# 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:** 26
### Author:  [@meara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meara)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/501 "2009-10-30T18:40:58Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#):
>
> If you find that you are constantly hungry, something is wrong. (I know this is the cue for people to come in and say that there is something biologically wrong with them that makes them feel like a starving person 24 hours per day no matter what they eat, but I think those people are a rare minority, and I also suspect that if they worked on changing their eating habits somewhat, many of those food cravings would diminish significantly. Of course, I could be wrong about this.
I think this is the crux of our disagreement. I am arguing that different people have different experiences with hunger and cravings based on biological makeup, and it is not reasonable for any of us to expect that it is as easy or as difficult for others to control appetite as it is for us. Any statement in the form “this is not my personal experience, so it must be wrong” will always be less convincing to me than careful scientific research across populations. The latter shows that we DO experience hunger and cravings differently based on genetic, epigenetic and even bacteriological makeup. As one tiny example, did you know that certain crafty gut microbes can actually manipulate our gene expression to cause us to crave certain kinds of sugar that they need to survive.
Another quick analogy… I poop with a certain frequency and have observed that this frequency varies depending on how much and what I eat. Certain foods stop me up. Other foods clear me out. Etc. While there are certain generalizable trends here, I would never presume to tell another person that they can follow my personal diet to experience the same bowel patterns. Different bodies react differently. Some folks are chronically constipated no matter what. Others have IBS. It’s a personal medical concern and not my business to tell them how bran flakes worked for me and would solve all of their problems if only they’d be like me.
---
### Author:  [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/502 "2009-10-30T18:45:27Z")
> [@meara](#):
>
> You seem incensed that some people argue that exercise doesn’t work for weight loss. There actually has been a fair amount of research showing this to be true at the casual public health level. People who undertake exercise solely for weight loss tend to be less successful at losing weight than those who diet. Light to moderate exercise increases appetite, and people compensate by eating more – often more than they’ve burned with the extra exercise. Furthermore, many keep eating at this increased level even after they’ve fallen off the exercise wagon.
It’s still incorrect to say that _exercise_ doesn’t work. If you want to state that doing a minimal amount of exercise and then eating more than you burned doesn’t cause weight loss, I totally agree. But it’s like arguing that studying doesn’t make you smarter or that practice doesn’t make you better. There may be other factors that lead to failure, but that doesn’t mean that excercise was the cause of failure or that it’s not beneficial.
I wouldn’t say that I’m incensed over this, but I will vigororsly defend using excercise and diet to lose weight. If you want to state that changing those things is hard, or that it’s harder for some than others, I won’t disagree. But it’s wrong to say they don’t work.
One of the reasons I’m so vocal about this is because I’m sure there are overweight people who read threads like this who do want to change their weight. If people are posting things like, “exercise doesn’t work”, “changing diet doesn’t work”, and “your blahipor levels make you big”, what motivation does the overweight person have? They’re going to think it’s hopeless.
And if someone has other activities that take the place of exercise, that’s fine. It’s honest to say “I don’t want to exercise because I enjoy spending my time knitting.” But it’s incorrect to say “I don’t excercise because it doesn’t work for weight loss.”
---
### Author:  [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/503 "2009-10-30T18:52:40Z")
I think we’re all kinda conflating two different concepts–
“Exercise doesn’t work to help with weight loss” which is true.
“Exercise is not nearly as effective as spending the same effort on restricting calories for the sole purpose of losing weight” which is true as well, to a large extent–while running for a half-hour will burn 350 calories or so, you can accomplish the same caloric reduction by saying “Maybe I will switch two of my glasses of pepsi today for diet”.
> [@kanicbird](#):
>
> IMHO they are trying to compensate for something else that is missing from their lives. For instance lack of love, or lack of friends can create a ‘hunger’ that is compensated by eating, unless the underlying problem is healed, the hunger will persist. This is why ‘diets don’t work’, it is not a hunger for food, just food is a temporary fix for another deficiency.
>
> People who try to focus on food to heal the above will either find themselves craving food for a ‘fix’ to help them ignore the other lack, or move that compensation to something else, such as drinking, drugs, smoking, or even things like excessive excercize or becoming a workaholic.
This is flatly ridiculous for the large majority of the overweight population, unless you’re seriously trying to argue that well over 60% of the population of the US is missing something so severely that they’re willing to damage their health to make it go away.
