Why are some people getting fatter?
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midwesterner85 wrote: »MoiAussi93 wrote: »I think it is most likely a whole combination of different things. Some of it is just habit...how you were raised, how you view food, etc. But I also think some of it...maybe a lot of it...is physical/genetic.
I think some people are just more sensitive to certain substances than others. I think the hormones @GaleHawkins mentioned above almost certainly play a big role. I think some people can eat a food and their body doesn't react (blood sugar, insulin, etc.) much to it. Another person might eat exactly the same thing and have a much stronger reaction, to the point that it influences their hunger or desire to eat more. And I'm not just talking about people with specific conditions like diabetes, I'm talking about two healthy people who just have different sensitivities or tolerances. There might be dozens or hundreds of factors that influence these things.
That was also my point with amylin. Maybe people make more or less, or absorb it differently. There have been studies on leptin, but there is a lack of research on amylin. I wonder why researchers ignore amylin.
Given that there are 67000+* studies on amylin or amyloid or IAPP, I'd suggest that it isn't being ignored.
*Listed at NCBI.0 -
I was reading this thread yesterday and pondering the questions myself. I also had one child who was a bit overweight and one who was always thin - both boys, both same parents. Same dinners, same activity levels, etc. It's always been a mystery to me. I used to say that my oldest got the "fat" gene from me and the youngest got the "skinny" gene from his dad, who is also thin.
I may have been more on point, than I knew. Interestingly, I just heard on the news this morning (and I quote the reporter) "Researchers have identified a set of genetic DNA variants that boost the brain's reward responses to foods that are high in fat and sugar". Being a quick blurb on the news, they didn't cite where this research took place. I tried to google this but didn't find anything (also didn't spend a great deal of time looking). So, if this is true then that might help to explain why some people just LOVE to eat and crave foods, while others can be satisfied with just a taste.0 -
some people????....0
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In short there has to develop a major health issue before most people can become obese based on my research and personal experience. At this point I expect a leaky gut is involved in most cases of obesity. I expect most all autoimmune related health issues stems from a leaky gut issue initially. I bet most all of us who found ourselves obese would have had a CRP results >1.
Any time someone uses 'never' or 'always' when talking about health issues I see that as a red flag. My point is human animals can respond very differently to the same foods/environments. Learning and understanding the term 'epigenetics' has been helpful for my grasp on the subject or rather my 'beginning" grasp of the subject.
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GaleHawkins wrote: »In short there has to develop a major health issue before most people can become obese based on my research and personal experience....
So your "research" and personal experience entirely discounts the thought that people can become obese simply from a caloric surplus? That would seem to defy the science of thermodynamics/energy balance.0 -
GaleHawkins wrote: »In short there has to develop a major health issue before most people can become obese based on my research and personal experience.
Care to cite something credible to support this? It doesn't make a lot of sense on the surface. I know I can become obese without too much trouble without any health issue causing it.
The extent to which highly-palatable food is cheaply and easily available is quite unusual in human history, and add to that that we have largely gotten rid of many of the cultural prohibitions on how much and how often we eat and also have much less active lives than most people historically would have and it's not exactly shocking that we are able to gain lots of weight.0 -
Why does someone with 350,000 excess calories hanging over their belt and feeling bad about the way they look stand in line to buy a doughnut ? Crack that and you have fixed obesity.0
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OP I'm definitely in the camp of "people are just different". My mother in law used to say you could have a dozen children and they would all be individuals, and that's a good thing...
My kids (4 and 7) are similar - they can't seem to sit still in a restaurant if their lives depended on it. Actually, it's not just in a restaurant - they have a hard time sitting still at home too. They'd rather be up and moving, or playing electronics or watching TV. I think they are just programmed to constantly be doing something these days, and sitting still and mindfully focusing on their food is just not something they are very good at. We work on it constantly, but I feel like I spend the majority of my dinners telling them to "get back in their seats" or "please just eat your food". I have often wondered what it would be like to have kids that really enjoy food and are voracious eaters. Mine like to snack, they like kid foods, but they eat a pretty good variety of fruits, vegetables, meat, etc. They just don't eat much at any one time, and so sitting still for an entire meal and an entire plateful of food is hard for them.
