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I've kept this article bookmarked, because it's very interesting and well researched: Everything You Know About Obesity is Wrong The author also co-hosts a podcast about weight and health called Maintenance Phase
Quote:
For 60 years, doctors and researchers have known two things that could have improved, or even saved, millions of lives. The first is that diets do not work. Not just paleo or Atkins or Weight Watchers or Goop, but all diets. Since 1959, research has shown that 95 to 98 percent of attempts to lose weight fail and that two-thirds of dieters gain back more than they lost. The reasons are biological and irreversible. As early as 1969, research showed that losing just 3 percent of your body weight resulted in a 17 percent slowdown in your metabolism—a body-wide starvation response that blasts you with hunger hormones and drops your internal temperature until you rise back to your highest weight. Keeping weight off means fighting your body’s energy-regulation system and battling hunger all day, every day, for the rest of your life.
That's not true, though. I lost 40 pounds through intermittent fasting, I currently eat one meal a day...and I feel absolutely no hunger whatsoever. I sometimes forget even to eat that one meal and think about it two or three hours later.
Most people who practice fasting regularly learn the same thing.
I am not going to read through this entire thread, but I am a living embodiment of a chronically overweight person who has dieted many times in her life. I have lost weight even after having a partial hysterectomy in my early forties.
I am witness that a body wants to be a certain size, and will resist getting smaller, though persistent dieting can bring it down. As soon as I stop being vigilant, my body weight goes back up.
20 years ago, DH had multiple bypass surgery. I had to attend a lecture on healthy eating as a part of his rehab program. They stressed eating low fat, low fat, low fat, and low salt. DH took the low fat part to heart and lost an alarming amount of weight in the following few weeks. He had never been overweight to begin with. I was cooking for him, and doing some advising. We were eating the same diet. While he was wasting away, my weight did not change at all.
If I keep my carb consumption low, I will lose, albeit slowly.
I think we two are examples of people whose bodies work differently. IMO, the low carb diet works for many of us, but others might lose weight eating low fat.
However, I will not eliminate eating grain carbs completely. I feel better in general when I eat them in small portions.
Strenuous dieting takes mental and emotional energy. I refuse to do it. I am eating less in general, and have cut back on grains and potatoes. The metformin helps with appetite suppression. I wish I had been prescribed it years ago.
Why do you think they are obese? What is it about their lifestyle that is making them overweight? I agree with you about the blandness of some supermarket food. Tomatoes and apples purchased in supermarkets are practically tasteless but I still purchase them for their nutritional value.
I think they're obese because most, if not all, the foods they purchase and cook come from the same source that fast-foods and other restaurants get their foods - the US food industry. That is the "first cause". It's where the problem stems from.
I am not going to read through this entire thread, but I am a living embodiment of a chronically overweight person who has dieted many times in her life. Strenuous dieting takes mental and emotional energy. I refuse to do it.
I don't blame you. It's a terrible way to live. Previous generations en masse did not have to go on strenuous diets just to remain or achieve a "normal" size. Strenuous dieting is very taxing on people as you've mentioned about the mental and emotional energy it takes. This is a recent phenomenon (in prior generations it was rare to hear of anyone doing this other than models, actors, and people suffering from anorexia) and it only treats the symptom, not the cause.
Yes, most people do add salt and sugar to their food which compounds the problem. Yes, many aren't as physically active as people were in previous generations. Those are reasons why there are a lot of people overweight, but obesity is whole other level.
With so many people in our country obese (42.4% according to CDC.gov 2017-2018 statistics), that means it's systemic. That's almost half the country. They are not all eating at fast food restaurants daily for all their meals, if any. No, this systemic problem is emanating from one common source from which we all are partakers - the US food industry.
With so many people in our country obese (42.4% according to CDC.gov 2017-2018 statistics), that means it's systemic. That's almost half the country. They are not all eating at fast food restaurants regularly, if at all. No, this systemic problem is emanating from one common source from which we all are partakers - the US food industry.
57.6% are not obese. It is all about choices. I don't agree with blaming the US food industry. It is a hand to mouth problem.
Eat less, move more. Portion control.
With so many people in our country obese (42.4% according to CDC.gov 2017-2018 statistics), that means it's systemic. That's almost half the country. They are not all eating at fast food restaurants regularly, if at all. No, this systemic problem is emanating from one common source from which we all are partakers - the US food industry.
At least 42% of people in the country do eat fast food regularly. Which includes school children eating in school cafeterias.
This is something that's stated over and over again and I simply don't understand it. Just because the fast food places are there, doesn't mean you have to eat the food. It almost sounds disrespectful to the people living in the area. It's as if they don't have the capacity to cook their own food and that they will mindlessly go to the fast food restaurants just because they're there.
When I was working I passed by countless fast food restaurants on my commute and it never occurred to me to buy their food just because it was there.
What’s so hard to understand about this? Americans would just rather not have to deal with the time and energy of having to cook their own meals. And then there are those that surprisingly don’t even know how to cook a healthy meal.
Yes, most people do add salt and sugar to their food which compounds the problem. Yes, many aren't as physically active as people were in previous generations. Those are reasons why there are a lot of people overweight, but obesity is whole other level.
With so many people in our country obese (42.4% according to CDC.gov 2017-2018 statistics), that means it's systemic. That's almost half the country. They are not all eating at fast food restaurants daily for all their meals, if any. No, this systemic problem is emanating from one common source from which we all are partakers - the US food industry.
Just because you cook your own food at home doesn’t mean you aren’t over eating.
I am not going to read through this entire thread, but I am a living embodiment of a chronically overweight person who has dieted many times in her life. I have lost weight even after having a partial hysterectomy in my early forties.
I am witness that a body wants to be a certain size, and will resist getting smaller, though persistent dieting can bring it down. As soon as I stop being vigilant, my body weight goes back up.
20 years ago, DH had multiple bypass surgery. I had to attend a lecture on healthy eating as a part of his rehab program. They stressed eating low fat, low fat, low fat, and low salt. DH took the low fat part to heart and lost an alarming amount of weight in the following few weeks. He had never been overweight to begin with. I was cooking for him, and doing some advising. We were eating the same diet. While he was wasting away, my weight did not change at all.
If I keep my carb consumption low, I will lose, albeit slowly.
I think we two are examples of people whose bodies work differently. IMO, the low carb diet works for many of us, but others might lose weight eating low fat.
However, I will not eliminate eating grain carbs completely. I feel better in general when I eat them in small portions.
Strenuous dieting takes mental and emotional energy. I refuse to do it. I am eating less in general, and have cut back on grains and potatoes. The metformin helps with appetite suppression. I wish I had been prescribed it years ago.
There are definitely individuals like yourself where it is exponentially harder to keep the weight off even with diligent eating habits.
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57.6% are not obese. It is all about choices. I don't agree with blaming the US food industry. It is a hand to mouth problem. 
