Obesity and the Health Care Field

[closer23]

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[kypreos]

Comming from someone who has lost 100 lbs from proper weight trianing, cardio and diet it hurts me to say that this is tru. people Not just adcoms EVERYONE looks at your differently you have to live with it every single day of your life and its terrible, not just for your health but for your self of steam. It WILL actually affect the way you practice medicine cause it effects your activities DAILY, your arent confident your work ethic isnt there I know this for a FACT. It was until I lost a significant amount of weight did I start to get good grades and there have been THOUSANDS of studies showing kids getting better grades when thier healthier. You have to want to make the change it will be so much better for the individual to do it. you also need to go educate yourself it took me 3 1/2 years to lose this wieght, learning to eat multiple meals a day nutrient timing, and this is one of the reasons I would like to become a physician so that I may educate my patients properly. 1 thing I cant stand is when Cardio docs put thier patients on the atkins diet. theres absolutely no reason to eat 3 meals a day loaded with fat and protien you can have carbs there NOT the enemy, anyways getting a little off track, yes I think it will have an effect on admissions commitees but obesity has an effect on any social events you go through your entire life. for christ sake now I feel like stopping the bulk im on to cut for interview season comming up this summer lol. thanks a lot but i need that muscle

 

[hedgehog1]

anybody see thath special that runs on I think TLC every so often....documentary on the heaviest man in the world? Its pretty unbelievable that someone can get that large. The man hadndt left his bed/walked in like 5 years.

Yeah, Manuel Uribe. Pretty incredible. He just got married!

 

[LizzyM]

I believe surgeries such as the Lap-band are misguided. The point of the surgery is to make it comfortable eating smaller portions. Does it make sense to eat smaller portions of the same junk food in order to stay at a "healthy" weight?

Many people are misinformed about this type of surgery. Most insurance plans will not cover it unless the patient has been in another supervised diet program for at least 6 months. That time is spent in counseling, education, and behavior modification. Patients undergoing the surgery continue in education/counseling follow-up to track their nutritional status. Patients learn that they must eat protein at every meal and they must eat the high protein food first, before any other foods. Patients can still enjoy some of their favorite foods but in much smaller portions. (I met a couple who had had bariatric surgery... they said that each of them would eat a whole frozen pizza as a meal and now they eat one slice each when they have a taste for it. (That's 1/6th of what they were eating previously.) Some people find ways around the full feeling that comes with the lap band and they tend to not lose weight or to even gain back what they lose initially.

Does it make sense to eat small portions and be mindful of the need to watch macro and micro nutrients (calories, proteins, essential fatty acids, fiber, vitamins and minerals, and phytochemicals) and maintain or attain a healthy weight or does it make more sense to be twice one's ideal body weight and do nothing at all?

Society does discriminate against overweight and obese people and this is often done subconsciously. The obese (like smokers) are not a protected class and it is not illegal to discriminate against them unless they were to make a claim of having a "disability" which I haven't seen done.

 

[RySerr21]

Comming from someone who has lost 100 lbs from proper weight trianing, cardio and diet it hurts me to say that this is tru. people Not just adcoms EVERYONE looks at your differently you have to live with it every single day of your life and its terrible, not just for your health but for your self of steam. It WILL actually affect the way you practice medicine cause it effects your activities DAILY, your arent confident your work ethic isnt there I know this for a FACT. It was until I lost a significant amount of weight did I start to get good grades and there have been THOUSANDS of studies showing kids getting better grades when thier healthier. You have to want to make the change it will be so much better for the individual to do it. you also need to go educate yourself it took me 3 1/2 years to lose this wieght, learning to eat multiple meals a day nutrient timing, and this is one of the reasons I would like to become a physician so that I may educate my patients properly. 1 thing I cant stand is when Cardio docs put thier patients on the atkins diet. theres absolutely no reason to eat 3 meals a day loaded with fat and protien you can have carbs there NOT the enemy, anyways getting a little off track, yes I think it will have an effect on admissions commitees but obesity has an effect on any social events you go through your entire life. for christ sake now I feel like stopping the bulk im on to cut for interview season comming up this summer lol. thanks a lot but i need that muscle

atkins diet is pretty outdated. i think its pretty common knowledge now that it is bogus and an unhealthy way to eat. I'd be surprised if any doc still recommended it as a healthy way to lose weight/improve health.