One of mine really likes dessert, one could take it or leave it. They ask for one piece of Halloween candy after dinner each night this week, and that's it. They don't ask for more. One is normal sized, one is under 10th percentile on the growth charts for height and weight. So no, I don't think there are any specific biological causes, I don't think it was something I did during pregnancy or in their first years of life, I don't think it is to be blamed on fast food or processed foods or school lunches or anything like that.
I just think kids are... kids. Eating is not a priority for them. That's all.0 -
Why does someone with 350,000 excess calories hanging over their belt and feeling bad about the way they look stand in line to buy a doughnut ? Crack that and you have fixed obesity.
If the question is why, rather than how do you change it, the answer is simply that shame doesn't tend to work.
Now, if you want to ask how to do you get that person to stop (which what would really fix obesity), I can't claim to know the answer, but I believe it lies somewhere in region of creating a positive reason to change.0 -
We're getting fatter because the people around us are getting fatter. We are good at picking up the bad habits of those around us.0
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Why does someone with 350,000 excess calories hanging over their belt and feeling bad about the way they look stand in line to buy a doughnut ? Crack that and you have fixed obesity.
If the question is why, rather than how do you change it, the answer is simply that shame doesn't tend to work.
Now, if you want to ask how to do you get that person to stop (which what would really fix obesity), I can't claim to know the answer, but I believe it lies somewhere in region of creating a positive reason to change.
I was shouted at last night along the lines "you think she doesn't want to lose weight" so I don't think its about shame. The victim already wants to lose weight yet is still in the line for the doughnut.0 -
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Why does someone with 350,000 excess calories hanging over their belt and feeling bad about the way they look stand in line to buy a doughnut ? Crack that and you have fixed obesity.
If the question is why, rather than how do you change it, the answer is simply that shame doesn't tend to work.
Now, if you want to ask how to do you get that person to stop (which what would really fix obesity), I can't claim to know the answer, but I believe it lies somewhere in region of creating a positive reason to change.
I was shouted at last night along the lines "you think she doesn't want to lose weight" so I don't think its about shame. The victim already wants to lose weight yet is still in the line for the doughnut.
Well if the person wants to lose weight but is still in line for a donut then obviously the "wanting a donut" part had higher priority in their mind than the "wanting to lose weight" part.0 -
Not just a positive reason to change, but one that's sufficiently positive and sufficiently so in the relatively short term. You're probably talking about money. And a non-trivial amount of it.Why does someone with 350,000 excess calories hanging over their belt and feeling bad about the way they look stand in line to buy a doughnut ? Crack that and you have fixed obesity.
If the question is why, rather than how do you change it, the answer is simply that shame doesn't tend to work.
Now, if you want to ask how to do you get that person to stop (which what would really fix obesity), I can't claim to know the answer, but I believe it lies somewhere in region of creating a positive reason to change.
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Why does someone with 350,000 excess calories hanging over their belt and feeling bad about the way they look stand in line to buy a doughnut ? Crack that and you have fixed obesity.
If the question is why, rather than how do you change it, the answer is simply that shame doesn't tend to work.
Now, if you want to ask how to do you get that person to stop (which what would really fix obesity), I can't claim to know the answer, but I believe it lies somewhere in region of creating a positive reason to change.
I was shouted at last night along the lines "you think she doesn't want to lose weight" so I don't think its about shame. The victim already wants to lose weight yet is still in the line for the doughnut.
In what context did this happen? I can't imagine someone in a donut line yelling something to me about wanting to lose weight or not. Did you say something to her?0 -
Why does someone with 350,000 excess calories hanging over their belt and feeling bad about the way they look stand in line to buy a doughnut ? Crack that and you have fixed obesity.
If the question is why, rather than how do you change it, the answer is simply that shame doesn't tend to work.
Now, if you want to ask how to do you get that person to stop (which what would really fix obesity), I can't claim to know the answer, but I believe it lies somewhere in region of creating a positive reason to change.
