MikeStanton

It is true that generally we eat too much for the exercise we do. But, if I recall correctly, in general we actually eat fewer calories than previous generations - but we do a lot less exercise...

podgypossum

Has it not occurred to any of you that the reasons many people become obese has very little to do with the food but the state of mind?

I am not gonna go into the finer details for fear of doing a "Dr Phil" again...(heaven forbid!!) but look at it logically. Do you honestly think that kids OR adults overeat and become this way because they REALLY want to be this way? ...they have become addicted to a habit...no different to smoking, drinking or gambling...it needs far more input from professionals to help deal with it.

Try thinking outside the square and looking at it form another angle apart from laziness or incompetence on their part.

Take me for example...went from an extremely fit teenage county swimmer to a pufffed up podgy possum!!!.... i am one of millions in this position, there is more to it all than meets the eye.

HiddenPaw

It has everything to do with food.
Regardless of whether an individual needs professional help, the root cause is the same - people gain weight because supply is greater than demand.

It may be an addiction but it is also to do with life choice - you choose what you eat, how much exercise you do/don't do.

Badge

Exercise is EVERYTHING, everyone forgets this, and total calory intake.

hey I've just eaten a pack of Tim Tams, but I have 12 pc body fat, and last night I went to rugby trg. 2 days before that I ran 5 miles. Why the Tim Tams - I fancied it. But other nights I eat Beans on Toast, chicken stir fry, caul cheese, baked potato.
. Army recruits PILE down the food, they need every calorie.

So you can balance it out in the end. The more muscle you have, the more it works at rest as well.

I would defo concentrate on the exercise, not the diet. My parents never had a car, so we walked everywhere. I have a picture of my brother and me aged 10, and we had 6 packs, biceps, the lot. We did 2 paper rounds aged 14-15, if you do good exercise going through puberty it lays down foundations for later life. But don't weight train thats too early. The problem is a lot of teenage boys want to have big muscles and / or do a lot of jap slapping ie look like Jackie Chan when they should be doing aerobic exercise etc

When I was 16, I used to go out and run 15 miles with a 15kg rucksack just to try to keep myself honest.When I was 17, I passed one of the toughest army physical tests - and never did any extra training.

Now I do, but I am 31 so have to do something, of course.
So exercise!!!! Poeple say they have no time, but they have time to sit and watch EastEnders for 30 mins..you can come back in, and THEN sit and watch TV feeling great!

After years, (for me it is 16 years now) it becomes a habit and you feel its natural, the same way people watch TV. I also run errands - I do the shopping for MrsB, run to the letter box, run to the video shop. Kill 2 birds with stone.

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podgypossum

The point i was making has obviously gone straight over your head.

Badge

I think it is Food and exercise, the two are clearly related, as hiddenpaw says. Its a formula of supply and demand.

I would say, that exercise is more important than food though, if you wondered. I can lose my surplus fat in 3 days by exercise - and eating the same. I am never at 'fighting weight' or tone because I do a desk job -such is life, but it would take me days to get there.

But - attitude is also a key.

Sometimes you see a fat family, and you then wonder, maybe it is the genes, poor buggers, and then you wonder if people are born like that and have no chance - or choice. These are the people that need coaching, IF they CAN help themselves. can they? Do we have experts here?

Incidentally, in the US once, someone said to me there is NEVER an excuse for a child to be fat. That is something that adults get. Were they right? It's like children run around a lot etc so normally are within 'bounds' for their height and weight. Or are children subjected to the same regimes as their parents so they end up fat as well?

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podgypossum

But could you paint a copy of the Mona Lisa?....

We are not all made the same.

We have not all had the same ife experiences

And we don't all have the same persona.


THANK GOD!!

Badge

indeed. But we are talking about exercise now not drawing. Exercise is not a talent, it's a task. Though I was looking at Picasso's stuff the other day, was it Picasso? and he looked like he'd had a shocker.

Used to be quite good at art. I was always an all rounder. Master of none and all that yadda yadda.

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Megalania

Eat ~200kg / year.
Av. weight aged 20: ~60kg.
Av. weight aged 50: ~80kg.

Weight gained / year = (80 - 60) / (50 - 20) = 0.67kg.

