Question about being overweight

[tricky_tree]

It's called low metabolism. It's not able to be helped.

There are plenty of ways to fire up a metabolism, if our ancestors were in the same shape a lot of us are now, we'd have died out millenia ago. Since they are where our genes originate, it is extremely unlikely that every single person that claims to have a genetic abnormality causing obesity actually has one. Maybe 2-5% of the population

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

Because the payoff would be even more attention from females I'm not interested in.

 

[The Hairminator]

Slow metabolism is actually a valuable gentic trait when there is not enough food around. You starve to death slower, and you are better at storing fat, and you consume less energy while in "rest mode".

In today's western society, however, fast metabolism is actually the most evolutionistic successful trait, seeing today's beauty ideal of thin persons, which mean slim people (often fast metabolism) gets to procreate more, or all in all have more 'beautiful' and successful offspring when on the stoneage they would be the first ones to go during hunger periods, and generally look more unhealthy and freeze because they had too little body fat. Slow metabolism today, however, often leads to obesity or overweight, which in turn leads to heart conditions and diabetes.

 

[Koztah]

It depends, a big bag of pasta and a few cans of tuna are about £5, then a few chicken fillets, bag of rice, maybe a steak, a few other sides. A weeks shopping for £30-35

Problem being that pasta is all carbs, i.e. all sugars which gets digested first. Your blood stream can only handle so many grams of carbs/sugars at a time, so the rest gets converted to fat. Whole wheat pasta that contains insoluble fibre is another story. Insoluble fibre is great, you crap it right out but while your body is trying to digest it you feel full, so you don't eat as much.

For many people, simply replacing soda with diet soda and bleached, processed grain with whole grains (containing a majority of insoluble fibre!) can make a big difference.

 

[-Samurai-]

One of the basic conventions of our society is that when people have a flaw, even if it is clearly visible, we don't point it out to them. It's not polite to tell stupid people that they're stupid, ugly people that they're ugly, or fat people that they're fat. So it's understandable that your girlfriend doesn't want to be impolite to her friend by suggesting she take up a weight loss program.

It's okay to openly talk about people being skinny. Why the double standard?

Being skinny isn't considered a flaw unless you're soo skinny that you're obviously unhealthy. That falls into one of those things people don't point out.

 

[tricky_tree]

snip.

What I said about ancestors was mainly for those with the generic 'it's my genes' quotes

Problem being that pasta is all carbs, i.e. all sugars which gets digested first. Your blood stream can only handle so many grams of carbs/sugars at a time, so the rest gets converted to fat. Whole wheat pasta that contains insoluble fibre is another story. Insoluble fibre is great, you crap it right out but while your body is trying to digest it you feel full, so you don't eat as much.

For many people, simply replacing soda with diet soda and bleached, processed grain with whole grains (containing a majority of insoluble fibre!) can make a big difference.

Unless you're eating a stupid amount of pasta, this isn't really a problem at all.

 

[Vankraken]

Most people become addicted to the level of fat, sugar, carbs, cholesterol, salt, etc. that they normally intake. Most of those diets seem to make sense to cut that stuff out but its the same effectiveness as telling a smoker to go cold turkey. Lifestyle changes are very hard to make because your body is adjusted to the way you live and everything you change something your body is trying to play catchup. Adjustments such as diet changes can really tax your ability to function and often times during the adjustment your depriving yourself the normal amount of stuff you eat so you go through both withdrawal and feelings of hunger and starvation which can be a heavy burden for someone to get through and takes a very strong minded person to make that kind of rapid change.
Being fat is basically a bi product of being addicted to unhealthy foods, having a inactive lifestyle, and consuming more energy than your metabolism is able to handle. Gotta fix all of these problems to make any real change in your weight.

 

[Sacman]

It's a self esteem problem for me. It's like asking, "why can't I talk to people I don't know?", "why don't I go out and make friends?", or "why can't I ask out a girl that obviously likes me?" it all falls back on because I'm shit...

 

[Koztah]

Unless you're eating a stupid amount of pasta, this isn't really a problem at all.

