Are people this ignorant? (Page 4)

We are ALL ignorant...just in dfferent areas.

~Mike

And, once again, the obligatory fat rant against fat people, who after all, should just "eat right and exercise."

Yeah, that's an easy target cause you know, if you've eaten too much at some point in your life, your sins are displayed for the world to see right there on your hips.  Yeah, for some, it's as easy as start moving more, eat a little less.  Easy to say, VERY hard to do.  For some, that's all they need for others it's a long hard battle and rants against fat people aren't very helpful.  So many different ways the OP could have said what was on his mind without being insulting, rude and hurtful.  Well.

And congrats to the doctors who actually help with this problem.  You know what most doctors say?  NOTHING!!!  No help, no nothing.  Eat right and exercise.  Yeah, what if I already do?  Then what? Nothing, that's what.  Go have the DA** GB surgery, give yourself possible death, possible health problems for the rest of your life.  And oh by the way, pay us $60,000 to do it.  Sorry, rather be fat.

We have an obesity problem in this country we also have an education problem of helping people to figure out what they need to do to be successful at it.  On the one hand, it's "eat right, eat fresh, exercise."  On the other, "Here have this Big Mac, This pizza, this ice cream."  Have you looked at the commercials lately?  Let me tell you they're not advertising celery and lettuce.  And yeah, it's easy to say ignore that.  But that, for a LOT of people (regular people) is very, very difficult.  You have to be a label reader as well and educated, and have the TIME to figure it all out.  Do you know how much stuff has added sugar in it?  I went to the store to get canned tomatoes.  Easy you say.  There was one brand.  ONE without added sugar.  Sad.

Let me tell just say that anyone who is fat KNOWS they are fat, and have probably tried more than once to lose weight.  Maybe not the best way, or the right way, but I would be willing to bet that they have TRIED.  And failed - and at some point given up, cause it's really, really hard to keep on trying when the scale doesn't move and you feel like you're really, really doing your best.  So, you try not to think about it, and you try not to let it affect your life.  And you really try not to hate people who are all so judgemental about it, like it's just a matter of willpower, or discipline or whatever. 

Actually, you also judged/made some assumptions in your #2.  Some of the people who took issue with the OP were a)not overweight and b)not judging him, but felt that compassion and education would be a better route.

Just sayin'.

Actually .......

On one of those "how does it work" science shows they have on cable they took a large group of wilderness fire fighters and did a test by giving two separate groups the same food "packet" with the same calories and everything and had one group eat their lunch at noon all at once, and the other with spacing it out over the whole period in small meals and then got their observations of how they felt and energy levels.  Without fail, every single firefighter that was on the plan where the food was spread said they never got tired, and felt pretty much the same level of energy all day.  The ones that ate just a regular lunch were hungry and a little tired before lunch and were really draggy after lunch.

Thank you...I was thinking the same thing.  Everyone here is pretty much correct.  He is in denial, and he does want to loose weight super fast, and possibly he is that ignorant, because he didn't have anyone teach him proper health, even in school.  It is so much easier to live with yourself, if you can convince yourself that it isn't your fault.  Deep down, you know it isn't true...but it allows you to live in the rut your in.  It takes someone to step in and help out to get them to get out of that rut!  But remember...food to him, may be like drugs or alcohol to someone else.  It could be like an addiction...even giving him a high after eating. 

As for metabolism, it is partially genetic, but partially environmental.  He most certainly does have a slow metabolism, because he isn't regularly working out, but he could also have a hard time loosing weight.  An example of this, my SO recently lost 50 lbs.  he did this by switching to diet soda.  He does not workout, he still eats fast food and cookies.  I do not.  I workout a bit...I try as hard as I can to watch what I eat...I am having a very difficult time loosing weight.  I have other friends who cannot gain weight...yet they do not workout and they eat ice cream for breakfast. 

I never made any sort of claim.  I was not specifically saying anything about metabolism, I was merely pointing out the science show that seemed to indicate through their field test that people that ate the same amount of calories/nutrition spread out over the day instead of one big meal in the middle had a more consistent feeling of energy levels than those that at the one meal.

The last statement is the key.  As has been mentioned we are now a country of get it big, get it fast, get it cheap, get it sweet.  None of those things are conducive to proper weight management.  And unless the people are already burning 2,000+ calories in a workout, they cannot eat like they are and not expect to gain weight.  I think that is where the "ignorant" comes into play.

I correlate it to what we often see on the boards here.

"I hate swimming.  No matter what I do I can't get faster or better."

"How often do you swim and what are your typical wokouts?"

"Well, I go to the pool once a week and swim for about 300 yards as fast as I can, and it is never faster and I can't breathe, so I stop."

"And???"

"Well, why am I not getting faster!!  I hate swimming!!"

I'm another person in the hypothyroid camp.  In my case, I have an autoimmune disease that destroyed my thyroid gland on its own.  I gained about 30 pounds in the past 3 years even though I was try training and eating a healthy diet (fewer calories eaten than burned every day). 

Now that it is under control, it's not like the weight magically disappears either.  I still have to work and exercise and continue to eat healthy.  It's just that I now have the ability to actually lose it.  My metabolism is working like a normal person again.  

I still get frustrated when I hear people complain about not being able to lose weight.  I've been in the situation where I couldn't do it no matter what I did, but I also didn't go to McDonald's and order super sized extra value meals.  I've seen people complain about being fat while eating donuts or something.  They don't usually want to hear that it's food or exercise that can change things.  I try to tell people how I've lost weight (about 15 pounds so far this year) when they ask and seem interested, but they say "that's way too much work".  Yes, I'm an extreme and I point out that they could get away with a lot less exercise than I do.

I try not to judge, but it can be hard when I get to know people who consistently eat very poorly and don't exercise, but then complain that they can't lose weight.   

I understand your frustration, but think about it as someone trying to convince themselves that it is their metabolism.  It makes living with yourself easier.  I have been there...For those of us that really really struggle...it is very hard to read threads where in any way someone comments on someone elses self justification.  I automatically jump to the defensive.  I guess I also think, "if he is judging this guy, for this comment, what are other people judging me for."  I can't walk into a grocery store without dread...and if I buy anything fattening I am sure that everyone is watching me and judging me.  It is part of the paranoia of being heavy.  So then you get into a mind set that you have to justify it to everyone.  But then...I am a pretty paranoid guy...so this could just be me!