# What's causing folks to be overweight? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 13, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927 "2013-06-13T20:30:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927/41 "2013-06-14T15:45:19Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I don’t read it that way. > > The genetics have not changed much in several centuries of time but obesity has. The question is why. > > More calories in than out, sure, but again, why so much more so in recent decades. I think maybe you misread my post. When I was talking about differences I was talking about differences between individuals, not between the past and present. In the nature vs nurture equation, the former (basically) has not changed. What I was trying to say was the science has moved on somewhat, so even though it’s a popular view for many that fat people simply lack self-control, the data suggest significant differences in individual’s appetite levels and tendency to store and burn fat. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927/42 "2013-06-14T16:01:31Z")
I grew up in the 50s and 60s and you can’t even calculate all the ways we were more active. Yes, my family had a car, but the default setting was to walk (or ride our bikes) unless there was a reason to take the car. Yes, we watched TV, but we got up and walked across the room to change the channel. Yes, my mother had a washer and dryer, but on nice days she’d still hang the laundry out to dry. Instead of a lightweight vacuum cleaner, she used one that probably weighed as much as I did. Even using a typewriter or adding machine burned more calories than using a computer. You can laugh at this, but add, say, 10 calories to everything you do throughout the day, every day, and it adds up. I’ll let someone else tackle the discussion about eating habits. ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927/43 "2013-06-14T16:02:18Z")
We got everyone to stop smoking as the big health solution, but we didn’t account for oral fixations or for smoking possibly being an appetite suppressant. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927/44 "2013-06-14T16:31:31Z")
The quarter-pounder got America started on big portions, and portions keep getting bigger and bigger. ---
**Author:** ![mo50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@mo50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mo50)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927/45 "2013-06-14T17:06:31Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Portion size, food quality, and lack of activity. > > Last night at dinner, g/f said “This is so good…why aren’t we fat??” > > Well, for one we were having green beans, grilled chicken breast and grilled Brussels sprouts. When you eat those things, you get to eat a lot of them…even so, we didn’t eat a large quantity. > > And, we both work out/run a couple-three-four times a week. The working out is huge of course, and good on you for doing it, but I’d respectfully suggest that a major reason you guys aren’t fat is because you’re lucky enough to think that stuff tastes good. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927/46 "2013-06-14T17:21:33Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > We are a far more sedentary society today. Just about everyone has a car, and everyone drives or rides everywhere. When I was a kid, I walked a few blocks to grade school, and then walked a few blocks to the bus stop for middle school. I also walked to the grocery store to pick up odds and ends that my mother needed for dinner. So just during the normal course of my daily life, I was walking or trotting a couple of miles a week. A couple of miles _a week_? Surely even the most sedentary slobs of today’s world - assuming they’re actually physically able-bodied, walk far more than that just in the course of their day-to-day activities. I’m sure I walk at least a mile a _day_, and I’m sat at a desk for 10-12 hours of that. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927/47 "2013-06-14T17:41:59Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > We got everyone to stop smoking as the big health solution, but we didn’t account for oral fixations or for smoking possibly being an appetite suppressant. False. In general smokers don’t weight that much less than non-smokers, altho there is often a small uptick after quitting: > **[Non-smokers put on less weight, study suggests](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100422102941.htm)** > > A new study links nicotine poisoning with weight gain, and concludes that active smokers, not only those who stop, put on more weight than non-smokers. After four years of analysis, those who put on least weight were those who had never smoked. Apr. 23, 2010 — _A new study links nicotine poisoning with weight gain, and concludes that active smokers, not only those who stop, put on more weight than non-smokers. After four years of analysis in the University of Navarra, those who put on least weight were those who had never smoked. From now on we will have to question the myth that smoking makes you slimmer_. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927/48 "2013-06-14T17:53:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Fat on human bodies, yes, of course, but that’s not necessarily due to fatty foods. Calories are Calories, whether they come from fat, carbs, or proteins. Eat too much of anything, and you’ll get fat. While this is essentially true, it is really hard to eat too much broccoli or spinach, and even eating too much of fatty foods like untrimmed (non-processed) meat or avocados is actually difficult or uncomfortable. Calories, as conventionally measured in a calorimeter, meausre energy content but do not assess how accessible the energy is to the human metabolism, i.e. that breaking down simple carbohydrates is much easier than breaking down saturated fats or proteins. While carbohydrates per se are not the problem–there are many cultures in which the historical dietary portion of carbohydrates exceeds 70%, and yet people were thin–the fact that the modern diet of highly processed foods, containing a large portion of sugars and simple starches, provides carbohydrates that rapidly convert to blood glucose both makes it difficult to mediate blood sugar levels (resulting in energy spikes and hunger) and a metabolism which readily converts those sugars into subcutaneous fats. Physical activity conveys benefits beyond simply the calories consumed during activity; it also results in the building and maintaining of muscle mass, which stimulates the metabolism, and incidentally, makes it easier to maintain longer and more intense spurts of activity. A physically inactive person upon starting to exercise with typically lose a few pounds (mostly water mass) and then plateau just because they cannot physically maintain a sufficiently active pace to continue burning off subcutaneous fat at the same rate, which is why planning and discipline (as well as a suitable diet which provides for sufficient nutrients to build up muscle) are critical for a successful exercise program. Again, a diet heavy in blood sugar-spiking carbohydrates from cheap, highly processed foods that fill the majority of grocery store aisles subverts an attempt to reduce body fat by exercise. So, while the large portion sizes and low or intermittant activity may be a part of the problem, the real issue is diet composition; foods that are “enhanced” with cheap sugars to make them more appealing and, frankly, addictive. Regardless of how much of the organic/paleolithic/primal nutrition glurgage you buy into (and there is a lot of pseudoscientific nonsense to be found in all of that) there is no question that eating foods that are minimally processed and as close to off the stem or bone as possible is most healthy and ultimately most satisfying. An easy way to modify your diet without getting caught up in all of the nutritional arguments about what specific foods (like fruits, grains, or legumes) are good or bad for you is thus: [ul] [li]Avoid anything that comes in a box, has added sugars, or has a long list of ingredients[/li][li]In order of preference: fresh, frozen, canned, dried[/li][li]Approximately 2/3s of the volume of food shoud come from the fresh produce section if possible[/li][li]Grains and pulses should be minimally processed, and should not comprise more than 1/3rd of the bulk of the meal[/li][li]Protein should be “as close to the bone” as possible; include roasts, whole chicken, et cetera, and only trim the fat if it actually makes the food greasy or unpalettable[/li][li]Eat enough fats, especially naturally saturated fats, to satiate your hunger (without going overboard)[/li][li]Minimize deserts any sugary or salty snacks[/li][/ul] By the way, the reason high fructose corn syrup is so cheap is because corn agriculture is so heavily subsidized. Corn is neither particularly healthy nor an especially more bountiful crop than other grains, and yet we produce so much of it that much of it goes to waste. And if you’ve actually seen the material from which HCFS and “vegetable” oil is produced from (which is the crufty, semi-rotten waste which sticks to the sides of grain silos and is deemed unfit even for animal consumption) you’d think again about using any of this stuff in your food. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927/49 "2013-06-14T19:39:40Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I’ve thought a great deal on the subject of why people are so much fatter than ever before. And have concluded the root cause is due to the following (at least in the U.S.): > > 1. Food is cheaper than ever before. In other words, we spend less on food now (as a percentage of income) than at any other time in the history of our country. For a lot of people, it’s free. > > 2. Food is more available than ever before. > > It’s simply supply and demand. The supply of food has increased, which has resulted in a greater quantity of food consumed. > > If you put food in front of a dog or cat 24 hours a day, it \*\*\*will \*\*\*get fat. > > If you want to reverse the trend, make food much more expensive and more scarce. Those are factors in the problem. However, if you put food in front of a cat 24 hours a day, it might get fat and it might not. It depends on the individual cat. I’ve got four cats, and we free-feed dry kibble, and occasionally split a couple of small cans of cat food (so each cat gets about half a small can every week or so). Two of the cats are normal, healthy weight, and two of them are a bit plump. What’s the difference? I assume it’s genetics, as the cats probably aren’t closely related, other than being the same