Providing instant energy when stored energy that needs to go is a problem. The thread is about people losing fat (losing 'weight' is a misnomer), not people with a respectable BMI holding onto it. Also, unless the person is eating stupid amounts of pasta, the diet that you suggested is going to leave them hungry, and hungry people eat. Since they're going to eat that stupid amount anyway, it may as well go right through them and end up in the sewer.

Additionally, losing fat is foremost about habit. If someone eats a lot of bread, for example, they're not going to be able stop from one week to the next. Swapping that bread for whole grain that's nearly as soft but that ends up in the toilet and makes them feel fuller will have far more success than having them try to completely change their diet. Small changes are easier to accept and implement than large ones, and you can build on them.

 

[Oilerfan92]

Im overweight, but what i hate most is how out of shape i am.

My issue is that im not in a situation where i can do much. Im broke, no job, the people im around regularly are just as bad as me.

But its 3 major things

1. Im just not motivated. Im home alone most of the day and im not a very motivated person. Im just to much of a follower. I need someone to get me in gear. Also, im home pretty much all day. Whats the point ? Maybe if i got a GF or hung out with people more id worry bout getting in shape, but aside from health reasons, who am i gonna impress ? John Marston and the Cincinati Bengals.

2. I dont know how. When i do get to the gym i stand around for a bit, then ride the bike for 25-30 minutes. Then switch over to a somewhat different bike for 20-25 minutes, then go home. I just dont know how to work out. I dont want to lose some weight, get in decent shape, and not have to worry bout health problems later.

3. Bigger/ other problems. I have no money, so when i get a job thats going to take up ALOT of time, plus ill be tired alot depending on where i work. Also, im emotionally not in a good place right now, i recently graduated High School, and with no plans for further schooling for atleast a year ive just been sitting around, and to put it bluntly i get lonely, and when i get lonely i get upset and paranoid. And when i feel upset i have little to no interest in working out.


And yes, im realizing im making excuses. But deep down i want to be better.

 

[Count Igor]

Maybe they are.
You can't expect them to lose it over night, can you? Maybe they're getting it down slowly.
I know that that's what I'm doing, compare me now to a few years ago, HUGE difference. But I'm still pretty fat.
Sometimes though, you might get depressed, have a shitty day, or life, and need something to eat fast, so you grab the nearest thing, which happens to be a big pile of chocolate.
Think of it as a graph, going down slowly, sometimes leveling out during lazy days, and going up during the shitty days, where you just eat some stuff.

What I really don't get are the withdrawel sypmtoms.
I mean, come on, you've go the will power to start losing somne weight, now you're getting all freaked out by it?
(If any of you watch Glee, you'll see a pretty funny and ridiculous example of it. Massive girl stops eating chocolate. One day later, she's seeing people as food)

And now onto the self confidence thing. About what someone said earlier on, you might get embarrassed about "jiggling" about while running.
Yeah, it stinks, and feels horrible. But when I started off losing weight, and was jiggling like mad, people actually said "Well done" when I passed them. It started to get a lot easier after that.

 

[ShrooM_DoughKiD]

Some people are lazy. Simple as that really.

This

 

[ottenni]

Well for starters being fit is not a state, its a lifestyle. And its a very difficult lifestyle for some people to maintain. Exercise can be both time consuming and boring for some people. Not to mention the fact that for many people the pain that can accompany is a huge turn off.

Secondly food is AWESOME. I'm sure you know that, but if you don't it really is. And eating healthy can be difficult when there is so much good food that isn't healthy. Like cake.

And thirdly, and this might sound like i'm repeating myself, it takes a long time to loose weight (at least healthily). Especially if you are very overweight or obese.

There are probably more reason but they have probably all been mentioned already.

 

[AvsJoe]

I lost about 50lbs about two years ago and have been yo-yoing ever since. I lose 10, I gain 20, I lose 15, I gain 10, I lose 10, I gain 10, and so on... I am currently 25lbs larger than my record low. If I would only stop binge snacking in front of this screen I'd be a lot more successful.

 

[tassyk]

I think it's an issue of priorities. It's like, well yeah, I want to go for a run to be thin and feel more attractive |--this much--|, but I want to sit on my computer and eat another slice of cake |-------this much-------|. Probably sounds harsh but that's how I think about it.

