|
Author: Matt 244/233/165
Date: 07-01-03 08:20
Hi all.
I've been wondering, for a long time, what causes people to be overweight, or to become obese.
This may seem like a 'duh, stupid' kind of question, but think about it for a second.
Some people eat "bad" foods all the time, and way too many of them, and stay thin and good looking for many, many years. Other people share those same bad eating habits, and balloon to 200 to 300 to 400 pounds.
This, to me, signals a crucial difference that lies not with the food or its intake, but with the genetic make-up of the individual, and their metabolism rate.
And this has nothing to do with a person's *health*. Please don't think that it does. Just because is thin and LOOKS healthy, doesn't mean a thing. And I think that too many of us get caught up in the looks issue more than the health issue (myself included).
I've known about 6 - 7 people who've died from heart attacks, and one who had one and lived. Only *one* of those fatalities was overweight or obese. The others were all of a 'normal weight'. One of them had a heart defect which killed them. The rest? People getting into their 40s and 50s, who'd had years of bad eating habits. That was the only common factor. Not race, not location. Just approximate ages and eating habits. The one who survived his heart attack was also thin. But in his 50s, and guilty of bad eating habits his whole life, too.
Understand that I am, in no way, giving some sort of excuse for those of us who are overweight or obese to continue our bad eating habits. Quite the contrary.
I guess I've just grown a little tired of many people who are within their "normal weight range" telling those who are not that *they* have the problem, and *they* need to do something about it.
10 years ago, before I went on my big diet, I was sitting in the break room of where I worked, and this co-worker (thin guy) was sitting across from me, eating a candy bar. I had just gotten a bag of chips, a candy bar, and a soda from the vending machine, and sat down across from him. We were talking amiably enough for a few minutes, until he offered-up, "Y'know, you should really watch what you eat. That stuff isn't good for you." I looked at him, surprised at his rudeness, and said, "Well, you're eating a candy bar, so what are you talking about?" The guy replied, "Yeah, but look at me, and then look at you." i.e. 'You're fat, and I'm not, therefore it is ok for me to eat whatever I choose.'
WRONG.
I just want thinner, 'normal weight' people to stop and realize this the next time they're out to eat, and see an overweight person throwing down a slab of ribs (or whatever), and think to themselves: "Man, they're disgusting. Look at what they're doing to themselves." And, I *know* there are people out there who think that. Instead, why don't they think to themselves: "What am *I* putting into my body? What am *I* eating? Am *I* healthy? How is my heart faring? Should I learn to eat better, myself?"
Being overweight and obese are serious health problems. But being thin, yet eating whatever you want, simply because of your metabolism, is *ALSO* a serious health issue.
And I would rather not lose any more friends or family to heart attacks before people wake-up and find that out.
*sigh*
Sorry for ranting. I just felt like I had to get that off my chest.
Rant over.
|
|
Reply To This Message
|
|
Author: Ken 324/317/315...12 days
Date: 07-01-03 08:21
You are right. You can be a perfect weight and have cholesteral(sp) the roof.
That's why I fully support checkups and plenty of them
|
|
Reply To This Message
|
|
Author: Mandy 199/182/145
Date: 07-01-03 08:32
Ya know Matt, I have never thought of it that way!! I have a friend who is under 5' and she weighs like 98 lbs but she is always eating junk food. Never thought that I could actually be healthier because of the daily choices I make with food and exercise. Not saying that I am healthier (don't know for sure), just healther lifestyle.
Thanks for that eye opener!!
Mandy
|
|
Reply To This Message
|
|
Author: Marie clair 134/133/120
Date: 07-01-03 08:35
i agree i am going for a check up next week
not so long ago a cousin of my father was diagnoised with a serious heart condition which is heridtory (sorry i can not spell for toffee) so all the living relatives were tested for the gene. fortunatly i do not have that defective gene but it made me think it was about time i started to look at what i eat and the way i live my life. To become healthier is my ultimate goal if i lose a few pounds a long the way well i suppose that is a bonus (but a very good bonus)
|
|
Reply To This Message
|
|
Author: Renee 278/262/179
Date: 07-01-03 09:23
It is so true that you can be overweight and be healthier than someone who is in the normal range. I can do 10 times the cardio that some of the girls at my gym can do and they are really thin and gorgeous..........They have commented on the fact that they get out of breath way before I do. I think that is because I have been on the treadmill for a solid year of my life. I like to park at the end of the parking lot at the grocery store and race my friend back to the car.........it is uphill and she almost passes out before we get halfway! (she is in normal range and she is a smoker) I run all the way up and I am not even out of breath at all...........THAT makes me feel good. I try to do the same with hubby, BUT he is in way better shape than I am so he wins every time. I have great cholesterol levels every time...from 160 - 165, my blood pressure is 118/78 and my doc says that my triglyderides (SP?) are the best he has ever seen, so I guess it is somewhat the genes also! I'll be quiet now!!!!! WHEW! LOL
|
|
Reply To This Message
|
|
Author: BFL Michelle 139/130/105
Date: 07-01-03 09:36
I agree that skinny people are sometimes no more healthy than an overweight person, in my experience when I was thinner like in the 90's, I was also more active. I danced alot - country and western. So I think that people that appear to eat more and stay skinny - either are not eating as much as some think and or they are expending more energy. Calories in versus calories out. I don't believe genetics play that big of a role. Just my opinion and I could be wrong. Maybe Ken will find a study to post. I'm very interested in this though. My build is like my mother's side and all are short and fat.
