to wonder about obesity

[crashingwaves]

Please, please, PLEASE don't think that this is a fat-bashing thread, I hate it when people do that and I'd never ever do it myself.

The thing is, I love food, I do like nice food and I do overeat on occasions. My BMI is 'overweight' - I could do with shifting a stone - I'm most definitely not a size 8 smuggie person.

What I'm wondering about isn't even people a fair bit bigger than me. But really, really large people (I'm thinking around the 20 stone + region) Isn't it quite, well, difficult in a way to maintain and gain weight at that size, as you really would have to be eating an awful lot (unless a medical reason, I realise things like PCOS can contribute.)

I suppose I was wondering as my friend has a friend who is only 21 and weighs 18 and a half stone - to be honest I think she is in denial a little bit as she says things like "Oh I know I don't look this big" when to be honest she does - I understand that - but given that at that size it is fairly easy to make small changes and still lose weight, I guess I just wonder why people don't. That did sound quite bitchy and judgemental and I'm honestly trying hard to avoid that.

I can totally see how people get big, I've "been there" myself but I guess what I mean was when the scales hit 13 stone I thought "f*ck!" and went on a diet - surely if the scales hit 20 stone you would ...?

I probably deserve a flaming - can I just say mega apologies if I DO offend you as I honestly don't want to do that!

Thanks for that link Leonie, - very interesting and useful to me (underactive thyroid + AD's + weight increasing cancer meds. here) - sad to see how many judgey people there are around, sorry to hear you have health problems too.

"It's tremendously easy to get overweight. The equation is fundamentally very simple. If you eat more calories than you burn off (either naturally or through more exercise) you gain weight."

Not necessarily the case, as not all the calories you eat are absorbed, and I very strongly think (as mentioned earlier) that the efficiency with which they're absorbed varies between different people.

I spent years eating thousands of calories more than I burned off on a regular basis (no way was I burning off 4000+ calories a day in a sedentary job) and only gained a relatively small amount of weight and stayed well within the 'healthy' BMI range.

don't people see that people don't eat the same thing every day? I have days when I eat 800 calories. I have days when I eat 2500. I have days I eat no fruit or veg. I have days when I eat 10 portions. all the people that have posted here- so todays food wasn't perfect. That doesn't matter unless they eat the same thing every single day- you can't judge. this obsession with 5 portions F&V, 2000 calories all adds to a rigid over analysis which is NOT making people any healthier, and is making a good deal of them overweight.

Its interesting that mirapharzine has been brought up. I was on it for a year a few years ago. I put on 1.5 stone- I am not pre disposed to weight gain at all- no more than 9 stone no less than 8 my whole life. When I am stressed (as I was to be on the meds) I stop eating. So some of the weight gain was fine.

I started looking into mirapharize because of the weight gain- I can't begin to explain the appitite it gives you. I thought about NOTHING but food. Apparently It was developed in the 70s to cure anorexia- before the physcological side of the disease was fully understood, drs belived anorexia was simply a lack of appitite, so mirapharoize simulates it.
That is how I know that ANYONE can get fat. genetics, scemetics. If you eat enough you will get fat. As soon as I came off it the weight came straight off. It was the food that made me put on weight, and it really is as simple as calories in/ out. I had never eaten like that before or since. Some people obvioulsy do every day- calorie wise I wasn't actually eating that much more than I should've been (and not always over 2000 per day)

Hi All

I have a monstrous BMI of 42. (the complete total and utter shame
). I know i used to eat FAR too much (since i met my now hubby and becoming parents much sooner than we had anticipated.....) but i eat less now than i ever did!! I have lost a stone through reducing portion size and cutting the carbs a bit. this is working for me but wont necesarily for others... this loss has coincided with my coming off anti-d's also and starting to learn how to cope with life in general a little more constructively... I think though most importantly we have to trust ourselves to make coinstructive choices about food/drink/lifestyle - the 80/20 rule seems to be a good one.. i'mm interested in what others think...

Too many carbs TSC, there were carbs there in every meal. You only really need them at breakfast and lunch, certainly not in the evening. Berries are ok, BUT they do contain a lot of sugar too.

However, if you are breastfeeding, then I think you do have to make allowances for that, and eat more than you would otherwise.

I know what you mean though about the metabolism at 30. Mine stopped at 20!! ... before then I could eat anything and stayed at a size 8/10.

