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I've managed to keep a good amount of weight off for years, but only with vigilance, because even a couple weeks of unrestrained eating can be disastrous. I'm n

I've managed to keep a good amount of weight off for years, but only with vigilance, because even a couple weeks of unrestrained eating can be disastrous. I'm not at my lowest ever weight, that was during COVID, when I got hit with a nice Δ-variant, and lost my appetite for a month before force-feeding myself back to normal. That was the my first experience with truly unhealthy weight loss, and made me realize that while being nice and slim is good in the short term, in truth we aren't so far from the terrifying infectious diseases and famines that plagued humanity even last century, and if you aren't running around all the time desperate for something to eat, you probably don't need to be doing much moving anyway. Thinner people are healthier out of evolutionary necessity, the environment is working against them! It's desperation, all the other benefits of exercise still come to the heavy.

cmrdporcupine 3y ago
Encountering someone with a serious anorexic eating disorder, or watching a loved one with cancer -- who was formerly slim and healthy -- whither away their insufficient fat reserves while under treatment... can put things in an entirely different perspective. My mild obesity doesn't seem so bad now. I'd rather have a little too much and be fine with it... than be psychologically tortured by it, or not have enough in case of health emergency.
- chiefalchemist 3y ago
  In those two case, sure extra weight seems like a positive. But have back problems? Or leg issues? And that extra weight will make you even less mobile. Can't move? That'll get you bed sores and perhaps eventually an infection. The body didn't evolve to carry so much extra weight. You're on the wrong side of history.
  - DiscourseFan 3y ago
    Don't bring history into this! In any case, thousands of years of evolution, boom and bust cycles of metabolism, show that having excess fat stores is very, very useful when you have to go months without regular sustenance. Those are the people we're descended from, not the ones who have "fast" metabolisms. It leads to problems later in life, sure, but not before one reproduces!
    - chiefalchemist 3y ago
      > "Don't bring history into this" Why? How we came to be impacts how we deal with today. This is one of the problems...denial. That is, denial that where we came from has little to do with where we are. > "when you have to go months without regular sustenance" And this happens how often in modern times? Most people can't skip a meal, let alone go a couple of days or more without eating.
      - DiscourseFan 3y ago
        Its not happening now, but I don't think its reasonable to expect that food shortages won't be a norm in the coming years if there isn't serious political change in the world.
  - watwut 3y ago
    All of those are lesser problems then eating disorder or hunger. And eating disorders are on the rise, particularly among young people.

cmrdporcupine 3y ago

Encountering someone with a serious anorexic eating disorder, or watching a loved one with cancer -- who was formerly slim and healthy -- whither away their insufficient fat reserves while under treatment... can put things in an entirely different perspective. My mild obesity doesn't seem so bad now. I'd rather have a little too much and be fine with it... than be psychologically tortured by it, or not have enough in case of health emergency.

chiefalchemist 3y ago
In those two case, sure extra weight seems like a positive. But have back problems? Or leg issues? And that extra weight will make you even less mobile. Can't move? That'll get you bed sores and perhaps eventually an infection. The body didn't evolve to carry so much extra weight. You're on the wrong side of history.
- DiscourseFan 3y ago
  Don't bring history into this! In any case, thousands of years of evolution, boom and bust cycles of metabolism, show that having excess fat stores is very, very useful when you have to go months without regular sustenance. Those are the people we're descended from, not the ones who have "fast" metabolisms. It leads to problems later in life, sure, but not before one reproduces!
  - chiefalchemist 3y ago
    > "Don't bring history into this" Why? How we came to be impacts how we deal with today. This is one of the problems...denial. That is, denial that where we came from has little to do with where we are. > "when you have to go months without regular sustenance" And this happens how often in modern times? Most people can't skip a meal, let alone go a couple of days or more without eating.
    - DiscourseFan 3y ago
      Its not happening now, but I don't think its reasonable to expect that food shortages won't be a norm in the coming years if there isn't serious political change in the world.
- watwut 3y ago
  All of those are lesser problems then eating disorder or hunger. And eating disorders are on the rise, particularly among young people.