to think you don't have to be a greedy binge eater to be fat?

[entropyglitter]

A teatime thought for the day....

I am around 20 kilos over weight, which is a lot and makes me look fat.

I just calculated that, averaged over my adult life, that equates to an extra 25 calories a day. Or 1.25% of the RDA.

I imagine my poor brain just can't quite tell the difference between making me feel full and satisfied at exactly the right number of calories to be neutral and never put on weight, and 1.25% more than that and hence ending up like this.....

Worra what is the recommended weight you refer to?

I roffled at 'I ate all the quality street' The simplicity!

Entropy, I get what you are saying, but the I exercised so I want more food thing is fine, If you eat a ton of veg with your dinner. You have to let the thinking part of your brain decide what goes in your gob instead of the 'belly' part.

I feel mean now. I know it is not easy, but I listen to my friend for the last 10 years, getting more and more overweight, saying the same stuff, and eating total crap all the time, and it makes me sad for her that she is unhappy. So I am projecting that on to you a bit

I found myself accidentally watching a Sky programme the other day - a year to save your life or something?

And the personal trainer made one very excellent point to his client - that he was surprised she hadn't put more weight ON as she'd only put on 9 stone in 20 years. He said that to put on a stone a year is 100 extra calories a day - 2 rich tea biscuits a day.

He was boosting her willpower saying that and I thought it was a brilliant point - that you only have to overeat very slightly to put on weight.

It is very easy to overeat a tiny amount consistently and to have no emotional problems with food and have a very healthy attitude to food.

Yes, at some point for your health after 20 years of eating a tiny bit extra you have to put down the biscuits and decide to reduce your intake but if you're actually happy and content it is very easy to get overweight.

What's the scientific evidence on artificial sweetners? Other than woo sites, I couldn't find any evidence that they mess up your blood sugars
This is what I could find from respected sites:
www.mayoclinic.com/health/artificial-sweeteners/MY00073
www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/HEALTHbeat_033005.htm

I do think there needs to be more science involved (and not necessarily Big Pharma inventing diet pills). The negative effect of yo-yo dieting is becoming more known these days as the body's response to the "famine" effect.

There could be genetic causes - there's one bit of studying I did around this subject, which in part focussed on the slave trade where the people who survived being transported across the Atlantic despite getting little food, water, and salt had very efficient systems and may have bequeathed that to their descendants who now live in a society which invented burgers'n'fries with their high fat and salt content.

There's also epigenetics as in the Dutch Hunger Winter where the effect was most noticeable in those who were foetuses at the time, and subsequently in the next generation.

Anecdotally, there's a family I know fairly well, where the females are all large. But one controlled her weight via a weight-loss organisation but never looked healthy. Her face was gaunt, and she didn't seem to have much flesh on her bones, but she was apparently at her ideal weight for her height. But she never looked slim, because she had wide shoulders and hips.

It's a bit like the current focus on BMI, especially the programme introduced for children, which causes all manner of problems because there seems to be little differentiation between "big" and "fat". I've often wondered if the historical picture of blacksmiths/farriers as being big and burly people was more related to their genetic capacity to maximise their calorie intake as opposed to building up muscle as a result of the job they were apprenticed to.

Obviously, all the above is fairly simplistic, but I think there needs to be a better understanding as to why some people end up overweight. Some of it could be genetics, some of it could be familial (fat children tend to be fat adults), some of it could be comfort eating/drinking, some of it could be not understanding how many calories they're consuming.

Is all that a means of providing an excuse? Not totally, because some people really don't know why they're overweight and, for some, the mantra of "eat less, exercise more" would give them the "how" but not the "why".

really elaine? there's loads in google when I type it in

I love your description - greedy binge eater :) I;m being serious x

I've always been very overweight but a person can be defined as overweight by just one extra pound of weight, as dictated by the BMI.

its common sense too though, like with WW you can do it by being really healthy. Or you can replace your current bad habits with lots of diet products with artificial sweetners. Which is going to last?

I googled it as well reduce but I'm only interested in reputable sites.

Reading a bit more, I've seen there is some evidence that sweetners might not help weight loss but the evidence is mixed.

Hate to throw a spanner in the works but I'm still about 2 stone overweight and don't look it (and no I'm not posting a photo) and look about the same as a few of my 'healthy spectrum' friends.

Oh and I agree with the OP in part, so maybe its not as simple as me simply eating an extra 25 calories a day, but I'm not particularly greedy as far as quantity goes.

Its taken a long time for me to see exactly where my problem lies (and for me it was in the little things that cumulatively became a big arse) and do something about it.

Everyone is different. There are many valid reasons. 'Over-eating' is over simplifying something that is more complex. For example, if I'm not burning the LITTLE that I eat, then you could say I'm over eating. Or you could say, I'm under exercising! I prefer to say 'out of kilter'.

