If You Ate Whatever you wanted, no excersize, what do you think would be your stable bmi/ weight?

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  • Jolinia
    Jolinia Posts: 846 Member
    edited February 2015
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    "So, mostly I'm getting you all pretty much feel your natural bmi is in the obese range then?"

    I can't find the post this came from, but I think it's a great question. No, I'm not naturally supposed to be obese. Naturally, if research is correct, we haven't caught up with our food and sedentary environment yet.

    Naturally if I lived in some areas hundreds or thousands of years ago, I might be much more active, and even if not, I would never have been exposed to most of the foods I ate when I was obese. And my body has changed because of those foods and possibly sedentary lifestyle (and possibly pollutants, too, jury still out on that, but some researchers are looking into it). So only in the context of our current food and lifestyle environment is obesity 'natural' for my body. Unfortunately, it seems to also be 'natural' for a lot of other people, too.
  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
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    chouflour wrote: »
    rosebette wrote: »
    I think the medical community panics over someone being over BMI; for a smaller person, especially, that could be as little as a 10 lb. difference. Even for someone 5'1", 158 lbs. is "obese." This is only 25 lbs. heavier than my current weight, and I have seen large boned women my size who were close to that weight whom I wouldn't consider obese, just stocky and slightly overweight.

    IME, panic is vastly overstating the case for medical professionals. I have a bad knee (meniscus tear, arthritis, some tendon laxity) and it's painful to walk on. I also have a BMI of about 25.5. I went to see the orthopedist, expecting to be told to lose weight into the normal range, and maybe not the top of it. Instead he said "Usually we tell people to lose weight, but you're slim"

    My PCP and GI would ideally like me to maintain a BMI closer to 28, and encourage me to stop losing weight every time I see them. We've shifted strategy from trying to maintain weight to trying to slowly gain weight (to see if it balances out.)

    Note: At my current weight, I still have a lot of excess fat. Being a special snowflake doesn't mean that I'm exempted from the risks of excess weight or a poor diet. It just means that when you look at all-cause mortality risks - being fat is more likely to save me than to kill me.

    THIS
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
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    You're funny.

    "stable"

    If I ate what I wanted, it would never stabilize.

    Never.

    I'd keep getting bigger and bigger until I was one of those 900 pound dudes they had to tear out a wall in the house to haul my "ate himself to death" @$$ to the coroner's office.
  • Bellodesiderare
    Bellodesiderare Posts: 278 Member
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    AlysonG2 wrote: »
    If I truly ate whatever I wanted and didn't exercise, I would be extremely obese, like I was before. I'm not even sure I could put a cap on it.

    Meeeee toooooo!
  • Pirate_chick
    Pirate_chick Posts: 1,216 Member
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    I'd be right back at 291+ if I ate the way I wanted to.
  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
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    jgnatca wrote: »
    So, mostly I'm getting you all pretty much feel your natural bmi is in the obese range then?

    I am a very conservative dieter and until this latest enterprise, I only seriously went on a diet once before, in my thirties. It took a year to lose twenty pounds back then. The pattern ever after is to gain 10-15 pounds every year. By the time I was in my fifties, I was morbidly obese. Left to my own devices I am absolutely convinced my weight would steadily rise over the years, and considering the health conditions now in remission (diabetes, cholesterol, high blood pressure), my weight loss is definitely in the direction of health and vitality.

    I am still on the edge between obese and overweight, and I'd be very happy to remain in the overweight range as I have lost enough to get moving and avoid the health deficits of obesity. If I stopped tracking today I would still likely have to take a few months every year to monitor and curtail my intake to return to a healthy weight.

    P.S. I wanted to add that my weight gain over the years I don't believe is "natural" nor a result of "laziness" or "gluttony". I am a statistic in the burgeoning obesity epidemic.

    Thanks for sharing, I found my fifties were where every bite I took another pound went on. I might as well have glued the food right to my thighs! For me after menopause it seemed easy to gain and I was in a situation where walking became difficult -- a heavy urban area and very cold icy long winters. All those things together plus several deaths in the family within a few years, well, stuff happens!

