Why is being fat tolerated or even encouraged...

An absolute shedload of factors. eg. Neuroendocrine function, endocrine and metabolic system function, too many calories (which itself can be caused by leptin inhibition, too much ghrelin, depression etc etc), imbalance in central and peripheral circadian clocks.

You asked the wrong question though. The question you should be asking is, "what factors cause these problems?" The answer to that is again wideranging. Overeating, Insomnia, inactivity, stress, medical conditions, etc.

The body is a system. Just like a computer. You don't deal with a virus by denying it the ability to function. You get rid of it by getting to the root of the problem.

All the above cause over eating. You do make a meal of obesity.

Then let's tax it. In a modern country dangerous activities get taxed because later on, as a nation, we have to provide for the people who destroyed their bodies because they wanted to.

Obesity is one of the most costly conditions and it's an enormous burden on health care systems while being something so easily preventable. If cancer became so easy to prevent everyone would cry tears of happiness, but when it's so easy not to become obese and vulnerable to all the dangerous diseases that come with it, we don't use the possibility to stay healthier. If we had a free market and private health care, we could say 'let them do what they want, their bodies, their money'. But currently it's 'their bodies, OUR money'... Although I'm not a fan of welfare states, I can understand our moral obligation to provide for people who have found themselves in need of help due to external reasons. However, I can see absolutely no reason why I should pay with my taxes for someone's eating binges they don't wish to put an end to.

No, all of the above do not cause overeating. Would have been a nice pun too if you weren't wrong.

Over eating is when one eats more calories than one expends and that is the only way one can get fat.

There may be causes of over eating but most people who are over weight can control their food intake if they really try. I lost 2 stones when I decided to cut down on fatty and sugary foods and eat more veg and low fat foods.

Most fatties have no pride in their appearance and wants to blame everything except themselves on their ballooning bodies.

No, calorific excess is the only way one can gain weight. It's not the same thing. Overeating is but one cause.

I'm sure you're happy you managed to lose 2 stones by cutting down, and partly accept your premise that 'Most fatties have no pride in their appearance and wants to blame everything except themselves on their ballooning bodies' but this is a science, not an art. Also, cutting down on certain food types doesn't really make a difference (unless you're monitoring carbs in your system and gaming it lol) or doing some ketogenic ****. Intake is king, not how many greens you eat. For weight loss [as opposed to health] you'd have been better upping caffeine and spice intake than eating veg, but that's not really relevant to the discussion....

I'll give you an oft overlooked example (though this is just napkin maths): If you up your sleep from 5 hours to 8 hours a night and never work shifts or pull all nighters, you're looking at a 4-8% BMR increase. Just like that, regardless of your intake or other (in)activity. Include the 15% leptin/ghrelin mods, and you're talking 6-14%. Or take an example when you decide to do an all nighter, then sleep through the day but maintain the same intake over a 24h period. BMR decreases (though not in all studies it must be said)

Imagine 2 people who weigh eat and exercise exactly the same. One has sleep apnea, one doesn't. Do they maintain the same weight over the course of a month?

What proportion of obese people do you think actually want to be obese? You need to address the causes not the effects.

eg. Average sleep drop correlates with obesity rise. If average sleep rose and average productivity dropped because of that, how much would the economy lose? It's not a black and white situation, despite what you might read in the tabloids. By all means if you want to develop a magic pill that suppresses ghrelin feel free. It's not just about food in, food out!

The point is, why shouldn't they overindulge if that's what they want to do? If you want to go down the route of discouraging anything that 'could be a cost/health risk' the analogy stands. As it is, inactivity is a far better risk marker than obesity, and insomnia is as much a cause of type 2 diabetes, so I'm not sure why you'd want to target obesity any more than say, american football. Both inactivity and insomnia/lack of sleep pose bigger risks, so why not target those?

Obesity falls into 2 (3rd is a rarity) categories anyway:

1. People who WANT to eat lots/overindulge, and simply don't care about image
2. People who don't want to do so, but can't control themselves for personal reasons, or due to lack of sleep, or depression or whatever.
3. People who have some medical condition.

For 1. It's their choice if they want to be a hippo, and not anybody elses business
2. You have to target the causes, not the effects
3. won't cover it as it's too rare.

The fact is people don't target obesity due to the risks or anything else, they target it because 'hippos don't look nice' - so go on some wild crusade of prejudice ostensibly to 'help people' when they actually don't give a ****.




Yea,pretty much every nutrition journal disagrees with you. As mentioned above, both inactivity and insomnia are far bigger risk factors. Yet people go on about obesity because it's cool.

Oh and playing for example american football or heading a ball in football causes significant neuro degeneration. Being 'fat' isn't even the issue; it's fat in certain areas that causes highest risk.