% of food retained each year = 0.67 / 200 = 0.33%.

podgypossum

I think Picasso had "shockers" quite a lot!!



You are right. Exercise is indeed a task. You also have to have the right frame of mind to be able to do it on a constant basis.

How many of us can honestly say we do something everyday that we hate doing on a voluntary basis, especially when we are feeling down or our esteem is at rock bottom?

Another angle to look at too... how many of you have seen a fat kid or adult attempting exercise in whatever form, and laughed at them? Quite a lot i would imagine.
Would YOU keep going back to do something that made you a laughing stock?
Imagine being someone who is already feeling very inferior and gets laughed at for attempting to change it? You wouldn't do it for long would you?


Would an alcoholic be ridiculed this way?...i doubt it...it seems to be a more acceptable human failing than overeating!!

flying dutchman

i think podgypossum has a good point. yes the body is a (relativsly) simple mechanism when it comes to food: put more in than it needs and it stores it up, put less in and you loose weight. and the quantities we need can to some extent be regulated by exercise.

however, a lot of the tactics used to fight weight gain - atkins, weight watchers etc., fail to address the underlying issues.

education is one - learning to eat right, but equally if not more importnantly, there seems to be global (western) self-esteem crisis going on. many people use food as a drug, much like alcohol. my own father is like this and has weighed in at 100kg (1.75 tall) for many years now.

if you don't love and respect yourself, how can you respect your body and why would you care what you put into it? its a vicious circle.

flying dutchman

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You're right, about fat kids being made to feel inadequate. That is why I like rugby. It gives a 100 kilogramme 'fat' man a chance to stampede a small 70kg bloke like me and feel good about it. After I have picked myself up we shake hands.

Later on, I run to him, side step and swerve, and he can't catch me. After I score the try, we shake hands. A game for all shapes and sizes. The 'fat' boys feel good about getting us the ball, and stopping us score tries, we feel good that we score them ;-) Of course, at Intl level, even the 'fat' guys are 12 pc fat (or something) but never mind.

The fat guy last night was an Islander. He cleaned me out - talk about pommie bashing!!!

(I was so rusty, my long passes were shocking, still enjoyed myself).

The thing with soccer is that it is a 'skill' and you need to be 'good' at it to succeed - I say succeed - a fat kid running with the ball does not always as you say, promote confidence, whereas rugby and hand codes of football require just a good frame of mind, an attitude and sportsmanship. We never laugh at people who stuff up in rugby we say better luck next time.

I used to coach 10 yr old boys rugby, and alot of the stuff the coaches said revolved around 'trying', not being 'good'. A fat kid would feel great. He was the big mean forward. This try aspect promotes sportsmanship - the parents congratulated both sides etc - whereas many complained they had taken their boys out of soccer as the boys were emulating the premiership boys or the parents were wanting results at all costs.

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65 million

Ive been preaching for years, that we should have a "Fat Tax", however the money made should not simply slip into the governments pockets, but should be used to subsidise helathy fruit and veg.

Just my opinion.

Simone

Sounds very good. It would help, to say the least!!

Herman

My view is that its to do with clever marketing, the sheer volume of junk food outlets, poor education and people's relative wealth. Everywhere you go now there are burger bars, coffee outlets selling high fat crap, cookie stores, pie shops etc etc. To the vast majority of us this food is an affordable 'treat' and we put the blinkers on when it comes to the content. I was like that for years too. Then a year ago aged only 32 I discovered that my blood pressure was high, my cholesterol was high and my weight was creeping up. So I've been avoiding all this crap, along with ready meals, for a year now and exercising most days. We eat home bread (low salt) sarnis for lunch and the kind of meat and veg or meat and salad meals that my grandparents ate in the evenings. Whilst there's no way I'm as fit as Mr Badgers, dont have the genes I'm afraid, I'm in as a good a shape as I've been for a long time. I just had to buy a new suit as the trousers on my old suits now fall down. Not eating this junk gives you a strange feeling of self satisfaction and you can't help grimmacing as you see Mr and Mrs Plump and their chunky little darlings making a 'lifestyle' statement by horsing down their high fat cuppicinos and armchair sized choccy muffins in the trendy coffee shop.