A thread dedicated to the issue of being overweight/fat, and the way in which society does not understand it fully.

I don't usually post here at length but for once I felt compelled to do so.

I have been on a strict program of diet for a number of weeks because I have ballooned up 40 lbs over my "norm". How this happens may be insightful for some. The "why" I will posit on later.

Consuming sugars, carbs or grains will cause me to immediately and dramatically gain fat. It has little or NOTHING to do with actual calories consumed. I no longer subscribe to the "calorie mythology" they are not all created equal. I am not talking about "gorging" on carbs it is as simple as eating toast or home fries with breakfast, a sandwich at lunch and a pasta meal at dinner.

Doing so for a week will see a gain of about 8lbs even though calories are moderate and "less" than my tested BMR (basal metabolic rate) a month of "free eating" is just disastrous. YET I would be consuming less calorie amounts than the average person.... I would literately be the FATTEST person imaginable after a zombie apocalypse if I had to live on standard "preps" and boxed cereal..

I initially gained a lot of weight while at University when I foolishly spent too much money and lived on pasta, pizza and noodles for a few months. Afterwards I tended to gorge when food was available. That was a decade ago but the metabolic damage remains. So I get your stint with being homeless and having very few good food options.

There is a lot of new research into metabolism, insulin resistance and the gut's microbiome and how each plays a role. For some, who are like me, rapid gains are not specifically within our "control" they are regulated by a host of factors.

Allergies to some foods
Overgrowth of harmful gut bacteria
Suppression of regulating helpful bacteria
Hormonal interplay
Thyroid Deficiencies
Insulin interplay and resistance
Chemical sensitivities
Disease, opportunistic infection, parasitic over grown

What IS in our CONTROL is the ability to research, learn and know what foods trigger weight gains and metabolic discordance for us individually. That is where taking back power and control over ourselves pays huge dividends.

The elimination of processed foods, sugars, diet sodas, grains, dairy with meals strictly focused on good proteins and fats can usually bring me back down to a solid healthy weight...it does take "time" and no small amount of mental energy to stay on track and focused.

HOWEVER! That does not work for EVERYONE. If there are thyroid, serious hormonal imbalances, candida or other over growths it is sometimes quite necessary to have those issues addressed while eating well. Fat is metabolically active and secretes it own set of hormones and signals into the body. It is quite powerful and does not usually WANT to leave.( consuming a lot of fat does seem to convince the body to release it own stores)

Some very few people will just not budge a pound until underlying concerns are addressed and I get that. I know a lady who has improved her overall health and diet dramatically but only lost 10 lbs in 4 months until tests showed she had practically NO thyroid activity. That has been corrected and she is doing very well now.

Some will respond to ANY change in diet, some do well on low fat programs ( at least initially) calorie restriction, Low carb ( usually the best for many) or even food timing through Intermittent Fasting ( eating with a set window of time say noon-6 pm etc) No one seems to do well as a vegan in my experience.

Usually many people I encounter on GLP ( via their posts) are willing to look beyond mainstream "noise" to get to the heart and truth of a matter. There have been MANY posts on specific diets, exercise routines, processed food concerns, obesity, supplementation and many people engaging with them have produced excellent results. They do engage with them tho...

I am NOT suggesting my WoE ( Way of Eating) suits anyone other than myself but what I DO respect is people who exert control over what precisely they eat, its production methods, and directly engaging in healthy options for eating. (healthy is VERY subjective. I mean meat and vegetables principally...)

If that does not produce a result then it is time to dig much deeper with the aid of clinical testing.

I have done a few of the "live on $3/day" poverty awareness campaigns and IT IS possible to eat well with VERY little money.

So, in closing. It is not ALWAYS in someone's control how the body responds but IT IS within our control what we actually consume.

Whatever you choose to do OP be it nothing or engaging in some research about your body or changing your diet best of luck to you.

I research health as a hobby (I work at a library)

And I am starting to believe our fat/weight consists of 70% diet, 20% exercise, 20% hormones/chemicals, 10% good/bad habits...

I know that does not add up to 100%; but understand within diet and exercise, there is an overlap of hormones and chemicals. These hormones and chemicals can be controlled with diet and exercise. You can eat the right minerals and nutrients for your body to be balanced hormonally. And you can balance your hormones with exercise too.

For example, most everyone in the world is Iodine deficient, especially the Midwest. Even if you eat organic fruits and veggies, you are still Iodine deficient just because the soils are already deficient. Iodine helps control metabolism in the body, helps keep our "furnace" warm. Just by being "that much" deficient could slow down your metabolism just enough for someone to gain a few pounds a year, but not register as being hypothyroid on a medical test.

Drinking too much Flouride in the water can make you fatter too. Flouride competes with the iodine receptors in the body. Flouride also calcifies the Pineal Gland, which sends the initial signals to the thyroid to create Thyroxine. Just a little bit of Flouride, along with being Iodine deficient, could make you THAT much fatter each year.