species. > [@Colophon](#): > > A couple of miles _a week_? Surely even the most sedentary slobs of today’s world - assuming they’re actually physically able-bodied, walk far more than that just in the course of their day-to-day activities. I’m sure I walk at least a mile a _day_, and I’m sat at a desk for 10-12 hours of that. I was making a very conservative estimate of the additional weekly walking. I believe that my walk to elementary school was something like a tenth of a mile each way, so that walking added up to about a mile. I actually could drive over to my old house and measure the distance, I suppose. My walk to the bus stop and back was longer, but not by much. I’ve found that people tend to vastly overestimate the distance that they walk, until they have to wear a pedometer. Most of my walking and running occurred when I was playing, when I was a kid. I played a lot of tackle football (much to my mother’s dismay, she thought it was an unsuitable sport for a little girl) and I hiked when I could. Wear a pedometer and find out how much, or how little, you’re walking. ---
**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:** [June 14, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927/50 "2013-06-14T19:40:26Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > I think maybe you misread my post. When I was talking about differences I was talking about differences between individuals, not between the past and present. … Then I think you’ve misread the op. The op is asking about why the difference between past and present. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927/51 "2013-06-14T20:53:48Z")
> [@](#): > > **John Travolta** _Pulp Fiction_ > Yeah, but bacon tastes good. Pork chops taste good What else? Also - the obsession with fat (10 calories per gram) versus sugar (4 cal/g); so many foods started advertising “fat free” in the last how many years, where essentially they substituted sugar for fat so the food tasted better than cardboard. maybe it’s a few less calories, but the “fat free” likely fools some people into thinking it’s ok to eat a lot more. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927/52 "2013-06-14T21:07:22Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Those are factors in the problem. > > However, if you put food in front of a cat 24 hours a day, it might get fat and it might not. True. But if you limit the amount of food given to your cat, the cat is virtually guaranteed not to get fat. No limit on access to food = some cats get fat, some won’t. Limit access to food = few if any cats get fat. It’s the same with people. Expenditures on food are such a small part of a person’s income that it approaches a situation of “unlimited access to food.” It didn’t used to be this way. Food used to be expensive, and relatively scarce. ---
**Author:** ![panaccione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@panaccione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panaccione)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927/53 "2013-06-14T21:23:58Z")
Also, the scientific study linked [here](http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-study-finds-it-is-impossible-to-lose-weight-no,32770/) may have the single best answer to this question. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927/54 "2013-06-14T21:30:30Z")
> [@Malden\_Capell](#): > > Speaking as a GBFF (great big fat fuck), I’ve always had a problem with my weight. Some of the reasons are: > > - I associate exercise with embarassment and ineptitude. I’ve never, ever, ever, liked exercise, not even football. I found it utterly boring, and it didn’t help that being made to play it at school gave people an opportunity for a good laugh at my expense. For that reason exercise depresses me. > > - I associate people who exercise as being dumb jocks. **I know that logically this isn’t true.** I _know_ that most exercisers are just normal people, but in my gut (haha) I feel it’s something that idiots, jocks and self-obsessed egotistical dumbasses obsess over, and feel my IQ dropping just thinking about it. Just to stress, I know this isn’t true, but it’s an involuntary revulsion. > > - Growing up in 1980s Essex, England, my family weren’t exactly wealthy and the idea of nutrition instead of eating to be full, whatever you eat, was a novel one. I still haven’t caught up really, and a lot of the information about nutrition just baffles and infuriates me: consequences of eating this, benefits of eating that, you can eat this type of thing but not that type of thing, just doesn’t seem _fair_, and I simply cannot conjur up the interest or willpower to learn about it. > > I know exactly how you think: Malden Capell’s simply a spoiled brat who’s making excuses and should just move his fat arse. And maybe you’re right. But that doesn’t mean these arguments are simply ones I can just kick out of my brain. They are there and I have struggled to shift them for a long, long time. > > My job’s very sedentary as well, but I do try to walk every day to and from work which is about 45 minutes one way. > > My wife is very thin and a nutrition/exercise advocate, and she’s tried patiently for three years to help me with it. I love her very much for putting up with my shit! I grew up in 80s Surrey, and we would have bread pudding on Saturday if my (older) sister could bring home enough out-of-date loaves on Friday from her part-time job in Sainsbury’s. We weren’t well off by any means. My mum was/is also thin and into eating healthily, eventually making a business out of it. Listen to the woman! I actually did get up to 15 stone, during my divorce, but after I moved to a Chinese town (changed of career) with absolutely no edible bread or cheese I lost a couple of stone and also the heartburn. After that I stopped taking the daily tablets my doctor gave me for acid reflux as it’s probably due to an allergy to wheat. Now if I put on a bit of weight I don’t bother with more exercise (I believe skinny athletes are down to correlation, not causation), I cut out some carbs. Usually it’s lots fried veg (loadsa chili) with some rice, I tried Atkins once and it worked but wasn’t very enjoyable. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927/55 "2013-06-15T02:26:21Z")
Nobody has mentioned by personal favorite: air conditioning. When it is sweltering hot and the house doesn’t have A/C, you don’t lie around and watch TV. It’s miserable. You go out and go swimming, play games in the park, or do something to stay active and sweat to try to cool down. A/C has the opposite effect. Go outside and play softball? Fuck that, it’s too hot. I’m staying here on the couch in the a/c. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927/56 "2013-06-15T04:19:58Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Then I think you’ve misread the op. The op is asking about why the difference between past and present. I know. Note I said: “So I would put it down to the large availability of cheap, unhealthy food”. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927/57 "2013-06-15T16:41:23Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > Short Answer: Eating too much and exercising too little. > > Most people are too busy/lazy/poor to go to a gym and even though walking briskly for 45 mins a day would burn a fair amount of calories, most people would rather sit and watch TV. > > And don’t forget portion sizes. Go to any other country in the world and the first thing you will notice is how small their portion sizes are compared to the US… Yep. I just posted about a friend in another thread who eats big portions of heavy foods, often very late at night or even at midnight for dinner and then goes to bed but can’t figure out why the weight loss does not occur because she visits the company gym a few times a week. She went to WW years ago but seems to have forgotten everything. ---
**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:** [June 15, 2013, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927/58 "2013-06-15T20:12:22Z")
Let’s go with the “people are too busy/lazy/poor” hypothesis. Why have they become so much busier/lazier/poorer over several decades? Have people in [the world’s developing economies](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3257829/) also become busier/lazier/poorer, and if so why? Those in [India](http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-11-12/india/28245306_1_obesity-india-and-china-overweight-rates)? [China](http://www.china.org.cn/china/2012-09/14/content_26521029.htm)? Obesity rates have leveled off in American adults and actually started to [decrease some among America’s children](http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/12/25/early-childhood-obesity-rates-might-be-slowing-nation-wide/). What made kids busier/lazier/poorer over the last several decades and why are they now getting a bit less busy/lazy poor? If obesity is alternatively completely 100% all about personal responsibility and individual choices, then what is the explanation for this worldwide spreading epidemic of abdication of personal responsibility and why are American children taking on more personal responisbility as of late? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927/59 "2013-06-15T20:34:07Z")
Because their American parents realized that eating any ole crap in any quantities you want makes you fat? Hopefully this minor trend will continue and the rest of the world will realize it eventually too. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927/60 "2013-06-16T02:35:21Z")
Have studies been done recently on the rates of obesity in New York City specifically (not for NY state overall)? Because, anecdotally, from living in NYC, I think the city has an overall lower rate of obesity than any other American city I’ve been in, and I attribute that chiefly to it being practically impossible NOT to walk and climb here. Just to get to work and back I have to climb down three flights of stairs (apartment building, no elevator), walk ten minutes to the subway station, climb down three more flights of stairs to board the train, then climb another set once I arrive in Manhattan, then walk ten more minutes to my job. Then when I go home at the end of the day, I do it all over again. And that is the bare minimum neccesary for me to get to work and back. Today after work I was up and down the stairs several more times, bringing up a box that had been delivered and then running out for groceries. Contrast this to my mom’s place in Mississippi, where you walk from the front door to the car, drive to your destination, and walk from the car into your destination. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-folks-to-be-overweight/660927.md?page=4)