They skip meals. The fittest looking person I know only runs about 40 mpw but she often forgets or gets too busy to eat. When I see her eat, its often what appears to be a normal meal.
She also keeps herself busy doing something all the time - no just mellowing out watching shows or whatnot ever.
A multitude of metagenomic studies has brought to light an enormous richness of human gut microbiota compositions. In this space of possible configurations, clinical specialists are trying to mine the markers of healthy micro...
"the decreased exposure to microorganisms as well as the loss of the ancestral indigenous organisms has resulted in the prevalence of modern allergic and metabolic diseases."
If you are right that would suggest that both a fat person who remains fat and a thin person who remains thin are both consuming the same number of calories that they are burning. They are both doing the same thing, yet one is fat and the other thin.
Seems different than the popular narrative of thin people.
Yes, the bolded part is correct and is also the popular narrative, just that it is not true that “they are both doing the same thing”, rather it just doesn’t matter what they are doing, i.e., if they are in weight (and muscle/fat composition) homeostasis, their bodies are in caloric balance.
That said, calorie counting is not useful.
We have our whole lives for trial and error. At some point we should be able to figure out the point where we start accumulating excess body fat.
Some people just don’t care, and in an environment of food abundance, that’s a ticket to the state of obesity.
This post was edited 2 minutes after it was posted.
If it wasn't for my cousin I wouldn't even understand how people got fat. He literally never exercises and doesn't even leave the house for work and yet he eats more calories than me training 80mpw. I'm not joking. Whenever I go to his house he says he's hungry and so eats something. Always has junk food in the house and his portion sizes are enormous. Plate completely covered and piled high.
I just can't figure out why he's overweight.
By the way, if you asked him how much he eats, he would answer that he eats a normal, reasonable amount. I think this is the problem. Most people have no idea what a reasonable amount is (based on their activity levels) or even a good idea of what they eat in a day.
My husband has a ridiculous metabolism. He weighed 10-12 lbs more while racing in his 20s than he does now because he has more muscle mass then. He can eat anything he likes. If he works a few 12-hour shifts in a row he visibly loses weight because he doesn’t get enough calories at work. He is also a carrier for CF so I personally think he doesn’t get the same calories out of food that other people get. He has only 2 days of exercise a week if that. He’s really built different.
If it wasn't for my cousin I wouldn't even understand how people got fat. He literally never exercises and doesn't even leave the house for work and yet he eats more calories than me training 80mpw. I'm not joking. Whenever I go to his house he says he's hungry and so eats something. Always has junk food in the house and his portion sizes are enormous. Plate completely covered and piled high.
I just can't figure out why he's overweight.
By the way, if you asked him how much he eats, he would answer that he eats a normal, reasonable amount. I think this is the problem. Most people have no idea what a reasonable amount is (based on their activity levels) or even a good idea of what they eat in a day.
A lot of eating is purely for psychological reasons, often just boredom. Under the current conditions of food abundance. Very rarely is someone truly hungry.
If you are right that would suggest that both a fat person who remains fat and a thin person who remains thin are both consuming the same number of calories that they are burning. They are both doing the same thing, yet one is fat and the other thin.
Seems different than the popular narrative of thin people.
Fat people tend to lie about the amount of food they eat. They’re always on some kind of diet yet never lose weight.
I can give you a lot of anecdotals, but I’ll just say the most fat people are fat for a reason. They eat too much, and it’s not too much romaine lettuce. It’s too much highly palatable, high calorie food.
Folks here seem convinced that both fat people who are staying fat and thin people who are staying thin are doing the same thing - consuming the same number of calories that they are burning.
They skip meals. The fittest looking person I know only runs about 40 mpw but she often forgets or gets too busy to eat. When I see her eat, its often what appears to be a normal meal.
She also keeps herself busy doing something all the time - no just mellowing out watching shows or whatnot ever.
I'm not certain running 40 miles a week qualifies as knowing someone who stays thin but doesn't exercise.
If it wasn't for my cousin I wouldn't even understand how people got fat. He literally never exercises and doesn't even leave the house for work and yet he eats more calories than me training 80mpw. I'm not joking. Whenever I go to his house he says he's hungry and so eats something. Always has junk food in the house and his portion sizes are enormous. Plate completely covered and piled high.
My comment was in jest but stress eating is a most common reason for overeating. People eat to feel calmer. Eating distracts from stress and also helps regulate the stress hormone cortisol.
Anyone who says otherwise has no idea what they’re talking about
It is not that simple. If it were the type of calorie wouldn't matter. It could be 2,000 calories of lard or 2,000 calories of lean meat and vegetables. However we know those two things are not treated the same in the body.
Exactly. Its not CICO, its calories absorbed vs calories expended. Your body is not a furnace and is not 100% efficient.
1000 calories of sugar does not provide anywhere near the same as 1000 calories of chicken breast. Same goes on the expenditure side - running one mile as a new runner does not burn the same amount as it does someone who's been running for 20 years.
Combine the two and you get a pretty large range - and that could mean the difference between losing and gaining weight. Not arguing that you need to expend more than you absorb, that's just math. I'm saying the tools we use to get both of those numbers can be wildly inaccurate.
You can track the rise of obesity in America, with the rise of High Fructose Corn Syrup use (HFCS) since 1967.
Also, high fructose corn syrup increased the body fat in mice, and altered intestinal microbiome. Haven't you ever wondered why there's such a high rate of obesity in poor neighborhoods in the city? They have access to crappy food.
If you're overweight, just add fruit instead of sugar. For example, if you're making oatmeal, just add frozen berries.
This is 100% anecdotal, but you should also learn to cook your own food. I find myself losing weight without trying when I just make my own meals and avoid going out all the time; that way, I control the ingredients, and I'm not adding tons of sugar. And I don't particularly make "health food," either.
also, a hobby I've picked up in the past year is making my own sourdough bread. I know it sounds complex, but it's easy once you get the hang of it. It's a cheap hobby to have!
there's a bit of a learning curve, but anyone who's college-educated should be able to figure out it out. You only need to have a sourdough starter (you can buy one, or make it yourself) plus, water, flour, salt, and milk to make the bread (that's a recipe I use). It lasts forever in the fridge. I usually cut the bread and put it in the freezer though. You probably need a food scale too, but you can get them for $7 on amazon.
Make a sandwich with your own homemade sourdough bread - that's a good sandwich!
You are 100% right about making your own food. It is an easy way to control the QUALITY of food you are eating along with the ingredients. Many people assume that if something is sold in a store it must be good for them. The ultra-processed meals are very bad for the body and can lead to excess weight gain. Switching to a more whole foods based diet and cutting our filler snacks/dessert would make a huge difference for people. However, they won't do it because it's a hard transition away from the ultra-processed foods that were literally designed by cigarette companies to be addictive.
Also, speaking to the "eating for stress/boredom" line of thinking. If our society encouraged a more active lifestyle there would be less time to sit around and be bored. If someone is plopped on the couch all day and running out of shows to stream or videos to scroll through on their phone, then they are likely to get bored and find something to fill that. One way to counteract this is to not have bad junk food in the house, but again many people do not like that idea. Or they will counteract it wasting money on having food delivered to their house to meet the craving.
