random thought regarding obesity

redheaddee
redheaddee Posts: 2,005 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Why are people obese? Because math is hard. Case in point: product labeling. Who the heck eats 3/4 cup of chocolate strawberry cereal (not me obviously). Let's have real people serving sizes and see what the result is. Most won't stand there and do the math (...well I want more than that and two servings fills my bowl with room for milk so one serving is 145 calories, plus 145 is..aww crap, let me get my phone, it has a calculator...ooh I got a text...3 servings later said person hates themself for eating too much...)

Obviously not the ONLY reason, but perhaps it is a contributing factor. Thoughts? Discuss.
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Replies

  • thecakelocker
    thecakelocker Posts: 408 Member
    I was always amused by the little bottles of soda in the vending machine that were 2.5 servings per bottle.
  • CoachReddy
    CoachReddy Posts: 3,949 Member
    i love when people think Naked Juices are a good healthy option.

    yeah... cept one bottle has 64g of sugar. whoops.
  • quirkytizzy
    quirkytizzy Posts: 4,052 Member
    I concur with this statement.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    Why are people obese? Because math is hard. Case in point: product labeling. Who the heck eats 3/4 cup of chocolate strawberry cereal (not me obviously). Let's have real people serving sizes and see what the result is. Most won't stand there and do the math (...well I want more than that and two servings fills my bowl with room for milk so one serving is 145 calories, plus 145 is..aww crap, let me get my phone, it has a calculator...ooh I got a text...3 servings later said person hates themself for eating too much...)

    Obviously not the ONLY reason, but perhaps it is a contributing factor. Thoughts? Discuss.

    Oh please. No one gets fat because they're measuring their food and the portion sizes are labeled improperly.
  • quirkytizzy
    quirkytizzy Posts: 4,052 Member
    Why are people obese? Because math is hard. Case in point: product labeling. Who the heck eats 3/4 cup of chocolate strawberry cereal (not me obviously). Let's have real people serving sizes and see what the result is. Most won't stand there and do the math (...well I want more than that and two servings fills my bowl with room for milk so one serving is 145 calories, plus 145 is..aww crap, let me get my phone, it has a calculator...ooh I got a text...3 servings later said person hates themself for eating too much...)

    Obviously not the ONLY reason, but perhaps it is a contributing factor. Thoughts? Discuss.

    Oh please. No one gets fat because they're measuring their food and the portion sizes are labeled improperly.

    No but as per consumer course of ignorance, no one knows what serving sizes are. And companies do well to conceal it. (Putting multiple servings into a single food item, such as Ramen, soda, or the ever delicious Pop Tarts which are - you guessed it - two servings per bag.)
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    How many obese people are reading labels or worrying about serving sizes? None that I know. You don't get to be obese by worrying about your calorie intake.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    Why are people obese? Because math is hard. Case in point: product labeling. Who the heck eats 3/4 cup of chocolate strawberry cereal (not me obviously). Let's have real people serving sizes and see what the result is. Most won't stand there and do the math (...well I want more than that and two servings fills my bowl with room for milk so one serving is 145 calories, plus 145 is..aww crap, let me get my phone, it has a calculator...ooh I got a text...3 servings later said person hates themself for eating too much...)

    Obviously not the ONLY reason, but perhaps it is a contributing factor. Thoughts? Discuss.

    Oh please. No one gets fat because they're measuring their food and the portion sizes are labeled improperly.

    No but as per consumer course of ignorance, no one knows what serving sizes are. And companies do well to conceal it. (Putting multiple servings into a single food item, such as Ramen, soda, or the ever delicious Pop Tarts which are - you guessed it - two servings per bag.)

    People who get fat aren't paying much attention to the calories they consume. The nutrition labels could be in Swahili and it wouldn't make a difference.
  • redheaddee
    redheaddee Posts: 2,005 Member
    How many obese people are reading labels or worrying about serving sizes? None that I know. You don't get to be obese by worrying about your calorie intake.

    Absolutely correct. However, let's hypothesize said obese person is trying to lose weight & eat better. Couldn't the ridiculous portion sizes be a factor in weight loss failure? I obviously don't think labels make people fat. Unless they are eating them too.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    How many obese people are reading labels or worrying about serving sizes? None that I know. You don't get to be obese by worrying about your calorie intake.

    Absolutely correct. However, let's hypothesize said obese person is trying to lose weight & eat better. Couldn't the ridiculous portion sizes be a factor in weight loss failure? I obviously don't think labels make people fat. Unless they are eating them too.

    I don't think so, no. If you're reading the label you're seeing the serving size.
  • kelseey73x
    kelseey73x Posts: 65 Member
    uhm, natural sugars?
  • cpudoc64
    cpudoc64 Posts: 135
    If portion size isn't a factor, why do people have kitchen scales and weight their food?
  • NCchar130
    NCchar130 Posts: 955 Member


    No but as per consumer course of ignorance, no one knows what serving sizes are. And companies do well to conceal it. (Putting multiple servings into a single food item, such as Ramen, soda, or the ever delicious Pop Tarts which are - you guessed it - two servings per bag.)