---
### Author:  [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/504 "2009-10-30T18:55:39Z")
> [@filmore](#):
>
> One of the reasons I’m so vocal about this is because I’m sure there are overweight people who read threads like this who do want to change their weight. If people are posting things like, “exercise doesn’t work”, “changing diet doesn’t work”, and “your blahipor levels make you big”, what motivation does the overweight person have? They’re going to think it’s hopeless.
Yeah. Making the mental leap to actually take charge of my body and start eating right and becoming a healthy person is one of the toughest things I’ve ever done. Daily exercising and meal planning and all of that stuff is small potatoes (no pun intended) compared to making that initial mental change. And when you’re trying to draw up the inner strength and motivation to start changing the way you eat and live, it’s just that much harder when you see people saying things like, “Exercise is only for people who want to run marathons,” or “Losing weight and keeping it off is as hard as running 200 miles,” or, “Exercise doesn’t help you lose weight,” or, “If you want to lose weight you have to deprive yourself every day for the rest of your life.” Untrue, unhelpful, and destructive to people that are trying to make positive changes in their lives.
That said, knowing how hard it is to make that change, I would never use terms like “lazy” or “slob” to describe people who are overweight. That’s as unhelpful in its way as the stuff I just mentioned is.
---
### Author:  [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/505 "2009-10-30T19:19:15Z")
> [@Zeriel](#):
>
> “Exercise does **n’t** work to help with weight loss” which is true.
No, that’s false. Was that a typo?
---
### Author:  [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/506 "2009-10-30T21:07:40Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#):
>
> I’m only responding to your objections here, I _am not_ saying you simply must go out and start yoga right away.
>
> It doesn’t matter one whit how flexible you are or to what degree you can approximate the versions of the poses of the models in the pictures. All the poses are abstractions- _attempting_ them is the only relevant issue. You try it, you did it. This-and some other things, see below- is why I say the ‘live’ classes are better than the videos. Over time the instructors can tell you a lot more in person than you can get from a video. Still, I’d recommend starting with a video.
> Anyway, how do you think these people got so flexible? The ability of flexibility is, well, flexible. It will most certainly improve if you try. Stop and rest as much as you like- they really stress this in the live classes.
Probably the simplest thing I can do here is to be dubious that sufficient flexibility can be achieved with sufficient speed not to throw the dvd in the trash in disgust. Because in some things, I am somewhat of a perfectionist - specifically, if I _try_ something, I need to _succeed_ at it, or at least do sufficiently good enough at it quickly enough that I don’t decide that I’m being a moron wasting my time on something I can’t do. Some people are fine spending six months working themselves up to a point where they can show themselves in public - and if they’re fine with it, more power to them. Myself, I’m not fine with it. Call it a personal problem if you like, but I don’t see it that way. Life’s to short to waste like that.
So. There are presumably various things, like flexibility and abs and wind and marathoner muscles, that it’s (for most people) at least _physically_ possible to achieve given six or twelve or twenty months of struggle. In cases like this, the end result is _not_ an incentive to me, and does _not_ seem achievable. Does that mean they aren’t? I guess not. But can’t internalize such beliefs. It just doesn’t happen.
So, how am I managing to use portion control to lose weight, you might ask? Simple - because it’s easy, and because there are immidiate results. It’s _not_ because I believe it will work in the long run; I seriously do not believe that I will ever reach 200 pounds. While simultaneously arguing that portion control works! The cognitive dissonance is palpable, but I can’t change my beliefs. And regardless, I still have very little motivation to do it. Fortunately it’s still easy to do…
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#):
>
> And it is something of a misconception that yoga is all about flexibility. It does depend on what style you’re doing, but in the last post I mentioned that it will make you ‘sweat as if you’re melting’. I’ve also compared the sweating to ‘being wrung out like a wet towel’. And… melting. Part of the advantage of the classes is that they’re done in heated rooms- you’re more flexible when you’re hot, and you sweat more. Probably why the doctors suggest stretching _next to_ a hot shower in a bathroom with a door closed- an overly steamy approximation. Yoga isn’t specifically geared as a weight loss method but rather something else, but it is assuredly a weight loss method.
Sounds like a recipe for dehydration to me.
