# How do people get so fat?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [October 14, 2009, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763 "2009-10-14T08:22:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 15
### Author:  [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fell_through_the_Ice)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/281 "2009-10-19T15:55:44Z")
> [@Stoid](#):
>
> I won’t answer the question you made up in hopes of looking clever and being rude, but I will answer the question of how many calories there are in the serving of pinto beans prepared as I described: about 300-400: the beans alone are 245, the fat in the water from the hocks might ad another 50-150 per cup of beans, depending.
Thats a LOT of fat calories. Agreed that anyone trying to lose weight should not be eating potfulls of that. Wow.
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### Author:  [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/282 "2009-10-19T16:09:39Z")
> [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](#):
>
> Thats a LOT of fat calories. Agreed that anyone trying to lose weight should not be eating potfulls of that. Wow.
:rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Haunted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haunted)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/283 "2009-10-19T16:13:36Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I think “our”, or at least my problem, with your point is equating two or three icky ingredients with “all those questionable ingredients”.
I understand what you’re saying. It’s just that I think there are more than two or three that are questionable. I realize other people aren’t going to see it the same way.
These are some of the ingredients I’d like to know more about and/or prefer not to consume: dehydrated chicken broth, chicken powder, flavor, modified food starch, corn syrup solids, smoke flavor, maltodextrin, natural flavor, bleached wheat flour, phosphoric acid.
If other people want to eat these things, that’s up to them. I just can’t think of them as food. Staying away from this type of processed food was probably the biggest factor in my successful battle against acid reflux. I’m so happy that I don’t wake up in the middle of the night choking on my own stomach contents anymore that I never want to risk it again.
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### Author:  [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/284 "2009-10-19T16:17:27Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#):
>
> Where do you get your ham hocks? Even the best ones around here seem to be mostly fat and bone. I toss in one hock per pound of dry beans, and also add a ham steak, which is practically fat free. After the ham and beans have cooked, I fish out the hock and remove any lean meat and put it back in the pot. I throw away the rind and fat, over my husband’s protests.
I’m normally a fan of ham skin and fat, but not on hocks - it’s really more gristle than anything, and the skin is very thick and chewy. But it’s great for flavor!
My grandmother would just lob a chunk of salt pork into the beans. Yeesh.
Now, 40 years ago, when pork had flavor, my mother would buy the most superb hams you’ve ever tasted, and when it was down to the ragged bone, we’d use that for a pot of beans or a pot of cabbage, and that was ambrosia. But I don’t think even heritage pigs yield really excellent ham anymore, unfortunately. Or maybe fortunately, because that’s exactly the sort of thing I would find very hard to resist!
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/285 "2009-10-19T17:16:06Z")
We had New England Boiled Dinner last night, and the smoked shoulder was remarkably good. It was a Smithfield Picnic Shoulder, the best I’ve had recently. Pretty lean for shoulder, tender, with very good flavor. I don’t know if we just got lucky, but I will watch for them in the future. I think it was only $2.19/lb also!
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/286 "2009-10-19T17:20:00Z")
> [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](#):
>
> Thats a LOT of fat calories. Agreed that anyone trying to lose weight should not be eating potfulls of that. Wow.
Thanks for the tip. I will try to limit my intake to one potfull.
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### Author:  [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fell_through_the_Ice)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/287 "2009-10-19T17:35:31Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#):
>
> Thanks for the tip. I will try to limit my intake to one potfull.
Why the snark? The OP asked how people get so fat. A (self-described) fat person described some of the foods she makes, one of which is a “big potful” (her words) of this very fattening pork and beans dish.
Eating stuff like this is an example of “how people get so fat”.
Seems like a pretty straightforward question and answer to me.
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### Author:  [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/288 "2009-10-19T17:46:37Z")
> [@RickJay](#):
>
> Calories in and out most certainly do apply to you. You clearly have been burning as many calories as your body is consuming. There’s simply no other possibility. You are not the universe’s exception to the laws of physics.
Obviously. However, everyone’s ‘calories out’ number is different, and the amount of calories actually absorbed per calories eaten - the real ‘calories in’ number - also varies.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/289 "2009-10-19T17:47:25Z")
> [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](#):
>
> Why the snark?
Says the guy who thinks anyone eats multiple potfulls of beans.
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/290 "2009-10-19T17:50:57Z")
> [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](#):
>
> Why the snark? The OP asked how people get so fat. A (self-described) fat person described some of the foods she makes, one of which is a “big potful” (her words) of this very fattening pork and beans dish.
>
> Eating stuff like this is an example of “how people get so fat”.
>
> Seems like a pretty straightforward question and answer to me.
300-400 calories of complex carbohydrates, protein, and fiber, with another 50-150 calories of protein/fat (closer to 50 if anything like the ham hocks I buy) is a good meal. She said she COOKS a potful of beans, not that she eats the whole pot in one meal. Have you never cooked a batch of something to last the week? Do you bake one slice of bread at a time? Have you ever tried to cook 1 serving of beans? You cook it by the pot. To have taken what she wrote, and twisted it into something so completely off, comes across as grasping at straws.
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### Author:  [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fell_through_the_Ice)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/291 "2009-10-19T17:54:16Z")
> [@Stoid](#):
>
> I’m normally a fan of ham skin and fat
A “fan” of ham skin and fat? OMG. :eek:
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### Author:  [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fell_through_the_Ice)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/292 "2009-10-19T18:10:48Z")
> [@needscoffee](#):
>
> 300-400 calories of complex carbohydrates, protein, and fiber, with another 50-150 calories of protein/fat (closer to 50 if anything like the ham hocks I buy) is a good meal. She said she COOKS a potful of beans, not that she eats the whole pot in one meal. Have you never cooked a batch of something to last the week? Do you bake one slice of bread at a time? Have you ever tried to cook 1 serving of beans? You cook it by the pot. To have taken what she wrote, and twisted it into something so completely off, comes across as grasping at straws.