I've lost 2 stone, and whilst during that time I've ate more actual food, I know exactly what I have to limit (personally) to avoid weightgain... surprisingly for me it wasn't the weekly Curly Wirly, but lovely healthy wholemeal bread.

entropyglitter YANBU, but tsk, posting on here you're going to get all sorts of puritan simpleheads who think you're just making excuses...

You'll lose weight either way reduce. And if it fits your lifestyle, eating low calories processed food may last. The fact that it's not healthy is neither here nor there. Plenty of slim people have poor diets, they just eat less of it.

feminine abit off topic- but,did cutting out dairy help your sinus problem? If it did, were you eating a lot of dairy to start with?

People are overweight because food is yummy - fact.

Any public health doctor will tell you it's not as easy as 'exercise more and eat less'. If it was that straighttorward, public health programmes would be a doddle. Unfortuantely there's a massive multi-billion pound industry involved, which hides poisonous ingredients like trans fats in our food - far, far worse for your health than saturated fat.

Plenty of exercise and a balanced, moderate diet will stop you getting fat in the first place - but it only takes a very little over your daily intake for the weight to start creeping on. Plus everyone tends to get fatter as they get older, as your levels of activity naturally decrease (unless you make a conscious effort) and people pick up health conditions (by the time you get to the late 30s, IIRC, more than half have a chronic problem of some sort).

Once you are fat, losing it is hard. It can be done, but it's bloody difficult to sustain - the majority of diets fail in the long term. Human behaviour, psychology and physiology is complex. So give the overweight a break - it's not as if they don't realise it's not ideal. Smug skinnies will have their own faults - no-one's perfect.

good post edam

bejeezus :)

It has made me much clearer, my skin too (if DH is to be believed ;))

I have suffered from burning pain and congestion/drainage all my life, that has eased actually.

My eyes are a lot less puffy too.

I would drink about 4/5 cups of tea each day +milk
A large bowl of cereal in the morning.
and I always had a type of cheese sandwich-y thing for lunch.
I don't like butter or cream/ice-cream.

Cafe mochas sometimes...

I haven't given up chocolate though

Not sure if I will keep it up however...

Calories don't count. The food you put in your mouth is much more important, so if you eat 500 calories worth of mars bars, it will stick to you more than 500 calories of avocado pear. I eat a lot and have put on weight just to see the whole lot going in a downward trajectory.... If you eat a bit too much, it is easy to turn down the heating a tiny bit, eat a bit more protein etc. Such simple things. Twiddle your thumbs... Weight usually creeps up or down. Change habits slowly!

Agree with OP. I have put on a stone and half over seven years. It is proving impossible to shift

Calories don't count. The food you put in your mouth is much more important, so if you eat 500 calories worth of mars bars, it will stick to you more than 500 calories of avocado pear

Nonsense

Worra what is the recommended weight you refer to?

OldMumsy I'm 5ft 3ins and if I were 10st I would still be within my 'ideal weight' range.

In reality, I'm 8st 3lb and if I ever get to around 8st 7lb, I know I'm carrying too much weight.

There's no way I could carry off weighing 10st and not look fat.

I was always a natural skinny person, never gave a thought to what I put in my mouth and even after four children was never above 8stone.
I learnt to drive at age 40 and then steadily gained weight till I was 10stone!
Did weightwatchers and got a stone off but have stuck there...
need to ditch the car and start walking methinks.

I go to the gym 5 times a week (3 weights sessions, 1 boxercise, 1 cardio) and am obese. Been going to the gym 3-5 times a week for three years. Everyone in my family is big.

I'm fat but I'm also healthy (BP normal, resting heart rate of 55-60). I do eat quite a lot, but always healthily and mostly to give me the energy to lift heavy weights! If I ate like a bird I wouldn't have the energy to exercise - and I prefer to exercise!

thanks feminine mightgive it a try

sinuses driving me maaaad

but dont eat much dairy anyway,so not sure it would work. I like butter on my toast but dont really have sandwiches and always would have soya milk over cowsmilk, maybe too much yoghurt...ramble,ramble....

Whoa! Noone one was interested in this before I went to make dinner....now look at it!

I hope it will make a difference but I doubt it.

Calories are calories and I lack the willpower to go to sleep just a little bit hungry every day.

BTW that would be the only diet pill I would consider taking - one that gave you will power. It would be handy for people struggling to give up smoking too....

I think it is amazing how many people will say that these things are easy and all you need is will power. I mean yeah, obviously, but given I clearly dont have will power how I am supposed to get some?

I just calculated that, averaged over my adult life, that equates to an extra 25 calories a day.

It's 25 calories a day over what you need to maintain your existing weight. The amount you need each day would increase as your weight increases. So you've gradually been eating more.