# Attn: Fat People. Quit Your Fucking Whining!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 8, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725 "2011-04-08T22:10:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725/41 "2011-04-09T01:05:15Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Doctors can fat and/or douchebags. You accidentally the whole word! ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725/42 "2011-04-09T01:16:04Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Another lame and ignorant self satisfied whine … oh excuse me … “vent”. > > Your pleasant quick with a smile and overweight female coworkers (and one who is … “well, not fat as such, but still pretty ashamed” 😕) feel comfortable enough around you to vent about how frustrated they have gotten trying lose weight and discuss the latest misinformation they’ve read in whilst in your presence. And you have lost a stone or so … for now anyway … so you are “an expert” and it drives you nuts. > > Yeah, get over it. Is he wrong or are you just bitter? Fat people are fat as they don’t exercise enough while eating too much. I know it and I am a fat person. Why are you offended by the simple truth. Almost no one has an actual medical condition that makes them fat. We fat people are not motivated enough to do what we need to do and most of us are honest enough to know it. I can see being frustrated by people that bitch they can’t loose wait and try for arcane fantasy solutions. Being fat is like most problems, step 1, admit why you are fat. Step 2 is the tougher one, doing something about it. Step 3 is the toughest, keeping it off. ---
**Author:** ![Cort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/77aa72/32.png) [@Cort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cort)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725/43 "2011-04-09T01:19:32Z")
> [@Gestalt](#): > > This is something I have never, ever understood . . . > 500 cal deficit/day = 3500 cal deficit/week > 1 lb of fat = 3500 cals > Ergo eating 500 cals less a week should result in one pound of fat loss per week. > > However, there are a lot of assumptions in this logic train that seem to go unquestioned on the boards. > > 1. 3500 cals = 1 lb of fat. 1 lb of what kind of fat? Did they burn 1 lb of adipose tissue to get that? Subq fat? visceral fat? I’m almost certain that they burned dietary fat of some kind (whether PUFA or MUFA or saturated or trans) which does not correlate exactly to human subcutaneous fat But to what extent does that really matter in the long run? I’m not trying to be snarky, I’m genuinely interested. If you’re fat, and you want to lose fat, and you create a 500 calorie deficit and begin losing 1lb per week, at what point should the precise make-up of the fat you’re losing become a concern worth holding? > [@](#): > > 1. The numbers that are printed on calorie labels are, I assume, the numbers taken by burning the items in a bomb calorimeter (let me know if I’m wrong). If so, why are we assuming that the human body extracts the full energy from everything we eat? What choice do we have? > [@](#): > > 1. Why are we assuming that the body does not adjust its calorie expenditure accordingly when you eat 500 cals less a day (which for many people is a full third of their daily energy intake)? > [@](#): > > Also, I know you said only .001% of people have “glandular” disorders but I don’t think it’s very controversial that hormones have a substantial effect on energy expenditure. The following is a short list of hormonal conditions that will cause fat change even if exercise and energy intake are kept constant: > > 1. Cushings (fat gain) and its sister Addison’s (fat loss) > 2. Diabetes type I and II (fat loss) > 3. Pregnancy (fat gain usually) All very true. The .001% was just a number I made up to communicate the point that, as a percentage of overweight people, those with Cushings and hypothyroidism and suchlike are very much in a minority. I did also say that everyone should consult a doctor before beginning any new diet and fitness program. > [@](#): > > Also, as much of an expert you think you are, the science of nutrition and metabolism is actually very convoluted. For example, many people lose weight on a diet high in saturated fats, which are not included on your list of “ok” foods, while many people gain weight eating lots of whole grains, which are included on your list of good foods. I absolutely agree. However, one of my points is that if you’re just interested in getting a reliable way to lose fat, you can reach your goals witout ever learning more than the basics. As I see it, one of the biggest hurdles fat people face in devising a plan to lose weight is information overload. Every glossy magazine has weekly or monthly columns stuffed full of fresh new tips for fat loss and muscle building. These articles all have one thing in common: They never tell you what you really need to know. They just throw factoids at you without putting them into any kind of context. It’s too much for one person to combine into anything like a coherent plan. My purpose was to basically say _“Right. You wanna lose weight? Here’s a way. There are others, but this one works. You wanna look elsewhere, go ahead, but as far as I’m concerned the rest is just so much fluff.”_ I stand by this, simplistic though it may be. For the vast majority of overweight people, the plan I laid out in my OP will work. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725/44 "2011-04-09T01:30:08Z")
Stoid and Cort really need to meet… ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725/45 "2011-04-09T01:49:02Z")
> [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#): > > Stoid and Cort really need to meet… Maybe the new initiation will be throwing newbies into a room with the two of them, so be careful what you wish for! ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725/46 "2011-04-09T02:08:24Z")