Of course people make food in batches quite often. My point is that a person who is struggling with their weight does not need to be making big batches of fattening foods. And **I** never said she eats the whole potful in one sitting…SHE said she does that.
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### Author:  [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/293 "2009-10-19T18:36:15Z")
> [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](#):
>
> Of course people make food in batches quite often. My point is that a person who is struggling with their weight does not need to be making big batches of fattening foods. And **I** never said she eats the whole potful in one sitting…SHE said she does that.
Actually, a pot of beans is not in and of itself “fattening”, depending on how you make it, and your serving size. And it can be very helpful to have small batches of a larger meal ready to go in the freezer, so that on a busy night, you can just defrost a small portion of a home-cooked, healthy meal, instead of resorting to frozen pizza or fast food or something. I often make gigantic pots of food and then freeze the extra. Of course, I have a family of 5, but the principle is the same even for a smaller household.
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### Author:  [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fell_through_the_Ice)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/294 "2009-10-19T18:46:12Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#):
>
> Actually, a pot of beans is not in and of itself “fattening”, depending on how you make it
It’s not the beans that are the problem. It’s the ham hocks which according to Stoid are adding up to 150 calories PER CUP to the beans. That is a whopping amount of lard in one cup of food.
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### Author:  [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/295 "2009-10-19T19:36:04Z")
> [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](#):
>
> Of course people make food in batches quite often. My point is that a person who is struggling with their weight does not need to be making big batches of fattening foods.
There’s nothing wrong with that meal - I don’t consider it particularly fattening - 150 calories of meat/protein per dish is reasonable to me. If it were 150 calories of chicken would it be some heinous thing? There’s nothing wrong with cooking up a big batch to portion out later - I do that all the time and I did it when I was actively losing weight.
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### Author:  [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/296 "2009-10-19T19:37:08Z")
> [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](#):
>
> Of course people make food in batches quite often. My point is that a person who is struggling with their weight does not need to be making big batches of fattening foods. And **I** never said she eats the whole potful in one sitting…SHE said she does that.
You know… hanging around the dope would be vastly improved if folks would learn to read. Writing things very clearly and unambiguously, then watching the tortured re-interpretation, assumption, and repeated tortured warping even after it’s been re-stated multiple times just as clearly is just depressing.
Seriously. SOOOOOOO much time and energy and pixels would be saved by people reading carefully before they reply. For the sake of everyone, just double check and make absolutely sure you have things right before you waste people’s time.
This completely undermines the primary reason I’ve always preferred message board debate to live debate: supposedly, with the words on the screen for everyone to read and refer to, no time should be wasted with people arguing over who said what, seeing as how what everyone said is right there for everyone to read, re-read, double-check and refer back to.
But I guess the human urge to make oneself right overrides common sense.
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### Author:  [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/297 "2009-10-19T19:41:42Z")
Incidentally you are pretty much wrong about everything else as well, I mean apart from merely what I said, both your assumptions and statements are all wrong- and I’d go into detail, except that your language makes it pretty clear that you are another one of the “Don’t confuse me with the facts, I’m here to dump and judge” folks that fat threads attract, and spending the time to do it would be letting you suck my life force.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/298 "2009-10-19T19:57:27Z")
> [@Dripping](#):
>
> If you are trying to lose weight, why are you eating “big pots” full of beans cooked in pig fat?
> [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](#):
>
> And **I** never said she eats the whole potful in one sitting…SHE said she does that.
[Moderating]
As far as I can see, **Stoid** has stated she eats a “small cup” of beans at a time, not a whole pot. (If I have missed something, please point me to the exact quote you are referring too.) I don’t see that deliberately mischaracterizing another poster’s statements as being particularly helpful, especially on a subject as potentially inflammatory as this one. Let’s refrain from distorting what other posters have said.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
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### Author:  [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fell_through_the_Ice)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/299 "2009-10-19T20:11:35Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> [Moderating]
>
> As far as I can see, **Stoid** has stated she eats a “small cup” of beans at a time, not a whole pot. (If I have missed something, please point me to the exact quote you are referring too.) I don’t see that deliberately mischaracterizing another poster’s statements as being particularly helpful, especially on a subject as potentially inflammatory as this one. Let’s refrain from distorting what other posters have said.
>
> Colibri
> General Questions Moderator
Sorry if I was unclear - I was referring to her repeated admissions starting on page 3 of this thread that she is a compulsive overeater and once she starts eating, she doens’t stop until she’s consumed it all. I think it’s a valid viewpoint that if you have that problem, its really a bad idea to deliberately prepare large quantities of fattening foods. Again, this thread is ABOUT how people get fat. I was just remarking that Stoid’s behavior is an example of how it happens.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/300 "2009-10-19T20:15:05Z")
> [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](#):
>
> Sorry if I was unclear - I was referring to her repeated admissions starting on page 3 of this thread that she is a compulsive overeater and once she starts eating, she doens’t stop until she’s consumed it all. I think it’s a valid viewpoint that if you have that problem, its really a bad idea to deliberately prepare large quantities of fattening foods. Again, this thread is ABOUT how people get fat. I was just remarking that Stoid’s behavior is an example of how it happens.
[Moderating]
Sorry, that’s not the same as her saying that she “eats the whole pot at one sitting.” You were not merely “being unclear,” you were distorting what she said. So let’s desist with that tactic.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
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