    Agree with this. I have heard people say "Oh there's only 150 calories in this bag of potato chips!" Because they bought (what they think) is a single serve bag at the 7-11 that actually contains 3.5 servings. So, yeah, that's over 500 calories for a snack right there.
  • loosesealbluth
    loosesealbluth Posts: 46 Member
    Also take into consideration foods where the serving is in grams. For spaghetti/pasta, a serving is something like 56 grams. I didn't buy a food scale until several months into weight loss – it made an enormous difference. Until I really put some serious thought into my diet, it hadn't crossed my mind that 56 grams was so little. Very few people that aren't seriously committed are going to take the time out to invest in a food scale and weigh their food in grams. It makes a huge difference, and it's easy to assume that 1/2 cup = 56 grams, because the food label says so! It doesn't take into account over/under measuring and the huge difference that can make in calorie intake.
  • redheaddee
    redheaddee Posts: 2,005 Member
    How many obese people are reading labels or worrying about serving sizes? None that I know. You don't get to be obese by worrying about your calorie intake.

    Absolutely correct. However, let's hypothesize said obese person is trying to lose weight & eat better. Couldn't the ridiculous portion sizes be a factor in weight loss failure? I obviously don't think labels make people fat. Unless they are eating them too.

    I don't think so, no. If you're reading the label you're seeing the serving size.

    Generally speaking though, a person will read the calories and go no further, eat what they want, and move on. Sorry, but your argument has no argument. Just because a person sees a serving size does not mean they comprehend the serving size, hence my hypothesis that portion size is misleading and can contribute to weight loss failure. Obviously, a hypothesis needs testing to progress to theory.

    Holy *kitten* that sounds like a dissertation title. It would be a perfect follow-up to my master's thesis, which clearly indicated that the presence of a mirror effected quantity and quality of an individual's food choices. Ooh someone find me a pencil.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    How many obese people are reading labels or worrying about serving sizes? None that I know. You don't get to be obese by worrying about your calorie intake.

    Absolutely correct. However, let's hypothesize said obese person is trying to lose weight & eat better. Couldn't the ridiculous portion sizes be a factor in weight loss failure? I obviously don't think labels make people fat. Unless they are eating them too.

    I don't think so, no. If you're reading the label you're seeing the serving size.

    Generally speaking though, a person will read the calories and go no further, eat what they want, and move on. Sorry, but your argument has no argument. Just because a person sees a serving size does not mean they comprehend the serving size, hence my hypothesis that portion size is misleading and can contribute to weight loss failure. Obviously, a hypothesis needs testing to progress to theory.

    Holy *kitten* that sounds like a dissertation title. It would be a perfect follow-up to my master's thesis, which clearly indicated that the presence of a mirror effected quantity and quality of an individual's food choices. Ooh someone find me a pencil.

    This assumes that these people are keeping track of their calories in some way at all. They're not. I've spoken to dozens of people who have lost weight or tried to lose weight, and not a single one of them has kept track of calories but done so wildly incorrectly because they ignored serving size.
  • MizTerry
    MizTerry Posts: 3,764 Member
    "If it says low fat, then I can have more, right?"

    ROFL
  • currlee
    currlee Posts: 395 Member
    Love my scale. Recently wanted jello. Made it and went to portion it out: 22 grams! WTF am I supposed to do with 22 grams?? 80 calories in that thimble of jello. Yes, sugar free only has 10 calories per serving, but it also has aspartame. So I have all this jello in my fridge cuz the calories are ridiculous for the amount you eat. But, it turns out that its really sweet and I don't love it like I thought.
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    How many obese people are reading labels or worrying about serving sizes? None that I know. You don't get to be obese by worrying about your calorie intake.

    Absolutely correct. However, let's hypothesize said obese person is trying to lose weight & eat better. Couldn't the ridiculous portion sizes be a factor in weight loss failure? I obviously don't think labels make people fat. Unless they are eating them too.

    I don't think so, no. If you're reading the label you're seeing the serving size.

    True. People don't read the labels, because if they did they'd know there are 2 servings of pop tarts per package. I learned about serving sizes FROM reading labels!
  • redheaddee
    redheaddee Posts: 2,005 Member
    Love my scale. Recently wanted jello. Made it and went to portion it out: 22 grams! WTF am I supposed to do with 22 grams?? 80 calories in that thimble of jello. Yes, sugar free only has 10 calories per serving, but it also has aspartame. So I have all this jello in my fridge cuz the calories are ridiculous for the amount you eat. But, it turns out that its really sweet and I don't love it like I thought.

    I want to see the spoon that goes with the thimble of jell-o. :laugh:
  • redheaddee
    redheaddee Posts: 2,005 Member
    How many obese people are reading labels or worrying about serving sizes? None that I know. You don't get to be obese by worrying about your calorie intake.

    Absolutely correct. However, let's hypothesize said obese person is trying to lose weight & eat better. Couldn't the ridiculous portion sizes be a factor in weight loss failure? I obviously don't think labels make people fat. Unless they are eating them too.

    I don't think so, no. If you're reading the label you're seeing the serving size.

    Generally speaking though, a person will read the calories and go no further, eat what they want, and move on. Sorry, but your argument has no argument. Just because a person sees a serving size does not mean they comprehend the serving size, hence my hypothesis that portion size is misleading and can contribute to weight loss failure. Obviously, a hypothesis needs testing to progress to theory.

    Holy *kitten* that sounds like a dissertation title. It would be a perfect follow-up to my master's thesis, which clearly indicated that the presence of a mirror effected quantity and quality of an individual's food choices. Ooh someone find me a pencil.

    This assumes that these people are keeping track of their calories in some way at all. They're not. I've spoken to dozens of people who have lost weight or tried to lose weight, and not a single one of them has kept track of calories but done so wildly incorrectly because they ignored serving size.

    Actually, it only assumes they are reading the label.

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