Another HUGE reason a person can eat less than someone who eats more, yet weigh MORE is because of Insulin. Sugars and Carbs (which break down to sugar in the body), cause the body to create Insulin. More fat cells create more Insulin. Insulin's sole purpose is to STORE fat. It does not do anything else. Eating too many fats and sugars cause the body to become INSULIN-RESISTANT! Therefore the body has to create MORE insulin for the cells to respond, and with more Insulin comes more fat storage! It's a vicious cycle, the fatter you are, the fatter you will become. This is why the Atkins diet is SO successful! But going Paleo is healthiest.


This is just grazing the surface. The book "Why We Get Fat" explains it way better than I ever could. [link to www.amazon.com]

We will make fat attractive:

[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]

Ah, in that case, yes people can be very judgmental when they see people making choices that harm their health for no good reason other than a dopamine abuse addiction. Keep in mind when they are being hateful often that is how they show their concern for your health.

I suppose you are right though it is pointless to lecture people who refuse to listen.

Further I think it's deplorable how some people bully people about being fat by making negative comments such as "she shouldn't be wearing that" or other body shaming related comments can be extremely hurtful.

To keep it in perspective society has motivation to keep us healthy productive workers because if we turn into fat slugs we can have health problems.

Further yes eating addiction is identical to drug use in many ways because of the manipulation of the dopamine levels. Same for smoking or even video games.

To some extent I agree, you must love who you are and how you look right now.
However do not make this an excuse not to lose weight and get Healthy.
Healthy is a choice, just like loving who you are.

By the new health standards, I am overweight by over 100 pounds. Yet a few years ago. I was down to that medically "recommended" weight and it was a real problem.
I felt bad all the time. No energy, lack of strength, etc. I thought I was going to die. So don't use their guidelines as a guide to your optimum weight.

Now I am older and with life style changes have put on more weight than I want, So I am working on that. I want to get down to a weight that feels good to me.
So do not let excess weight control you, or even the medical community, but find a place were you feel good and are comfortable with your weight.
It is not an easy task some times, but it is always worth it in the end.

Well all of this started in the fish sandwich thread.

After me changing my picture, trolls did their thing, and I stood up for myself.

And I found the conversation to be very interesting and I said some things in there that I wanted more people to hear. Those that think they understand what the habits of overweight people must be.

I think a lot of what was said in that thread is better than here. But by better I dont mean advice on how to lose weight, but in how having fat on your body is not always about being lazy and gluttonous.

The point is not say overeating as fine... but to point out some of hypocrisy involved in people's views. And yes I did use my own story as an example to show how you can be very happy and confident and still not be "perfect" in every area of your life. Because when people see someone overweight they are assuming that person cannot "fix" something monumental that makes them miserable. And maybe it is rare, but the ONLY part of it that annoys me is not being able to snowboard like I used to, or hike several miles. The days of me thinking what people are thinking about me when I am on the bus or something are OVER. And that was a HARD accomplishment, and I am proud of it. So people are assuming I cant fix something that makes me miserable. And they are wrong. I want it changed... like a guy who wants to work out and get ripped wants to change. And if I feel that way, and am that secure, than other chicks might be like me.

Like I said a lot more of these things are said in that other thread.

This thread has turned into weight loss advice. Maybe that will help someone at some point who comes here, but it does not remotely match the thread title and I did not ask for it. And I have to admit maybe I am a little annoyed you assume I need it. Haha mostly because I don't like assumptions in general people make about any topic. I gained the weight from age 19-22 because of a long drawn emotional abusive relationship. No this is not an excuse. It is just what happened. Once I gained 15 pounds he told me he was not attracted to me, but we dated for another 2 years because his claws were DEEP into me and he thought I could lose it because he couldnt find someone "better" (which means someone more submissive to putting up with his controlling bullshit). Right after I decided to drop out of my Stanford Chemical Engineering PhD program (best decision ever btw) I went gluten and dairy free and exercised to the P90 every day for about 30-40 minutes. I lived with my sister who ate raw food, and I learned how to cook with all whole fresh ingredients and eliminate my body from toxins. My sister told me recently we have some genetic disorder (she got tested) that means we cant process toxins when we are eating them, so we just store them. And so we will lose weight super fast and gain it super fast (since it is more built up toxins than fat). This is just what she told me a couple months ago (she is not fat). But it is not ALL toxins. Obviously there is fat too...lol.

Anyway sure enough when I did that stuff after I left school, I dropped 100 lbs in about 8 months. And I never went that hungry. You should never have to starve yourself if you are patient to let it come off slow. It was so fast for me only because of the toxin situation, and also because I was doing nothing but spiritual activities and had maybe energy things activating in me daily.

Then I had my first "mania" and was FORCED to be on meds, locked up for 5 months because I had no where to go, and then housed and isolated. I didnt stuff myself because I hate that feeling (I only seem to get SUPER FULL when I eat pizza once in awhile... because... well pizza is just different and worth the pain. (I will eat it less than once a month) But I cant eat it now because of the gluten thing). But I did eat convenient things from trader joes that had chemicals. And I did not exercise. I had just told I was bipolar and on shitty meds and I was depressed. I dont stuff myself when depressed...I become inactive.

