Article from The Independent "maintaining a healthy body weight is now more challenging than ever"

I don't care if it's harder than ever. Not sure that it is, but if so, so be it.

It's hard. I'll do it, anyway.

lemurcat12 wrote: »

This is the same study we discussed here, if you are interested: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10261711/easier-to-lose-in-the-80s/p1

It was a fun conversation, but I love anything that allows me to reflect on the '80s.

Me, too.

A friend and I are dressing up as 80s women for Halloween. Got my blue and pink eye shadow and hair rollers. I'm even waiting to get my hair cut so that I can roll it and style it BIG. Practicing rolling my jeans...I used to do that well. It's harder now, lol. Ordered my big, poofy socks.

Even lazy people were more active in the 80s. Want to get the money from your employer? Take that check to the bank. Need your pictures developed? Off to the Fotomat. Need new pots and pans? Need anything? Go to the store. Want to read about something? Go to the library.

Walk, stand, talk to clerks/salespeople. Heck, until we got cable, we had to get up, change the channel and fiddle with the antenna to get the picture to come in just to watch TV.

Now, we order online. I recently misplaced my scissors and the idea of going to a store didn't even enter my mind. I'd ordered new ones from amazon before I even realized I could've bought some at the grocery store or Wal-Mart.

We order online, we read online. We have remote controls. The phone is not something you get up to answer. Even music is easily purchased and downloaded. No setting up the tape recorder or going to the store and putting the record on the player.

The world is set up now so that, assuming you had enough money, you'd never have to leave your house. If you pay others to do the yard work and cleaning, you practically don't have to get off the couch.

Everything is different now. You really cannot compare now to then. It's fun to think back, though.

stevencloser wrote: »

nvmomketo wrote: »

But couldn't the foods we eat affect hormones, organelles and organs beyond what would normally be expected. I know energy doesn't disapear or magically get burned up, but my guess is that some foods will raise our "calories out" making it easier to lose weight, and some foods will lower TDEE in some.

In 1988, I would guess we ate fewer highly processed foods and pseudo foods. I would estimate we consumed less soda, and snack bars (protein bars weren't really around yet). I would also guess that we eat out more now. In the late 80's we rarely ate out and had fast food as a treat maybe once per month, laregly because the fast food places were not as easy to access.

I don't think it is far fetched to think the food we eat could affect our health which would affect our weight.

I'm not old enough to tell you your assertions about the 80s and earlier are wrong, but from what I heard others say, highly processed foods might have been used even more than now.

I don't think so.... I could be wrong though.

The frozen dinner section of the grocery was small. The cereal section was not a full aisle. Yes, my family did baking with white, bleached flour, but they still do for fine baking.

Margarine is one glaring stand out. Butter was the devil back then. Margarine was going to save us. And the trans fats in peanut butter made it so it would (seemingly) never go bad.

nvmomketo wrote: »

But couldn't the foods we eat affect hormones, organelles and organs beyond what would normally be expected. I know energy doesn't disapear or magically get burned up, but my guess is that some foods will raise our "calories out" making it easier to lose weight, and some foods will lower TDEE in some.

In 1988, I would guess we ate fewer highly processed foods and pseudo foods. I would estimate we consumed less soda, and snack bars (protein bars weren't really around yet). I would also guess that we eat out more now. In the late 80's we rarely ate out and had fast food as a treat maybe once per month, laregly because the fast food places were not as easy to access.

I don't think it is far fetched to think the food we eat could affect our health which would affect our weight.

But couldn't the cosmic rays from a distant star be slowly changing our bodies?

This is based on self-reported data. You don't have to look any further to see the problem.

nvmomketo wrote: »

DeguelloTex wrote: »

nvmomketo wrote: »

But couldn't the foods we eat affect hormones, organelles and organs beyond what would normally be expected. I know energy doesn't disapear or magically get burned up, but my guess is that some foods will raise our "calories out" making it easier to lose weight, and some foods will lower TDEE in some.

In 1988, I would guess we ate fewer highly processed foods and pseudo foods. I would estimate we consumed less soda, and snack bars (protein bars weren't really around yet). I would also guess that we eat out more now. In the late 80's we rarely ate out and had fast food as a treat maybe once per month, laregly because the fast food places were not as easy to access.

I don't think it is far fetched to think the food we eat could affect our health which would affect our weight.

But couldn't the cosmic rays from a distant star be slowly changing our bodies?

This is based on self-reported data. You don't have to look any further to see the problem.

Okay.... Haha? Technically those cosmic rays could affect our bodies. Gamma rays aren't great for the health...

When it comes to diet studies, it seems to usually be self reported. At least that is consistant. I wouldn't disregard all of it just because it was self reported. Sure it isn't 100% accurate, bu it gives one an idea of what was (is) going on.

You're begging the question. It only gives you an idea what's going on if you presume the information is sufficiently accurate.

Given that it's known that people are often poor estimators and that portions are often larger now, it's not exactly man bites dog that self-reported calorie information would get increasingly poor.

That's exactly my point. There's no way to know. I'm glad we reached agreement.

Don't look for post hoc rationalizations that might, in some hypothetical scenarios, explain a phenomenon that you don't even know actually exists.

As a scientific basis for anything, yeah, disregard it. It doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

As something to post about on a weight loss board, sure, go for it.

probability of weight loss success is not high "Probability of an Obese Person Attaining Normal Body
Weight: Cohort Study Using Electronic Health Records" http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26180980

How many of the people in that "study" were actually trying to lose weight?

Intentionality. Yeah. I wonder if there's any difference between intending to lose weight and actually trying to lose weight. I mean, I intend to repaint my office.