Nearly 3 in 4 young-to-middle-aged U.S. adults were considered to have obesity according to BF% from DEXA scans

What do you suggest be done about this? Any ideas?

I am going to preemptively point out that this is not caused by "calories in vs. calories out." It has to be more than that. That will cause you to being overweight, but not 200 lbs at age 14.

I just got back from grocery shopping and it looked like everyone (including kids) was obese. But not obese in the old-fashioned way (like just "big people with big bodies") but rather with huge, soft rolls of fat hanging down over their belt-line. Even short people... It was like they have some gelatinous aspect to their fat that isn't what you see in overweight people overseas.

Could it possibly have something to do with the synthetic foods, chemicals, and food-substitutes that Americans gorge themselves on?

Obese Americans have higher biological risk factors than obese people in other countries. And all these factors hit teens and 20-year-olds in numbers not seen overseas.

• In America, obese people are also much sicker (and on more meds) than in other countries.
• We have more people with multiple chronic conditions than people in other countries.
• We have more cardiovascular disease, including heart disease, stroke, and hypertension.
• And a lot more type 2 diabetes (we eat WAY MORE sugar than other countries).
• And more of our overweight people have osteoarthritis.

Brits, Russians and Germans can be fat too, but I have NEVER seen one who looked like this, let alone in their 20s.

Open image

Very simple answer , next time at any supermarket just look in all the carts as you are shopping, the answer lies within those carts

Completely agree.

The "calories in, calories out" idea is just food industry propaganda, designed to shift the blame back on the consumer, rather than the scumbags that pump your food full of garbage.

There's more in you what you eat than just calories, and lots of it isn't food. Your body has a hormonal response to what you put in your stomach; and if its not food, the response isn't good.

There are other issues to consider of course; the addictive nature of ultra-processed food, portion sizes, and a lack of exercise - to name a few. But the quality of food is certainly one of the heavy hitters (pardon the pun).

You can say that you don’t find calories-in-calories-out to be particularly useful, but calories-in-calories-out is very much consistent with the results people are getting.

I actually think an addiction model is a decent alternative framework for describing obesity, because there can be addictive properties of eating ice cream or pizza (processed foods), while I’ve never seen addictive properties of eating spelt or barley or rice.

But even if you’re not a fan of “calorie talk”, obesity is undeniably associated with an imbalance of calories-in-calories-out.

I would’ve said that “all foods fit” is the biggest food industry propaganda. (That there is a role for cheetoh’s in every healthy person’s intake, and only anorexics will banish cheetoh’s entirely.)

I agree with you about addictiveness, and unintentionally repeated some of what you said about ultra-processed foods and portion sizes.

THAT's exactly it!
It's a 1 one 1 correlation. I notice that every time I go shopping. Healthy people have healthy cart contents.

Throughout history one of the most driving needs was for civilization to find a way to maintain a stable food supply and eliminate periodic famines.

It seems like in the last 50 years we've not only achieved that, but we've also made food so calorie dense that a person can maintain and and even gain(!) weight on a diet of one meal a day. It's astonishing.

I actually agree with you. I am just frustrated by people who want to over-simplify the issue by making it all about a number of calories when the real issue is calories AND how those foods trigger different responses from the gut. Chemicals, sugars, synthetic "food" products, alcohol, nut-milks, seed oils, trans-fats, artificial sweeteners, etc. all cause your body to respond in very different ways than say, traditional meat and vegetables.

That is why you can't just say 2500 calories a day of microwavable Hot-Pockets with ranch dressing and a diet coke will lead to the same body as 2500 calories of whatever your great, great grandparents were eating. It is the same number of "calories in, calories out" but obviously not the same outcome.

Open image

Ozempic type meds will cure obesity.

