Why am I fat?

[Witch25]

Well the simply answer is that I need to eat less and move more. Right, easy as that. Yet if it's that simple then why is there a million pound industry around weight loss?

Most people who have a significant amount of weight to lose and who have no medical conditions that cause them to gain weight have probably tried endless "diets" in the past. Slimming World, Weight Watchers, Low Carb, 5:2, etc, chances are they have tried them all. And they have probably lost weight on them. And as stats show, a high percentage gain all the weight and more back again within a year.

I think overeating is a mindset. It is a condition that affects certain people and it is something that has never even had an affect on others who have never had weight issues. People who are overweight eat to excess of "bad" foods. It is an addiction like drink or drugs. Overindulging must cause people to feel good/get a high at the time or else they wouldn't do it. Overweight people eat because they are sad, happy, bored, lonely, having a good time out with friends, eating a meal with a partner etc.

Through following posts on MN I have seen how fat people are hated on here. Let's not dress it up, most posts end up being taken down because it turns nasty and abusive. The attitude is "don't come whinging to me fatty, just stop shoving cake in your pie-hole". Society as a whole dislike people who are overweight and studies have shown that they are passed over for promotions at work, ignored in a group etc. And yet even though there is a palpable dislike for people who are overweight, we see obesity levels increasing in the UK.

TL:DR
So I was wondering if we could have a discussion around the mindset that causes people to be overweight and what can society do about this? Should GPs be offering CBT rather than Slimming World vouchers?

[Movablefeast]

The society around us has also changed radically. It is only a historical recent phenomenon that you can have a big building to access near you called a supermarket crammed with virtually every food known to humankind and you can bring your money and help yourself.

For most of human history food was hard to come by and you would be restricted to locally grown foods (so no oranges and potatoes). We all know that we live often very sedentary lives, with lots of stress and often lack of sleep which all contribute to weight gain. When large numbers of a society are struggling with the same problem I think we have to acknowledge that there are macro reasons that are contributing and not blame it entirely on an individual's lack of willpower.

[Jenala]

Everyone eats a shit ton of carbs. Their insulin is always high as a result. It's not until you take notice you realise how carb heavy the average diet is.

Carbs raise Insulin. Insulin takes glucose from blood but it's other job is to block fat burning. High insulin tells your body energy is coming, don't burn anything stored. Insulin stays high for a period after eating carbs... at which point we eat more carbs. So it rarely drops.

If your insulin never goes down it's very hard to burn stored energy (fat). You also are hungrier as your body is constantly looking for the next influx of energy (as high insulin is blocking the use of stored energy). Creating a vicious circle.

I think there is in an element of emotional eating but that actually a lot of that is a (albeit unrecognised/not concious) physical drive due to high insulin. The self hatred is because society has decided fatness is a moral issue.

I have lost weight since eating low carb and the 'emotional eating' has gone too. Nothing has changed psychologically so there has to be a physical element.

[ppeatfruit]

I reckon that it's the combination of carbs and protein at the same meal e.g. burgers etc. that doesn't help.

[Crunched]

I had home-cooked food as a child and don't ever remember my parents commenting on my size as a child. I was never fat as a child but much bigger than my naturally very slim/small mum & sister. I don't have any emotional issues, no MH problems, a very happy and stable home life but overeat.

^ this. I don't believe I am an emotional eater either. I am sedentary and I love food.
I think I know exactly how to lose weight, I would like to lose weight. The issue is, why I don't do it

[helpmeimnewtothis]

I wonder how much of it is down to genetics?

My parents are obese and have plenty of health problems. I have therefore spent my entire adult life fighting against being overweight - yet I still am. I eat healthily approx 75 - 80% of the time and attend approx 10 exercise classes a week - I am still overweight.

[Bakedappleflavour]

TBH the diet "trends" don't help - carbs are public enemy number one, but it used to be fat. At the end of the day in terms of weight loss a calorie is a bloody calorie - I could eat 6 pieces of processed white bread a day and if that was all I was eating I would lose weight. Obviously I wouldn't be healthy, but I would lose weight.

LCHF diets work because they create a calorie deficit

Slimming world works because it creates a calorie deficit

5:2 works because it creates a calorie deficit

And so on and so forth. There really is no magic fix - they will all "work", it's whether you can stick to them long term.

For me I lost 3 stone calorie counting and I have kept it off. I don't calorie count anymore but I am aware of things like portion size and snacking etc.

I eat carbs, fat and sugar but I still maintain.