    I believe in health at any size. It looks like you are in the right place to enjoy many healthy fun years. I never knew getting older would be this much fun!
    P.S. I don't think weight in the upper ranges is ever about gluttony or laziness.
  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
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    Jolinia wrote: »
    "So, mostly I'm getting you all pretty much feel your natural bmi is in the obese range then?"

    I can't find the post this came from, but I think it's a great question. No, I'm not naturally supposed to be obese. Naturally, if research is correct, we haven't caught up with our food and sedentary environment yet.

    Naturally if I lived in some areas hundreds or thousands of years ago, I might be much more active, and even if not, I would never have been exposed to most of the foods I ate when I was obese. And my body has changed because of those foods and possibly sedentary lifestyle (and possibly pollutants, too, jury still out on that, but some researchers are looking into it). So only in the context of our current food and lifestyle environment is obesity 'natural' for my body. Unfortunately, it seems to also be 'natural' for a lot of other people, too.

    Jolina! hi, I think the studies being made on pollutants and some of the ingredients in cleaning products can cause weight gain, I don't know a whole lot about it though, cortisoll levels or something I believe. So agree about the more ancient active life being curtailed by modern life. But some studies show that even excersize doesnt have the capacity to change our size over the long term anyhow. I'm surprized about that as anyone, because it seems everyone in the fitness world would deny this.
    There are thinish and larger people in my family, so I can't really say much on that in mycase. When I was younger, I smoked, when I quit, automatic 15 pound gain. Lost it though, naturally it just started melting off about 6 years later, which gave me the idea that my natural weight was a static thing even though it could take years to adjust. I think its also genetic that I gained after menopause, because so did my mother and my grandmother. There will hopefully be some science research studies on the set point theory for weight and weight distribution someday soon.

    It is interesting isn't it. Thank you very much for writing how its been for you.:-)
  • Jolinia
    Jolinia Posts: 846 Member
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    cloudi2 wrote: »
    Jolinia wrote: »
    "So, mostly I'm getting you all pretty much feel your natural bmi is in the obese range then?"

    I can't find the post this came from, but I think it's a great question. No, I'm not naturally supposed to be obese. Naturally, if research is correct, we haven't caught up with our food and sedentary environment yet.

    Naturally if I lived in some areas hundreds or thousands of years ago, I might be much more active, and even if not, I would never have been exposed to most of the foods I ate when I was obese. And my body has changed because of those foods and possibly sedentary lifestyle (and possibly pollutants, too, jury still out on that, but some researchers are looking into it). So only in the context of our current food and lifestyle environment is obesity 'natural' for my body. Unfortunately, it seems to also be 'natural' for a lot of other people, too.

    Jolina! hi, I think the studies being made on pollutants and some of the ingredients in cleaning products can cause weight gain, I don't know a whole lot about it though, cortisoll levels or something I believe. So agree about the more ancient active life being curtailed by modern life. But some studies show that even excersize doesnt have the capacity to change our size over the long term anyhow. I'm surprized about that as anyone, because it seems everyone in the fitness world would deny this.
    There are thinish and larger people in my family, so I can't really say much on that in mycase. When I was younger, I smoked, when I quit, automatic 15 pound gain. Lost it though, naturally it just started melting off about 6 years later, which gave me the idea that my natural weight was a static thing even though it could take years to adjust. I think its also genetic that I gained after menopause, because so did my mother and my grandmother. There will hopefully be some science research studies on the set point theory for weight and weight distribution someday soon.

