent, blood pressure excellent. Hmm....so why the symptoms? The Cardiologist thought maybe it was reflux. My thoughts? What does tingling and numbness in the extremities have to do with reflux? So I decided to check out the medications I was on. Because I am overweight and I have a family history of heart disease, I was put on Lipitor several months ago. Never mind I have no problems...anyway, I found my symptoms are common side effects so I decided to stop taking the Lipitor. You know what? All my symptoms have ceased I realize there are many overweight people who do themselves in, but why is there a stigma attached to being overweight? I have co-workers who look normal and healthy, but 3 have had heart attacks in the past year and 2 have died unexpectedly. Would I like to have that sexy slim body? Oh yeah....but I am happy that I know I eat healthy....lunch today is salad, yum! (and no, not hidden in salad dressing), I enjoy being outdoors as much as possible so I look forward to my 30 minute walk every day at lunch. So if you see a fat woman at WDW this Dec, who walks fast and keeps her head held high and is grinning from ear to ear, that will probably be me! I may be fat but I'm healthy!

 

[disneysteve]

Hey disneysteve, what do you think of this stuff as a supplement: http://www.thindoctor.com/ ? I'd really like your honest opinion if you get a chance.

Let me make a few general comments and then some specifically about this product.

1. Congress made a huge mistake when they ruled that nutritional supplements were exempt from FDA regulation. That essentially eliminated the need for manufacturers to prove that their medication is safe or effective. It also eliminated the need to establish proper dosing ranges.

2. I'm not a fan of taking any medication based solely on user testimonials. I much prefer to see large double-blind, placebo-controlled scientific studies.

3. As a general rule, it is better to get your nutrition from food and not from pills. (No, I do not adhere to this rule 100%.)

4. Regarding this product specifically, something glaringly absent from the website (unless I missed it) is a specific list of the ingredients in the product. That disturbs me.

5. I also couldn't find anything indicating how long of a supply my $89 purchase would be buying. Is that enough for a week, a month, 3 months? Assuming this is just a fiber and vitamin supplement, which is what it sounds like, you can probably buy the same stuff far cheaper at your local pharmacy.

6. Overall, without knowing the actual ingredients, I couldn't give you a complete opinion of the product. But if it is just fiber and vitamins, I wouldn't see a problem with it except for it probably being very overpriced.

 

[disneysteve]

Muscle weighs more than fat, but results in a lower BMI.

There is a difference between Body Mass Index (BMI) and Body Fat. BMI is calculated by height and weight only. Percentage of muscle or fat doesn't enter into the formula. So the heavier person may have a lower % body fat but they wouldn't have a lower BMI.

By the way, muscle does not weigh more than fat. One pound of muscle weighs the same as one pound of fat.

 

[ducklite]

My store brand even has an Asian stir fry blend, I just poor them straight from the bag into the frying pan, heat until hot and crisp, add lean chicken, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic and you've got chicken stir fry, just serve over rice or noodles! Because the rice and veggies are filler, you don't even need to use as much meat! This works great with beef, shrimp, or don't add any meat at all and it's a meatless meal!

That's what I'm making for dinner tonight! Shrimp stir fry--I throw frozen shrimp, frozen Asian veggies, a little soy, a litle ginger, a little rice vinegar, a little garlic into my non-stick wok and wala! It takes about 15 minutes total, and cleanup is easy!

Anne

 

[Nicolepa]

Just checked...

Whole wheat hamburger buns....$3.49

Lean ground beef $3.49 also

Sliced cheese $2.89 for 12 slices of the store brand

Head of lettuce $1.89

1 Tomato 87 cents

Condiments....I will estimate about 25 cents for the using of existing condiments

$3.88 for each hamburger for each person if you have a family of four. Not that your burger is any more healthy!!

Add a side and drink and you are up to $4-5 per person....about the same as a value meal.

There are healthy ways to eat for less though...but not organic.

First, it's not fair to calculate the cost of a full pack of cheese, buns etc when you are only going to use 4 of each. By calculating using just 4 buns, 4 slices of cheese etc your cost is only $2.25 or so per burger.

Second if cost is an issue you shouldn't be paying full price for the items anyway. I can get lean gb for $1.99 when it's on sale, buns for $2, cheese slices for $1, ketchup etc for $1 (on the high end) a bottle. If you buy the stuff on sale and freeze it you'd be able to have a burger for $1.73. And that's including the lettuce and tomatoe, if I couldn't get them on sale we wouldn't have them and my price would be $1.04 per burger. Add water or even a soda at $.20 a can (12 packs on sale 5/$12)and a side and it's still much cheaper than McD's.

 

[vivilasvegas]

By the way, muscle does not weigh more than fat. One pound of muscle weighs the same as one pound of fat.

That reminds me of that question...which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks?

 

[sajetto]

That reminds me of that question...which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks?

 

[punkin]

First, it's not fair to calculate the cost of a full pack of cheese, buns etc when you are only going to use 4 of each. By calculating using just 4 buns, 4 slices of cheese etc your cost is only $2.25 or so per burger.

Second if cost is an issue you shouldn't be paying full price for the items anyway. I can get lean gb for $1.99 when it's on sale, buns for $2, cheese slices for $1, ketchup etc for $1 (on the high end) a bottle. If you buy the stuff on sale and freeze it you'd be able to have a burger for $1.73. And that's including the lettuce and tomatoe, if I couldn't get them on sale we wouldn't have them and my price would be $1.04 per burger. Add water or even a soda at $.20 a can (12 packs on sale 5/$12)and a side and it's still much cheaper than McD's.

Your prices are way less than I can get around here. I live in a very high cost area. (besides, I don't think burgers are economical anyway. I could make a pot of chili from that ground beef and feed my family better and healthier)
I was just trying to show that fast and convinient food can be had cheaply-as cheap (or cheaper) than home made and a lot more convenient. All you give up for that convenience is health.

 

[MzDiz]

I think there's a few people here missing the boat on the muscle weighing more than fat thing. Of course a pound is a pound is a pound. Muscle, however, is more dense than fat and takes up less space per pound. So if you're working out and building muscle, but not losing weight, it's best to measure in inches and not pounds.

I don't think anyone thinks that a pound of fat weighs less than a pound of muscle. Seriously people.

 

[disneysteve]

Muscle, however, is more dense than fat and takes up less space per pound. So if you're working out and building muscle, but not losing weight, it's best to measure in inches and not pounds.

Absolutely. When you start an exercise program, you will often lose inches/sizes without necessarily losing weight. Muscle is denser. Muscle also has a higher metabolism. So by increasing muscle mass and decreasing body fat, you get smaller and you increase your metabolism so you burn calories more efficiently. That's what people mean when they say muscle weighs more than fat - it just isn't an accurate way to say it.