The American "Obesity Epidemic?"

[kidcolin]

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Yup. What's needed is lifestyle changes, not diets. Going back and forth from cramming ice cream in your face to living off grapefruits is ridiculous and unhealthy. You just have to start eating like an adult, once you're an adult. I think a lot of people have trouble making that adjustment to reality. You can't cheat reality. It's just, there. And it's not going away.

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Exactly. This is something I've been slowly learning the past year or two. I, like many people I know, just ate whatever when I was a kid. I had tons of energy, I ran around all day, never ate much veggies, ate the biggest burger on the menu, etc. I never weighed a dime over 155 until I was 18. Me and all my friends were pretty much like this. It might be somewhat family related, as my whole family was never really great eaters, but we're all pretty healthy. My dad ate a huge bowl of ice cream every night before bed and didn't start gaining weight until a couple years ago (he's 59). It was just how I grew up.

Now it's a whole different ballgame. My lifestyle is different - I work long hours and don't really have time (or the desire, really) to play organized sports for 2+ hours a day. My metabolism isn't what it used to be.

At first, my adjustment was like you said. Cycles of crappy eating followed by cycles of healthier eating, though I'd probably under-eat. It's taken me over a year to just change to a healthy eating habits, and I still struggle with it from time to time. It's a big shift.

As for the time management/scheduling issue, I agree with others who say it's mostly laziness/poor planning. The truth is, fast food never saves you time. Just effort. If I'm stuck late at the office and I swing by In n Out on my way home, it's either because I'm cheating or because I'm too tired and lazy to cook something simple. In the time it takes me to stop there, order my food, get my food, and get home, I could've just went straight home and grilled up some chicken and veggies on the foreman grill. Similarly, if I know I'm going to have late nights in the office, instead of thinking "I'll just pick something up", I should plan ahead and pack dinner and eat it at work.

[JavaNut]

There are three major things that have happened over the later decades.

The availability and low price of instant food, fast food, microwaveable tv dinners etc has made it possible for even low income families to afford never to cook themselves. As fast food in general contains too much fat and more than sufficient energy, this is not a good trend.

Drinks containing sugar are now available in larger containers at low prices, again not good.

Kids toys are now often tvs, computers instead of baseballs. Kids are often not outside for many hours daily.

So you get the awfull combinations of far too much fat and carbs and far too little excersise. Well we can all see what happens.

[Thremp]

I heard a really interesting comment the other day from a guy who was in his 30s and an endurance athlete. Pretty accomplished cyclist. But essentially he pointed out that while he was younger he always had a gut despite the absurd hours he was logging when he was younger due to the carb intake he was taking.

Perhaps skinny fat syndrome is partly due to the whole whole grain bread >> vegetables that some people seem to think?

[Blarg]

I was always skinny as a kid but really ripped except for just a thin covering of fat around the bellybutton area. Not really fat at all and I doubt anyone but me could notice it much even in a swimsuit, but didn't match the rest of my body. Couldn't get rid of it without undertaking dieting more severe than I ever wanted to deal with -- including being vegetarian for about 9 months.

I think I would have had to give up starches nearly entirely to get rid of it. Little to no potatoes, bread, rice, whatever.

That's the main area guys store fat in, so I think it's pretty natural to have at least some tiny amount of thickening there, even if you're an endurance athlete(I was hugely athletic back then, taking and teaching martial arts). Your friend sounds like an exception though, if he really was as athletic back then as he is at 30. I suspects beer.

[CrayZee]

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I just lack the will power / disipline to do it.

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Seems like discipline is pretty tough when it comes to this.

Personally, I've never really had too much of a weight problem. I'm normal in sense that stuff sticks to me if I overeat and could improve, but what motivates me is that your health is one of the most important things you should maintain. All the other motivators like vanity are [censored], but if it helps keep you in better health use it to your benefit.

I'd rather avoid the double bypass surgeries later in life if I can. Double Whoppers taste good, but good-for-you food does, too. Some of it is conditioning your taste buds.

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Every once in a while i'll go on a crazy diet but it's not because i'm uneducated or don't know better. It's because i want instant gratification. I think many overweight people are like me.

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Isn't yo-yo dieting worse than staying the course?

[JavaNut]

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Isn't yo-yo dieting worse than staying the course?

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It is much worse, because you also lose muscle weight when you are dieting, and unless you workout you do not rebuild that before your next diet. So you end up just as heavy but with more fat and less muscle.

[Blarg]

And having less muscle means your metabolism regresses, since muscle burns calories just to stay on your body. So dieting makes you spiral down into bad shape really quickly. The negatives just keep reinforcing and building on each other.

[mattnxtc]

Another classic example of the new culture in which we live...

I walk in from working and I grab something to eat. Im talking to my mom and she mentions that my little brother weighs about 150lbs. He is like 5'7 and has the minimal amount of muscle. So he probably is in the high 20s -30% body fat if not higher.

In her opinion...its all the sitting around and playing video games and NOT the fact that she buys him 3 bags of doritos a week along with all the other crap she buys.

[Blarg]

Yeah, when even parents don't pay attention to putting good meals together, it's less of a surprise that their kids don't. Role modeling counts for so much. Look at any chick's mom for verification.

[StaticShock]

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Yeah, when even parents don't pay attention to putting good meals together, it's less of a surprise that their kids don't. Role modeling counts for so much. Look at any chick's mom for verification.

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Seriously. Two parents both working more hours than ever means less home cooked meals and more buckets from KFC on the way home.