Within a year all the weight was back.

Anyway it takes ALL things coming together perfectly for me to actually get my bodies fire lit where I feed it with the right "wood" (pure whole foods) and Oxygen (intense exercise that makes me SWEAT). Starving myself shutting down my metabolism would be the worst thing for me (been there done that during the time I was with that guy).

I talked about in that thread how I walked for an entire summer while homeless a year and a half ago and rarely got to eat. And did not lose a single pound. But I did get somewhat smaller and fit. Still "fat." Because it was not intense sweat building (and working out each muscle).


I live in a group home and they feed us. They don't feed us too much because they worry about weight. But I was not losing weight despite us going on walks most days, me doing yoga, hiking sometimes, and me doing Just Dance. So Jan 1st I decided to go gluten free again and I haven't cheated once. I will cut out dairy next. And I need to start the Just Dance EVERY day for at least 6-8 songs in a row. I have to use the $300 I get each month mostly on my own food now. I am making it a priority. (So I do care about this :-)




I am only saying all of this so you guys understand that just because someone is fat does not mean that they do not know to lose it, and does not mean they have given up.

And it does not mean they are lazy and don't care about themselves.

And it certainty does not mean they are less quality of human beings.




Sorry for the wall of text. But the point of this thread I wanted for you to see that assumptions you make can be wrong.


Oh and I smoked for 2 years and told myself I would stop after 2 years... .and sure enough last September I did. Easiest thing ever. The first three days felt less shitty than me being hungry any normal day. Because of my fucked up blood sugar issues. It is not a stomach hunger... it is a wacked up DEEP CRAVING THAT MAKES ME WANT TO RIP OUT SOMEONES THROAT (or naw hard on a pencil) until I get my blood sugar raised.

That problem is solved now basically... that I have cut out the gluten/wheat and will even be better when I cut out coffee (because I use sugar).

But yeah quitting smoking was SO easy. The nicotine cravings were a joke compared to low blood sugar hunger.

So that tells you how much more difficult weight loss is compared to smoking....even though there is more grace given for those that cant quit smoking....than grace given for those that cant lose weight.

And if you smoke and own it and don't give a shit what people think, and are not trying to quit... that is way more awesome than someone all depressed about their addiction always trying to quit and unable to.

What is important is how happy you are. And I can understand being concerned about that in someone else. But your health really is no ones business.

Last Edited by I_am_who_I_am on 02/12/2016 04:24 PM

It's wheat and sugar. Drop the fork.

Why do fat acceptance promoters reinforce society's emphasis on looks by trying to force so-called norms of beauty to be widened to include them rather than emphasizing other positive traits such as kindness, intelligence, wit and so on?

People, especially women need to get over themselves put importance onto other things. And I do say women because we have to accept there's more to life than having 80% of the population thinking of them as fuckable, which goes downhill after 30 or so anyway. So really. Develop other attractive traits and fixate less on what you cannot do much about.

Ok I will also say that there might be some gems of advice in some of the replies.

I think that one guy talking about me getting a hobby (and other things like getting a doctor) annoyed me so I stopped reading most of the "advice."

But just because I have lost weight before in a certain way, does not mean there aren't lots of cool things I haven't heard of to help. Naturopathic medicine is constantly growing with what it knows and there is prob some awesome stuff they have found out since the last time I dedicated myself deeply to learning it all.

And two different people in one week recently told me about drinking some apple cider vinegar each day. Yes I knew this was good for awhile... but when two people say the same thing near the same time I tend to listen more... the universe speaking and all :). So I bought some a couple days ago.

So I will go back and read through the replies. Thank you for spending the time to write it, esp if you came from a compassionate place.


ps I have lots of hobbies. Even a side business taking off where my greeting cards and jewelry are in some stores. :-)

Assuming fat people are lazy with no hobbies is like assuming a gamer has no life and lives with their mom.

You are completely right.

Thank you for summing up the point of this thread so well.

:-)

This is a healthy attitude to take. Because it's realistic and actually applies to everyone no matter their size.

People have become too thin-skinned, too easily offended, too dependent on constant fawning and swayed by the opinions of others.

'muh genetics' is really not an excuse.
Weight is simple math.
You WILL lose weight if you don't eat as much carbs and sugars and exercise.
It's that simple.
Society understands being fat perfectly well.
Society is not delusional.

The bottom line is that if you are overweight you have much more calories coming in than you are using.
Simple math - calories in/calories out.

I have been overweight my whole adult life until recently.
My CHOICE.

LOLLLLL you're even stupider than those posters , you're paying to come and read that shit then complaining about it , CANCEL your membership and don't click on those threads

actually, the ancient Hittites depicted "Og- the lardass" on their frescoes. Apparently Og was the laziest fucking caveman who never hunted, made war on other tribes, or cleaned up his fucking cave. That guy must have been a real asshole

Blah blah blah.... every lardass Ive ever met has a metabolism issue or a thyroid issue or some other medical condition.

Ive literally never met an obses person who spoke the truth that they are simply a pig that eats too much.