Attitudes of people with different levels of fitness and wei

I was just talking to my friend about this earlier, telling her the great thing about losing weight is that you do not give a *kitten* what people say about you anymore. When I used to be called ( in a politically correct way) fat before, i would always blame it on having a baby or juggling work, home and had no time to go to the gym.

My brothers STILL make fun of me for being fat, and instead of secretly being mad at them and pretending not to care, I shrug it off as stupid talk, bcz that's exactly what it is.. nonesense!!

It's not even the fact that I lost weight that's so great, it's the fact that I bust my butt every single day and my family and friends admire me for it. Not one FAT person in my circle of people can tell me I can't lose weight due to health problems or I'm too busy....pfffftt!! I call them out right away and tell them if I can get up at 5 am every single FN day and workout, then anyone can!!

Weight loss and increase fitness brings about a new level of confidence that a person who has been skinny all their life will never know!! Now I talk about how I used to FAT, not overweight, or big boned, just plain ol' FAT!!

I don't know what your agenda is, but I think luckily most people have reason and logic skills that mean they won't pay attention to the things you say.

Just for the record - do you actually believe, knowing how the body works ie food is fuel and moving etc uses that fuel, that the answer to losing weight doesn't fundamentally come down to diet and exercise?

Whether the reason comes down to a psychological tendency or a genetic tendency to over/under eat or a genetic tendency towards fat storage, the fix is always to eat properly and exercise appropriately.

I do not have an agenda, other than to pass the time on a message board and thereby procrastinate doing the dishes.

For the record: Yes, I believe that losing weight fundamentally comes down to diet and exercise. I believe that weight gain and loss is based in some way on the consumption and expenditure of calories. What I am talking about is more to do with behaviour - with metabolism, and hunger. They're very closely related to diet and exercise, but they are separate issues that determine how and why we gain or lose weight.

I do take the attitude of a no nonsense approach. And many times don't buy the excuses or analogies of my clients. If I did, then I'd probably not get them results. One of the ones that people try to use is the "under stress" excuse to be fat. Guess what? Skinny people has many episodes of being under stress too, they just approach it a different way.
There are many different approaches that work. Not all will work with some (the female that won't do a burpee comes to mind) and sometimes I have to try to really work a program that fits that particular person, but it really just boils down to getting more physical activity in and consuming less calories.

A.C.E. Certified Personal & Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I don't know what your agenda is, but I think luckily most people have reason and logic skills that mean they won't pay attention to the things you say.

Just for the record - do you actually believe, knowing how the body works ie food is fuel and moving etc uses that fuel, that the answer to losing weight doesn't fundamentally come down to diet and exercise?

Whether the reason comes down to a psychological tendency or a genetic tendency to over/under eat or a genetic tendency towards fat storage, the fix is always to eat properly and exercise appropriately.

I do not have an agenda, other than to pass the time on a message board and thereby procrastinate doing the dishes.

For the record: Yes, I believe that losing weight fundamentally comes down to diet and exercise. I believe that weight gain and loss is based in some way on the consumption and expenditure of calories. What I am talking about is more to do with behaviour - with metabolism, and hunger. They're very closely related to diet and exercise, but they are separate issues that determine how and why we gain or lose weight.

Funny the OP pretty much posts an unscientific anecdotal opinion as some kind of fact, and everybody with an opposing view either is a troll or has an agenda.

I agree that those of us that over still very overweight tend to be a little more 'touchy' about the fat word... LOL

I also feel that there are a great deal of people who are in denial as to why they are overweight. Very few have complications that lead to weight gain, although there are some that did. For those of you who are in the category that a disease, or some type of medication, are the reason for your weight problem, I'm not referring to you!!!

Personally, I'm fat because I overate and underexercised. I was raised with poor eating as my example, but as an adult, it's up to me to make better decisions, learn from my past, and make a better present and future for myself and my children. When I decided to really try my hardest to lose this weight, I decided to drop the excuses that I used to make myself more of a victim of fate, rather than a victim of my own decisions. (I do have occasional relapses and fall prey to pity parties which include overindulging...)

That being said, I think a certain degree of filtering of the bald truth tends to go a longer way toward getting your point across without raising too many people's hackles. Sometimes it's all about the phrasing, and less about the facts!!!

The problem with that is it brings about the victim culture which I believe is one of the issues surrounding a lot of the problems we experience in society today.

We are blaming our surroundings for being too tempting but there are plenty of people who live in these same surroundings we overcome the temptation, or just aren't tempted at all.

It is the individual who has issues if they don't live a healthy lifestyle so it is up to the individual to resolve it, whether that is with the help of others or on their own.

To say that there needs to be cultural changes is correct, but these need to be changes of mindset by individuals, there is nothing governments or health agencies can do other than put the information out there.

We need to take control of our own lives and not expect someone else to come along and fix it for us.

Why can't both you AND grinch be right? Yes, the individual needs to take control. But we also need to make drastic changes as a society. We can't expect that obese individuals are all going to lose weight on their own, and ALL of us are going to pay the consequences through higher health care rates and later medicare/disability etc.

