Oh I agree on all that (except the dinner part, on which I have no opinion! 
). No doubt we are in the midst of a bit of a weight panic and all.
My main focus was on the initial paper which made the claim that obesity was mostly genetic.
Oh, of course. Sorry, too much searching out of links today, I was starting to loose track of the conversation. 
(Dinner was excellent, by the way. I’m not normally glutenous, but I completely own making an exception tonight. If you’re ever in Ledgewood, NJ, I highly recommend Muldoon’s. It looks like a typical Irish pub in a not-bad-but-not-that-great area, but it serves amazing - and often very fancy - food. The shrimp tempura appetizer was fabulous. I had the parmesan scallops (on a bed of shrimp ravioli and topped with asparagus). My husband had the 16 oz porterhouse steak (with jalapeño and cheddar mashed potatoes), which he was only able to finish about a third of. If you can, save room (which we neglected to do) for dessert at Cliff’s, two parking lots down.)
Anyway, to get back on track, yes we’re all getting a little heavier on average, but that doesn’t mean that there’s not a major genetic component. As initial link described, that study showed a roughly 70% genetic component to your weight. So if your grandfather was 150 pounds in 1960, then - neglecting all those pesky details of your genetic inheritance from your grandmother and other parent’s family - you’re likely to be within his general range plus a little to make up for your lifestyle - say, 175.
Whereas someone who’s grandfather was 250 pounds in 1960 (we didn’t invent fat people, you know, and that’s not really that big), is probably going to end up at around 275. That second person might be able to diet and exercise himself down to 175 (your natural starting point), but odds are excellent that it will be a huge struggle as he fights against his genetics. You might have a bit of a pudge and also be fighting your way down to 150, but you’re at an advantage in that your body wants to be around that weight in the first place.
It’s controversial, so I’m not going to bother to dig up links, but there is a well known theory that yo-yo dieting actually results in more weight ultimately gained. So if guy number two repeatedly manages to get down to 200 but keeps slipping up in his struggle against his body, he may end up at 300 instead once he gives up. This is far from scientifically proven at the moment, so I’m just throwing it out there as an aside. I haven’t ever really dieted so I don’t even have any anecdotal evidence.
To quote someone, congratulations, you’re literally a freak of nature! But seriously, that’s hard to do, so congratulations. I hope that you can keep it off.
What I was talking about is the studies that say that 97% of all diets (including, to possibly slightly better results, diet and exercise) ultimately fail - 83% within two years, the rest within five. Failure is defined as returning to your original weight or higher. While it is entirely possible to maintain weight loss, for most people it’s at the cost of obsessive maintenance. (The “obsessive” part is from an oft-cited piece of related history: the Minnesota Starvation Experiment. For comparison purposes, women on Weight Watchers points program are often put on 20 points or less on an ongoing basis, a.k.a. less than 1200 calories a day.)
My mother-in-law is an excellent personal example of both of the above. She comes from a family who is uniformly obese aside from from her parents - her son, her sister, her brother, her niece and nephew, and all of the immediate aunts and uncles. By all accounts, she was also obese before I knew her. By the time we met, she had dieted and exercised herself down to skinny - I’ve never asked, but I would guess around a size 6 - and she has maintained it all of this time. She runs 10 miles a day (five in the morning, five at lunch), plus lots of additional exercise. She eats like a bird, but it is the family joke that Kathy spends all day every day thinking about and talking about food. What to eat for dinner is a major topic of conversation every day during every visit. And odds are excellent that she’s eaten half of your leftovers during the trip home from the restaurant. I only wish I were exaggerating.
Thank you. 
Including spending Lord knows how long looking up statistics to defend their fat asses as opposed to taking that same amount of time and getting some freakin’ exercise. If you’ve got the time to look for these websites, you could at least spare half an hour to jog around the block.
It’s not easy being a thin girl. I spend one hour a day on weights and yoga and one to two hours on cardio. I never get to eat what I want. Boo-frickin-hoo. It’s still way better than being an eyesore.
I like some of the clothes linked to for any size–if only there more of them available.
As I said before, I’m fairly average: I’m a 10-14 depending on the brand. I’m 5’7", have a medium frame, and stopped weighing myself after my last pregnancy–it was too depressing. In college I weighed 119 pounds, weighed myself twice/day and watched what I ate like a hawk (well, mostly–I did do quite a bit of ice cream and cookie dough binges with girlfriends). BUT, back then I smoked and I walked everywhere and I mean everywhere. I was also obsessed about my weight and thought I was fat. And even THEN, shopping was difficult. Size zero hadn’t been invented yet, and I was a 6-8 (now it’d be a 4-6, I think). But the inseam was off or the arm length was funky (I have large shoulders–I didn’t need any should pads in the 80s!).
