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In countries with food shortages you do not see fat people.
Thats just not true. Forever in human history, throughout the globe, there have been those with means to buy whatever they want, and get fat.
Fat men used to be a sign of a man with a healthy wallet, and were generally sought after by marrying women. Many of the founding fathers (despite their sculptures which trim the edges) were quite over weight by todays standard of obesity.
Even in Somalia and Ethopia, there are fat people with money.
I also have hypothyroid to the point of having a lower than normal body temperature. To simply maintain my weight I can only consume around 1100 calories per day. To loose weight, I have to drop to at least 900 calories per day.
I am on medication as well, which helps, but isn't a cure all. I have a very active lifestyle with ranching and farmwork, but the last time I was at "standard" was when I left the military. Normally I run about 20-30 lbs over "ideal". Usually I spend quite a bit of time logging, bucking and chopping wood, running tillers, walking fencelines to check for breaks, running and handling cattle, bucking 80 lb+ bales of hay, digging out water lines and springs by hand, working in our sawmill, all are physically demanding tasks.
My heart rate, blood pressure and cholesterol at my last physical were perfect and labeled me as an "athlete"
I was able to control my weight until I had surgery, then things really got out of whack. Many medicines will cause weight gain in people as well.
Just because someone doesn't meet the OP's personal standards doesn't mean they are lazy or overeating, there are real medical issues that are involved as well.
The only way I can maintain at all is to only eat foods I grow myself, or harvest from the wilds. I stay away from anything that is produced in mass quantities or "enriched". I find that I don't have to eat nearly as much of my own home grown foods because the nutrients haven't been processed out. I don't drink alchohol more than once or twice a year, no carbonated beverages more than twice a month, no fast food, rarely eat at restaraunts.
Just as an example, while in the military I was trying to keep my weight down and for one day's total caloric intake, I ate 2 chicken wings, (yes they were breaded and fried), and gained 4 Lbs! Didn't do that again.
If I had a sedintary job, lived in town, only ate what I bought at Wal-Mart or whatever, I would probably weigh 500 lbs.
We all do what we can to be healthy, just because we don't all look like we were just liberated from Auschwitz doesn't mean we aren't healthy or working on our health.
Perhaps not all fat people claim they are hypo-thyroid but I love it when they do. I am hypo-thyroid, have been all my life and until the past 5 years maintained my 105 lbs with great difficulty. It's simple: food in - fat on unless you work out vigorously all the time. So many people are just lazy. I taught dancing/aerobics for years and you wouldn't believe the excuses people come up with for being fat and not exercising. Then they tell people they are taking exercise classes and can't understand why they don't loose weight!
Wow, what I said was not mean and nasty. If you thought that, you are way too sensitive. People these days get so mad when you tell the truth. The majority of fat people are that way because they overeat. There's just no nicer way of saying it. Like I said before, not many people were fat 100 years ago, so obesity isn't just an accident. If people were actually honest with themselves and stopped making excuses, they could lose weight and be healthy.
Is there a reason for your excessive need to get involved in the obesity levels of people you don't even know?
Thank you for proving my point. Hyperthyroidism doesn't have to make people fat. Yes, you might have to work a bit harder to stay slim, but it's not impossible. It's just easier to make excuses than take control of your weight issues.
Let's get this straight.
hyPERthyroidism doesn't add weight. HyPERthyroidism makes you lose weight because your body is making too much thyroid hormone. So, you may always be hungry and you'll sometimes eat alot but you won't gain weight. You may even lose weight.
It's hyPOthyroidism that slows down your thyroid hormone and causes a sluggish metabolism and you put on weight among other problems.
Last edited by Oldhag1; 07-02-2014 at 07:52 PM..
Reason: No rude icons
It's not like the thyroid gland is some big mystery, and it is not ambiguous. A simple blood test can tell you if you have an underactive, overactive, or normal thyroid,
Actually, this isn't true. The range of what's considered normal is defined overly-broadly, so that a lot of thyroid patients get told they're fine. Insurance does everything possible to avoid paying for the more costly test that reveals thyroid antibodies in the system (i.e. thyroid disease), so it's rigged the system so that a lot of patients never get correctly diagnosed.
But there isn't an epidemic of thyroid disease in the US, not all obesity can get chalked up to thyroid. Other hormone imbalances can cause it, genetics can cause a tendency toward serious overweight (look at how Oprah has struggled with her weight all her life, and her parents told her that's the way her adulthood was going to look), but also depression, poor nutrition, etc. can cause obesity.
In this day and age, it seems like every fat person makes excuses for their weight and claim they don't eat a lot.
Very few people were fat 100 years ago, so I refuse to believe that suddenly we have all these thyroid issues that are making us fat. Do you agree or do you think I'm being too insensitive?
A lot has changed in 100 years. Girls are entering puberty at 8 years old now. Both boys and girls are growing taller. I think a lot of it has to do with additives to food. Needless to say, people are not getting the exercise they used to get.
There are many more obese people these days than there used to be, but I personally don't know any who blame their thyroid. That can be controlled. The way we eat has a lot to do with people being overweight. I feel sorry for people who have a lot of weight to take off, as when I get 10 pounds overweight, I have a terrible time losing it.
We have to remember that all people are NOT created equal when it comes to their metabolism. Until I was 40, I was a skinny mini. I could not gain weight for anything...and I would drink pure heavy cream and eat lots of garbage food...even though I knew it wasn't healthy. The only reason I started gaining at 40 was because I went on a medication that made me gain weight. There really are people who do not eat that much, but can't lose weight. We don't totally understand weight at this point. There is a lot to learn.
For some people, they are just uneducated about what they eat. I have a friend who is morbidly obese. She has Type II diabetes that is uncontrolled because she doesn't eat right, and she has a lot of other health problems. Everytime we talk, she goes into how hard it is to lose weight...yet she tells me that she is having cheddarwurst and macaroni and cheese for supper.
And what's stopping people today from exercising? There are still plenty of places to walk. And there are also a lot more gyms and fitness classes people can take advantage of.
People usually overeat because it's a way to fill an emotional void. Lots of food is available in this country, so it's an easy way to comfort oneself. Of course, the fix is temporary and weight gain makes the emotional state worse.
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Fat People and Thyroid