I dont know where you get that idea from squeaky

I agree about the berries, especially at night. I stuff my face all day but stop eating completely after about 5pm, except the evenings when I have netball, after which I eat an orange and if I'm still hungry, an apple. You don't need so much in the evening, though if you're breastfeeding maybe you need more than most!

I dont agree re the berries. The calorific value isnt that high and they are a brilliant source of antioxidants.

There are good carbs and bad carbs. Wholemeal carbs are the good ones, white starchy carbs (white rice, pasta, bread) are the bad ones.

If you are trying to kickstart losing weight, you need to cut out bad carbs, and keep the good ones to a minimum initially, then gradually reintroduce the good ones.

Bad Carbs? Sorry what point of reference are you using?

I am baffled by this fear of 'carbs' as well - I have cereal for breakfast and rice or pasta or potatoes and/or bread with every meal, often have a biscuit or a slice of toast as a snack, and it hasn't made me overweight. I really can't imagine how I'd be able to eat enough if I cut down on carbs.

Breathing, please google. It is very easy to find.

Ephiny, it is not fear of carbs, it is a proven fact that IF you are overweight and wish to lose weight, cutting down on carbs will help you to begin losing weight. If you are not overweight, then it really isnt a problem for you.

I dont need to google. I dont agree with what you are saying so will respectfully dip out.

I remember reading an analysis of lots of different studies on obesity. The one common factor was that the more liquid calories people drank (on average of course), the bigger they were. Even people who ate junk would limit somewhat the calories later on in the day compared with people who'd had the same amount of calories as juice or sweetened drinks. Our minds simply don't register the calories in drink the way they do in solid food.

the other thing I remember reading was that genetics is important in how you relate to food, not just your metabolism. So for some people, not eating junk food is really easy. They're genetically wired not to respond in the same way as others. Other people are genetically wired to eat high calorie foods if available and will find resisting it much harder. So it's not that slim people necessarily have more willpower - it's just much easier for a lot of them to eat less and a lot of obese people do find it much harder as their genetic make-up makes it harder for them to resist, especially given how easily available high calorie food is now.

Chipping - just fluoxetine, an SSRI. But it was a wild ride! I went down to about 120 pounds (at 5'9 and large framed, this is not a good look).

My sister (who has a Psych. PhD but not medical) said that SSRIs can do weird things to your digestion, pos because 90% of all the serotonin in your body is in your gut, not your brain.

Reading through this thread it is interesting to see how many people are looking for scientific reasons for being obese. There are medical reasons for some people being obese but not for the vast majority.

It is interesting to see people discuss what they eat and try to give measurements. If I have cereal I use a scoop so I know exactly how much I am eating. If I pour the cereal I end up eating up to two portion sizes. Another thing I have noticed is that my salads are a lot 'healthier' than the salads DH makes. I rarely use meat but do use a hard boiled egg and lentils to get the protein in. Another difference is that I limit dried fruit, nuts and cheese while DH loves his crumbled cheeses with dried cranberries and pecan or candied walnuts. My 450-550 calorie salad is about three times the size of his 1000+ calorie salad.

This fad over carbs is very annoying. Too much of anything is not good for you. Proper bread is very good for you but very few places make proper bread today. Our bread is sprouted 7 wholegrains. It is very filling and two slices plus a piece of fruit is more than enough to keep me full from 6.30am until 12.45pm. I would have to eat half a loaf of white bread to fill me up. Eating potato everyday isn't that good for you either. It is fine in limited amounts but not everyday.

Acumenin, I was on one called Lustral and the weight just fell off me. I had no appetite. I ate breakfast on autopilot and very little else. The anti-depressant effect did work though. I felt better. I always wondered was it just me having no appetite or were the ssris taking it away.

acumenin - really? You too Valuim? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

secondcoming I was sent to a dietician during my first and second trimesters. She told me that potato is great for selenium but I should aim for a jacket potato and do a bean mix filling for the protein. She told me to have no more than 2 jacket potatoes a week. Potato isn't a great source of fiber compared to other fruits and veg. 1 cup has around 2g of fiber while a medium apple has around 4g of fiber and a cup of raw brocolli has around 8g of fiber. Her advice is to aim to have 3 fruit or veg of different colours on your plate for lunch and dinner.

I have another two dietician appointments, one for my third trimester and the last one is held in the hospital and goes over diet while breastfeeding. I am learning a lot about nutrition. It has highlighted to me that I need to be more aware of what I am feeding myself. If DH wasn't so stubborn I would send him in for a dietary adjustment.