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And I suppose, since you've read Taubes, you believe it's all due to carbs.

• nitrogen 12y ago
  No, I haven't read Taubes, I just have (and have had) friends across the entire spectrum of weight, height, fitness, etc. Some people can eat anything they want (including massive amounts of soda) and maintain a visible six pack with minimal exercise. Others in the same age range may have similar or better diets and struggle just to stay below 250lbs. That alone suggests there's more to obesity than caloric willpower.
  • jacques_chester 12y ago
    Typically, when controlled studies are done on this, "naturally skinny" people systematically over-estimate their dietary calories and "naturally fat" people systematically under-estimate. Under controlled conditions there is variation, but it is actually pretty modest. And it can be swamped by a habit of buying one Starbucks sugarcreamacino per day.
    • nitrogen 12y ago
      So the question isn't how do we get people to eat less food and exercise more, it's how do we get them to want less food and want to exercise? How can we turn the overestimators into underestimators?
      • jacques_chester 12y ago
        This is where I think the change in environment is important. Food is cheaper, more easily available and calorically denser. Physical activity is down. Sleep quality and quantity have diminished. Psychologists have done a lot of work on motivations, but mostly focusing on pathological cases which -- by their nature -- are the most difficult and irregular.