 

[SB100]

I was what you would consider obese when I was interviewing, but I have since slimmed down. My family has poor genes and I'm an endomorph by definition. I used to weigh around 250 lbs., now I'm around 200 lbs. and still in the process.

 

[closer23]

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[Kaustikos]

Yes.






No no no no no no no no no no no.

I may have made that post too extreme, but I sincerely don't think that it's an issue mentioned above. People know they should but they're either
a) lazy
b) don't have time to even make a balanced diet (lazy/time constraints)
c) what was said - don't know

I think the majority of it stems from the fact that they know what ISN'T healthy, persay, but still eat it because it's there (convenience).

 

[Kaustikos]

People THINK they know how to eat healthy. People THINK they are eating healthy by eating a bagel with a high glycemic index and load is eating healthy. People THINK avoiding all fat is healthy etc. Look at all those stupid people following atkins consuming 100g sat fat a day and 5000mg + cholesterol.

Where does the problem lie in your opinion? How should we go about this problem?

It's the same thing I told my dad when he wanted to make a book explaining healthy eating/cholesterol/etc (who is a doctor, which probably has nothing to do with this but just in case people are wondering why he wanted to). People are lazy. Some people think too naively and are too optimistic about the situation. There are books that show what you need to do to eat healthy and doctors that tell people what they should eat. They have access to the information but they still don't use it. You honestly think that they don't know or they think incorrectly? No, not at all. The problem stems from lack of encouragement and motivation to eat healthy.

Ask someone who smokes a cigarette if they know it's unhealthy. They call em coffin nails, for goodness sake. Of course they know.

 

[SB100]

The hard truth is fad diets don't work. I lost my weight by consuming healthy foods with a lower caloric intake and increasing my exercise. It's all about balancing the energy equation. It sickens me when my mom, who is obese still, keeps telling me about these new diets she hears about and, as I said, is still obese...

 

[closer23]

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[SB100]

Keep in mind also that money plays a role in unhealthy eating. It's expensive to eat well. Last time I went to the grocery store I passed Kraft Mac N' Cheese at $2 per box, which I'm sure makes more than one serving.

 

[LizzyM]

This is a poor comparison. Either your smoke cigarettes or you don't. With junk food, in order to "quit", you must replace this food with healthy food. This is where the knowledge (or lack of) comes into play.

Next time you see someone eating a nutri-grain bar or drinking diet soda, ask yourself if people really know how to eat properly.

What are healthy foods? Any food eaten in excess will cause weight gain. There are some foods that should be eaten in very small portions only on special occasions but one can consume a balanced diet without eliminating whole classes of foods.

There is a whole lot that we do not know about neurobiology and the effect that food has on the brain and the brain's effect on food intake. We do know that human beings behave irrationally in making food choices. Brian Wansink has done some very interesting work in this area and has published in the behavioral psychology literature as well as for the popular press see http://www.mindlesseating.org/ for more information.

Telling your patient to eat cucumbers rather than french fries and tofu in place of burgers is not likely to be successful but you are free to chalk it up to their moral failings (lack of self-discipline and all that).

 

[kypreos]

atkins diet is pretty outdated. i think its pretty common knowledge now that it is bogus and an unhealthy way to eat. I'd be surprised if any doc still recommended it as a healthy way to lose weight/improve health.

I wish this was tru bud but my gf's grandfather who sees a cardiologist in Hackensack NJ(supposed to be one of the best cardio hospitols around) was recently put on the atkins diet and it makes me sick. Im sure there are cardio docs out there that no better but its the older generation folk that dont

 

[87138]

I think the majority of it stems from the fact that they know what ISN'T healthy, persay, but still eat it because it's there (convenience).

Fair enough, I can agree with that.

 

[closer23]

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[dw2158]

What are healthy foods? Any food eaten in excess will cause weight gain. There are some foods that should be eaten in very small portions only on special occasions but one can consume a balanced diet without eliminating whole classes of foods.

the key word here is food. so much of what americans eat is not actually food; it's edible food-like substances. high fructose corn syrup is just one example. leaving aside choices between beef and tofu or cucumbers and cookies, many people are just eating way too much processed stuff, which, as closer23 said, we are simply not equipped to digest. whole foods (the stuff, not the store) are the answer!

