Why are some people getting fatter?

fishshark

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.

Larissa_NY

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.

AnvilHead

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/p1

hgycta

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.

sockinette

Francl27 wrote: »

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.

betuel75

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.

allaboutthefood

Your daughter may not be a sweet eater, not all people like sweets.

bjess8411

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.

bjess8411

42firm03 wrote: »

SLLRunner wrote: »

DeguelloTex wrote: »

42firm03 wrote: »

FatMoojor wrote: »

42firm03 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.