Not only does shame not work, there are multiple psychological sources that say it has the opposite effect and actually keeps people fat or makes them fatter. There is no route that includes shaming that can have anything but a negative effect on the obesity epidemic as a whole. And thank god for that, what a terrible world that would be.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/09/11/fat-shaming-doesnt-work-a-new-study-says/
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/fat-shaming-actually-increases-risk-becoming-or-staying-obese-new-8C10751491
Note that this doesn't mean just tell obese unhealthy people to stay as they are, so don't anyone even go there. It does mean that SUPPORT paired with empathy and sensitivity works "If you aren't happy as you are, let me show you this cool site, there's lots of help and motivation and I just want to see you happy and healthy" or "Listen, I'm afraid for you. I love you and I'm afraid your health is going down a bad road, let's talk about what we can do babe, I will help you do it. Don't die on me, I still need you"
And this kind of BS doesn't and can even make it worse: "How can you live with yourself this way? Aren't you disgusted?" "You know, you used to be so cute, what happened?" "If I can do it, so can you, why don't you quit whining and just eat less"0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »In what context did this happen? I can't imagine someone in a donut line yelling something to me about wanting to lose weight or not. Did you say something to her?
Watching TV with an obese friend, observing another obese person loading up on calories on the TV.
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GaleHawkins wrote: »In short there has to develop a major health issue before most people can become obese based on my research and personal experience. At this point I expect a leaky gut is involved in most cases of obesity. I expect most all autoimmune related health issues stems from a leaky gut issue initially. I bet most all of us who found ourselves obese would have had a CRP results >1.
Any time someone uses 'never' or 'always' when talking about health issues I see that as a red flag. My point is human animals can respond very differently to the same foods/environments. Learning and understanding the term 'epigenetics' has been helpful for my grasp on the subject or rather my 'beginning" grasp of the subject.
I'm not sure about your first point, but +1 on the bolded portion.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »In what context did this happen? I can't imagine someone in a donut line yelling something to me about wanting to lose weight or not. Did you say something to her?
Watching TV with an obese friend, observing another obese person loading up on calories on the TV.
So you said "so and so must not want to lose weight," and the friend said "of course she wants to lose weight"?
Weight loss show?0 -
I can tell you I have been pretty ravenous since day one. I was an annoyingly picky eater, but I constantly ate and ate and ate. I ate more then my father and pretty much everyone else in the family. I was never an over weight kid probably because I was active. I was a competitive swimmer for 10 years and I think I did it just for all the extra food I got to eat haha.... I still have a ravenous appetite and want to eat all day. I am now 133 pounds which is a healthy BMI for my height.. it is the heaviest I have ever weighed and my BF% is off. I think some people just have bigger appetites.0
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I've never been more than about 20 laziness pounds overweight, and I have to admit that every time I read posts on weight loss boards going on about "OMG YUMMY DELICIOUS FOOOOOD!" or "I'm so angry right now, I just want to eat!" I stare at the screen like the poster had just started expounding on how Jesus led an army of velociraptors against Hitler during the Vietnam War.
For one, it's just food. Some of it tastes good, some of it doesn't. It's okay, I guess, but I don't even think about it unless it's sitting in front of me or my stomach is growling. For another, I don't get emotional eating. What are you going to do, chew angrily?
TL:DR; experience suggests that obese people and people who have never been obese think very differently about food. And some people have smaller appetites than others and are satisfied with less of it. Also, your children are people and not clones; not being able to figure out why they have different preferences and opinions from yours will only lead you to grief as they get older.0 -
Larissa_NY wrote: »I've never been more than about 20 laziness pounds overweight, and I have to admit that every time I read posts on weight loss boards going on about "OMG YUMMY DELICIOUS FOOOOOD!" or "I'm so angry right now, I just want to eat!" I stare at the screen like the poster had just started expounding on how Jesus led an army of velociraptors against Hitler during the Vietnam War.
You're in the wrong thread for that. That one can be found here: community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10279674/medical-conditions-which-affect-weight-separating-fact-from-fiction/p10 -
You bring up a really interesting point! I love to eat as well, and my stomach can easily double as a black hole if I don't watch it.
My mother never drank coffee when pregnant with me (she hates the stuff), but I do know she ate whatever she wanted, which was mostly junk food and not too many veggies, if any.
I remember learning in my nutrition class I took at college that studies have found that prenatal nutrition influences a lot of factors for children later in life. If a women is deficient in something, a child can have deformities, and the same holds true with the composition of her diet. If she eats a lot of processed junk food, the child is more likely to struggle with being overweight later in life.
I don't think this has been researched too extensively, however, although I believe it should be! That being said, we can't blame only the parents as I'm sure you know, tons of other factors go into it, especially when considering the chemicals in our food to enhance it.0 -
That doesn't explain why my 7yo kids skip dessert while I always wanted more at the same age though.
