3 ms·

> Or, you know, just stop eating so much. It isn't hard and you can do it for free. So funny to hear people who have never struggled with food saying "it's not

> Or, you know, just stop eating so much. It isn't hard and you can do it for free. So funny to hear people who have never struggled with food saying "it's not hard" in the comment section of an article telling you in no uncertain terms that for some people it _is_ hard. It's like straight people sating "it's easy, just don't be gay!" I lost weight and keep it off but my body constantly lies to me about my nutritional needs. I'm not sure I'll ever have a healthy relationship with food.

somenameforme 3y ago
You have to understand what people mean when they say it's not hard. That doesn't mean it's something that can be done effortlessly. Your body isn't lying to you. Our bodies are designed for survival in the wild. They want to not only accumulate as many calories as they can, but then to be extra greedy - using them as sparingly as possible, and tucking away as much as possible for a rainy day when food's not so abundant. It's an incredibly efficient machine, driven by millennia of evolution and refinement. The point of this is that if you eat when your body tells you it wants to eat, you're going to be fat. Everybody who's fit has to deal with this. And this becomes even more true as you get older when your metabolism is going to fall off a cliff while your desire for food will, at most, slightly decline.
- DangitBobby 3y ago
  That's all true, but there's also research that suggests [1] that there is a gene responsible for for the mechanisms that result in satiety, and there are mutations for thia gene that either mean you are always satiated or never are (and probably a spectrum of people in between). There are people who think legitimately think it's easy because it's easy for them, even going so far as to attribute failure to regulate appetite as a moral one. 1. https://archive.is/20190419065429/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/health/genetics-weight-obesity.html https://archive.is/20190419065429/https://www.nytimes.com/20...
  - somenameforme 3y ago
    Absolutely, there are several severe genetic disorders that can completely change the game here. But the issue is that we live in society that went from about 15% obesity rates to > 40% obesity rates in 30 years - and we're on track to sail right on over the majority market soon enough, while these genetic disorders affect a very small percentage of people. Yet now look at the environmental side of things where we've dramatically shifted our view on obesity and its acceptability. There are not only endless mass media articles, like the one you linked, implicitly suggesting to people that their fitness might be out of their control, but there's been a rise in things like 'fit at any size' type models (who have a habit of dying prematurely of cardiac issues), and more. And of course the ever-creeping plate, drink, and everything size, and even an FDA who recommends a 2400 calorie diet for a sedentary mid-aged male [1], which is just crazy out of touch with reality. To say nothing of their decision to do absolutely nothing about the increasingly overwhelming evidence of the dangers of sugar substitutes, the least of which being the increased probability of weight gain from consumption. By contrast one of the only countries to have actually taken major social action against obesity (once they saw it also starting to rise) is Japan. In Japan both employers and local governments are fined for the presence of overweight employees/residents, under a "metabo" law. And they're now the country with the 7th lowest rate of obesity in the world. [1] - https://www.fda.gov/media/112972/download https://www.fda.gov/media/112972/download
    - DangitBobby 3y ago
      It's certainly not "out of their control". I'm not claiming it is, and I'm not claiming that everyone's genes have suddenly changed to make us fatter. I'm saying thinking "it's easy" as the root comment on this chain claims comes from a place of relative advantage that they fail to acknowledge. As I alluded to, I lost weight and have kept it off for about 7 years. Almost 100 pounds. But losing that weight was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do and I don't think I could have if I didn't have so little going on in my life that I could dedicate most of my willpower to it. I know very few people who have managed to do it.
      - somenameforme 3y ago

somenameforme 3y ago

You have to understand what people mean when they say it's not hard. That doesn't mean it's something that can be done effortlessly. Your body isn't lying to you. Our bodies are designed for survival in the wild. They want to not only accumulate as many calories as they can, but then to be extra greedy - using them as sparingly as possible, and tucking away as much as possible for a rainy day when food's not so abundant. It's an incredibly efficient machine, driven by millennia of evolution and refinement. The point of this is that if you eat when your body tells you it wants to eat, you're going to be fat. Everybody who's fit has to deal with this. And this becomes even more true as you get older when your metabolism is going to fall off a cliff while your desire for food will, at most, slightly decline.

DangitBobby 3y ago
That's all true, but there's also research that suggests [1] that there is a gene responsible for for the mechanisms that result in satiety, and there are mutations for thia gene that either mean you are always satiated or never are (and probably a spectrum of people in between). There are people who think legitimately think it's easy because it's easy for them, even going so far as to attribute failure to regulate appetite as a moral one. 1. https://archive.is/20190419065429/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/health/genetics-weight-obesity.html https://archive.is/20190419065429/https://www.nytimes.com/20...
- somenameforme 3y ago
  Absolutely, there are several severe genetic disorders that can completely change the game here. But the issue is that we live in society that went from about 15% obesity rates to > 40% obesity rates in 30 years - and we're on track to sail right on over the majority market soon enough, while these genetic disorders affect a very small percentage of people. Yet now look at the environmental side of things where we've dramatically shifted our view on obesity and its acceptability. There are not only endless mass media articles, like the one you linked, implicitly suggesting to people that their fitness might be out of their control, but there's been a rise in things like 'fit at any size' type models (who have a habit of dying prematurely of cardiac issues), and more. And of course the ever-creeping plate, drink, and everything size, and even an FDA who recommends a 2400 calorie diet for a sedentary mid-aged male [1], which is just crazy out of touch with reality. To say nothing of their decision to do absolutely nothing about the increasingly overwhelming evidence of the dangers of sugar substitutes, the least of which being the increased probability of weight gain from consumption. By contrast one of the only countries to have actually taken major social action against obesity (once they saw it also starting to rise) is Japan. In Japan both employers and local governments are fined for the presence of overweight employees/residents, under a "metabo" law. And they're now the country with the 7th lowest rate of obesity in the world. [1] - https://www.fda.gov/media/112972/download https://www.fda.gov/media/112972/download
  - DangitBobby 3y ago
    It's certainly not "out of their control". I'm not claiming it is, and I'm not claiming that everyone's genes have suddenly changed to make us fatter. I'm saying thinking "it's easy" as the root comment on this chain claims comes from a place of relative advantage that they fail to acknowledge. As I alluded to, I lost weight and have kept it off for about 7 years. Almost 100 pounds. But losing that weight was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do and I don't think I could have if I didn't have so little going on in my life that I could dedicate most of my willpower to it. I know very few people who have managed to do it.
    - somenameforme 3y ago