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Nonsense. Utter rubbish. People are fat because they eat more calories than they burn. The only reason that studies do not reflect this is that they rely large

Nonsense. Utter rubbish. People are fat because they eat more calories than they burn. The only reason that studies do not reflect this is that they rely largely upon self-reporting and people lie.

542458 5y ago
That’s not quite true. Your body can decide to do different things with the calories it gets, including storing them. There appear to be a number of things that influence if and how calories are stored, including the source/type of the calories in question. There’s also evidence that gut micro biome affects our ability to absorb calories and what happens to those calories once absorbed. Furthermore, there’s a large question as to why people eat so many calories. After all, we don’t typically see people drink water until they die. What biological process makes food different, that people are willing to overeat? Saying “people are fat because they eat too many calories” is like saying “that building collapsed because of gravity” - true, but not particularly useful when trying to get to the root of things. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-lab-rats-are-changing-our-view-of-obesity/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-lab-rats-are-...
- thebooktocome 5y ago
  I agree with you, but I think it's too charitable to assume that the goal in this societal conversation is "Getting to the root cause of obesity". Many people would rather ignore any evidence contrary to absolute, individual culpability and commence with the victim-blaming.
bluedays 5y ago
So like… you got some sorts credentials?
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
joe_the_user 5y ago
The article cites the results of a number of studies in which people were direct observed.
hirundo 5y ago
> People are fat because they eat more calories than they burn. That's like saying a building is full because more people entered than exited. True but uninformative.
- lommelun 5y ago
  If a massive industry was baffled as to how buildings could possibly be full, pointing out the reason is very informative. Just because the reason isn’t exhaustive, doesn’t mean that it isn’t the best reason we have. There are massive incentives to keep looking for explanations that are politically convenient, like “it is absolutely not your fault at all that you are fat, we finally found the cause and it’s this environmental factor / pollutant”. Great, I hope we get there, but in the mean while it doesn’t seem crazy to suggest that people are getting fat because high calory foods, alcohol, and snacks have become common, at the same time as everything became automated and lives became mostly sedentary. No one is going to research the correlation between obesity, IQ and impulse control, or publish that “people are getting fat because modern humans are weak willed comfort addicts unable to deal with even the slightest discomfort like not being completely stuffed 24/7”. Maybe it is just that people are eating more calories than they burn, and that’s it? Maybe we should be teaching people that that should eat 1500 calories per day, and if you’re still hungry then deal with it, it’s a slight discomfort that you’ll get used to over a few weeks, not some insurmountable urge that is impossible to control. Maybe people are fat because we’ve made the concept of personal responsibility into a taboo?
  - amanaplanacanal 5y ago
    Then the question becomes why did people start eating more food in the 80's than they did before? What changed in their environment that caused this change in behavior? And how is it that this change is apparently in the whole developed world, and also effects other animals, not just humans?
imtringued 5y ago
The article clearly mentions 3 potential contaminants that affect how much calories your body burns. Just think about a theoretical scenario where you take medicine to kill all your gut bacteria. Those bacteria no longer burn calories from the food you eat.

Nonsense. Utter rubbish. People are fat because they eat more calories than they burn. The only reason that studies do not reflect this is that they rely largely upon self-reporting and people lie.

542458 5y ago

That’s not quite true. Your body can decide to do different things with the calories it gets, including storing them. There appear to be a number of things that influence if and how calories are stored, including the source/type of the calories in question. There’s also evidence that gut micro biome affects our ability to absorb calories and what happens to those calories once absorbed. Furthermore, there’s a large question as to why people eat so many calories. After all, we don’t typically see people drink water until they die. What biological process makes food different, that people are willing to overeat? Saying “people are fat because they eat too many calories” is like saying “that building collapsed because of gravity” - true, but not particularly useful when trying to get to the root of things. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-lab-rats-are-changing-our-view-of-obesity/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-lab-rats-are-...

thebooktocome 5y ago
I agree with you, but I think it's too charitable to assume that the goal in this societal conversation is "Getting to the root cause of obesity". Many people would rather ignore any evidence contrary to absolute, individual culpability and commence with the victim-blaming.

bluedays 5y ago

So like… you got some sorts credentials?

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

joe_the_user 5y ago

The article cites the results of a number of studies in which people were direct observed.

hirundo 5y ago

> People are fat because they eat more calories than they burn. That's like saying a building is full because more people entered than exited. True but uninformative.

lommelun 5y ago
If a massive industry was baffled as to how buildings could possibly be full, pointing out the reason is very informative. Just because the reason isn’t exhaustive, doesn’t mean that it isn’t the best reason we have. There are massive incentives to keep looking for explanations that are politically convenient, like “it is absolutely not your fault at all that you are fat, we finally found the cause and it’s this environmental factor / pollutant”. Great, I hope we get there, but in the mean while it doesn’t seem crazy to suggest that people are getting fat because high calory foods, alcohol, and snacks have become common, at the same time as everything became automated and lives became mostly sedentary. No one is going to research the correlation between obesity, IQ and impulse control, or publish that “people are getting fat because modern humans are weak willed comfort addicts unable to deal with even the slightest discomfort like not being completely stuffed 24/7”. Maybe it is just that people are eating more calories than they burn, and that’s it? Maybe we should be teaching people that that should eat 1500 calories per day, and if you’re still hungry then deal with it, it’s a slight discomfort that you’ll get used to over a few weeks, not some insurmountable urge that is impossible to control. Maybe people are fat because we’ve made the concept of personal responsibility into a taboo?
- amanaplanacanal 5y ago
  Then the question becomes why did people start eating more food in the 80's than they did before? What changed in their environment that caused this change in behavior? And how is it that this change is apparently in the whole developed world, and also effects other animals, not just humans?

imtringued 5y ago

The article clearly mentions 3 potential contaminants that affect how much calories your body burns. Just think about a theoretical scenario where you take medicine to kill all your gut bacteria. Those bacteria no longer burn calories from the food you eat.