I think then perhaps we agree fundamentally, just we are talking about slightly different things.

To me there are many many causes for people over eating, whether it be sadness, peer pressure, addiction caused by a Leptin deficiency as you mention. Each of these have to be addressed in their own way but ultimately, the goal is to have the individual eating properly.

Sure there are many causes, but none of them explain the massive growth in obesity from the late 70s, except obvious changes in the American diet for example.

I think when people are in a toxic culture with temptation everywhere and have already been scarred by the damage to their body, it is no longer effective or even makes any sense to just continue blaming the individuals. We need large scale cultural changes to fix the problem.

The problem with that is it brings about the victim culture which I believe is one of the issues surrounding a lot of the problems we experience in society today.

We are blaming our surroundings for being too tempting but there are plenty of people who live in these same surroundings we overcome the temptation, or just aren't tempted at all.

It is the individual who has issues if they don't live a healthy lifestyle so it is up to the individual to resolve it, whether that is with the help of others or on their own.

To say that there needs to be cultural changes is correct, but these need to be changes of mindset by individuals, there is nothing governments or health agencies can do other than put the information out there.

We need to take control of our own lives and not expect someone else to come along and fix it for us.

Most people who are naturally skinny are not genetically prone to becoming obese. Even if they force feed garbage, the moment they stop the weight comes off because their hormones just will not let them get fat or at least sustain it for very long. Then there are the people that became fat either early in life or later in life. Most of them can lose weight, but most of them will regain it all back. Only a very small percentage can keep the weight off forever. I really don't think what worked for a small percentage of people (long term) demonstrates that it is an effective treatment for everyone. I really think the influence our environment has on most bodies' is too powerful and we need to change that environment. And I don't think that will happen until there is a scientific breakthrough that provides smoking gun evidence that the food we are eating is the primary cause of obesity, much more than any psychological factors. My opinion based on the data I've seen, take it or leave it.

But, some of them had to work harder at it than others. Some may have had to work much, much harder for every pound lost than you did. Some may have not had to work at all.

I'll give myself as an example:

Somehow I lost over 30 lbs over maybe 12 months without doing anything deliberate. I put on a whole lot of weight in my third pregnancy. Lost a bunch immediately after delivery, of course, and then the rest sort of hung around for a while... then it slowly went away. And, it has stayed off, with the exception of about 6 pounds I put on when I quit smoking last month.

Yes, it was down to how many calories I was taking in vs putting out. But, my point is, I didn't have to work at it at all. It just happened all on its own. It had nothing to do with my attitude towards food or exercise.

It depends on your definition of working at it. I'll admit, this time, weight loss felt effortless for me. I was still burning 300-500 calories a day, logging everything I ate to make sure I was eating the right amount. It's not as though I decided one day, "I want to be a size 4," and the weight just magically fell off.

But it felt effortless to eat ~1800+ calories a day and run my bum off to average one pound a week while I was losing, compared to the under 1000 calories a day I was eating to lose less than a half pound a week years ago. THEN, I would say that weight loss was really hard. Now, I'd say it's better to work smart than work hard. Try different things until you find what works best for you. If it feels like torture, it's not what's best for you.

(And I know there are some people that need help to get the results they want. A very good friend of mine tried every normal method to lose weight, but nothing worked for her except weight loss surgery.)

I don't know what your agenda is, but I think luckily most people have reason and logic skills that mean they won't pay attention to the things you say.

Just for the record - do you actually believe, knowing how the body works ie food is fuel and moving etc uses that fuel, that the answer to losing weight doesn't fundamentally come down to diet and exercise?

Whether the reason comes down to a psychological tendency or a genetic tendency to over/under eat or a genetic tendency towards fat storage, the fix is always to eat properly and exercise appropriately.

I do not have an agenda, other than to pass the time on a message board and thereby procrastinate doing the dishes.

:laugh:

For the record: Yes, I believe that losing weight fundamentally comes down to diet and exercise. I believe that weight gain and loss is based in some way on the consumption and expenditure of calories. What I am talking about is more to do with behaviour - with metabolism, and hunger. They're very closely related to diet and exercise, but they are separate issues that determine how and why we gain or lose weight.

I think then, like Grinch we fundamentally agree, I am just talking about what it all boils down to and saying that whatever the base issue is, the result is that it causes issues with what goes in/out.

The base issues need to be addressed in their own indivdual way to effect a change in the nutrition and exercise.

Why can't both you AND grinch be right? Yes, the individual needs to take control. But we also need to make drastic changes as a society. We can't expect that obese individuals are all going to lose weight on their own, and ALL of us are going to pay the consequences through higher health care rates and later medicare/disability etc.

I really don't care if grinch turns out to be right. He wants a solution that eliminates obesity for everyone. That's a nice dream, and I hope it is realized someday. For now, all I can do is work on my own problems, and maybe someday provide some positive influence for my family and the people around me.

Society as a whole is mainly influenced by a bunch of rabid idiots at each other's throats, each believing they have the best intentions. I'm not going to put my trust in that.