That is like saying antidepressant type meds will cure depression.

i suspect a lot of people on this board are like me and have never been anywhere close to being overweight, let alone obese

but it tends to be easier for those with more fast-twitch muscle to put on weight quickly (see Zion, Bo Jackson, Mike Tyson, etc.) although clearly all sorts of people are overweight and obese

anyway, i don't feel like i eat especially healthy whatsoever. my diet consists of lots of eggs, cheese, meat, pizza at least once a week. i feel like i eat whatever i want, but at the same time i also can't imagine eating like 90% of what i see at big box grocery stores.

people are still eating cheetos ffs which seems almost intentionally ignorant like people are self-sabotaging, but at the same time i understand the reality is people do not purposely want to make themselves feel like crap day in and day out.

so again for me, maybe not the norm, it's a calories-in calories-out issue for a lot of people that eat "healthy foods", but just way too much of them

i do think there are a lot of factors beyond just garbage foods, which obviously are way too prevalent and tend to be the less expensive options

i'm pretty sure most people eat in front of a screen now. whether they are having lunch at work and are on their phone scrolling at the same time, or are having dinner, dessert etc. while watching youtube, netflix etc.

it's a lot easier to overeat when you're zoned out watching a screen. basically comfort eating to reduce anxiety rather than doing something productive like exercising to reduce anxiety. it's just so much easier to "veg out" after work rather than hit the gym or go for a run and most people are in such a deep hole from a vitality perspective they simply don't have the motivation and willpower to pull themselves out so they just keep digging

Would a 5-5 185 oound man be obese?

Sorry, obesity is almost entirely from calories in vs. calories out. Mostly calories in (since even moderate exercise will usually be offset by increased eating or decreased NEAT). The problem is that junk food does not sate your hunger, and it's specifically engineered to make you want more. Thus calories-in goes up.

If we're talking about _health_, then sure micronutrients of different foods matter. But numerous people have lost weight and fat by following calorie-restricted junk food diets.

No, calories-in-calories out doesn't account for what is burning those calories. In a person with high gut microbiome diversity and high fiber intake, those calories are not just feeding the human body, the gut microbes are consuming a measurable amount of more those calories going into the mouth than a different person with less gut microbiome diversity (presumably from diet of ultraprocessed foods).

nature.com

Gut microbiome diversity and high-fibre intake are related to lower long-term weight gain - International Journal of Obesity

International Journal of Obesity - Gut microbiome diversity and high-fibre intake are related to lower long-term weight gain

Open link

nature.com

Host-diet-gut microbiome interactions influence human energy balance: a randomized clinical trial - Nature Communications

The gut microbiome is causally linked to body weight in preclinical models. Here, in a controlled feeding study, the authors show that greater delivery of gut-microbiome fermentable dietary substrates to the colon leads to a...

Open link

New study shows supplying calories to microbes benefits metabolic health:

I think the steady state with no weight change would not be: (calorie in) = (calories burned by the human body)

Instead it should be: (calories in) = (calories used by the human body) + (calories used by the gut microbiome)

As someone who is in his 50s, I grew up when people were much lighter than the are now. We did not have more will power with food than people now. In fact many of the same people are still around, and it's not that they had more will power when they were younger. We ate until they were plenty full back then too. But we were much lighter.

It's the food and eating habits that have changed. It's the addictive ultraprocessed foods that don't satisfy you or feed your gut microbiome (which has control over your hunger). Maybe there is now more antibiotic use that destroys gut bacteria too? People seem to snack more continuously now too.

People really are eating more than they believe. Soda alone accounts for like 300 calories for the average person which is insane. If you're 300 calories above maintenance that's a 31-pound weight gain over a single year just in body fat. A single oreo is 90 calories. It's so easy to overconsume when you eat garbage that doesn't fill you up and do zero physical activity.

Great grandparents were probably a lot more active as well, especially in terms of daily life and not having the same labour-saving devices. Even things like maintaining a clean home would have taken a lot more activity and energy. I think it's a combination of a few things but as well as the main issues of excess calories and unnatural content of food - I truly believe excess calories is the overall driver of this - if children are becoming morbidly obese at a young age their bodies haven't had any time to physically develop properly and that might in part lead to the odd shapes you're mentioning.

By that I mean children who have barely ever played outside, walked long distances, played sport (organised or with friends), run about all day, climbed trees and so on. It's sad. They have essentially sat for their childhood. And there are studies linking extended periods of sitting with accumulation of fat in certain areas.

You can say a lot of negative things about it, but I feel lucky that I grew up in the '80s and '90s. We used to play out until it was dark every day and there were four TV channels. Sitting about was boring so no one did it.