[ppeatfruit]

All sorts of things add weight. Too much alcohol, caffeine, high salt, high sugar ,sweetened/diet chemically sweetened fizzy drinks, mixing carbs and protein at the same meal etc etc.. as I said.

Not moving about enough (just doing housework, fidgeting and dancing about the kitchen every day is helpful)

[RunningjustasfastasIcan99]

I think there are 2 elements. Firstly, it's too easy these days. If you walk up and down the high street at the average meal available in any restaurant it's too much/ unhealthy. Crap food is cheap and easy. Secondly, I wonder if I have permanently overstretched my stomach so a normal portion now feels like starvation which I can never keep going for a long time. I'm currently counting calories and am tweaking meals as much as poss to give large low cal portions. We also drink a lot more alcohol...

[Ohyesiam]

I am an over eater, and in A bad place with it ATM.
I read a really interesting article about bariatric surgery. When it was audited, a really high number of post op parients had attempted suicide- some succeeding. It was taken to mean that the eating habits had " soothed " the patients, and that over eating could be trauma based.
Part of me thought " no shit Sherlock", but another part resists. I have started therapy, and it's good, but I get impatient. I wasn't to get underneath this, and sort it.
(And being trauma based does not stop it being compounded by years and years of habit.)
I loooong for a less complicated relationship with food.
Sorry very v disjointed post, I keep being interrupted and am rushing.

[Ohyesiam]

Want not wasn't

[AntiGrinch]

There are a million reasons why people struggle to have the diet they would need to have, to not be fat.

Here are some of mine:

Emotional eating, starting in childhood. Was bored and lonely a lot of the time and we weren't allowed sweets at all. I would steal money to get sweets and eat them in secret and smuggle wrappers out of the house.

Low fat low calorie dieting, started in the late 80s, causing me to fear fat and overeat as a result when released from the very strict regime through exhaustion, hunger, severe desperation. I believe that attempts to follow low fat diets cause a lot of people to get an accumulative extreme hunger - a moderately fatty healthy diet would probably cause less overeating in the long term.

Body size defeatism - thinking I was fat when I was merely stocky, with a tiny waist and a flat stomach - causing me to think "fuck it" as I was "disgusting" anyway. This is partly from my mother and her issues; partly through growing up in the 70s and 80s when a lot of girls were incredibly willowy and skinny and I actually was a bit the odd one out with my genetic big legs; partly media.

Emotional over drinking.

Lack of sex. having a sexual interest in my life makes me a lot less likely to snack. Food is what I turn to when feeling emotionally or sexually starved. Or just bored. It actually feels like a physical hunger though. It doesn't feel like "Oh I wish someone really cared about me, I know I'll make some toast." It actually feels physically like "God, I need some toast." Because there is no point in even wishing someone really cared about me so my subconscious just short-circuits all that.

Tiredness. Having to keep going when I would relaly rather not makes me reach for carbs and sugar. At work there are biscuits available to anyone and I used to trough them in the afternoons - they really do make you feel like you have energy when you were so tired before. Many people are very tired on a pretty much constant basis, between work, children, commutes, other responsibilities. I bet if you were allowed to call in sick and sleep in any time you wanted, a lot of people would eat a lot less.


What I have found is that focusing on food is self defeating. The way to a healthy diet is, perversely, to stop thinking about food. Think about what you need and get that. Get a lover, get good friends, get interests and passions, play an instrument, love yourself and live your life. Then food gets back in its box and stops ruling your life. Easier - SO SO MUCH EASIER - said than done, of course.

[AntiGrinch]

Oh I forgot something else - half the world is on ADs these days. They make you put on weight

[FabulouslyFab]

It's definitely a mind set. When it's in my head I lose weight easily but when it's not .. oh dear! I had a good run and lost four stone to a size 14 two years ago and at the moment am loving the new me. I hope the novelty doesn't wear off because I know I'll be in trouble

[AntiGrinch]

"When large numbers of a society are struggling with the same problem I think we have to acknowledge that there are macro reasons that are contributing and not blame it entirely on an individual's lack of willpower."

I very heartily agree with this.

At the end of the day, all the extra food that is being eaten is being sold to us by people who are making money out of it. And there is no political will to do anything to limit that trade.

[eurgh2018]

why is there a million pound industry around weight loss?

Because people want the "quick fix" so are prepared to part with cash to get it....

Slimming World, Weight Watchers, Low Carb, 5:2, etc, chances are they have tried them all. And they have probably lost weight on them. And as stats show, a high percentage gain all the weight and more back again within a year.

Because quick fixes play havoc with your metabolism meaning the faster you lose the weight the more likely you are to put it back on, thus creating cycle of people constantly going back to places like Slimming World.

