[Nitack]

I am going to answer this question definitively in terms that the Hypo crowd will understand.

If Energy used < Energy taken in = Gain in Energy Reserves
(energy expended through exercise + BMR) < (energy from food eaten) = (your body has converted and stored that excess energy as fat)

It really is that simple. Why is it that simple? Conservation of Energy. A basic principle of physics. I am so tired of hearing about viruses and processed foods and every other excuse that the latest diet guru comes up with. Eat less move more! It is a simple equation, everything else is just a something that effects one or both sides of the equation.

A thyroid issue slows down your metabolism causing weight gain? Guess what, you did not gain weight because of your thyroid, you gained weight because your body required less energy and you continued to eat more than it required.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but this is a particular pet peeve of mine. People are constantly trying to find an excuse to avoid accepting personal responsibility. I have been arguing this topic on message boards for over a year.

Here is a shocker for you! I AM FAT! Do you know why?? Because I love good food and I derive a great deal of joy from video games and spend a lot of time sedentary. I am fat through my own choices.

[freeztar]

Good post Nitack!

I agree that people often make excuses and refuse to take personal responsibility. The sad part is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. People who think they are fat because of this or that can be unwilling to work-out because they think it will make no difference.

[Nitack]

Thanks Freeztar. I appreciate the compliment

I did want to reiterate the most important part of my post...

Originally Posted by Nitack

Eat less move more!

[paigetheoracle]

New research (I 'think' by Stirling University - can't say for sure as I've mislaid the clipping) suggests that not only is fast food addictive but that like the dangers of drugs and alcohol, this is passed on to the fetus with the usual dire results (fetal alcohol syndrome/ drug addicted babies and now genetically modified babies, with a craving for fast food and ballooning weight problem - could this be the real culprit behind the obesity epidemic and explain why it appeared so suddenly and how it is spreading? (The germ of an idea in your genes - inherited tendency and a 'taste' for a rubbish diet that bloats you, through malnutrition: Unsatisfactory, nutritionally, so you are forced to take in more to compensate, leading to weight gain side effect (minute amount of what you do want, for overload and storage of bulk you don't need))).

Case proven? Link shown as logical progression of a disease? To me it sounds like it.

[Michaelangelica]

The ABC has been promoting a BBC programme on "chip" and other fast food addicts this week
I will post I link when I see the programme.

[Michaelangelica]

Resveratrol in Red Wine Found to be Effective Against Obesity

June 23, 2008
Obesity, one of the key risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease, arthritis, and cancer, is rampant throughout the world, owing to unhealthy dietary practices and an increasingly sedentary lifestyle. According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, 5-10% reduction of weight in obese individuals may help in delaying or inhibiting the obesity-related ailments. Now, scientists have found that Resveratrol, an antioxidant naturally found in red wine and grapes, holds the potential to reduce the number of adipocytes in the body, and thereby potentially prevent, or even treat, obesity. The details of the study were presented at the 90th Annual Meeting of The Endocrine Society, held at San Francisco from June 15th to 18th, 2008.

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http://www.medinewsdirect.com/?p=514

[Kayra]

I do not believe that mankind is getting lazier, but rather our technology and societies are enabling us to fulfill our laziness potential. At the same time it makes consuming predigested tasty processed foods cheap and easy.

Being reasonably lazy, or smart lazy, can actually be considered a good survival characteristic. Conserving energy for when you need it, or actively seeking out lower energy method of accomplishing something.

The former is no longer appropriate to our continued survival and is likely causing much of our current problems. The later is still a positive trait and can have a profound effect on all family/tribe/regional/mankind members.

As to the "energy in/energy out equations" I keep seeing here, we are far to complex in our behavior to simplify us to the basics of physics. While completely true, those statements do not account for the entire set of evolved traits that encourage specific behaviors of survival.

We eat because mechanism evolved in us drive us to eat (Hunger, Pleasure from eating, Etc). We also have mechanisms that try to ensure we keep only a reasonable amount of excess fat. We have systems that try to ensure that we do not eat to much. We have systems that balance our physical needs against the very drives that evolution has instilled in us. Systems built upon systems makes for a VERY complex creature.

Genetic diversity encourages quite a range of values for the various interacting systems which would likely balance quite nicely for the vast majority if we were to live without the aid of technology.

With technologies in place and the economic incentive for businesses to play to our evolved tendencies, we will continue to struggle with BIOLOGICAL systems not even remotely evolved to balance us in our new environments.

Will power is one thing, but when stacked up against one or more systems that had the bad genetic luck to be working against you (Hunger has a higher influence, appetite suppression not quite working as required, fat to energy conversion system crippled, etc), combined with processed high GI foods specifically designed to trigger our pleasure responses, you can be faced with a considerable uphill battle. One that willpower is often not enough to counter over the long run.

If this is the case, get help. See a doctor, find out where the imbalance is, and see if you can take steps to correct them. Once that is done, a reasonable level of "willpower" should get you to your goal and help keep you there.
.

[paigetheoracle]

The reason we're misled into malnutrition nowadays is that we mistake 'taste' for nutrition: In other words our tongues are catered for but not our stomachs.

[Moontanman]

I know why I am over weight, I eat too much of the wrong types of food and I don't move around as much as i used to. Some of this if not most is my fault, part of it has to do with other limitations. But the end result is that I am probably 40lbs over weight.

[paigetheoracle]

Originally Posted by Moontanman

I know why I am over weight, I eat too much of the wrong types of food and I don't move around as much as i used to. Some of this if not most is my fault, part of it has to do with other limitations. But the end result is that I am probably 40lbs over weight.

Is it worse to be fat than to have a 'fat' head?