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#):
>
> re: mellow. Sorry, bad choice of words there. A better phrase would be ‘clear the mind’. It’ll definitely calm you down, but I feel ‘calm you down’ is too soft as terminology. It is one of the oddly clever things about it really, that these guys have figured out exactly what you need to physically do to clear your mind. This effect is triggered by the whole process I guess, but only comes on at the end. You’d have to experience it yourself, I’m sure you’d be impressed. It isn’t some stoner thing.
Meh, I’m dubious about this too. My brain isn’t connected to my ligaments, so why should contorting myself effect it in some magical way? If I’m not calm it’s for reasons that will still be there regardless. I guess I could get distracted, or just completely physically wipe myself out into a state of mindless misery I guess, but I just can’t see myself getting all zen over this stuff.
‘But it works!’ you insist. ‘I’ve experienced it myself!’ Well, I’m not going to say it is all in your head… but it is all in your head. 🙂
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#):
>
> re: seen in public wearing shorts. All right. You’ve got an _aversion_ here. Think about it. Attraction/aversion… they’re two sides of the same coin. Something I don’t see in the videos (though I have only watched maybe two) but that you’d get from the classes is some guidance in sidestepping these kind of issues. In my last post I mentioned that you’re supposed to be concentrating, and that’s why you’re not going to be looking around and checking out everyone else. Additionally, it is why you aren’t going to be thinking about wearing shorts in public. It is not as if there is something wrong with you. You’d be another guy doing yoga. Hypothetically. But yeah, you’re right, at some point somebody would look at you, and at some point you’d look at somebody else. And there are mirrors.
You were right the first time - it’s an aversion. I am averse to appearing in public looking like either a fat guy in shorts, or like an incompetent yogaist. **Regardless** of who sees me. Or what they’re doing. Or wether they’re also fat short-wearing incompetent yogaists. That doesn’t _matter_. Not in the slightest.
The thing you’re not getting is that this aversion is from _my_ perspective. It’s not the viewer’s opinion that matters; it’s _my_ opinion about _myself_. Heck, I don’t care if they’re all ignoring me completely; _I_ still know what I look like. And I will never be just another guy doing yoga to myself.
People wo don’t care how they present themselves probably will never understand.
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#):
>
> I mentioned it is comparable to a philosophy of exercise. The difference is that it is mostly unspoken- all of it is demonstrated, they seem to have figured out how to evoke certain insights on your own just by following some simple physical instructions. It is so very clever I tell you. But now that I’m repeating myself, let me say not to get stuck on what I say- you doing it would trump everything.
I don’t believe in these ‘evoked insights’ of yours - the only insight I’m going to get by causing myself extreme physical pain and sweating buckets is “I’d be a heck of a lot happier doing something else”. Especially since that would be an insight I would _act on_ in short order.
Unless you want to argue that if I tried it, I wouldn’t experience this? Insights would come flowing in in the first few days, at the latest?
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#):
>
> Again, it doesn’t matter how ‘good’ you are at it. The progress-meter is built-in. Over time you could better approximate the poses, and you’d notice. And you’d be losing weight. 2-3 times a week; enjoy the ‘transgression’ of _not_ going 2-3 times a week. Hmmm, what is it about enjoying transgression, like the Wal-Mart bag of potato chips? I’m not going to say it is all in your head, but it is all in your head.
It matters to ME how good I am at it, and my progress-meter doesn’t wait six months before kicking in. I’ll notice how bad I’m doing first thing. (Though curiously enough, I very likely _wouldn’t_ notice incemental improvements. I’ve lost eighty pounds, but haven’t noticed the slightest change in my appearence. I seriously look the same to me. If not for the evidence of my pants being looser, my sleeves being longer, and that scale (which is a liar anyway), I wouldn’t believe I’d lost an ounce.)
As for the “transgressions”, I think you’re misunderstanding them completely. You don’t transgress for the fun of transgressing. You transgress because the transgression itself is something that you want to do. You eat chips because you want to eat chips. And because all that incompetent and ineffective yoga you were doing made you _really_ hungry. Two bags of chips and a box of ding-dongs hungry.
And even if you wanted to transgress for the sake of it, it’s impossible to transgress by doing what you’re supposed to be doing. If you’re only supposed to yoga three times a week, it’s impossible to transgress by not going four.
