Why are you so fat?

VorJoshigan
VorJoshigan Posts: 1,106 Member
in Motivation and Support
I remember being asked the subject question a few times by blessedly filter-less children and a couple of nitwits.

I told the children that it was because I ate too much and didn't exercise enough, but I usually made a wisecrack to the *kitten* holes. I wish I'd had the map at this link http://www.shiftn.com/obesity/Full-Map.html to give to the jerks instead. Hell, I wish I had it to give to my 12 year old self.

Briefly, the map at that website portrays the influence of several subsystems on obesity, including mind, body, motion, and food. (my simplifications there)

In some ways obesity is a very simple thing, but in some respects it is crazily complicated.

Replies

  • LowcarbNY
    LowcarbNY Posts: 546 Member
    Looks like the map of the Affordable Care Act.
  • VorJoshigan
    VorJoshigan Posts: 1,106 Member
    I wanted to see if the Monday morning crowd might be any more interested in this or have a response. Here's a preview:

    15qsweq.png
  • wikitbikit
    wikitbikit Posts: 518 Member
    Crazy that someone took the time to map all of that out! Without having looked too closely at the connections and merely looking at the various factors within each group, I can for sure see all kinds of things that lead to (essentially) consuming more energy than burning. Everything really does tie together.

    Nice find, thank you for sharing!
  • PaigeAnderson100
    PaigeAnderson100 Posts: 301 Member
    That's an insanely elaborate map.

    sorry for the rude remarks from the children with no filters.
  • lilteepot
    lilteepot Posts: 97
    HOLY MAP! I can't wait to seriously take the time to pour over this!

    The first time I was asked "why are you obese," it was by my shrink. It took years for me to come to terms with that one... in fact, I revisited the question after I heard it in a very different context when I was visiting Ghana and was asked by an elderly couple after being shocked that I was only 33 years old "How you get so fat?!" Of course, at no time was I asked this from someone who's actual intent was insult. And yet I took it that way both times, until I had time to reflect... and dug through all the mess and realized that my answer had been there the whole time... and with the answer came the ability to change it. Thank you for posting this!
  • Spartan_Maker
    Spartan_Maker Posts: 683 Member
    That's pretty cool. The fact that we just discovered a few decades ago that the brain can be fueled endogenously after a few weeks of carbohydrate restriction should be a big enough clue that we probably have a lot to learn about biochemistry and energy balance.
  • chooriyah
    chooriyah Posts: 469 Member
    Crazy complicated map. I'd like a clickable version like a 'choose your own answer' (: Probably for me would end up just as complicated
  • K_Serz
    K_Serz Posts: 1,299 Member
    Crazy that someone took the time to map all of that out! Without having looked too closely at the connections and merely looking at the various factors within each group, I can for sure see all kinds of things that lead to (essentially) consuming more energy than burning. Everything really does tie together.

    Nice find, thank you for sharing!

    Might as well throw a box up there for living/breathing. Aww hell, its probably there but obscured by all the other freaking boxes. Are this many boxes necessary? I feel that some are just randomly thrown in there.

    I think its cool that its interactive. I still cant figure out how to activate the Social Rejection Of Smoking. Is there such a thing?? Why isnt there a Social Rejection of Eating Dairy Queen Blizzards?? I feel that not eating a dairy queen blizzard is way less cool then not smoking.
  • ChgingMe
    ChgingMe Posts: 539 Member
    That's an elaborate way to show calories in vs calories out
  • carrieliz81
    carrieliz81 Posts: 489 Member
    As a psychologist, I find this very interesting... as someone else said, it's amazing that someone took the time to map it all out! I think it could almost symbolically represent the human brain, a fascinatingly complex and interconnected computer that is the central organizing system for everything that we do and everything we are. Most mental-health-type problems that people face can be boiled down to a pretty simple formula, which Vor so nicely summarized for obesity. But at the same time, as he pointed out, they are amazingly complex when you take into account all the contributing factors! Not to mention how different types of problems can be interrelated in various ways... (e.g. depression, anxiety, obesity or other eating disorders, medical issues, etc). Cool post, and interesting to think about!

Categories