Bud the Wiser

Just slap the thigh and surf on in.

aries

I see many wobbly waddlers on holiday in Torquay. Around the harbour they tuck into cartons of greasy fish and chips, so it is easy to see why England's national takeaway has become a thigh thickener and a stomach stretching storehouse.

Exercise has ceased to be a way of life for children these days, they follow the lifestyle of their parents, and schools do little to help.

TheEmperorIsNaked

I am completely convinced that the problem is lack of exercise, not the abundance of fast food.

I recall the 'fry ups' we used to have. There was a lovely old fashioned pie shop, and I saved some of my pocket money for a pie nearly everyday!

But: I raced around on my bike, played rounders and netball, climbed trees etc., Even getting up to turn the telly to another channel..........

It is lack of exercise.

Jerseygirl

I agree...but I also think food additives play a part too.

TheEmperorIsNaked

That's it! That was the part I forgot. Adulterated 'food'.

dunroving

The main behavioural contributor to obesity is what you eat - far easier to eat a 250 kcal Mars bar than to walk the 5 miles it takes to burn the calories.

The media often plays up lack of exercise but all the science points towards diet being the main behavioural culprit.

Think of it this way - to burn off 1 lb of body fat you would have to walk 70 miles (that wasn't a typo - 70 miles, not 7).

old.sparkles

That would depend how heavy you are but not enough to make it 70 miles. Someone weighing 150lbs would only have to walk 45 miles at 3mph

dunroving

Yes, body weight affects EE, naturally. My calculations (using the ACSM metabolic equations) were based on a 150-lb person.

How are you calculating your 45 miles? Maybe you are calculating gross energy expenditure. Net energy expenditure (EE from the exercise alone) isn't really affected by walking speed - it's basic physics: Work = force (or load/weight) x distance. Speed doesn't come into it, unless you start running (then the additional vertical component adds energy expenditure).

old.sparkles

You're right - I did do gross energy without accounting for base energy.

I get the basic physics, but trying to make sense of it, because fast walking does burn more calories

dunroving

Agree, but you finish sooner - rate is higher, but time is less (assuming fixed distance). If you walk at 4 mph vs. 2 mph, your rate of energy expenditure is twice as high, but you complete the mile in half the time (15 minutes rather than 30 minutes).

old.sparkles

Of course - sorry doughnut moment hear

TheEmperorIsNaked

Then we disagree. I don't need to go into any technicalities. It is irrefutable that we do not 'move' nearly as much as we used to. It is also irrefutable that our version of 'fast food' has always been with us.

The French still like their rich sauces and such, and obesity there is not at the level that it is in the UK/US/Aus.

The 'caveman' ate a very fatty meat diet,-there is no evidence that they waddled around with a beer gut.

dunroving

Where is the objective evidence of how much physical activity has reduced? Most sources resort to anecdotal story-telling (they don't rely on that inconvenient technical stuff, either). So, we spend time sitting watching TV ... but in the "old days" we sat reading, or singing around a piano.

(I never said physical activity is the same as it has always been, it's that the evidence that activity energy expenditure has grossly reduced just doesn't exist - and the point that eating 500 kcals is far easier than expending 500 kcals).

Hmmm, the life of cavemen was different in a lot of ways, hardly a relevant comparison. I didn't realise McDonald's had been in business so long.

Obesity has only become a problem in the late 20th century.

scot47

Universal car ownership. I blame Henry Ford.

Bud the Wiser

Rationing helped a lot too.