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#):
>
> Yah sure, diet matters too. Again with the ex-girlfriend, but she’s a vegetarian, eats only certain things. It isn’t like she won’t hang out and have a beer or anything. I think her diet habits started when she couldn’t believe the stuff her dad ate (doubly couldn’t believe it because he’s a doctor). Still. I didn’t eat less after I started running (and doing a little yoga), and I lost 50lbs.
It’s all about portion control. People who are more active can eat a _little_ more quite safely. (People who engage in extreme physical activity for six hours straight every day can safely eat a horse - but not a horse made of twinkies.) The issue for your average overweight person is that they’re a habital eater. And like a alcoholic that’s on the wagon, it’s better to avoid the temptation than to flirt with the line. Persons who don’t have this problem may imbible moderate quantities without worry.
And I have to wonder if you really didn’t eat less - or eat less of the “bad” stuff.
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#):
>
> Don’t want to? Ok.
I don’t want to, for a number of excellent reasons, not the least of which being that I have no reason _to_. So okay!
> [@MsWhatsit](#):
>
> And I’m not addressing **begbert** on the topic of exercise anymore, as it is clear that he refuses to admit that his only real reason for not exercising is that he just plain doesn’t want to. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, so I have no idea why he is so resistant to it, but I am tired of trying to debunk all of his BS excuses.
Nonsense - I have myriad excellent reasons not to exercise - it hurts, it takes time, it would tire me out. These are all excellent reasons not to do things, and are the exact same reasons you don’t do things like beat your hand with a hammer or sit staring mindlessly into space for hours.
The one difference between us in this regard is, that I have no excuse _to_ exercise. You do, and this excuse is sufficiently compelling to override the various reasons not to engage in the activity. If you didn’t have such an excuse, you wouldn’t exercise either - for _excellent_ reasons.
> [@meara](#):
>
> The feedback loop may be longer, but it is not clear that a person has that much more control over the process. In fact, all scientific evidence seems to point to the contrary. Leptin and other weight regulation mechanisms act over days and weeks instead of seconds, but they are very good at eventually overcoming a person’s volition – just as our breathing and voiding instincts are very good at eventually overcoming volition.
Not to seem like I’m toggling sides here, but you are surely overstating this. If Leptin were truly as good as breathing instincts at overcoming volition, then _nobody would ever lose weight on a diet_. As this is demonstrably false, your thesis must be incorrect.
Now, this is not to say that there aren’t some lucky jerks who have more volition-removing Leptin sensitivity and that these bastards will maintain their weight effortlessly, damn them all to hell. But that doesn’t change the fact that we tubby folk didn’t _have_ to get tubby, and we don’t require medical treatments to get un-tubby. It just means it’s somewhat more difficult, is all.
> [@filmore](#):
>
> The problem I have with many overweight people is the denial and delusions they have about weight management. They say that exercise doesn’t work, dieting doesn’t work, they are big boned, they have genetic issues, etc etc. That’s all a bunch of crap. I would respect someone who said “I don’t have the self control to stop eating and I’m too lazy to work out”. That’s the real reason they are overweight.
>
> Even if someone cannot control their eating, there are other ways they can control their weight. Instead of spending 6pm-11pm watching TV, spend that time walking around the neighborhood, dancing, cleaning, exercising or whatever. Anything to stay active. So uncontrollable eating does not mean you have to be fat.
>
> If someone says:
>
> - I’m fat and I can’t do anything about it
> - Excercise doesn’t work
> - Dieting doesn’t work
>
> I’ll call them out on it. I’ll argue with them because they are 100% wrong.
>
> I’ve seen people join running groups who end their first session in tears because they were last and they had to walk most of the course. They feel like they’ll never be able to do it. But the ones who stick with it turn the walking into shuffling, the shuffling into jogging, and the jogging into running. It _always_ works for the people who stick it out. And I’ve never seen anyone maintain their weight. They always lose weight. To be honest, they don’t all end up in the perfect BMI range, but they all lose weight.
>
> So any overweight person who says exercise won’t work for them, _especially if they are not even trying to exercise_, is wrong. It’s just the delusion in their mind holding them back. I’ll do all I can to break through that delusion.
Meh, people who exercise lose weight because during the time they’re exercising, they’re not eating. 😛
(Dieting works fine though. That’s diet as in portion control and twinkie-management, not stupid fad diets abandoned after the first ten pounds.)
