The Land of the Obese?

Blimey witt,
just please give it a rest, it's not funny now, and never was.

Same as before applies now.

Wow! Allot has happened since I've been gone!

Some very provocative posts to read and lot's of good input sans one poster.

Badge, You are absolutely right in everything you say and in a round about way you've hit on what I have preached the entire thread.

That is addiction, food addiction and the reasons why we become addicts. However Badge, your solutions however well meaning are not as easily done as said.

What I can tell most people fighting obesity is if you can fight it for a couple of weeks it does get easier, I promise. Once you start to reprogram your brain to not crave so much it helps a great deal. The only way to do it is to stop eating those processed foods. One thing that you can do is always check the label. Any ingredient that ends in OSE is likely just a modified sugar of some sort.

Some of us are genetically encoded to be fat and it's a much tougher battle for us. I got it form my father as my mother and sisters have never been overweight.

As long as we have to continue to take the drugs that got us fat we will always have that struggle. Unfortunately our drug (food) is required to stay alive.

Just try to ingest only the least dangerous of these drugs. Badge gave us a good start. Also the tips on detoxifying by others helps as well IMO. In fact as you diet you are actually doing a form of detox by ridding yourself of processed foods.

I can tell you one thing, if I could go raw vegetarian, I would do it in a minute....

Hi Jbondo,

Yes, dieting successfully is one of the hardest things we do. After all, the drive to eat is almost as strong as the drive to breathe, and it's controlled by the hormones - very tough to fight or to get control.

I did quite well the first diet I was on in 2001 and I lost a lot of fat. I kept it off for three years, but then was hit by several major life stressors and gained back half of what I lost.

Then finally, I learned how to use Fitday and a dietary scale to get a handle on what I was eating, portion size and food selection.

I gradually dropped my calories to about 1000-1200 and then basically went on a 'liquid protein' diet, replacing all my meals with protein powder, and a good multi-vitamin and minerals. I'm now back to what I weighed in 2002. (yay!)

It took me four months of careful tracking and planning to reach the point where it felt good to go on the all protein drink regime for about a month, but it was actually easy once I got there.

Now I try to keep my fat under 25-30gms/day, and keep my protein at 1g/lb of body weight (about 160-200gms), and my calories at about 1000. Doing this has allowed me to lose about 1.5lbs/week. Patience wins the day here.

Good luck!

Originally posted by Badge01
Now I try to keep my fat under 25-30gms/day, and keep my protein at 1g/lb of body weight (about 160-200gms), and my calories at about 1000. Doing this has allowed me to lose about 1.5lbs/week. Patience wins the day here.

I'm very glad for you! For anyone that can do the protein drink only thing I can only say that I am quite impressed.

I am on 1500 per day right now and suffice it to say it doesn't drop off like it used to. At my current weight i don't think I could live on less than 1500 unless of course I went to the protein drink and vitamin thing. It's hard enough as it is but I will get to that point where it wont matter what I ingest as long as I continue to lose weight.

Again I am very pleased to read of your success. Continued strength my friend!

I think one of the major concerns is the media focus on stick thin "models" - this gives the impression that anyone with a body fat % of >0% is somehow abnormal - when actually the reverse is true. The media and fashion industry have given many people a warped concept of body image, with some tragic results.
To my mind, there's nothing wrong with being "curvy" or even a little overweight - but the fashionista's try to tell us that it's unhealthy, unattractive etc. And with the constant bombardment of image obsessed media, it's taking a toll on those who are unable to differentiate between this fantasy world and reality.
As an example, Sophie Dahl was, a few years ago, a gorgeous, curvy, healthy looking woman - these days thanks to the demands of the fashion industry, she looks more like a refugee.

Another problem IMO is the diet industry - count how many fad diets you have heard about / read about, leading to a yo-yo effect of weight gain then weight loss, then gain then loss etc etc.

A lot of these diets are impractical and unhealthy and in the long term can do only damage.

I have done a lot of fishing off the west coast North America.

I think back to when cleaning the catches, and every once and a while I would find a long thin white worm 6 to 8 inches long in the meat of the fish. I know they do candle cod fish, picking out the worms lying wait in the meat.