 

[RySerr21]

I wish this was tru bud but my gf's grandfather who sees a cardiologist in Hackensack NJ(supposed to be one of the best cardio hospitols around) was recently put on the atkins diet and it makes me sick. Im sure there are cardio docs out there that no better but its the older generation folk that dont

well thats depressing.

 

[starfishprime]

It may sound stupid, but wouldn't we want physicians practicing what they preach? If your doctor is telling you that you need to lose 30 pounds, and he is standing before you obviously obese, how likely is the patient to listen?

Here's what I've got:

a) Emerging research is constantly elucidating the complex genetic nature of obesity, and also the fact that obesity per se is not necessarily harmful. I believe I am correct in saying that the slightly-overweight have greater life expectancies than the average, when corrected for comorbidities. That is, a 'healthy' guy with BMI 30 can be expected to live as long or longer as a similarly 'healthy' guy with BMI 20.

b) I find your scenario extremely unlikely. As someone who is now 'overweight' (6'3, 230) and has spent a large part of my childhood flirting with 'obesity,' I would never flatly tell an obese patient to lose 30 pounds. Perhaps it's that simple for most of you, but it's obviously not simple for him, and it's not simple for me. Most (if not all) obese patients have tried to lose weight unsuccessfully many many times. It requires a paradigm shift, and no less (not a quick fix fad diet). The overweight physician is more likely to empathize and connect with the obese patient. Being of similar experience, it's easy to see how an overweight physician might be better able to instruct a patient on healthy eating and exercise habits than a 130 pound doctor who eats nothing but McDonalds. Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather get advice from a doctor who knows what obesity is like, and has defeated it himself, than one who takes his weight for granted.

 

[Retsage]

Btw, good work on the bodybuilding alaska, its good to see other gym rats going into medicine. I train more for strength rather than hypertrophy but that's just for BJJ weight class purposes. Just had acl surgery a few days ago so no lower body lifting for months!! You ever do any bb competitions?

What does your strength routine look like? Setting a new one up right now also for more strength in BJJ. Probably going to focus on compound power/oly lifts. Any guidelines you follow?

 

[LizzyM]

How could our own evolution have failed us so severely? What's different today relative to our evolutionary history? We eat synthetic foods. Foods that our body was never introduced to during our evolutionary history.

It's true that any food eaten in excess will cause weight gain, but why do humans behave irrationally when it comes to making food choices? Why do we eat excess food to the point of obesity but only in developed societies? What do we do differently in developed societies?

Food is broadly distributed and cheap (meaning it takes little effort/work/money to obtain sufficient or even an excess of calories).

India is beginning to see obesity and diabetes in its middle class. Obesity is becoming the disease of the third world at a rapid pace.

When people can not afford to buy food, or cannot afford to keep the food they produce (as was the case when people in Ireland paid their landlords in foodstuffs while they themselves starved during the Potato Famine), or are artificially cut off from food supplies (as in the blockade of urban area of the Netherlands during WWII) then we see starvation or bare subsistence. Speaking of subsistence, these diets are very monotonous. Winsink has shown in laboratory settings that variety causes people to overeat. Eating all you want of the same three foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner would make even the biggest glutton disinterested in "pigging out".

High fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils and all other synthetic ingredients were never dealt with during our evolutionary history. How could we have predicted our our bodies would react to them?

On the other hand, natural foods (what I call: "healthy" foods) don't cause the same problem because we were exposed to them during our evolutionary history.

Quite a bit of wishful thinking and revisionist history. The foods eaten in prehistoric times are not available to us today. The very lean meat of wild animals is not available in quantities sufficient to meet the needs of our population today. Furthermore, our ancient ancestors had a life span of 40 years, if they were lucky. We did not evolve to live this long, but it is humanly possible to do so. We can't point to the prehistoric diet to advise the middle aged and aged what to eat for optimium health.

Interestingly, while the diet of early man was wild plants and lean animals, civilization did not arise until we went counter to our evolutionary past and began the cultivation of grain.

 

[closer23]

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[87138]

Interestingly, while the diet of early man was wild plants and lean animals, civilization did not arise until we went counter to our evolutionary past and began the cultivation of grain.

I'd surmise that has a lot less to do with diet directly and a lot more to do with what is required to cultivate and maintain said crops.

 

[229141]

Keep in mind also that money plays a role in unhealthy eating. It's expensive to eat well. Last time I went to the grocery store I passed Kraft Mac N' Cheese at $2 per box, which I'm sure makes more than one serving.