The facts are moot though, as you probably can't even identify what risk obesity causes and when. You're just happy to say 'being fat is bad'

An absolute shedload of factors. eg. Neuroendocrine function, endocrine and metabolic system function, too many calories (which itself can be caused by leptin inhibition, too much ghrelin, depression etc etc), imbalance in central and peripheral circadian clocks.

You asked the wrong question though. The question you should be asking is, "what factors cause these problems?" The answer to that is again wideranging. Overeating, Insomnia, inactivity, stress, medical conditions, etc.

The body is a system. Just like a computer. You don't deal with a virus by denying it the ability to function. You get rid of it by getting to the root of the problem.

End of the day though, it's still eating more calories then you burn off, and for 99% (statistic pulled out my arse) of people this is due to overeating.

End of the day though, it's still eating more calories then you burn off, and for 99% (statistic pulled out my arse) of people this is due to overeating.

I'd wager that reduced activity, reduced sleep, and increased stress/depression contribute almost as much as increased intake. (if I was to pull a statistic out my arse i'd say 50-60% is overeating) [the other factor medical 'conditions' is relatively minor, but if you think as the body as a system instead of a working/failing switch, it all makes more sense]

The sleep thing is well documented, you're 20%~ more likely to be obese if you get less than 6 hours a night. Reduce that to 5h and it rises even more.

Cheap and ample food availability and lack of self control [overeating] are obviously major factors too, but they aren't isolated, or the only reason.

I'd wager that reduced activity, reduced sleep, and increased stress/depression contribute almost as much as increased intake. (if I was to pull a statistic out my arse i'd say 50-60% is overeating) [the other factor medical 'conditions' is relatively minor, but if you think as the body as a system instead of a working/failing switch, it all makes more sense]

The sleep thing is well documented, you're 20%~ more likely to be obese if you get less than 6 hours a night. Reduce that to 5h and it rises even more.

Cheap and ample food availability and lack of self control [overeating] are obviously major factors too, but they aren't isolated, or the only reason.

If I remember right medics tend to view it usually as a problem of psychological addiction, rather than a physiological dysfunction resulting in over-eating.
Though there are loads of factors which contribute, and not all of the mechanisms (as far as I know) are totally clear in how they mediate consumption, they usually aren't the determining factor.

Simple balancing act IMO, as you say. Though many factors again determine if the individual is to get off their arse and exercise (socioeconomic status, education, underlying medical problems possibly making exercise difficult, motivation and it's predictors etc.), or fail to maintain a healthy weight (and vitals).

Fat people actually help the environment by fixing carbon in their blubber.

Well reduced activity is the same - You are still eating more calories than you burn off. With stress/depression, they lead to over eating which again comes back to the same principle, but yes they are reasons for it. Interesting that reduced sleep causes weight gain, do you know the mechanism behind this? I would of thought less sleep means the amount of calories you burn per day would increase.. i'm guessing not having enough sleep leads to over eating?

What i originally meant was, the fundamental factor to weight gain is eating more than you burn off - But, there are many reasons for why this may be, as you have stated.



Yeah there are certainly a number of factors to why people over eat, but again it is all down to over eating with 1% or whatever being due to a medical condition.

I think a lot of people don't realise how simple it is to lose weight - I mean speaking from experience, back in July i was 211lbs 31% body fat at 26 years old. I had been fat all my life and was always trying to lose it, but it was too hard.. I was going to have to exercise, i was going to have to stop eating all the things i liked..

Or so i thought. I realised through research, it was incredibly simply - Count my calories and don't go over a certain amount per day. Could still eat what i wanted, didn't have to move any more than usual. Have been losing weight consistently ever since, long way to go mind (164lbs 22%).

Of course there are many people who just don't care or are in denial, can't help them.

Well done mate. Keep it up.
Exactly, all it takes is a little self belief.

Well reduced activity is the same - You are still eating more calories than you burn off. With stress/depression, they lead to over eating which again comes back to the same principle, but yes they are reasons for it. Interesting that reduced sleep causes weight gain, do you know the mechanism behind this? I would of thought less sleep means the amount of calories you burn per day would increase.. i'm guessing not having enough sleep leads to over eating?

What i originally meant was, the fundamental factor to weight gain is eating more than you burn off - But, there are many reasons for why this may be, as you have stated.

Yeah there are certainly a number of factors to why people over eat, but again it is all down to over eating with 1% or whatever being due to a medical condition.

I think a lot of people don't realise how simple it is to lose weight - I mean speaking from experience, back in July i was 211lbs 31% body fat at 26 years old. I had been fat all my life and was always trying to lose it, but it was too hard.. I was going to have to exercise, i was going to have to stop eating all the things i liked..

Or so i thought. I realised through research, it was incredibly simply - Count my calories and don't go over a certain amount per day. Could still eat what i wanted, didn't have to move any more than usual. Have been losing weight consistently ever since, long way to go mind (164lbs 22%).

Of course there are many people who just don't care or are in denial, can't help them.