It's also harder for someone who is already bigger to lose weight. Two reasons are because the body actually gets better at storing fat the fatter you get, which is unfair. Secondly is it requires a lot more effort for the 100kg guy to go for a run than the 70kg guy, simply because the 100kg guy has another 30kg to carry.

OP, it's probably best not to interfere with this girl's life; but then there are ways of encouraging her without saying "Put down the muffin and go for a run!" Get a group of friends together for some kind of exerciseful activity every Tuesday night. Or mention how X person just lost some weight by sticking to Y diet or doing Z exercise. This is what finally motivated me to do something about my weight - a friend of mine dropped 15kgs on a diet, and she looked fantastic. So I investigated and tried it myself and have since lost 10kgs. (I am doing a low carb diet, but a sustainable one, not a fad one. So far it is sustainable anyway ).

 

[tricky_tree]

It's called low metabolism. It's not able to be helped.

There are plenty of ways to fire up a metabolism, if our ancestors were in the same shape a lot of us are now, we'd have died out millenia ago. Since they are where our genes originate, it is extremely unlikely that every single person that claims to have a genetic abnormality causing obesity actually has one. Maybe 2-5% of the population

Well, perhaps if those ways to fire up a metabolism were well known (I'd like to hear them), then it might help. Also, low metabolism =/= genetic abnormality.

Drinking the recommended amount of water, certain foods, exercise, all these and many more tips are readily available on google.

 

[tricky_tree]

Unless you're eating a stupid amount of pasta, this isn't really a problem at all.

Providing instant energy when stored energy that needs to go is a problem. The thread is about people losing fat (losing 'weight' is a misnomer), not people with a respectable BMI holding onto it. Also, unless the person is eating stupid amounts of pasta, the diet that you suggested is going to leave them hungry, and hungry people eat. Since they're going to eat that stupid amount anyway, it may as well go right through them and end up in the sewer.

Additionally, losing fat is foremost about habit. If someone eats a lot of bread, for example, they're not going to be able stop from one week to the next. Swapping that bread for whole grain that's nearly as soft but that ends up in the toilet and makes them feel fuller will have far more success than having them try to completely change their diet. Small changes are easier to accept and implement than large ones, and you can build on them.

I'm not a nutritionist, far from it, but I thought the carbs in pasta were slow-release, unlike glucose or fructose?
Also carbs are important in a diet no matter what size or shape, the fat may be there to burn, but it is not readily accesible is it? I could be wrong about this, like I said I am no expert, just giving tips that worked for me, I was fat and now I have gone down to a respectable 9% body fat

 

[Pariah87]

As a rather overweight person who absolutely despises fat (I wonder what my self esteem level must be?), I have to say for the most part trying to lose a large amount of weight is like taking everything you've ever known over the last 20 odd years and starting again from scratch.

When you eat, smoke, drink or do anything which gives you a good feeling (regardless of health risks) endorphines get released which is the brains way of rewarding you with good feelings for satisfying one of the bodies needs. If you eat alot, or the wrong stuff, the levels of endorphines released is higher than normal, so your body gets used to, which means you don't get the good feeling or high. As a result, you eat more and more to get that high again. Like with giving up any addiction, your brain begins to throw itself into turmoil when those levels start to drop, you feel worse than you could ever feel after a massive binge.

You could say the same high can be achieved by doing exercise, which is true if you're fit and healthy. Working out can actually be dangerous if you're overweight, the brain realises this and so you get pain, extreme fatigue, you sweat like a pedophile in a daycare center. A physically fit person can have the same thing happen if they push themselves too hard, but it takes alot less for an unhealthy person to reach that point.

So you're asking people, for the sake of looking good and maybe living a little longer, to go through withdrawals that bring them down further, whilst changing a lifestyle they have known for years, which also takes away their comfort blanket, their coping mechanism. Their brain will pull them back at every oppertunity, playing on their weakness to get the self induced chemical rush it has become used to over years and years of the wrong lifestyle.

To give you some idea, I have lost 5 stone (70lbs) over the past couple of years and I still have another 10 stone (140lbs) to lose before I get to a reasonable size for my height.