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OP, people can speed up their metabolism by building lean muscle mass. That significantly facilitates weight loss. People can lose weight and trim up if they want; they have to really work up their determination, and it can be done.
There are medical conditions and medications that cause people to be overweight where you really can't do anything about it. But I don't agree that most obesity can't be cured. I think most people who are obese just eat too much and/or exercise too little. And it doesn't help that, unlike our ancestors, we aren't busy just in everyday life.
Our ancestors had to be active to survive. They had to actively participate in keeping the home/family running, without home builders and grocery stores and household conveniences we have now. That meant a lot of physical labor.
Now we are largely sedentary other than exercise we get on purpose. It would be so much easier if the exercise were just part of your everyday life.
If I want to lose weight and not exercise, I have to cut back to about 850 to 1000 calories a day to see any kind of progress. That's partly because I'm short/small and have a sedentary job. If I want to exercise, I can eat more than that. And I really can't go over 1500 calories a day with no exercise and maintain my weight. If I eat more than that and don't exercise, I will gain weight.
I know other people have different metabolisms, but I have found the above to be true for me.
I eat healthy. Roughly 2000 calories a day and about 2500 during the weekends. I work out 3 times a week and currently weight roughly 72-73kg. And like most, I agree that good diet and exercise can allow for amazing body transformations for most people.
However, when it comes to obese individuals I think this meme of "just eat less move more" is actually bull****.
You may think that, but you're still wrong.
I know several formerly obese people. They said they tried multiple types of diets over the years, exercise, and nothing worked for them. Nothing... except until they got lap band surgery, which FORCES them to limit their food intake.
And guess what? Just like magic, they aren't obese anymore. That was all they needed, was to limit how much they actually ate. All the exercise in the world won't help if you're simply eating too much for your body to handle.
I know several formerly obese people. They said they tried multiple types of diets over the years, exercise, and nothing worked for them. Nothing... except until they got lap band surgery, which FORCES them to limit their food intake.
And guess what? Just like magic, they aren't obese anymore. That was all they needed, was to limit how much they actually ate. All the exercise in the world won't help if you're simply eating too much for your body to handle.
"Adjustable gastric banding achieves only modest weight loss, and even that benefit deteriorates over time in most patients. Edo Aarts, MD, reported at the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery meeting that five years after surgery, about two thirds of patients maintained 25% excess weight loss. At 10 years the success rate dropped to less than a third (31%). Using 40% excess weight loss as the standard, resulted in a five-year success rate of about 50%, which declined to 20% at 10 years."
I eat healthy. Roughly 2000 calories a day and about 2500 during the weekends. I work out 3 times a week and currently weight roughly 72-73kg. And like most, I agree that good diet and exercise can allow for amazing body transformations for most people.
However, when it comes to obese individuals I think this meme of "just eat less move more" is actually bull****.
I use to believe that as well before I started working out, but after I started educating myself about the human body and how it treats/responds to nutrition, I am now much more sceptical about the idea that obese people are merely obese because they can't change their lifestyle, and believe that many (I said MANY, not all) of their claims about how they can't lose weight might actually be valid. The reason I believe this is because of the fallowing facts (which most people don't know about or understand):
1. Metabolism.
How fast your body burns energy/fat changes depending on how much you eat. If start eating less than before you lose weight for a while, but then your body adapts and starts slowing down your metabolism making weight/fat loss harder. Your body does this to protect you from starvation (it's not like your body cares you are trying to get abs, it just wants you to live). This means the typical argument of "your body can't create energy out of nothing" isn't as valid as it sounds, because by eating less your body will start spending less energy to begin with.
2. Every time you get new fat you did not have before your body generates new fat cells.
When you get rid of fat you lose some fat but your fat cells will not go away. Ever. Your fat cells allow your body to remember your max bodyfat percentage you have ever obtained so that it can more easily obtain it again in the future should you increase your caloric intake. Again, this is a survival mechanic.