The multi million pound industry is a self perpetuating cycle.

Taking exercise out of the equation and just thinking about food, I think overweight people fall into one of two categories:

1. those who eat the wrong foods, ie high fat high sugar, high carb, excessive snacking etc.
   
   
2. those who eat mostly the right foods but in quantities that are too large.
   
   I think the second is easier to fix and the easier of the two to maintain - it requires education about portion sizes and gradual reduction over time, your stomach gets used to the smaller portions but eventually you don't get hungry between meals and can stick to it because ultimately, you probably haven't really changed WHAT you eat, just changed HOW MUCH you eat.
   
   The first is more likely to be linked to "emotional" factors that some PPs have mentioned and ultimately, is a lot more complex to address and to maintain.
   
   I think the first step for any HCP (or person wanting to make a change themself) is to work out which they are and plan a course of action accordingly.

[exWifebeginsat40]

i have gained a huge amount of weight since starting anti-psychotics 5 years ago. 2 stone in 5 weeks on the ward, titrating up fast. i’m just hungry, the entire time.

however. i have been bulimic for donkeys years. my mother used food to reward and punish when i was a child. before i started high school, she put me on 400 calories a day so i wouldn’t embarrass her by being fat. i wasn’t fat. also, i was ten. we never went anywhere - the parents preferred to spend entire weekends at the pub. and bought us endless crisps and chips to shut us up so they could get on and enjoy their lock-in. not a great deal of activity time, really.

i’m fat now and i hate it. i hate it so much that i am missing out on seeing friends because i am so disgusted with how i look.

the meds keep me alive (i take a lot of other meds besides the anti-psychotics) but the price for that is to loathe myself for being such a fat mess.

what to do, eh?

[exWifebeginsat40]

oh, and i have arthritis so excercise is hard. i don’t drink booze though, so that’s something at least!

[ppeatfruit]

eurgh There are other ways of adressing the weight gain. Like Paul Mackenna says it also involves HOW you eat. So not standing and throwing the food down your neck, not in front of a screen , .

But sitting down chewing slowly and mindfully ,really tasting and enjoying your food. That is interesting because you can't eat rubbish when you do that , it tastes of nothing!

[N2986]

Boredom and tiredness here. But my weight has never been right since I started on ad's at 18. I've been on and off them for years and my weight fluxoates according. Currently about 4 stone overweight but if I come off the medication I'll be seriously ill with my OCD. So fat I am for now!

[Ivebeenaroundtheblock]

Portion control is key. You could have nothing but the best foods and still be overweight if you eat too much of it.
And you don’t have to eat tons of extra for the weight to S L O W L Y creep on.

[ppeatfruit]

I know that's true ivebeenround The key is to notice it and do something about it!

[Ivebeenaroundtheblock]

To do this you measure and weigh and do the math until you know what a portion size/daily intake should be. That’s calorie counting

[ppeatfruit]

Nope I lose by going back on the Paul Mackenna, way of eating, I have never calorie counted or weighed food.

Your body knows how to do it naturally..

[Ivebeenaroundtheblock]

I love certain calorie dense foods; nuts any kind of nut although macadamia nuts are low on that list, cheese...soft hard yellow or blue...alone or on toast...butter nice natural butter on veggies
I can afford all this, all is readily available in vast quantities.
I have little lasting willpower.
Now as for Dr.’s they come in all shapes and sizes too.
I’m not addicted to food, I just enjoy it. I have no health conditions (thyroid, bp, blood sugar, aches or pains).

[Bluntness100]

I have lost weight since eating low carb and the 'emotional eating' has gone too. Nothing has changed psychologically so there has to be a physical element

I agree with you. I am low carbing at the moment and whilst I'd simply normally say "my appetite has gone". The reality is it hasn't, I just don't feel thr need to eat so much and I don't emotionally eat. I don't get bored and eat chocolate or mindlessly snack, and I eat when I'm hungry only and only what I need. So I also believe there is a physical element to this. My mindset hasn't changed, my desire to eat certain things has.

When I'm eating carbs I can put away a surprisingly large amount if I wish to and not feel full. It's like the millionaires shortbread is calling me and if it's there I need to eat it. On low carb since JAN 1. There's been two boxes of the Waitrose stuff in thr cupboard since then and I've not one urge to eat it.

So something has changed physically. I also think it's the insulin spikes that drive your body to want/need certain things. If I go on a calorie controlled diet I'm just friggen hungry all the time and feel deprived. I never feel that on low carb.