I was in the livestock export business and during one export of swine one of the pigs in the quarantine died. I was present at the autopsy. Upon removing the organs of the young pig for inspection, I commented on the worms that were in the pigs lungs. I asked the vets present (Federal) if that was what caused the death. I was informed that this was a normal thing to find in pigs and was not the cause of death. Pigs can liive to a ripe old age with those parasites living inside them. Oh, and those worms were like the ones I have pulled out of fish meat, and also what is currently coming out of my lungs.

That should cure you of any desires to eat sushi, bacon, etc.

It is my belief that most people today have some form or another of parasite living inside them. It has to do with diet and your immune system, as to how well you cope with these unwelcome guests. Your body is forced to remove their toxic sespools of excrement for you to remain in good health. Once your immune system is weakened these freeloaders tend to take over, and you eventually give in to diseases that medical practitioners have no cures for. They can only cover up the symptoms. If that does not work, you expire.

Why does the present medical community not recognise these pests as being the main issue behind most diseases?

Simple, that would make all of their training and hard work less valuable. There would not be so much proffit in modern medecine. People would be healthy, without drugs. How tragic would that be. Then only the people who are genuinely concernd with peoples wellbeing would work in that field. That would cut out all of the people who are there to pad their bank accounts, at any expense.

Parasites are pretty discusting in any form, especially worms, but they can be removed. I am surprised most people do not realize how easy it is to get a parasite or worm and go for years not knowing they have them. With all the meats and other forms of food people consume I am not surprised. Win 52, those worms in the pigs lungs sounds discusting, I bet that was fun to see. I never touch pig meat, pork is proven to have the most parasites.

[edit on 17-7-2007 by paigcal]

I never eat sushi or any meat that has not been cooked thoroughly. I don't care that I am supposedly ruining meat by not eating it rare. If you get the technique down you can cook meat well and maintain the flavor and tenderness as well.

I never eat shellfish at all as I have always been of the opinion that they are just large insects. Plus the fact that shellfish are responsible for many deaths and illnesses each year. If it has the skeleton on the outside I just say no.

I hear that the poisonous blowfish is a delicacy but if the poison is not completely removed it will kill you. I don't care if the frigging thing is covered in chocolate sauce! I pass!

As for perception of women, I love them curvy. I once dated a girl that wore size zero. What is that?! Zero! Come on!!! What's before zero, negative sizes?

Give me some 38" hips any day! Raquel Welch has 38" hips and she was the sex symbol of her time.

[edit on 17-7-2007 by jbondo]

Originally posted by jbondo
I'm very glad for you! For anyone that can do the protein drink only thing I can only say that I am quite impressed.

Thanks. Bear in mind that the protein drink regime is something I only do for about a week and it takes a few weeks to build up to it (or taper down, depending on your point of view. )

Right now, I'm on vacation and riding my road bike twice a week and eating clean. Since I got here on Sun, I've already lost 2lbs, and tightened my belt another notch. I ride for about 40-45 min at about 18-20mph (flats), in the AM and again, at about 16mph in the PM (sort of an 'active recovery' ride). I do this for about two weeks each summer and really like it.

Thanks for the comments, and good luck to you too!

I wish you could see my family, we're all twigs .

I can eat whatever I want and not gain a pound. I wish I was bigger, but its kind of a blessing being skinny.

I attribute American obesity to several factors:

1). Diet - We eat a ton of fast food and even the preparation of these foods is terrible.
A lot of meat has growth hormones that were fed to the animals. When food becomes a business, well the quality is definitely going to go down. 'Quanity over quality.'

2). Exercise - We have tv to watch and a lot of us have jobs that let us sit down all day. I for one work in a natural foods market where I have to stand pretty much the whole time I'm there. I have to walk around...

3). Complacence - No one cares. We eat, sleep, die. Life is such and no one questions it.

4). Activities - Not including tv, we have become a society that is not all that active. It is more popular to play video games than go outside for a hike (not where I live now, but in general I would say it is). When there seems to be 'nothing' to do, it is convenient to turn the boob on and chill out on the couch...and eat fried chicken from KFC :O.



There are others I just can't think clearly right now.

Jbondo,

Haha, talk about things that are thought by some to be potentially harmful to eat or drink. I'll never forget that time I went onto a site about dairy milk and how it was contaminated and stuff. I ended up swearing off of milk for a month.

nomilk.com...