3. Your body adapts to the manner in which you live.
Calories in, and calories out. That's how it works, right? No it doesn't. Your body is a living machine that spends the energy you give it depending on what it believes it should be used for. If a person has been very active for most of it's life then your body will adapt to that fact and is more likely to invest calories into muscle building instead of converting them into fat. In a similar manner, if somebody has been obese and inactive since they were small your body will slowly start defaulting into just converting everything into fat because it sees no reason to do anything else. The more active or obese the person is the greater this effect will be.
The point being:
While none of what I said above makes it impossible for "normal fat people" (individuals who are merely fat rather than disgustingly obese) to get back down to normal weight, for individuals who have obtained extreme levels of bodyfat and maintained it for long periods of time, the damage they have caused to their body mechanics via accumulation of large amounts of fat cells, slow metabolism, and the obtaining of a body behaviour that defaults to storing fat rather than building muscle, it is very possible that they will never be able to get back down to normal bodyfat again.
That doesn't mean they can't lose weight. But there is a big difference between losing weight and actually going back to normal. If a 250kg person loses 70kg, that's a lot of lost weight, but the person would still be obese. Things like genetics no doubt play a role, as some obese people might be luckier than others. But generally speaking, I think that for many people obesity might not be something they will ever be able to properly get rid off.
A special note:
Note this doesn't mean obese people aren't to blame for their condition. It's still their fault they got obese in the first place. Also note that nothing of what I said should be considered as an excuse to not try and lose weight. There is also a difference between merely being pretty fat and having high levels of obesity.
The reason I felt the need to create this thread is that I don't like the elitism coming from the fitness community which heavily promotes the idea that obese people are only lazy. I mean don't get me wrong, MOST of them ARE lazy. But there is more to it then that.
Hope this information was helpful and informative
EDIT: Honestly I think this thread should be stickied.
I like how you give all this interesting evidence and then just basically nullify it all with that last bit about how the fatty fats are to blame anyway, they did it to themselves, no mercy, crucify them.
I've known people who had such slow metabolisma, that they literally had to be malnourished in order to lose weight. Eating enough to get their essential nutrient, of nutrient dense food, meant weight gain.
If people can be naturally skinny (like most models are), people can be naturally fat.
I eat healthy. Roughly 2000 calories a day and about 2500 during the weekends. I work out 3 times a week and currently weight roughly 72-73kg. And like most, I agree that good diet and exercise can allow for amazing body transformations for most people.
However, when it comes to obese individuals I think this meme of "just eat less move more" is actually bull****.
I use to believe that as well before I started working out, but after I started educating myself about the human body and how it treats/responds to nutrition, I am now much more sceptical about the idea that obese people are merely obese because they can't change their lifestyle, and believe that many (I said MANY, not all) of their claims about how they can't lose weight might actually be valid. The reason I believe this is because of the fallowing facts (which most people don't know about or understand):
1. Metabolism.
How fast your body burns energy/fat changes depending on how much you eat. If start eating less than before you lose weight for a while, but then your body adapts and starts slowing down your metabolism making weight/fat loss harder. Your body does this to protect you from starvation (it's not like your body cares you are trying to get abs, it just wants you to live). This means the typical argument of "your body can't create energy out of nothing" isn't as valid as it sounds, because by eating less your body will start spending less energy to begin with.
2. Every time you get new fat you did not have before your body generates new fat cells.
When you get rid of fat you lose some fat but your fat cells will not go away. Ever. Your fat cells allow your body to remember your max bodyfat percentage you have ever obtained so that it can more easily obtain it again in the future should you increase your caloric intake. Again, this is a survival mechanic.
3. Your body adapts to the manner in which you live.
Calories in, and calories out. That's how it works, right? No it doesn't. Your body is a living machine that spends the energy you give it depending on what it believes it should be used for. If a person has been very active for most of it's life then your body will adapt to that fact and is more likely to invest calories into muscle building instead of converting them into fat. In a similar manner, if somebody has been obese and inactive since they were small your body will slowly start defaulting into just converting everything into fat because it sees no reason to do anything else. The more active or obese the person is the greater this effect will be.
