42 replies to this topic

[maineman]

Boy has this thread gone off on a tangent... People have a lot of free will. A LOT. That is not to say that there aren't people who are helpless. There are. But the vast majority, the "average" person, has the ability to choose. As stated here many times, if someone chooses to drink themselves to death, its a tragedy, a waste, sad, but you are not going to "legislate" that problem away. If they drive drunk, they should be put away because that puts me and my family at risk. If you choose to smoke, you are a fool. It will kill you. But its your choice. But don't expect the rest of us to pay for your oxygen and doctor's visits and time lost from work. That ain't right. If you choose to eat more than you need and exercise less, you are going to get fat. Period. Unless you make up one of those teeny tiny fraction of folks with medical disorders. Want to be fat? Your choice. Want to do something about it? Your choice. mm

[humble1]

LOL@theTT staff ! i am one of those people who has to work hard not to gain weight. my current BMI is right at the top of the non-fat range, ~25 for a man, 6'1''. to stay there i usually do not eat ANY dinner. when i do, i gain nearly a pound a day when wine is included. this figures exactly in with the calories, when completely counted. now, wife and i have a friend who eats and drinks ALL SHE WANTS and never gains. we watch with mouths agape, so i know what TT staff means ! we love/hate her. but PLEASE STOP all this talk about cheeseburgers. I LOVE THEM !!! i could eat a plateful.

[esther231]

My husband is like that. He can eat anything and never gains a pound. If I ate half what he eats, I'd be in trouble. I gotta tell you about another friend of ours who is obese. He was going to the gym and wanted to do more. We suggested he come biking with us. The first he came, we were training for a ride. We warned him not to come - we were doing 30 hilly miles. It was a fairly hard ride. But he came anyway. He hadn't been on a bike in 20 years. Let me tell you, dragging around 300 pounds of body weight makes for powerful legs. He kept up the whole time. Within a month, when we would go together, he would drop us after the first 5 minutes. Forget seeing his front, we never even saw his back again for the ride. OMG, so much power. It's not just us either. He drops every rider he runs into. Even pace lines. He passes them like they are standing still. Amazing. And he's obese. But powerful. Incredible power.

[lscharpen]

LOL@theTT staff !

i am one of those people who has to work hard not to gain weight. my current BMI is right at the top of the non-fat range, ~25 for a man, 6'1''. to stay there i usually do not eat ANY dinner. when i do, i gain nearly a pound a day when wine is included. this figures exactly in with the calories, when completely counted.

You can gain nearly a pound a day when you eat dinner? Now THAT'S what I call EATING! LOL I'm not sure how long my dinner would last if I was 'forced' to eat the 'extra' 3500 calories necessary to pack on an extra pound/day!

Until I reached 50 I was one of those people who could eat anything without gaining weight. Of course everybody hated me! Then the Medical Profession caught me ...... and told me my thyroid was very overactive and needed 'to go'. To my chagrin I then proceeded to pack on close to 90 extra pounds. At least everybody didn't hate me anymore .... but they DID point at me and make noises about how that fat man should be ashamed of himself! But the Medical Profession once again came to my rescue and convinced me THAT was not a good thing to do. So over the last year I lost 80 pounds through the simple expedience of counting calories and restricting my caloric intake ..... which I currently have 'set' at 2000-2100 calories/day. That keeps me on the downward slope at the slow rate of about 1 pound/month ... but also lets me 'cheat' with an occasional trip to the ice cream store. I DO miss hot dogs though .... not so much the hamburgers you love. But I find that when I now reach for a pack of Ball Park dogs at the store my eyes quickly scan to the 'calories from fat' listing .... after which I release my hold on the hot dogs like they're red hot!

Lee S.

[Rogerdodger]

WHAT! You mean that hot dogs have fat in them? I'm ruined. Does beer?

[mss]

Does beer?

Only when it is preceded by peanuts and pretzels before the 14" pizza with all 12 toppings and a mixed green salad with real blue cheese and croutons on top arrives.

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Edited by mss, 27 August 2007 - 11:51 AM.

[lscharpen]

WHAT! You mean that hot dogs have fat in them? I'm ruined.

Does beer?

You're lucky. No fat in beer. It has some carbs though which, as I understand it, can also add fat to your personal collection. But there IS some good news. Beer is low in Na. And if you are in need of some extra potassium, 4 cans of beer will provide you with about the same potassium as a medium banana. The 4 cans will add more carbs than the banana .... but not so much as you'd notice. Of REAL note for you, though, is that it would take 22 cans of beer to get you enough calories to gain the pound that Humble claims he can gain from eating dinner. Not a bad trade off I'd say!

Lee S.

[Rogerdodger]

Only when it is preceded by peanuts and pretzels before the 14" pizza with all 12 toppings and a mixed green salad with real blue cheese and croutons on top arrives.

Life sucks!

No wonder Owen Wilson slashed his wrists this weekend.
What do you mean I can't have Pizza?

How about Vodka?

Edited by Rogerdodger, 27 August 2007 - 11:58 AM.

[humble1]

lee: remember i said dinner WITH wine. now if i am going to drink wine, i am going to enjoy it and i am not going to count glasses. so, a bottle (one of those regular ones, lol) is not unusual. this may sound like a lot, but i only do it once or twice a week. and remember, churchill used to drink all day, starting with champagne with breakfast. anyway, count the calories in a .75 bottle of wine and add almost any decent dinner - just take a man sized steak, e.g., with one baked potato and butter and sour cream - you very easily get to the 3500. but, i don't even need to do that since the salt holds in some of the weight (i know, that is maybe temporary). but, i can get the 3500 wine + food calories pretty easily. hey, does anyone here live near (the the west coast) an IN-N-OUT burger ? gawd i LOVE those things !

[OEXCHAOS]

Mental illness is a bigger problem than obesity or homicide.
Start a thread on mental illness and see how many replies you get.

What? Are you crazy?!?!?



Seriously, a little "there but for the..." could go a long way.

People are getting heavier for two reasons. One is "we've" defined obesity as "an epidemic" and lowered the bar on the definition of obesity, too. The other reason is, folks really are carrying more weight than they used to because (IMO) they are doing less physical stuff than they used to. There is so much cheap, diverse entertainment at hand for anyone who wants it. There's a huge reward for sitting right there on the sofa and watching, watching, watching. If that precludes just a sunday walk, well, that adds up to pounds over time.

Then there's this darned computer. It is SO easy to spend ungodly amounts of time here, working (or putting off work, or pretending to work, or gathering steam to work, or feeling guilty because you "should be working" so don't go for a long walk or hit the gym, or whatever) and playing that I know we're all doing less physically than we might have 20 years ago.

I'm hopeful we'll be able to change this lifestyle issue.

But it's weird. We may be getting heavier as a nation, but those who AREN'T heavy seem to be in better shape on average than folks were 20 years ago. Back then I was mighty buff, and frankly much fitter than most folks that I knew in the same age bracket. Now, an awful lot of those folks in the same age bracket currently, young women and men, are very muscled and fit. As fit as I was or fitter. It's fascinating, really.

I might add, as well, that people who are heavy don't need to be beaten up. They pay more for insurance to cover the added costs of health care and earlier death. They either want to and are able to change things or not. But I'd be mighty careful judging them too harshly with too broad a brush.

Mark