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I hope this is not an offensive question, and my intention is not to judge anybody's life choices or anything. But I'm just wondering for those of you (or people you know) became extremely obese - like 150+ pounds overweight, what exactly happened to get you there?
Is it metabolism? Are there people who, maybe because they have more muscular frames, able to support the weight better? The reason I ask is because I'm a short guy (5'3") who should weigh about 140 lbs but weighs around 180 lbs. Still though, it seems like in order to exceed 200 lbs for me, I would have to eat more than I am comfortable doing, or move around less than I am comfortable doing. So maybe I have the metabolism and/or body structure to be 30-60 lbs overweight, but not 150 lbs overweight?
Any insight would be appreciated. Again, I hope this is an okay question to ask.
For many as time goes on they slow down on the physical activity but dont reduce amount of food eaten in fact as many get older they have more time on their hands and often the food intake goes up resulting in obese people.
I'm not sure I understand your question about yourself? You said:
Still though, it seems like in order to exceed 200 lbs for me, I would have to eat more than I am comfortable doing, or move around less than I am comfortable doing.
Why would you want to exceed 200 lbs. ??? Of course you would be eating more and moving less. ?
You said:
So maybe I have the metabolism and/or body structure to be 30-60 lbs overweight, but not 150 lbs overweight?
Sounds like maybe you're subconsciously trying to justify staying overweight? Just a thought.
But the answer, I believe, in GENERAL, is that obese people are obese because they eat too much. MOST people have a normal metabolism. I'm 5'0 and 163, and according to those BMI charts I should be 128. That would take some HARD work to get there, ugggh. I'd have to eat only about 1500 calories or less. That is HARD!
Not speaking from personal experience, but from watching reality weight loss tv shows such as The Biggest Loser, it seems that a decent percentage of people who are morbidly obese got that way in a relatively short amount of time (5 years or less) after some type of traumatizing life event. I can't think of any specific examples, but I seem to remember some of these folks saying they started eating to deal with the pain of divorce, death of parent, sibling, spouse or child, rape victim, etc. Of course, many of these folks already had weight problems and eating issues before the event, but eating to deal with (or to avoid dealing with) the traumatizing life event pushed them from being overweight/obese to morbid obesity.
Last edited by patches403; 05-20-2015 at 01:21 PM..
I don't quite understand what you are asking, either...but I have been overweight. Not obese, but overweight. I got that way by allowing the weight to creep on - I'd find my jeans were a bit too snug one day, so I'd wear a larger size after that so I could "feel sloppy" or whatever, rather than making the effort to take off the extra pound or two that I'd picked up. Before long, the larger size that I was wearing for comfort had become my normal size.
I lost the extra weight when I had a knee replacement - was in so much pain that I didn't feel like eating. Now I'm mostly recovered from the operation, and it's a daily challenge to keep my weight down.
I'm not sure I understand your question about yourself? You said:
Still though, it seems like in order to exceed 200 lbs for me, I would have to eat more than I am comfortable doing, or move around less than I am comfortable doing.
Why would you want to exceed 200 lbs. ??? Of course you would be eating more and moving less. ?
You said:
So maybe I have the metabolism and/or body structure to be 30-60 lbs overweight, but not 150 lbs overweight?
Sounds like maybe you're subconsciously trying to justify staying overweight? Just a thought.
But the answer, I believe, in GENERAL, is that obese people are obese because they eat too much. MOST people have a normal metabolism. I'm 5'0 and 163, and according to those BMI charts I should be 128. That would take some HARD work to get there, ugggh. I'd have to eat only about 1500 calories or less. That is HARD!
With a good solid nutritious eating plan you could go as high as 1800 - 2000 a day and still lose weight and that is not starving either.
I think for most people, they get there in one of two ways:
1. Their parents. Parents had no sense of health/well being so they fed their kids crap and more times than not, fed them crap to either shut the kid up from crying, or because they kid really wanted it and they gave in thinking "I just want my child to be happy".
2. Lazyness. Usually this is disguised as some form of traumatic event like breakup, death of loved one, or the oh so convient "My depression meds make me eat and gain weight" etc. but in reality, these are just excuses to cover up the lazy part.
Every single time in my life where I start to gain weight, I can trace the main culprit right back to just flat out being lazy. Too lazy to eat right. Too lazy to workout. Too lazy to wake up early. Too lazy to eat the most important meal of the day - breakfast.
Most of my female friends who it happened to slowly got that way after having children. I think the combination of metabolism change and lifestyle change combined for a double whammy. I also think, despite the contention of many who don't have that burden, some folks get the bad end of the genetic crapshoot making them more prone to their weight set point leaning towards obesity.
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Not speaking from personal experience, but from watching reality weight loss tv shows such as The Biggest Loser, it seems that a decent percentage of people who are morbidly obese got that way in a relatively short amount of time (5 years or less) after some type of traumatizing life event. I can't think of any specific examples, but I seem to remember some of these folks saying they started eating to deal with the pain of divorce, death of parent, sibling, spouse or child, rape victim, etc. Of course, many of these folks already had weight problems and eating issues before the event, but eating to deal with (or to avoid dealing with) the traumatizing life event pushed them from being overweight/obese to morbid obesity.
For me i went from a very physical job to retirement, when working i maintained around 180-190lbs,5 yrs into retirement i'm now a morbidly obese 265lbs on a 5'7" frame.
I'm not sure I understand your question about yourself? You said:
Still though, it seems like in order to exceed 200 lbs for me, I would have to eat more than I am comfortable doing, or move around less than I am comfortable doing.
Why would you want to exceed 200 lbs. ??? Of course you would be eating more and moving less. ?
You said:
So maybe I have the metabolism and/or body structure to be 30-60 lbs overweight, but not 150 lbs overweight?
Sounds like maybe you're subconsciously trying to justify staying overweight? Just a thought.
But the answer, I believe, in GENERAL, is that obese people are obese because they eat too much. MOST people have a normal metabolism. I'm 5'0 and 163, and according to those BMI charts I should be 128. That would take some HARD work to get there, ugggh. I'd have to eat only about 1500 calories or less. That is HARD!
Obviously I don't want to exceed 200 pounds. It would be nice to lose some weight from what I am now.
Also, I'm not justifying staying overweight. But there still is a difference between 60 pounds overweight and 150 pounds overweight, and I was curious how people got there, wondering how much of it is genetics.
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