Ok never mind. :slinks away: 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CheeseDonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@CheeseDonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheeseDonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725/47 "2011-04-09T02:11:55Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > **Cyningablod** , good try, but let me take over: > > _Eat less, move more._ > > Four. Any more takers? One word: Anorexia. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725/48 "2011-04-09T02:16:09Z")
One word, one syllable: Death. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725/49 "2011-04-09T02:37:18Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Is he wrong or are you just bitter? Fat people are fat as they don’t exercise enough while eating too much. I know it and I am a fat person. Why are you offended by the simple truth. Almost no one has an actual medical condition that makes them fat. We fat people are not motivated enough to do what we need to do and most of us are honest enough to know it. > > I can see being frustrated by people that bitch they can’t loose wait and try for arcane fantasy solutions. Being fat is like most problems, step 1, admit why you are fat. Step 2 is the tougher one, doing something about it. Step 3 is the toughest, keeping it off. No, I am not bitter, not offended, and not fat. Short, yes. Bald, yes. Annoyed, yes. But not fat. Do triathlons and have spent a fair amount of my professional energy (yes physician - peds to be specific) working on developing and implementing our group’s program to treat and prevent pediatric obesity. After how many zillion posts in which I have provided links to the real state of the art science of obesity research today (like [this one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12625810&postcount=105)) I personally am tired out but still am annoyed by all these self proclaimed “experts” who believe that because they have lost a bit on a diet, or because they are not fat, that the answer to obesity is really easy. That the complex and very difficult issue of obesity is a simple matter. Our current “expert” has lost some weight. That is great and I am happy for him. But as you accurately point out, losing some weight, even a significant amount of weight, may not be easy but it is not the tough part. The tougher part, the part less than one in ten achieve even in the best medically supervised programs, is keeping it off. Once a person is obese an individual’s body has many physiological mechanisms that work to maintain that weight. (Really, check out some of that linked post’s links.) Some succeed and I hope that our current arrogant ignorant doofus is one of them, but those that do, do because they have _tremendous_ support and recognize how much _hard work_ it is to change their lifestyles and their personal environments and to keep them changed in a society very different than the environment of our evolutionary history, a world in which high calorie density and very appealing food is always widely available and in which activity is not something required in ordered to survive (as opposed to the world in which a famine was always potentially around the next corner, food often scarce and of lower calorie density and lots of unavoidable activity was part of daily living as matter of course and of survival). As **Chief Pendant** [once put it](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13554431&postcount=7), the modern world has invented “Plenty and Lackamotion” and the genes that kept people alive in times of Famine and Constant Motion now work against many of us to significant degrees. The predisposition to obesity in an environment of Plenty and Lackamotion is highly genetic; genetics are not destiny but they do make it tough. People are not fat because they are weak willed or because they are refusing to accept the “wisdom” of the **Cort** s in the world. And as someone whose job includes attempting to prevent it from occurring, and treating it and its complications once it is in the process of occurring, as someone who knows enough to know both how difficult that is and that I do not understand all of the physiology involved and who knows that the best experts (much more knowledgable minds than mine) in the world have no great answers yet for those who are already seriously obese (short of bariatric surgery) I find these “experts” to be … annoying. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725/50 "2011-04-09T02:40:14Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > The first place my eyes went to, even before the first letter in the OP, was the “Join Date:”. I was mildly surprised. Not mine. I recognized the user name. But I did look for the post date, and “BANNED,” under the name, just to see if this was a zombie. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725/51 "2011-04-09T02:42:27Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > One word, one syllable: > > Death. Die. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725/52 "2011-04-09T03:42:52Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > You are allowed to whine about the Baltimore Orioles no longer being undefeated in the 2011 season, the non-existence of a TV station in St. Louis that carries all the Orioles games, and the failure of the Orioles to keep Eddie Murray around for his entire career. > > Oh, and the distressing rarity of Stompin’ Tom Connors early albums. > > That’s about it, really. Watch yourself. :dubious: Eddie! Eddie! Eddie! Eddie! But I gave up on the Orioles after Peter Angelos fired the 1997 manager of the year. Fuck that guy (Angelos, not Johnson). I don’t give a shit about baseball anymore (Showalter will be gone within a year, and the O’s will be back in the cellar a month later), and I don’t give a shit about the lack of Baltimore baseball in St. Louis. What else can I whine about? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725/53 "2011-04-09T03:55:19Z")
I like when their thighs rub together and it sounds like air squeaking out of a balloon! C’mon, who’s with me? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725/54 "2011-04-09T03:56:19Z")
