Science Forums 2

[Moontanman]

Originally Posted by Nitack

I'm sorry, what health conditions are there that "led to obesity". The fact of the matter is that you can only gain fat when you have taken in more Calories (energy in) than you expended (energy out). It really is a very simple equation we are dealing with. You use more energy than you take in, and you lose weight, you take in more energy than you use, then you gain weight.

Lets say you have one of these "conditions". Those conditions can not spontaneously allow your body to ignore the laws of thermodynamics and create energy out of thin air. What those conditions do is to alter one side of the equation. If you have hypothyroidism, your body will naturally use less Calories in a day because of things like the reduced body temperature, etc. If your body requires less food to function shouldn't you alter how much food you are taking in accordingly? After all, we all control the amount of food we take in. Leptin resistance in obese people means that they don't necessarily receive the biological signal that says "you are full", but as an animal that has evolved to the point of being able to use logic and reason, are we not capable of determining what is the right amount of food with out those biological signals?

Medical conditions, genetics, high fructose corn syrup, and every other excuse out there can only serve to alter one side of the equation. Everyone has the ability to make active choices that counter those alterations. Eat less food, your Calories in go down. Increase your activity, your Calories out goes up.

Obesity is about not making good choices. There is nothing that can MAKE you obese other than yourself.

Nitack, if only it were that easy, besides the fact it's very difficult to judge how much we should eat. many eating disorders slow down the metabolism and cause the retention of fat in ways a healthy person would never do. When you are inactive for one reason or another eating less is so very easy to say and so very difficult to do. Once you start gaining weight it becomes a vicious circle of eating and slowing down and getting bigger. Once you get so to a certain size just maintaining your weight becomes a starvation diet compared to what an active healthy person can eat. Food becomes the only recreation you really have and the cycle repeats getting worse and worse. I truly hope you never have a weight problem but if you do you will eat the words you have allowed to run out of your mouth.