    It is interesting isn't it. Thank you very much for writing how its been for you.:-)

    I find it fascinating. Of course there may be some people from ancient times who, unless they were in a flat out famine, became obese. And some researchers think it had survival value for some people, too. As for exercise, doing it to burn calories in our calorie dense foods environment is pointless (though it does have health benefits) but we aren't a species that always had access to calorie dense foods all the time.
  • likehlikeo
    likehlikeo Posts: 185 Member
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    I ate what I wanted and it was a lot (sometimes easily over 3000 cal a day...chips, chocolate, Oreos..take away...you name it). My BMI never went over 21. No exercise at all, besides walking 200m to the train station. I changed this now. Not because of my weight (ok, maybe a little bit here and there could go away), but because I just felt like crap. My back was hurting a lot and I was grumpy and demotivated to do stuff. I feel way better now I check what I put in my mouth and have a dog, who requires at least 2 hours of fast walking and playing. MFP really helps me to track nutrients and I feel guilty if I have candy (like today...Skittles...but they were really really good B) )
  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
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    Jolinia wrote: »
    cloudi2 wrote: »
    Jolinia wrote: »
    "So, mostly I'm getting you all pretty much feel your natural bmi is in the obese range then?"

    I can't find the post this came from, but I think it's a great question. No, I'm not naturally supposed to be obese. Naturally, if research is correct, we haven't caught up with our food and sedentary environment yet.

    Naturally if I lived in some areas hundreds or thousands of years ago, I might be much more active, and even if not, I would never have been exposed to most of the foods I ate when I was obese. And my body has changed because of those foods and possibly sedentary lifestyle (and possibly pollutants, too, jury still out on that, but some researchers are looking into it). So only in the context of our current food and lifestyle environment is obesity 'natural' for my body. Unfortunately, it seems to also be 'natural' for a lot of other people, too.

    Jolina! hi, I think the studies being made on pollutants and some of the ingredients in cleaning products can cause weight gain, I don't know a whole lot about it though, cortisoll levels or something I believe. So agree about the more ancient active life being curtailed by modern life. But some studies show that even excersize doesnt have the capacity to change our size over the long term anyhow. I'm surprized about that as anyone, because it seems everyone in the fitness world would deny this.
    There are thinish and larger people in my family, so I can't really say much on that in mycase. When I was younger, I smoked, when I quit, automatic 15 pound gain. Lost it though, naturally it just started melting off about 6 years later, which gave me the idea that my natural weight was a static thing even though it could take years to adjust. I think its also genetic that I gained after menopause, because so did my mother and my grandmother. There will hopefully be some science research studies on the set point theory for weight and weight distribution someday soon.

    It is interesting isn't it. Thank you very much for writing how its been for you.:-)

    I find it fascinating. Of course there may be some people from ancient times who, unless they were in a flat out famine, became obese. And some researchers think it had survival value for some people, too. As for exercise, doing it to burn calories in our calorie dense foods environment is pointless (though it does have health benefits) but we aren't a species that always had access to calorie dense foods all the time.

    yeah, the worst we could do in these times is go for a run breathing in all the exhaust fumes from the morning traffic! Lol!

  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
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    likehlikeo wrote: »
    I ate what I wanted and it was a lot (sometimes easily over 3000 cal a day...chips, chocolate, Oreos..take away...you name it). My BMI never went over 21. No exercise at all, besides walking 200m to the train station. I changed this now. Not because of my weight (ok, maybe a little bit here and there could go away), but because I just felt like crap. My back was hurting a lot and I was grumpy and demotivated to do stuff. I feel way better now I check what I put in my mouth and have a dog, who requires at least 2 hours of fast walking and playing. MFP really helps me to track nutrients and I feel guilty if I have candy (like today...Skittles...but they were really really good B) )

    THanks for adding your experience! Enjoy your skittles. :smile:
  • Jolinia
    Jolinia Posts: 846 Member
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    cloudi2 wrote: »
    Jolinia wrote: »
    cloudi2 wrote: »
    Jolinia wrote: »
    "So, mostly I'm getting you all pretty much feel your natural bmi is in the obese range then?"

    I can't find the post this came from, but I think it's a great question. No, I'm not naturally supposed to be obese. Naturally, if research is correct, we haven't caught up with our food and sedentary environment yet.