> [@j66](#): > > I came in here to get in on a vent about how incredibly boring it is to listen to people go on and on and on about dieting and weight and dieting and food and dieting … > And I found about thiry posts about dieting and losing weight. And yet you read this one… and replied to it. Look, if I didn’t care about my weight, I would’ve skipped this thread. I’ve skipped a lot of stuff here (rape threads, Idol threads, threads in French, Brinker threads). But I read this. And it was a good reminder: it really is simple. And now I’m going to get off my ass. And eat less carbs. Partly because of this thread. So thanks, Cort. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725/55 "2011-04-09T04:12:37Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Bullshit. I’ve been moderating for over a year now, and I’m still fat. You are supposed to spit the trolls out after you chew them up. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725/56 "2011-04-09T05:45:30Z")
At this rate, perhaps we should request a forum just for weight-related discussions. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725/57 "2011-04-09T06:21:29Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > I did it in one word, I win. Where’s my cake? On your hips, from the looks of things. [/saucer of milk] ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725/58 "2011-04-09T08:25:29Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > At this rate, perhaps we should request a forum just for weight-related discussions. Only if skinny people can have their own venting thread in it too. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725/59 "2011-04-09T08:53:31Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > No, I am not bitter, not offended, and not fat. Short, yes. Bald, yes. Annoyed, yes. But not fat. Do triathlons and have spent a fair amount of my professional energy (yes physician - peds to be specific) working on developing and implementing our group’s program to treat and prevent pediatric obesity. > > After how many zillion posts in which I have provided links to the real state of the art science of obesity research today (like [this one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12625810&postcount=105)) I personally am tired out but still am annoyed by all these self proclaimed “experts” who believe that because they have lost a bit on a diet, or because they are not fat, that the answer to obesity is really easy. That the complex and very difficult issue of obesity is a simple matter. > > Our current “expert” has lost some weight. That is great and I am happy for him. But as you accurately point out, losing some weight, even a significant amount of weight, may not be easy but it is not the tough part. The tougher part, the part less than one in ten achieve even in the best medically supervised programs, is keeping it off. Once a person is obese an individual’s body has many physiological mechanisms that work to maintain that weight. (Really, check out some of that linked post’s links.) Some succeed and I hope that our current arrogant ignorant doofus is one of them, but those that do, do because they have _tremendous_ support and recognize how much _hard work_ it is to change their lifestyles and their personal environments and to keep them changed in a society very different than the environment of our evolutionary history, a world in which high calorie density and very appealing food is always widely available and in which activity is not something required in ordered to survive (as opposed to the world in which a famine was always potentially around the next corner, food often scarce and of lower calorie density and lots of unavoidable activity was part of daily living as matter of course and of survival). As **Chief Pendant** [once put it](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13554431&postcount=7), the modern world has invented “Plenty and Lackamotion” and the genes that kept people alive in times of Famine and Constant Motion now work against many of us to significant degrees. > > The predisposition to obesity in an environment of Plenty and Lackamotion is highly genetic; genetics are not destiny but they do make it tough. People are not fat because they are weak willed or because they are refusing to accept the “wisdom” of the **Cort** s in the world. And as someone whose job includes attempting to prevent it from occurring, and treating it and its complications once it is in the process of occurring, as someone who knows enough to know both how difficult that is and that I do not understand all of the physiology involved and who knows that the best experts (much more knowledgable minds than mine) in the world have no great answers yet for those who are already seriously obese (short of bariatric surgery) I find these “experts” to be … annoying. To borrow someone else’s line: this whole post is made of win. ---
**Author:** ![sohvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sohvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sohvan)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725/60 "2011-04-09T09:48:22Z")
I’d go a step further, and say that the only real way to lose weight is to eat less, either by eating less in quantity or switching to less energy rich foods. Sure exercise is good for making you healthier in general as well as increasing your fitness. It also has a positive effect on weight loss, but like you said people often greatly overestimate the calories burned by exercise, and underestimate the calories contained in the food they eat. It’s especially dangerous if the person ends up eating more as they get hungrier from exercising, thinking that it’s alright since they worked so hard. So exercise is a great idea in general, but for weight loss specifically it can’t compare to controlling what you eat. You could theoretically lose weight without exercising at all by just changing your diet. For most people it would be unlikely to lose weight by exercise alone with no diet changes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-fat-people-quit-your-fucking-whining/577725.md?page=4)