"

I agree with you for sure BUT keep in mind there are a few ( and only a few) cheap healthy options.

Ex) 89 cents for 2 lbs dried black beans

 

[LizzyM]

I wish this was tru bud but my gf's grandfather who sees a cardiologist in Hackensack NJ(supposed to be one of the best cardio hospitols around) was recently put on the atkins diet and it makes me sick. Im sure there are cardio docs out there that no better but its the older generation folk that dont

Perhaps the doctor practices evidence based medicine and read the 17 July 2008 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine volume 359, number 3, page 229, http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/359/3/229 (you may need a subscription to read this, I'm not sure). This was a 2 year trial of a low carb diet, compared with two other diets. The best changes in lipid profile occurred in those on the low carb plan. Interesting, eh? While this low-carb diet was not identical to Atkins, it was low carb rather than low fat or Mediterranian.

 

[closer23]

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[229141]

Interestingly, while the diet of early man was wild plants and lean animals, civilization did not arise until we went counter to our evolutionary past and began the cultivation of grain.

In a way, ancient man almost lived on a more primal version of the atkins diet didn't they? Probably in ketosis from consuming primarily fats and proteins...but as you said they did not live nearly as long.

 

[229141]

Interesting point. However, what nutrients or substances in grains make them any different than any other plant that we're equipped to digest?

-Relatively slow digesting source of glucose, the bodies preferred fuel by far

-Easily obtainable glucose due to the alpha glycosidic linkage vs the undigestable beta linkage in cellulose..although we could always digest starches but typically these polymers have a higher glycemic index than a lot of grains..I don't know if this matters though..


Honestly I would just say they made it easier to consume more carbs/day

 

[LizzyM]

I'd surmise that has a lot less to do with diet directly and a lot more to do with what is required to cultivate and maintain said crops.

It is all about how one must spend one's time. Hunting and gathering takes a lot of time and requires a nomadic lifestyle. Cultivating crops means that one can dry and store food food during times of plenty and consume it during times when food is less plentiful. Cultivation makes it possible to produce far more than one needs for one's own needs and thus makes it possible for division of labor to take place, for people to become specialists in various tasks and for barter (trading) to take place. There is also more time for the domestic arts and for fine art and the creation of permanent dwellings.

On the other hand, some who favor a return to the "caveman diet", claim that we did not evolve consuming starches and should not make them part of our diet.

 

[closer23]

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[229141]

While we are indeed abandoned by evolution after our children leave us, we still hold on to the body that evolution gave us. The same body that is completely baffled at what to do when given synthetic "food". How do you explain the rise of obesity and diabetes in our children? Our children are, of course, still under evolutions shroud.

-"Synthetic Foods" aren't great..and one should stick to less processed foods, but I do not blame them for obesity based on the fact they are synthetic. Splenda is not killing people..the 20 micrograms of acryalamide found in french fries is not the likely cause of death...its not great but whats killing people is primarily the over consumption of macros (fat and carbs mainly) while they live sedentary lifestyles. Test the most natural of foods and you will almost certainly find several toxic chemicals in low concentration...all food has things that can kill you but TOXICITY IS IN THE DOSAGE! (But yes, eating fresh food is best I agree)

For kids...they are obese because
1) Parents feed them fast food
2) Parents aren't around...little kid eats cookies all day and perhaps even spoonfuls of sugar. Little kids will eat purely on instinct...if no one shows them the proper diet or helps them keep a good diet they will eat poorly..and I do NOT blame a little kid for doing this; I blame his parents 100%

3) Obese kids will probably be obese forever...because pre pubescent obesity leads to mitosis in adipocytes. AKA you will have to live with increased fat cells forver and a greater potential to put on weight...adult adipocytes DO NOT divide rather more lipids are "stuffed" in the cell

 

[229141]

Depends entirely on what time period and what location you're referring to. Plus, even during the times in the prehistory of modern man where meat consumption was highest, man was eating a kind of meat that is few and far between nowadays. Animals that were active, and uncontaminated by modern society.

Dude...I doubt the meat back then was better. If anything it probably had more parasites in them. What are you saying by contaminated by society?

"OH NOEZ THEY USED teh HGH!!!!" and Hormones!!

1) Peptide hormones won't hurt you...proteases break them down...