|
|
Reply To This Message
|
|
Author: Jennifer 242/228/175?
Date: 07-01-03 09:38
You do know that scientists are claiming to have found the "fat gene", which I also believe in because it can't just be hereditary. Out of 11 children in my family 3 of us are obese, the rest were thin growing up and now their unhealthy lifestyles are catching up with them so they are fighting it. My mom was obese because of diabetes, my dad was big like pretty much his whole family. Has anyone taken psychology? I did and I found it very interesting that they did a study about people's eating habits. The study went something like this; people who tested to be internals (mostly thin) were invited to a party where food would be served and even with the aromas their physiological aspects didn't change. Then the externals were invited to a party and with the smell of food they started to make more saliva, literally drooling. The externals are the ones who eat because there is food out and internals eat because they are hungry. Interesting huh?
|
|
Reply To This Message
|
|
Author: Matt 244/233/165
Date: 07-01-03 10:37
Hi Jennifer,
Not to nitpick, but you wrote:
You do know that scientists are claiming to have found the "fat gene", which I also believe in because it can't just be hereditary.
Um, a gene would make it hereditary. Some families would have it, and be more like to pass it on down the line. Hence, hereditary.
Also, another plus for the hereditary/genetic angle, is the studies they have done with adoption households. If a household of overweight people who have bad eating habits adopts a 'normal range' child who comes from a family that tends to be thinner, they've found that the adopted child will tend to stay thin in the new 'overweight' household. This happens even though the child acclimates (sp?) to the families poor eating habits.
Another case-in-point (among many). I have a friend who is 26 years old, tall (a little over 6'), and is sinewy and muscular. He does not, nor has he ever, lifted weights, been to a gym, gone running, swimming, or any other sorts of fitness exercises. In fact, it can be pretty well said that me, with my two days a week of basketball, am more active than he is. He drives around for his job, then comes home, and vegges infront of the TV or the computer, snacks on all sorts of bad foods, and when we go to restaurants, eats whatever "bad" stuff is on the menu.
Oh, and did I mention that he can down the beer better than many that I know?
Yet, as I mentioned at the beginning, he is quite toned and muscular. It's just a natural, inherited thing. His dad was this way -- exactly -- until he hit 50. After that, he developed a gut. No eating habits changed, no lifestyle changes. It's just that, naturally, his metablism slowed down, and age caught up with him. All the bad eating choices and alcohol intake came back to haunt him. He also started having bad chest pains, and had to go to a cardiologist. Right now, they've got him on a strict diet.
I wish my friend would look at this, and see that, just because he's young, handsome, and in externally great shape, that his actions now won't came back to him bite him later.
I guess that's what my whole post was about.
|
|
Reply To This Message
|
|
Author: Doug 272/158/170
Date: 07-01-03 16:17
I think the idea that some people can eat 5000 Calories/day, never exercise and not gain weight is a myth. Most people convert food into energy with about the same efficiency.
Asking a skinny person how many calories a day they eat is like asking Bill Gates how much a quart of milk costs. They do not know, they do not need to know and it would be a waste of time for them to find out. A lot of skinny people do almost all their eating with other people around, fat people tend to do the opposite. When I tell skinny people how much I used to eat they are shocked, when a skinny person says they eat "a lot" it is usually a lot less than what I considered normal.
Heredity and genes do play a significant role. But the studies I have seen suggest that the main role they play is whether you feel satisfied after eating a reasonable amount of food or want to eat until you burst.
|
|
Reply To This Message
|
|
Click here
for a great cookbook
with quick & healthy
recipes
Weight Lifting
For Absolute Beginners:
Illustrated Guide
CLICK HERE
|