BBC had an interesting documentary about this called "Why Are Thin People Not Fat." It is on Youtube. You can check it out.
Some people's ghrelin and leptin work so well that they feel full and stop having the desire to eat when they reach their calorie needs. Other people (like me) just can't stop.
However, I have discovered in the last weeks that if I avoid things that have added sugar in it, or have a lot of added oil or added salt in it, then apparently I too naturally eat only about 1300 calories! So, there's that. I'm thinking perhaps foods with additional fat, sugar, or salt, are just too attractive for me that they override my leptin signals.0 -
such an interesting topic and good responses/experiences. I remember that i never cared much about food growing up. My mom would have to force me to eat because i didnt want to. I remember her taking me to sizzler a lot because they had all you can eat popcorn shrimp and sit and tell me to ask for more and more because i was so skinny and small and she was worried and knew i would eat plates full of them, but other than that i didnt want/care to eat. My sister who is 1 year 3 months older was always a little plumpy. i dont remember her eating habits but my mom did tell me not to long ago that she did like to eat and liked sweets a lot. I guess it could be in the genes like those who like certain colors, some like to by physically/athletically active while others are more the book worms or thinkers type. Some have it easy when it comes to food and some have a hard time with food.0
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Your daughter may not be a sweet eater, not all people like sweets.0
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OP, as someone who has been fat pretty much all my life, I have to say that it is a mental, physical, emotional, behavioral, and spiritual issue, so should be attacked just like you would a problem with mental health issues like depression or anxiety or whatever. Some people just like to eat too much. Some people are self-medicating problems in their lives. I know it isn't my parents fault because my other sisters are stick thin and always have been. For me personally, I notice when I get hungry that my anxiety goes sky high, but when I eat too much I get depressed because I don't always want to be fat and I feel bad about myself. I feel more comfortable being depressed and feeling bad about myself than being anxious. However.. I also like food too much and eat too much. I really need to tackle my anxiety and change my life from the bottom up to lose weight I think because those obesity patterns are quite deep-seated. Funny thing is my son is a healthy weight.
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DeguelloTex wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »I've always assumed children become fat because their parents don't teach them proper nutrition and eating habits.
like most assumptions this one is bad.
Kids are not possessions. They have free will and lives apart from their parents so after about age 5 a parent is SOL on controlling intake.
Under 5, I can buy all about the home feeding environment but once school starts mom and dad aren't all there is to say.
Not sure where you live but in the UK a 5 year is still very much under the control of their parents for their intake. You either select a pre-set school meal or send your child to school with a pack lunch. It's not like they can go off site at lunch time and buy sweets in a local shop.
They may, manage to "swap" something they don't like for something they do like with another child but not many kids are going to give up their sweets and the lunch staff will be watching out for what the children are doing.
Here in America there's candy and rewards all the time. Finished your math, have a lollipop. Great soccer game, here's a doughnut. Etc. you can't outrun the amount of food on offer. If you are the type like Lemur's cat and my second kid, with no internal regulator. You are screwed! Kids don't have the emotional intelligence to say no when they should. You can't teach that and to be so judgmental of parents (not you, generic you) is fairly one sided view. IMO.
Who's giving those kids the lollipops and donuts, then?
And, therefore, rewarding children for doing their math and playing soccer. Food should never be used as a reward.
Teachers, coaches, other parents. It's why some schools have banned birthday treats at school. 27 kids in a class is 27 times a year you get cupcakes!
Yes, we've gone crazy with celebrating and rewarding ourselves and our kids with food.
I disagree that it was this way years ago. Treats were truly rare in my childhood, in America, in the South even! I had almost no opportunity to eat without my parents knowing about it. That's not true for my kids now.
You know that is exactly when I don't overeat-- around big groups of people. The thought of what other people would think of what I eat holds me in check and the fear of their judgment and just not really having the opportunity to snag another portion because other people are eating too. I tend to overeat at home. It's so hard for me to have one piece of a sweet I really like. I think I need to cut out sweets entirely.. They are a trigger. Usually when I gain weight I am going through a binge cycle where I make and eat a ton of sweets or eat a ton of fast food or restaurant food or salty, fatty, rich food. Then it is hard to get off the weight even though most the time I eat normal amounts. I did put on a lot of weight when I was on a particular medication. I ballooned 80 lbs up in a few months eating a bunch of junk and I wanted to sleep all the time.0
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