2) Hormones in meat and milk won't hurt you but if you are so paranoid about these things a) buy skim milk...hormones pertain only to the fatty layer of the milk so you are getting none b) Buy organic meat like I do..although I do it for taste.

I'm not afraid of the hormones in meat...maybe it'll help me get bigger: (jk jk)

 

[229141]

On the other hand, some who favor a return to the "caveman diet", claim that we did not evolve consuming starches and should not make them part of our diet.

Once when dieting, I tried a modified version of this. I ate only 10% carbs, with the rest coming from essential fats and protein. I felt like crap...I couldn't think...and I hated it. However I did get ridiculously lean ...but it did NOT feel healthy

 

[LizzyM]

"

I agree with you for sure BUT keep in mind there are a few ( and only a few) cheap healthy options.

Ex) 89 cents for 2 lbs dried black beans

The New York Times recently ran a list of 20 inexpensive, nutritious foods drawn from a parenting website:


oats, eggs, kale, potatoes, apples, nuts, bananas, chickpeas, broccoli, wild rice, whole grain pasta, watermelon, beets, butternut squash, sardines, spinach, tofu, milk, pumpkin seeds, coffee.

I'd add lentils, canned tomatoes, olive oil, onions, and brown rice to that list.

 

[closer23]

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[Zona Pellucida]

"Appearance doesn't matter! It's what is on the inside that counts!"

This is one of the biggest lies I have ever been told.

Appearance is HUGE. It determines other people's first impression of you in a matter of seconds, regardless of whether they are conscious of this judgment or not. It plays a huge part in a social life as well as in a professional life. If you were interviewing two people with identical stats and ECs... one was very attractive and the other, not so much. I am pretty sure most people would pick the more attractive person.

 

[Retsage]

Alaska, you ever try the cyclic ketogenic diet?

Amazing way to lean out, though your body takes about two weeks to really get used to it.

 

[229141]

The majority of animals that you eat are confined to a small cage and given unnatural diets. "Contamination" aside, you don't want to be eating animals that weren't free and active during their lives.

I am not sure I follow. I eat animals to obtain amino acids...unless their skeletal muscle proteins somehow mutate and their amino acid ratios are changed why is this bad? I'm not being sarcastic I've just never heard a scientific argument as to why it makes a difference?

 

[scarletgirl777]

How could our own evolution have failed us so severely? What's different today relative to our evolutionary history? We eat synthetic foods. Foods that our body was never introduced to during our evolutionary history.

It's true that any food eaten in excess will cause weight gain, but why do humans behave irrationally when it comes to making food choices? Why do we eat excess food to the point of obesity but only in developed societies? What do we do differently in developed societies? Just as a machine or computer program will react unpredictably when put in unfamiliar circumstances in the eyes of it's creation/evolution, humans will as well.

High fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils and all other synthetic ingredients were never dealt with during our evolutionary history. How could we have predicted how our bodies would react to them?

On the other hand, natural foods (what I call: "healthy" foods) don't cause the same problem because we were exposed to them during our evolutionary history.

In addition, being the normal sedentary American is just as unnatural as eating junk food and is just as at fault as the junk developed societies eat on a day to day basis.

No the main difference today is that physical activity is not a normal part of our daily lives. We drive to work and school so we can sit at a computer for 8 hrs day and call it "work." All our modern conveniences make our lives more efficient but make it easier to gain weight. If we worked the farms like our ancestors, it wouldn't matter if we were eating 3000 cal of processed food a day. That's the real reason obesity is a problem in developed societies--that and a significant portion of the undeveloped world is malnourished and literally not getting the calories they need. Even natural foods in excess, as LizzyM has pointed out, can cause problems.

Some of you claim to be bodybuilders and varsity athletes. Think about how artificial that is. You spend hours and hours in the gym, lifting manmade pieces of metal or running in place on a machine or doing weird looking stretches/exercises to target muscles that normal people don't use anymore so that you can stay in shape (or win more games) and eat a large amount of calories. I'm sure you all look great but seriously, if you just step back and try to look on that as an outsider, don't you just marvel at how artificial that is? Yet because of the way modern society is today, we all have to do that (to some extent) to maintain a healthy shape. Even a lot of the "healthy" people today don't have any muscle mass, because they are just eating less, not exercising more.