    Naturally if I lived in some areas hundreds or thousands of years ago, I might be much more active, and even if not, I would never have been exposed to most of the foods I ate when I was obese. And my body has changed because of those foods and possibly sedentary lifestyle (and possibly pollutants, too, jury still out on that, but some researchers are looking into it). So only in the context of our current food and lifestyle environment is obesity 'natural' for my body. Unfortunately, it seems to also be 'natural' for a lot of other people, too.

    Jolina! hi, I think the studies being made on pollutants and some of the ingredients in cleaning products can cause weight gain, I don't know a whole lot about it though, cortisoll levels or something I believe. So agree about the more ancient active life being curtailed by modern life. But some studies show that even excersize doesnt have the capacity to change our size over the long term anyhow. I'm surprized about that as anyone, because it seems everyone in the fitness world would deny this.
    There are thinish and larger people in my family, so I can't really say much on that in mycase. When I was younger, I smoked, when I quit, automatic 15 pound gain. Lost it though, naturally it just started melting off about 6 years later, which gave me the idea that my natural weight was a static thing even though it could take years to adjust. I think its also genetic that I gained after menopause, because so did my mother and my grandmother. There will hopefully be some science research studies on the set point theory for weight and weight distribution someday soon.

    It is interesting isn't it. Thank you very much for writing how its been for you.:-)

    I find it fascinating. Of course there may be some people from ancient times who, unless they were in a flat out famine, became obese. And some researchers think it had survival value for some people, too. As for exercise, doing it to burn calories in our calorie dense foods environment is pointless (though it does have health benefits) but we aren't a species that always had access to calorie dense foods all the time.

    yeah, the worst we could do in these times is go for a run breathing in all the exhaust fumes from the morning traffic! Lol!

    Luckily or not, our homes can trap even more pollutants, so going outside is still a good idea!
  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
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    Its good to know, I just keep to the less busy streets. Thanks for the encouragement to get out in the freshER air!:-)
  • triciab79
    triciab79 Posts: 1,713 Member
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    I used to eat whatever I wanted and I was around 220 steadily climbing by about 10lbs a year. If I had kept going I would be 250 ish so a BMI of 42 but it would probably be going up. My appetite has always grown to match my intake. I will always watch what I eat and be active now. It is so much better than being overweight and sore and depending on my next meal for happiness.
  • RHachicho
    RHachicho Posts: 1,115 Member
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    Well I kinda know because that's exactly what i did for years. I ended up at 340lbs.
  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
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    triciab79 wrote: »
    I used to eat whatever I wanted and I was around 220 steadily climbing by about 10lbs a year. If I had kept going I would be 250 ish so a BMI of 42 but it would probably be going up. My appetite has always grown to match my intake. I will always watch what I eat and be active now. It is so much better than being overweight and sore and depending on my next meal for happiness.
    RHachicho wrote: »
    Well I kinda know because that's exactly what i did for years. I ended up at 340lbs.

    Do you ever think its certain foods that trigger your hunger? for example sugar? I agree about the appetite grows to meet intake if its going up, but what about down, how long did it take you to adjust to lower intake?
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
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    cloudi2 wrote: »
    Ate what I want and no exercise? I'd probably creep up to 15 stone at 5'8.

    Darren, that's not much really! You lucky dog!

    It's a complete guess, really. But I know I'd look overweight. Since you said no exercise, it'd definitely be fat and not muscle.
  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
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    I actually gained muscle back just from doing everyday chores and walking up a lot of stairs. I read that muscles have memory and we can trigger that growth. I hope thats true, cause muscles really help a body get things done!
  • estitom
    estitom Posts: 205 Member
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    I think I would be slightly overweight, but not obese. A BMI of 26-28 probably. But that's because I've learned what makes me happy, and too much food is not something that makes me feel good. A huge pizza every weekend would be something though ;)
  • levitateme
    levitateme Posts: 999 Member
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    If I ate whatever I wanted without restraint and never exercised, I would wager that I'd be super morbidly obese within 2 years.