The point being:
While none of what I said above makes it impossible for "normal fat people" (individuals who are merely fat rather than disgustingly obese) to get back down to normal weight, for individuals who have obtained extreme levels of bodyfat and maintained it for long periods of time, the damage they have caused to their body mechanics via accumulation of large amounts of fat cells, slow metabolism, and the obtaining of a body behaviour that defaults to storing fat rather than building muscle, it is very possible that they will never be able to get back down to normal bodyfat again.
That doesn't mean they can't lose weight. But there is a big difference between losing weight and actually going back to normal. If a 250kg person loses 70kg, that's a lot of lost weight, but the person would still be obese. Things like genetics no doubt play a role, as some obese people might be luckier than others. But generally speaking, I think that for many people obesity might not be something they will ever be able to properly get rid off.
A special note:
Note this doesn't mean obese people aren't to blame for their condition. It's still their fault they got obese in the first place. Also note that nothing of what I said should be considered as an excuse to not try and lose weight. There is also a difference between merely being pretty fat and having high levels of obesity.
The reason I felt the need to create this thread is that I don't like the elitism coming from the fitness community which heavily promotes the idea that obese people are only lazy. I mean don't get me wrong, MOST of them ARE lazy. But there is more to it then that.
Hope this information was helpful and informative
EDIT: Honestly I think this thread should be stickied.
BTW my husband is 6 foot 3 and 144 lbs and NEVER works out. He is laziness personified. He eats fast food constantly and loves donuts and peanut butter cups and all sorts of crap. He ate a whole dutch apple pie by himself once. He eats massive servings of pasta. He doesn't like fish or vegetables. He never met a French fry he didn't like. And his cholesterol is normal and he can not gain weight no matter what he does. He got a cold for a week and LOST 10 lbs.
He also once told me that he didn't want to stand up because standing up "takes effort." I have never met anyone as lazy as he is, to the point where he has funny T shirts like, "I am not lazy, I just like doing nothing" and "Exercise? I thought you said extra fries." I also got him a McDonald's shirt because he's an acolyte of theirs.
he is 43 years old.
So tell me again how all the fat people are lazy and all the thin people eat only sprouts and work out 4 hours a day. Do tell me about that, I'm fascinated.
I know several formerly obese people. They said they tried multiple types of diets over the years, exercise, and nothing worked for them. Nothing... except until they got lap band surgery, which FORCES them to limit their food intake.
And guess what? Just like magic, they aren't obese anymore. That was all they needed, was to limit how much they actually ate. All the exercise in the world won't help if you're simply eating too much for your body to handle.
So explain why I can fast and gain weight? How does THAT happen?
He had free access to weight management programs that teach you how to eat, what to eat and how to read labels. They don't use surgery, drugs or quick fixes.
Which programs were those? Assuming they are free as well, since you didn't mention if he had a money objection. But some people can't afford those weight loss programs and they're never covered under insurance (which you know, would save lives and stuff, but it's more about shaming people than helping fix the problem).
So where are all these awesome free weight management programs?
BTW my husband is 6 foot 3 and 144 lbs and NEVER works out. He is laziness personified. He eats fast food constantly and loves donuts and peanut butter cups and all sorts of crap. He ate a whole dutch apple pie by himself once. He eats massive servings of pasta. He doesn't like fish or vegetables. He never met a French fry he didn't like. And his cholesterol is normal and he can not gain weight no matter what he does. He got a cold for a week and LOST 10 lbs.
He also once told me that he didn't want to stand up because standing up "takes effort." I have never met anyone as lazy as he is, to the point where he has funny T shirts like, "I am not lazy, I just like doing nothing" and "Exercise? I thought you said extra fries." I also got him a McDonald's shirt because he's an acolyte of theirs.
he is 43 years old.
So tell me again how all the fat people are lazy and all the thin people eat only sprouts and work out 4 hours a day. Do tell me about that, I'm fascinated.
Your husband sounds like me. I'm 5'11 and 124 lbs and I eat junk and chips all day long while working a desk job. My entire family is like that. But I can't go up a flight of stairs without getting tired.
My own husband is an example of someone with a very slow metabolism. The guy exercises hours every day, walking 5+ miles a day, eats maybe 1200 calories a day, and still can't lose much weight, and he's 5'10 and 210 lbs. He's healthy as a horse though, his entire family is just naturally roly-poly.
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