 

[229141]

Alaska, you ever try the cyclic ketogenic diet?

Amazing way to lean out, though your body takes about two weeks to really get used to it.

I currently eat about 50% carbs, 25-30% protein, and 20-25% fat


Never tried cyclic keto diet...although I like this one called the cut diet where you eat 10% carbs for 3 days and then refeed on carbs for 1 meal to keep your body from truely slipping into ketosis.

 

[closer23]

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[Retsage]

The CKD is interesting. I did it two years ago when I was cutting, lost about 20 pounds while my strength improved (crazy for a cut). From what I recall, it's 5.5 days off of carbs, then 36 hours to reload. You go into ketosis, but avoid catabolism by replenishing the glycogen in your muscles.

I currently eat about 50% carbs, 25-30% protein, and 20-25% fat


Never tried cyclic keto diet...although I like this one called the cut diet where you eat 10% carbs for 3 days and then refeed on carbs for 1 meal to keep your body from truely slipping into ketosis.

 

[LizzyM]

No the main difference today is that physical activity is not a normal part of our daily lives.

Amen to that. Kids are riding where they used to walk. Playing video games where they use to play pool or ping pong or outdoor games.

We have all sorts of labor saving devices. Even the switch in the 1950s from manual typewriters to electric typewriters reduced the caloric needs of American typists that could result in a modest weight gain in each subsequent year if no other changes were made.

Even for graduate students, less energy expenditure is required than when I was a pup. Literature reviews used to involve lifting and shelving large hardbound copies of "Index Medicus", and trotting all over the library stacks, repeatedly lifting and handling hardbound journals in the photocopier. Today, I can do the same tasks without leaving my desk and using just the effort required to use a computer keyboard.

 

[229141]

Some of you claim to be bodybuilders and varsity athletes. Think about how artificial that is. You spend hours and hours in the gym, lifting manmade pieces of metal or running in place on a machine or doing weird looking stretches/exercises to target muscles that normal people don't use anymore so that you can stay in shape (or win more games) and eat a large amount of calories. I'm sure you all look great but seriously, if you just step back and try to look on that as an outsider, don't you just marvel at how artificial that is? Yet because of the way modern society is today, we all have to do that (to some extent) to maintain a healthy shape. Even a lot of the "healthy" people today don't have any muscle mass, because they are just eating less, not exercising more.

I don't find it artificial at all...its your body adapting to a stimulus? What is artificial about your body doing what it takes to survive? And it IS to survive...you gotta survive the cut to make the football team, you have to grow big enough to win your competition, whatever. There's nothing artificial about pushing your body to the limit and reaching your potential. I don't feel its artificial just because most people are lazy and sedentary.

You can only be big if you work construction now or something? I really don't see what you're trying to get at....Before society the weak and slow humans would die because they were lunch for the animals trying to eat then..and those that were bigger/faster/stronger survived. Todays world is de-evolving due to technology...so now its strange to push yourself to your physical limit? It definitely isn't normal today..I'll agree with you on that

 

[scarletgirl777]

Precisely why I ended my response with this sentence: "In addition, being the normal sedentary American is just as unnatural as eating junk food and is just as at fault as the junk developed societies eat on a day to day basis."

Also, precisely why I called obesity the "symptom" like 1000 times. Sure you can eat tons of junk food and stay lean. Like any other symptom of poor health, obesity doesn't present in every single unhealthy situation.



Which is precisely why I've always advocated natural (compound) lifts instead of isolations. Also, I never use exercise machines (treadmills, rowers, pulley machines, etc) and I never do static stretching. And yes, I do marvel on how artificial is it to train like most athletes do.

I'm not sure we disagree on anything.

I don't really know what the difference is between a natural lift and an isolation (although I can guess) although I would say if you're lifting something that doesn't need to be lifted but has been placed so that you may lift it and watch your muscles grow, I don't understand where the "natural" part comes in.

Also, some of you apparently have very complex methodologies for figuring out what you're eating. I think most people are not interested in ensuring that fixed percentages of their daily caloric intake are one macromolecule or another. It's enough effort figuring out how many calories they are eating in a day. Obesity brings its own unique problems--stress on the heart and bones--without any of its associated illnesses, and I think a lot of people think, "well so long as I am not obese, I am avoiding those problems, and if I don't have high blood pressure or cholesterol either who cares? I have millions of other things I need to think about, like my job and my kids and my mortgage." And I can't really blame them.

