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cletus, there's tons of research to suggest that simply being overweight perpetuates being overweight because in the vast majority of individuals, being overwei

cletus, there's tons of research to suggest that simply being overweight perpetuates being overweight because in the vast majority of individuals, being overweight in the first place triggers all kind of "physiological problems" -- such as insulin problems (Syndrome X), liver problems (non-alcoholic enlargement), hormonal problems, uterine problems (PCOS), etc., which all conspire to make you hungrier, fatter and actively prevent you from losing weight (BEYOND just making you hungrier). And that is without even considering "set point theory" as described by the research of Seth Roberts. Once you gain weight, you are basically screwed. We're not meant to live in such abundance.

yummyfajitas 15y ago
Actually, the standard theories ("scientific consensus", if you go for that sort of thing) suggest that as you gain weight, the rate at which you burn calories increases. I.e., fat takes calories to maintain. This causes bodyweight to be a mean-reverting random walk and explains why most individuals maintain a stable weight which increases slowly through their lives. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris-Benedict_equation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris-Benedict_equation It's not by any means perfect, but it's a good approximation for most individuals.