On my current diet I also dropped liquid dairy products in mid-January 07, though I do take about 1oz of coffee cream per day.

Cow's milk is one of the things that can really add the calories, though many people think that it's a good food, calcium and Vit D and so forth. If I start drinking it, I can end up easily overdoing it. I think the presence of the Lactose (milk sugar) is what causes me to indulge too much, since my intake of white carbs and sugar is quite low. (I cut out all sugar last December and just use Splenda).

One nice thing about using fitday.com is that you can look at your 'nutrition' tab and see what vitamins and minerals that you are getting over time. I'm low in Vit A, D, Riboflavin and Calcium and Magnesium. So I take a Centrum Multivitamin and Ca with Vit D and Mg plus some fish oil capsules.

biggie smalls,

How old are you? I would attribute most thin people who claim they never gain weight to age and metabolism. When many of them turn 40 and continue to eat as always they suddenly balloon up.

As far as activity, seems you are mostly referring to people under 30. I grew up in a generation that spent every waking hour and many sleeping ones outside. If I watched 3 hours of TV in a full week it was allot. In fact we didn't have color TV or remote control till I was about 13. We couldn't wait to get outside and in the summer seldom went home as we carried sleeping bags with us. I grew up in a rural small town where everyone was active.

Badge, I do drink milk, however it is always skim. Not only is it better for you but I just prefer it over that thick paint like stuff.

As for your idea of vacation, wow! Most people relax on vacation and splurge with diet. I forgot to mention that my father did the medifast I believe when he was around 50. He got it from his doctor and it was a straight powdered drink mix. He was on it for months without eating a thing. It worked well for him but again a tough thing to do.

Ditto Jbondo,
as kids, we were hardly ever indoors, and most of the time outdoors was spent actively - playing football, swimming, cricket or just generally running around using up energy - maybe this trend for ritalin and adhd that we're seeing has a lot to do with kids being inactive.

Same here for the milk - skimmed or semi-skimmed and I only have it in tea, so I have about 1 pint of milk per week.

I also have very little sugar - just in tea, and it's raw unprocessed cane sugar - although in fairness I do have a lot of fruit sugars.

As for KFC, McD etc - as kids we weren't allowed them - I didn't have a KFC or McD until I was about 26, and then I couldn't abide it, so steered clear.

Our first fast food restaurant was called Carolls which was how burger king started. Going there was like a treat as seldom did families in our small town spend money on pre-made foods. In fact we had never heard of fast food growing up. We got our first McD's when I was about 15 and again it was a rare occasion to go there. Of course after a few years they became commonplace and used quite often (otherwise they would have gone out of business).

My father was not going to waste hard earned money on fast food when compared to the cost of cooking ourselves (my mother) it was outrageously expensive. I believe a McD's hamburger was around $0.50 at the time.

The sugar we got was from kool-aid. My father would also buy gallon jugs of orange aid concentrate that we mixed with water. Pepsi was a treat and we seldom got more that one a week if that.

We were not poor but in those days parents took care of the business at hand. They didn't use credit cards and were very couscous with money often making double house payments rather than splurge on a luxury.

So, we grew up on home made food that included meats/fish/poultry, vegetables/salads, breads and grains (cereal) and very few sweets.

No, my family is twigs. My dad weighs less than 180 pounds. My mom is very light as well.

Both sides of my family have fast metabolism's I guess.

I am 21. I have had a fast metabolism forever and will probably always have a fast metabolism.

I am thankful for that.

I highly doubt I will get any bigger after 30 or 40. Looking at my parents that would be next to impossible. Unless I started eating cheeseburgers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next 20 years!

I used to eat crap all the time. Fast food cheeseburgers and fries, steaks, sweets, you name it I ate it. Now I eat a much healthier diet albeit not what I would like to. I still have the occasional chocolate bar, I cut out cow and pig completely from my diet, I only eat turkey and chicken sparingly, and I eat a good deal of seafood now.

I made that decision. No one else told me what is good for me. I even tried vegetarianism for a few months last year, but that didn't work out too well. I have blood type O which needs a high protein diet and I was not eating enough beans. Maybe in the future I can do it.

Use common sense as a means of losing weight. I don't think its that hard. Let's see...high fatty foods with a lot of oil, should I eat this? No. High sugar content foods? No. Simple simple stuff. But we Americans love our oil and sugar so I don't see really anyone giving it up anytime soon.