And so it is today. I go to Kohl’s–nothing of Gloria Vanderbilt’s fits me (I don’t like her stuff anyway, but it’s one example of a brand not cut to my proportions); Lee jeans don’t work. GAP jeans do. I cannot wear bottoms from Target at all–again, the rise is too short etc.
All I can say is this: if someone like me (and the other poster up thread who told her story) struggles to find appropriately fitted clothes, I cannot imagine how hard it is for bigger folks. I usually buy an XL top from Target to allow for shrinkage (Target makes cheap clothes)–and I’m a size 10-12-14. What in hell does a size 18 do? She doesn’t wear that style, that’s what.
I can’t comment on the hair–I also dislike the unisex middle aged hair helmet that some women adopt. It may be easy maintenance, but it does not flatter much of anyone… And WhyNot does have gorgeous eyes! And a sexy tattoo just… there. 
ETA: kudos to you, strawberry, for your weight loss and fitness. Here’s a thought: not everyone (and I include myself in this category although I am not obese) wants to spend/waste 3 hours of their day–every day–doing cardio etc. There are books to be read, friends to laugh with, gardens and kids to enjoy and tend, charity work to be done, real work to be done as well. I’d rather be overweight and happy in my life, than sweating, jaw clenched against the french fries, sweating at the gym. YMMV on that treadmill.
Except it’s not for you to say what the best use of someone’s time is, or that it’s clearly the best choice to go exercise instead of being at the computer.
What’s so hard about leaving other adults to make decisions for themselves and shutting your fucking mouth about it? I don’t exist to be attractive to you. Sorry, you’re just not that fucking important.
Whoohoo! A real person who has ordered from them is worth two in the bush… or something like that. I’m going to try ordering a simple shirt and see how it goes.
I can’t tell you how devastated I am now to know that you don’t like being forced to look at me. I’m in tears. Really. I don’t know how I make it through the day what with all the dirtying of eyeballs I do.
I’d rather be an “eyesore” and enjoy life (which includes going to the gym, taking walks, and generally getting off my ass), then spend all of my time denying all pleasure in order to fill someone else’s standard of beauty.
Boo-fucking-hoo yourself.
My goodness, you larger ladies seem to have a pattern. Step #1: Wail “It’s not my faaaaaault!” and dredge up some stats and throw out terms like PCOS and glandular disorder. Step #2: The sassy comebacks and the “I don’t live for you” defensive mode. Your wit, madam, doth wound. I’m waiting for Step #3: “My S.O./D.H./(insert stupid initials here) loves me just the way I am and he says that Megan Fox is waaaay too skinny and she might break and he’s like ‘real women have curves!’”. Please, bring it on. I do love some delusional crowing.
scrambledeggs = shockjock poster.
Well, at least you’re not a concern troll, they’re a lot more annoying.
Why the chip on your shoulder? What’s it to you what size anyone else is?
But don’t you know, we force her to look at us, and it hurts her eyes.
Wow–what a skinny little bitch you are, strawberrypaprika. There’s nothing to “bring on”, although some of these women could probably deck you with one hand. Did you miss the posts that show that not all the posters here are not obese, myself included? Or is it too hard to read with sweat in your eyes?
What exactly are you looking for here? Do you expect the posters here to run out and join WW because a rude guest comes here and attempt to contemptuously castigate posters of whom she knows nothing? Such a leader of people you are.
I am no advocate of obesity-as an RN, I see all too often the secondary problems brought on by carrying too much weight. But those health issues can be rectified by weight loss, inherent assholery is not tied to weight and tends to stick with you throughout life. If you have something of value to contribute, by all means, do so. If not, go forth with your smug superiority. May it serve you well.
Humm - anyone else think that scrambledeggs and strawberrypaprika are, like a couple in real life?
Actually, I’m willing to give scrambledeggs the benefit of the doubt - his (assuming he’s a he) OP was ham-handed and poorly written, but I don’t think he was actually being mean. straberrypaprika on the otherhand, just seems nasty, mean and not much fun to hang out with. YMMV, etc.
Those who’ve made themselves martyrs to thinness have a pattern, too, born of their obsessiveness and the meanness that comes of denying themselves constantly. They’re obsessed with hating fatties, because the hate keeps them motivated. They hate their bodies, hate themselves, hate every morsel of rabbit food they eat, even as they long to take a break from 3 hours at the gym or have a piece of birthday cake. Their hate fuels their resolve and keeps them going. Everything has a cost, sweetie, and those of us for whom staying thin would be that kind of struggle don’t always want to pay it.
And “not having a really big firecracker” is itself a way of saying his trouser mouse is a Minnie.
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And “his trouser mouse is a Minnie” is really just a polite way of suggesting that his clothes hamper contains only sporks. If ya know what I mean.
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Ah, couldn’t have ever said it that perfectly.
Oh, and is your name “StrawberryPaprika” because those are the two foods you are allowed to eat?
And I believe this was introduced as a genteel alternative to saying his sausage has no room for links.