> [@kanicbird](#):
>
> IMHO they are trying to compensate for something else that is missing from their lives. For instance lack of love, or lack of friends can create a ‘hunger’ that is compensated by eating, unless the underlying problem is healed, the hunger will persist. This is why ‘diets don’t work’, it is not a hunger for food, just food is a temporary fix for another deficiency.
>
> People who try to focus on food to heal the above will either find themselves craving food for a ‘fix’ to help them ignore the other lack, or move that compensation to something else, such as drinking, drugs, smoking, or even things like excessive excercize or becoming a workaholic.
Speaking as a fat person, you’re wrong. Oh, there might be a few who find comfort in foods (heck, women fat or thin diving for chocolate ice cream after a bad date is an old stereotype) but this is not the average way to get fat. Getting fat is typically a very slow process of just casually living a sedentary lifestyle coupled with a habit of casually eating the food that’s at hand. Watching TV, contrary to the delusion of the the people who compulsively exercise, won’t make you fat, but casually eating out of a bag of potato chips while you’re doing it sure will!
You might also find yourself taking larger and larger portions, and eating more and more, out of the desire to _satisfy_. After all, suppose you regularly ate three grapes for a snack. Sometimes, though, you might decide to give yourself a treat, and take another. Or if they’re handy, you might slip in another before the other ones really hit your stomach and made you feel full. Keep this up enough, and sooner or later you’ll always be taking four, because that’s what your used to. And then as a treat you might take a fifth…
Of course with grapes this is no big deal, but with cookies and cake peice sizes it really can add up. The thing to note, though, is that it’s all quite casual, and requires no deliberate effort at all. No feeding of the need, or whatever. And sooner or later you’re eating the _whole_ box of cookies, the whole cake, or the entire freakin’ grapevine.
In cases like this, which I strongly suspect vastly outnumber the cases of “comfort food” types, filling in other aspects of your life won’t help - you’ll just become a _jolly_ fat person. To actually shed the pounds, you have to cut back on the calories. Or have your leptin surgically removed, I dunno.
---
### Author:  [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/507 "2009-10-30T21:22:21Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#):
>
> This is simply not true. I’m in the process of losing a significant amount of weight, am down 23 pounds so far, and I never ignore my biological hunger cues. In fact, I am careful not to ignore my hunger cues, as I have learned that letting my body get into a state of extreme hunger is a good way for me to binge overeat. I eat when I get a little bit hungry, and I stop eating when I feel a little bit full. Yes, during the first few weeks of eating normally, I had a lot of food cravings and rarely felt full after a normal-sized meal. This is because through years and years of stuffing myself, I had effectively taught my body to ignore normal hunger/full cues.
I _still_ don’t think I know what hunger feels like. I know what “not stuffed” feels like, but there’s a heck of a difference between that and hungry - as in, you’re _supposed_ to feel “not stuffed”.
Maybe one of these days I’ll feel actual hunger. Or maybe I have, but just discounted it…regardless of how you do it, avoiding that binge overeating is the main thing, _however_ you do it.
> [@MsWhatsit](#):
>
> One of the huge myths of weight loss is that to lose weight, you must go around constantly starving and depriving yourself, and that you must exercise iron willpower every second of the day. This is simply not true. Eating a normal caloric intake is mostly a matter of setting up good and healthy eating habits and then sticking with them. If you find that you are constantly hungry, something is wrong. (I know this is the cue for people to come in and say that there is something biologically wrong with them that makes them feel like a starving person 24 hours per day no matter what they eat, but I think those people are a rare minority, and I also suspect that if they worked on changing their eating habits somewhat, many of those food cravings would diminish significantly. Of course, I could be wrong about this.)
>
> I mean, seriously, I’ve lost 23 pounds and I feel great. I don’t go through my day constantly gritting my teeth and screaming, “AAAAAAHHH!! WILL! NOT! EAT! DONUT!!!”
I don’t know for hunger, but sticking to a diet is key. Presumably it doesn’t even have to be that extreme a diet (though I like to push the limits a little myself because I’m impatient), as long as you set a limit lower than your caloric needs and stick to it, you’re golden.
---
### Author:  [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/508 "2009-10-30T22:07:45Z")
> [@meara](#):
>
> It really IS harder for these people to exercise (at least at first), and to control their eating. Why do you require them to expend more effort than a naturally thin person just to avoid pejoratives?