I'll be frank. I work at a natural foods market. I see a lot of obese people. I can attribute much of that to their diet (a lot of meat, carbs, no fiber), a lack of exercise (NONE), and a poor metabolism.

So...If I was overweight and wished to lose...weight, would I change my lifestyle or go about the same things I had in the past? I can safely say that highly obese people do not do anything visibily effecting their weight (other than adding more to it).

I have no problem with obese people, I have many friends on the heavier side. But it is their choice in most instances to continue to be that way.

I never said losing weight was easy either, it is very hard work.

Just as its hard work for me to gain weight. I probably would need to eat 10 lbs of steak a day to gain 1 lb. Its just not going to happen anytime soon.

Even with working out, I'll maybe gain five pounds if that.

Clarified?


Here is a ATS thread I thought was relevant.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 18-7-2007 by biggie smalls]

Nothing to clarify really as I was referring to a percentage of the cross populous regarding gaining weight at an older age. You will obviously not because of your diet but many younger people that can't gain weight are eating fast food and sugar and their metabolism keeps them thin. They will gain weight at an older age on the same diet. I used to be able to eat twice as much in my 20's and maintain the same weight.

As for losing weight, you make it seem so matter of fact. It's an addiction as I've said before and food is the drug. What coke head have you ever seen that has cut down to one line a day and maintained it.

I know that when you don't have the addiction it's hard to really comprehend.

Originally posted by jbondo
I know that when you don't have the addiction it's hard to really comprehend.

That's very true. I can't understand it. I can't understand why anyone would like coc aine either but that's just me.

One of my bosses mentioned that there are people addicted to water. They will drink a gallon of water in a few seconds to get that rush of adrenaline or whatever it is. I can't understand that very well either.

I guess I'm a bit ignorant in the realm of obesity, but I often see it as mostly being their fault. Maybe its not, but I really see nothing done to stop it either.


Well I do have a good friend of mine in this situation. She eats because she can't really stop herself. It makes her feel better. Problem eating I guess its called. And it doesn't help that she's a problem drinker/alcoholic so when she comes back from the bar all hell is let loose.

I'm sorry if I've offended anyone. I can't say I completely understand obese people's situation. I'm simply not obese and I will never be.

Try to enlighten me.

[edit on 18-7-2007 by biggie smalls]

Originally posted by biggie smalls
I guess I'm a bit ignorant in the realm of obesity, but I often see it as mostly being their fault. Maybe its not, but I really see nothing done to stop it either.

Mostly their fault? Please elaborate. Nothing done to stop it? Please elaborate.

I have never had drug or alcohol dependency but a large percentage of addicts tend to have a parent who also has/had a problem.

The coke thing was an illustration. What it means is you don't need coc aine to live but you do need food, so food addicts cant stop eating completely. Imagine if drug addicts had to consume the same drug in lesser quantities to survive. Do you think they could do it?

It would help a great deal if you read the entire thread. For the rest, sorry to repeat myself so much.

Originally posted by jbondo
Mostly their fault? Please elaborate. Nothing done to stop it? Please elaborate.

I have never had drug or alcohol dependency but a large percentage of addicts tend to have a parent who also has/had a problem.

I said maybe its not. I am not obese so I will probably never understand. Until one lives through someone else's shoes it is next to impossible to comprehend.

As I mentioned I work at a natural foods market. A lot of the larger people I see are buying racks of ribs, tons of meat, etc etc. Diet...Not being changed.

I don't know every single overweight person so I can't really say anything about that.

But from what I observe as of recently, actually my whole life is that typically if you are very large you eat a lot.

Whether its a drug or not is irrelevant in my opinion. We send drug addicts to rehab, what makes this any different?

'Nothing' done to stop it is relative. When I say nothing I mean very little visibly.

I have no right to judge, I am just being observant.

It is nice that you can eat without gaining weight.

I am 70 lbs heavier than I was at 28, now being 54. It is only in the past few years that I have had a hard time staying trim. I am a big man, so it doesn't show that much. I am too heavy for my likeing.

What I am saying is that there are a lot of people who do have trouble with over eating. The sad part is that they seem to be compelled to eat, by some unknown source.

Now this is my imagination talking. It is the parasites urging the host to grow larger, so they have room to expand.