Serious question, not trying to be mean...

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  • MariaHammer750
    MariaHammer750 Posts: 86 Member
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    Everything everyone else said plus the fact that many heavy people have slow metablolisms caused by yo yo dieting.
  • Emtabo01
    Emtabo01 Posts: 672
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    I work with a morbidly obese lady who eats a small dinky sandwich and banana for lunch about every day, nothing that'd make you fat. She never snacks, ever. But I hear her talking about eating a whole cake in an evening with her family of 5. Eating an entire container of cheese dip and a whole bag of chips in a sitting. I think there is a lot of that going on in her house, nothing we people at work see.
  • timeformetofly
    timeformetofly Posts: 64 Member
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    over eating is an addiction and just like any addiction a lot of people do it when others know nothing about it.. some go through a drive through on their way home and then eat dinner with their family, you get the idea.
  • missjones93
    missjones93 Posts: 74 Member
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    Not eating a lot at work - either too busy or don't want the embarrassment because other people know they shouldn't be eating much because they are so big. And when they get home they feel like they are starving - even if they aren't and eat a lot! Happens all the time. This is why the "snacking" lifestyle helps people lose weight.
  • LivMinusTen
    LivMinusTen Posts: 23 Member
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    A friend of mine never really dared to eat in public and would eat in the evening at home. She would also feel sad about not keeping her goals and thus eating more. :-( It's a struggle. If she would eat something like a hamburger in public she felt like people were watching here and sometimes they would talk to each other about her. Sad, really.
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
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    I got to 200lbs because I ate rubbish when I was alone , a secret eater :(

    Once I started eating healthier, I found out that my partner had no idea how often I went to McDs. He thought I always went through the drive thru and brought it home, so he thought I only ate as often as he saw it in the trash.
  • AllAboutThatTreble
    AllAboutThatTreble Posts: 156 Member
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    I was a secret snacker also. When eating in front of other people, I made healthier choices because I felt like I was being watched, but once I was alone - just crap, crap, and more crap. When I lived with my parents, I would hide the wrappers, containers, etc in my room under my bed or in my drawers, my car or throw them out before I got home. I was so ashamed.

    Once I decided to get healthy and realized that I ate most of my calories in secret, that's when I realized that it was pretty much an addiction.

    I still struggle with it and whenever I eat too much it's always alone, but the frequency has decreased a ton.
  • jadethief
    jadethief Posts: 266 Member
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    I would go to Chik Fil A every morning and get a number 7. . . . . . a chicken, egg, and cheese on a sunflower multigrain bagel (because multigrain is healthy, right?), an order of hashbrowns (because it would cost the same whether I got the hashbrowns or not), and a large sweet tea.. . . . . . . .a whopping 940 calories!

    I wouldn't eat anything all day at work and then by the time I got off, I'd be ravenous. Sometimes I'd go through a drive-thru and get a couple of hamburgers and another sweet tea (because I hadn't had lunch and everybody knows you need to eat 3 meals a day!) for the ride home before cooking dinner and eating with the family. More often than not though, I'd pick up pizzas, or a bucket of chicken, a family feast at Captain D's or Sonny's Barbecue and that was our dinner,

    I was astounded after I started MFP and took a look at how many calories I had been consuming!

    I've only been through a drive thru twice now in the last 70 days and that was to pick up a salad. I get up every morning now and cook breakfast, I eat lunch plus snacks at work, and I cook dinner every night even if I'm going to be the only one at home. 20 lbs down now. :) It's working!
  • GiddyupTim
    GiddyupTim Posts: 2,819 Member
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    People who get heavy get self-conscious about it. They tend to eat in private.
  • Dulcemami4ever
    Dulcemami4ever Posts: 344 Member
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    When you snack all day on healthy things, you keep your metabolism running. When you eat huge fat laden meals that are starchy you will gain weight. They may not eat so much when they are at work, but most likely they are going home to huge dinners that are not portioned correctly for their activity level.

    This is how I gained weight. I didnt eat all day but used to have one big meal. My metabolism was sluggish and I was always tired.
  • ryry_
    ryry_ Posts: 4,966 Member
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    The tendency when you are overweight is to be embarrassed and eat "normal" in public and sneak in the binging in private.
  • Energizer06
    Energizer06 Posts: 311 Member
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    Quality vs Quantity.
  • sPaRkLiNgLYFE
    sPaRkLiNgLYFE Posts: 609
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    i had a friend who weighed over 500 lbs , i didn't see him snack much either but when he got hungry he would eat enough for 4 people, he didn't exercise at all and always had food delivered to him.
  • anon189
    anon189 Posts: 42
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    My mom is like that. But she hasn't drank water in probably 10 years. I'm not even kidding. All she drinks is diet dr pepper all day every day. And she doesn't eat large meals but snacks on really unhealthy crap at night pretty much daily. And she is very inactive. She's not hugely overweight, but she could be not overweight at all with just a little bit of effort.
  • _Lori_Lynn_
    _Lori_Lynn_ Posts: 460
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    There are three body types: Endomorph, ectomorph and metamorph. The metamorphs have high metabolism. The ectomorph gains fat easily, the endmorph gains fat and muscle easily.

    Genetics play a small role too.

    Thyroid and diabetes play a role.

    Age plays a role.

    Muscle mass plays a role. So many factors to this.
  • krissy_krossy
    krissy_krossy Posts: 307 Member
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    I used to eat in secret, mostly late at night.
  • queenbea77
    queenbea77 Posts: 404 Member
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    Poor food choices, not knowing what "a real serving size was", emotional eating. I think the list could be endless
  • williecruiser
    williecruiser Posts: 27
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    My weight gain is over eating and eating crap. But my daughter has PCOS. A huge symptom is obesity, among other bad symptoms. I know people judge her because they just don't know. Also thyroid or diabetes or medicines can make a person over weight. My heart breaks for obese people. Obviously if I am here, I am trying to lose weight myself, but I will never judge heavy people. Even when its from closet eating or over eating. I've done both. ( down 12 lbs., 40 to go!)
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,650 Member
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    Not everyone who is overweight is eating tons of food. It only takes an extra 100 cals per day to gain 10 pounds in a year. In 5 years, that's 50 pounds, in 10 yrs, 100 pounds overweight.

    Some people gain weight easily, and have a hard time losing it, due to genetics. We all know some naturally skinny people who seem to eat all day and never work out, yet stay slim. The opposite is true for some other people who naturally gain weight easily.

    A change in activity levels, hormone changes, age, etc, can all cause weight gain.

    Weighing more doesn't automatically increase your BMR. If you have a high BF%, you burn fewer calories than someone who is the same weight, but has more lean muscle mass.

    For someone who is very young and 200 pounds overweight, unless there is a hormone issue, it is most likely due to serious over eating, but for someone who is 50 or 60 and has gradually gained 200 pounds over 20-30 yrs time, they can be overeating very slightly, and as they age and their metabolism slows, it just adds up. Then the larger they get, the less active they are, and it just keeps compounding.

    Throw in some yo-yo dieting on top of it, and there's a perfect storm.

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