Because that still only requires a degree of willpower and self-control that I expect from _everyone_. I don’t care if you’re an alcoholic, I still expect you to not drink and drive. I don’t care if you’re poor, I still expect you to not mug people. And I don’t care if your leptin-feedback system is screwed up, I still expect you to possess the ability to think “hey, maybe being 200 pounds overweight is a bad thing”.
Also, I have even _less_ respect for someone who tries to justify their own failure by whining about other people having it easy.
---
### Author:  [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/509 "2009-10-30T22:30:33Z")
> [@Grumman](#):
>
> Because that still only requires a degree of willpower and self-control that I expect from _everyone_. I don’t care if you’re an alcoholic, I still expect you to not drink and drive. I don’t care if you’re poor, I still expect you to not mug people. And I don’t care if your leptin-feedback system is screwed up, I still expect you to possess the ability to think “hey, maybe being 200 pounds overweight is a bad thing”.
So, to you, drinking and driving = mugging = not minding being 200lbs overweight, morally speaking? Or that it’s _equally_ reasonable to require the latter activity to be refrained from?
On a similar note, people who wear white after labor day, and mass murderers. It’s equally important for the first category to restraing their impulses as the latter - not just for their own good, but for the good of _society_.
> [@Grumman](#):
>
> Also, I have even _less_ respect for someone who tries to justify their own failure by whining about other people having it easy.
Can we call them lucky bastards, though?
(Though really I have no reason to think that I have any leptin problems at all. It’s not like I need to invoke esoteric explanations to explain my weight; ten years of eating too much pretty much covers it.)
---
### Author:  [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/510 "2009-10-30T22:54:42Z")
> [@begbert2](#):
>
> So, to you, drinking and driving = mugging = not minding being 200lbs overweight, morally speaking?
Who said anything about morals? I’m talking about sapience. Even if it isn’t immoral to destroy yourself through negligence, it’s still bloody stupid.
---
### Author:  [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/511 "2009-10-30T23:04:31Z")
> [@Grumman](#):
>
> Who said anything about morals? I’m talking about sapience. Even if it isn’t immoral to destroy yourself through negligence, it’s still bloody stupid.
Er, _you_ just now implied you think it’s immoral (which raises questions about _someone’s_ sapience).
But regardless, you were specifically criticizing their “willpower and self-control” - and then criticizing them, specifically, for not thinking that their weight is a problem. Which of course doesn’t have anything to do with willpower and self-control at all; those doesn’t kick in until you _try_ to lose weight, and then fail.
But then, this has nothing to do will willpower and self control at all, does it? You just hate fatties. Hate them like you do muggers and drunk drivers! (It’s telling that you don’t equate them to mere _drunks_, which might actually be equivalent. But then, you _like_ mere drunks.)
One has to wonder if Santa Claus did something bad to you when you were a child.
---
### Author:  [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/512 "2009-10-31T02:17:10Z")
> [@Grumman](#):
>
> Who said anything about morals? I’m talking about sapience. Even if it isn’t immoral to destroy yourself through negligence, it’s still bloody stupid.
But it’s not like being fat is a death sentence or predictor of ill health of any sort. BMI-wise, being overweight (BMI 25-29) has very few risks factors. Half of all Americans are overweight and our life expectancy is not falling yet. Being obese (BMI 30-34) raises your risk a bit. When you are morbidly obese (BMI 35-40) it gets quite high, and the super obese (BMI 40+) are highest of all (I am talking conventional health risk factors, not mortality rates or actual rates of disease).
But only 3% of the US is morbidly obese or bigger, despite what the news shows you.
Did you read the study that indicated that a BMI in the overweight range was most protective against death from heart disease, and that the pretty thin people with BMIs below 18.5 had the highest risk of death, more than all 3 classes of obesity?
---
### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2009, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/513 "2009-10-31T02:30:33Z")
[Physical Exercise](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise)
(BTW, I went walking with Dad and the dog again today – and I managed not to step in any horse poop!) 😛
As for exercise “not being an effective method”, last summer, I started walking to work from downtown, instead of taking the second bus. (One day I missed the bus, and just figured I’d walk). So, as long as the weather permitted, I’d walk along from downtown, across the Clemente Bridge, along the North Shore, all the way to the Science Center. While I had been eating better, it wasn’t until I started exercising that I REALLY started noticing results. I went down about two sizes. I had this pair of capris that I hadn’t been able to fit into for awhile – but after a month or so of walking – THEY FIT!!! The only downside is when it started to get too cold to walk.
