Being very overweight.

Boicot Flame!

 

I will admit that it at first made me discouraged to the point of quitting, but I didn't. I'm set up to exercise next week as well.

 

Fun fact! Our saliva contains a pain-killer that is 6x stronger than morphine, but we don't produce much of it. We'd all be high all the time otherwise! it also contains a small anti-depressant, which is why scientists believe that stress, emotional trauma, etc are linked to comfort eating.

 

@Flame Just to give you my input as an European that visited North America. It was shocking to me the amount of carbs most food have, the overuse of corn syrup and the level of process in food.

In 2019 I spent 2 weeks in Vancouver, I walked a lot every day, didn't eat a significant amount of junk food (went once to McDonald's and once to Tim Horton's to try it out, although I regret it, as it was after the takeover and didn't get to try the real Canadian Experience™) and yet, I managed to gain weight.

So I take for you to have a regular weight in NA you have to have a great conscientious food choice, maintain a lot of exercise and have luck with your metabolism. Else, it becomes a never ending cycle: food makes you fatter, that makes you hungrier, that makes eat more, repeat.

Also people there seem awfully dependent on the car (maybe not much on the metro area, but if you stray from there, it's car kingdom).

 

about the car, it really depends on where you live. I once visited Los Angeles, West Hollywood to be exact, and aside from the griffith observatory, everything was within walking distance, including stores and sight-seeing spots. in Oklahoma, where I live, you pretty much have to use the car as things can be miles away.

 

Among many factors that are responsible for obesity, I think central factor has to be the fact that it's convenient to eat unhealthy, given that junk foods and drinks are cheap, easily accessible (maybe even too much, they are literally everywhere) , and they taste good. What's worse is that humans are biased to make convenient choices, even when they are fully aware that there are better options available. it's on most people's autopilot to just get food from convenience store or to order it from some restaurant, and invest time in learning how to cook healthy dishes "later", which many tend to do VERY late, if at all.



Interesting video to watch on topic of obesity:

 

I think social/economic status can be a pretty big factor to this too.

In the US, impoverished people are disproportionately more obese than any other social class which I think is pretty interesting.
https://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/60/11/2667

This is mostly due to food deserts in poverty-stricken areas. Because unhealthier foods like snack foods and inorganic foods tend to be cheaper, these products are often the only things people in poor communities can afford. On top of that, supermarkets that sell healthy organic foods are much harder to find in impoverished areas due to the prevalence of liquor stores, convenience stores, and fast-food restaurants that only dispense (mostly) unhealthy food. They are also much harder to find because obviously, organic food is more expensive. There's a reason why you won't find many Whole Foods outside of upper/middle-class neighborhoods.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4205193/

It's a bit unusual because being fat is seen as a sign of wealth in many cultures outside of the US, but our economic system in the US that is based on the exploitation of poor people doesn't give poor people many options for food outside of cheap, mass-produced stuff.

A poor person in Vietnam eats the vegetables they grow for themselves and others, a poor person in the US can only buy the cheap unhealthy foods they are provided. They're literally unable to provide for themselves outside of relying on predatory businesses because it is very hard to establish gardens for growing their own food. There's not enough space, not enough time and not enough money for that to happen in our economy. Plus there are many legal barriers to creating community gardens. All of this compounds to create an obese working class with no agency over what they can actually eat outside of the paltry options they're provided. One of the best ways to solve obesity in the US is by bringing people out of poverty but that's its own complex issue.
http://faculty.fortlewis.edu/lashell_b/AG300/AgIssuesGardens.pdf

 

Nothing happened per se. I just love food a bit too much. I also don't eat very healthy because that requires cooking and I'm lazy.

 

I have overweight friends. It’s frustrating to see them struggle. I try to be supportive. It’s hard though, because I can eat whatever I like. I’m hungry all the time. I don’t like to binge snack around them, but it’s hard. I feel guilty. We’ve joked a few times that I could absorb some of their weight. They are really good friends. I would do that for them.

 

They are not struggling they are eating the wrong foods. I switched to keto diet on 2019 and to carnivore on 2020 they changed mind a lot about food. However I made too many mistakes on keto I use to eat more vegetables based food than animal based food. I used to eat 250g of nut butters or big salads for dinner. Now I finish the meat first than the veggies. I was 120 kg and now I am 75 kg.

I still have little bit love handles and belly fat. I never exercised I just walk for 2 hours every day at home in circles hehe.

I wish I knew sooner because this very easy to do. I cook my carnivore meals myself because they very very simple just grill the meats and that is it.

the downside to this is now I always eat alone because my family is overweight and dont care about what i am doing I miss eating together and hair loss.

 

@Flame , I exercised yesterday, cardio only. I cancelled the two times before that, because I was getting discouraged for having not lost any weight. I actually gained weight over the process of exercising. I had a long talk with my trainer, and she gave me a few apps to use for walking and whatnot, so now we're going to do a mix of cardio and weight lifting. she told me to start taking walks. I plan to tomorrow and possibly Sunday, in the morning. it should be nice outside.

maybe I'm just lazy, but I kinda hate exercising. I've been doing it, which in three days, will be three months. I've probably lasted longer than the average person who plans to lose weight in the new year. it's gotten easier, but I wouldn't say I like it.

 

I took a walk a couple days ago. I was going to today, but I was just too lazy. the windows are open, so it's nice weather. I exercise again with my trainer tomorrow though, then again on Thursday.

 

lol...I remember benching 9 tons when the female class came in while in weightlifting class in high school. I was very fit then.

— Posts automatically merged - Please don't double post! —

I think the most I ever got up to was 230lbs bench while weighing 150lbs. I had a six pack too. I have very big arms, even now, their muscular. however, I now have a big belly, which is where most of my weight is.

 

@Flame , can't workout this week, at least with a trainer, since I have something going on. I have a doctor's appointment, and I'm getting my second and final dose of the covid shot the day before. I've been starving myself, hoping I weigh less at the doctor's appointment. I'm not eating breakfast or lunch anymore, just dinner without a snake at any time during the day or night. I feel very hungry atm in fact.

 

And while other people struggle with being too fat, I struggle with being too thin. Despite being a male in his 20's I fluctuate between skinny and very skinny but don't know why.

 

To be fair, there's not much logic in blaming inanimate objects or conditions out of one's control; this is the same logic religious extremists use to justify aggression against anything that has the potential to stop them from living their version of a holy life.

As such, it's highly hypocritical to adopt the same approach in life, the exception being illegal substances and weapons; even then, the latter is still getting so much pushback in countries that manufacture weapons, especially in a climate where wars are becoming unpopular.

The World we live in.
That said, and as the song goes, "Oh I get by with a little help from my friends."

As a child, had it not been for my parent's sensibilities, I would have grown obese in 1980s Sydney - Australia, so there will always be times when we, as a species, rely on others to nurture us.
From my life in both countries, Australia and America aren't that far apart in food culture, despite the former claiming to live healthier.

Japan and South East Asia are very different comparatively; living in these countries helped form the sense of too much, which I really didn't have as an Australian child where normally people stop eating when their stomach is bursting.
Nowadays, my tongue understands what too rich and too fatty are, which is an intangible experience hard to describe in words.

So while I believe the majority of the issue goes back to Self-Control, it takes other people to train us for that in the first place, young and old.

 

I also was in the freakishly skinny category my whole life, I couldn't gain weight.. I always thought I ate lots but yeah turns out I really didn't, ive gained 15kg in the last year and im still thin.. but if you take in more calories than you burn you have to gain weight, protein shakes with a banana and a few scoops of oats are like 1000 calories right there and of course lifting weights