 

[LizzyM]

Also, precisely why I called obesity the "symptom" like 1000 times. Sure you can eat tons of junk food and stay lean. Like any other symptom of poor health, obesity doesn't present in every single unhealthy situation.

Some people may be able to eat "junk food" and stay lean but only if they expend enormous amounts of energy. Olympic athletes including swimmers and rowers do this but they can't go on eating that way after they stop training (nor would they because consuming 9,000+ calories per day is not as much fun as it sounds).

Obesity is both a risk factor for medical conditions such as type II diabetes and damaging in and of itself. Joint disease in the obese is directly related pressure on the joints (knees in particular). Acid reflux disease is more common in those with abdominal obesity because of the pressure placed on the lower esophageal sphnicter from interabdominal fat. Obstrutructive sleep apnea is related to having to much weight pressing on the head, neck and chest. It is epidemic in the very obese.

 

[229141]

Also, some of you apparently have very complex methodologies for figuring out what you're eating. I think most people are not interested in ensuring that fixed percentages of their daily caloric intake are one macromolecule or another. It's enough effort figuring out how many calories they are eating in a day. Obesity brings its own unique problems--stress on the heart and bones--without any of its associated illnesses, and I think a lot of people think, "well so long as I am not obese, I am avoiding those problems, and if I don't have high blood pressure or cholesterol either who cares? I have millions of other things I need to think about, like my job and my kids and my mortgage." And I can't really blame them.

Thats the point- people DO NOT want to put effort into this. Its actually very easy to estimate your calories and keep track...you get to the point where you can estimate the macros for any meal very easily. I used to use a food scale so I could see a portion...and now I can just estimate everything and probably stay within 10% of my desired calories/day.

It sounds ridiculous but for someone trying to lose weight I don't think its that much work..especially since it would save their life.

 

[scarletgirl777]

I don't find it artificial at all...its your body adapting to a stimulus? What is artificial about your body doing what it takes to survive? And it IS to survive...you gotta survive the cut to make the football team, you have to grow big enough to win your competition, whatever. There's nothing artificial about pushing your body to the limit and reaching your potential. I don't feel its artificial just because most people are lazy and sedentary.

You can only be big if you work construction now or something? I really don't see what you're trying to get at....Before society the weak and slow humans would die because they were lunch for the animals trying to eat then..and those that were bigger/faster/stronger survived. Todays world is de-evolving due to technology...so now its strange to push yourself to your physical limit? It definitely isn't normal today..I'll agree with you on that

I'm not denigrating your lifestyle or your wish to bulk up, and I'm guilty myself of mindlessly running in place on machines so I'm not saying gyms are evil. I'm just pointing out how much effort you need to put in outside what's necessary for your life to exercise to any significant degree, and highlighting that before this point in history, you didn't need to make an effort to be healthy.

 

[starfishprime]

However, this doctor (by what it means to have "overcome" in this context) wouldn't be overweight!

How exactly is that? Are you saying that the future Dr. Brianjg, at 220, 6'2" would be a failure, because he is still technically overweight? You're making a false dichotomy, whereby either one is an overweight failure or a proper-weight success.
As to my purported straw-man, I was merely making clear a possible case where an overweight doctor would be preferred to a not-overweight doctor. The statement holds true for a BMI 28 vs. a BMI 22.

 

[Jolie South]

Amen to that. Kids are riding where they used to walk. Playing video games where they use to play pool or ping pong or outdoor games.

We have all sorts of labor saving devices. Even the switch in the 1950s from manual typewriters to electric typewriters reduced the caloric needs of American typists that could result in a modest weight gain in each subsequent year if no other changes were made.

Even for graduate students, less energy expenditure is required than when I was a pup. Literature reviews used to involve lifting and shelving large hardbound copies of "Index Medicus", and trotting all over the library stacks, repeatedly lifting and handling hardbound journals in the photocopier. Today, I can do the same tasks without leaving my desk and using just the effort required to use a computer keyboard.

Definitely. Sedentary lifestyle along with the massive portion sizes at restaurants and in packaging plus the advent of calorically dense, nutritionally lacking foods are the main culprits. There have been studies that show the greater portion you put in front of yourself, the more you feel you need to eat. Add in a genetic predisposition, which also plays a role, and you've got tons of obese people.