Now that I’m laid off, like I said, I’m trying to go out to the park with Dad twice a week or so.
So don’t sit there and tell me “exercise is a lousy method for losing weight.” Because it’s not.
---
### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/514 "2009-10-31T02:41:42Z")
Lousy edit time!!! **meara** , I just wanted to let you know – I don’t think being overweight is a moral failing. I also hate seeing the way some people treat those who are overweight. And yes, it is hella hard to keep fit. I don’t think anyone is denying that. (Well, anyone with common sense!)
HOWEVER, I do find those with attitudes like **berbert2** ’s frustrating. In fact, I’m finding him downright insulting.
---
### Author:  [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/515 "2009-10-31T03:42:21Z")
It’s not hard for me to keep fit at all, personally.
The level of effort and suffering, physical and mental, required to be a certain weight/shape or have certain athletic capabilities is different for everyone, depending on many more factors than how many minutes of exercise you do and how many calories you take in.
---
### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2009, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/516 "2009-10-31T03:52:25Z")
> [@rhubarbarin](#):
>
> It’s not hard for me to keep fit at all, personally.
>
> The level of effort and suffering, physical and mental, required to be a certain weight/shape or have certain athletic capabilities is different for everyone, depending on many more factors than how many minutes of exercise you do and how many calories you take in.
Right – I have a fast metabolism, luckily. But for some, it IS harder, and I think sometimes people tend to say, “well, you’re just being lazy”, when they say it’s difficult for them. Even though they ARE working at it. That’s all.
---
### Author:  [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2009, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/517 "2009-10-31T04:39:39Z")
> [@filmore](#):
>
> No, that’s false. Was that a typo?
Yes, yes it was. Bad edit on my part–it should have said “which is false, but is often shorthand for:”
---
### Author:  [@pretend\_my\_name\_is\_witty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pretend_my_name_is_witty)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2009, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/518 "2009-10-31T12:59:11Z")
It’s not hard to keep fit, but it is harder to get fit, imo.
I’m only 23, and I’ve never been massively overweight, but I weighed 85kg during College. Through joining the TA (UK Reserves) in University, and getting a healthy attitude to exercise (getting fit, enjoying being exerted, getting the right shoes and understanding why people enjoy running), I now weigh a 69kg and I’m stronger than I’ve ever been.
I also eat a lot more than I ever used to, and don’t often think about what I’m eating except to ensure it’s not always junk (although I’m fine with going to a pub lunch fairly often). The only thing that accounts for being slimmer and lighter is the exercise, since I’m certainly not restricting my calories (quite the opposite; I’m running 10k this afternoon and hence had a massive takeaway last night).
Exercise _must_ help with weight loss. It’s bloody thermodynamics, people.
---
### Author:  [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/519 "2009-10-31T16:28:13Z")
> [@meara](#):
>
> The person who runs 30min a day without any special training or goals is not likely to experience the same transformation as the person who takes up running, joins a running club, participates in social group runs, registers and runs for races, tackles a marathon or even an ultra, etc. We’d do well as a society to promote wellness hobbies like running instead of focusing so much on group/spectator sports.
I think someone who goes from running zero to 30 minutes a day will experience a transformation all right. Especially if they stick with it for say, months. Sure, not to the degree from training for Everest or something extreme, but it would be about all anyone needs.
---
### Author:  [@meara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meara)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763/520 "2009-10-31T17:01:34Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#):
>
> I think someone who goes from running zero to 30 minutes a day will experience a transformation all right. Especially if they stick with it for say, months. Sure, not to the degree from training for Everest or something extreme, but it would be about all anyone needs.
I’m just looking at this from the public health perspective. The person who starts running 30min a day with no goals or excitement about it is less likely to stick with it. They’re also less likely to improve and develop an enjoyable hobby vs. the person who joins a running club and starts dabbling in group runs, speed workouts, trail runs, impromptu 5Ks, etc.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763.md?page=25)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-get-so-fat/513763.md?page=27)