Re: Obesity to be a big problem soon.

You're right about the exercise Myra, energy from food goes one of two ways, it either gets used in the muscles or it is stored for use later. Simple equation: energy in, deduct running costs = energy out... You can eat what you like, provided you use it. It's a case of 'Use it, or add it to your shape...


Julie, I bet your sisters were more active than you, same applies to you as to Myra.

Also, as we get older, and we do less our energy requirements are not as great as when we were younger, but we eat the same, or more, eating has become a hobby these days.
You wouldn't put 80 litres of petrol in your tank, if it could only hold 60 litres?

Re: Obesity to be a big problem soon.

Exactly my point about the motor car, we have built a world where it would be difficult, for some, not to have a motor car. Same with mobile phones and computers, people are frowned upon who do not embrace modern technology. Most things are done 'Online' now, and it's very difficult to do some things without a computer. I'm not saying it's not better, but you can see where it's going. You don't even have to walk to the post box any more. 'Time' is your enemy these days....It wasn't always like this..

Re: Obesity to be a big problem soon.

Rubbish I lost 5 stones on the eating plan and I know it works for me. I don't recommend anyone else do it but the starvation idea has been pretty much proved to be completely false for a fat person trying to lose weight our metabolisms are different to normal weight or starving people.

More active ? not really I was bigger from about 6 months and at that age it's not about how much exercise you do surely ? I have had dogs all my adult walking 6 miles or more a day, parented 4 children who kept me busy and been an office cleaner fulltime for most of my adult life. I can promise as a cleaner I move a fair bit.

Re: Obesity to be a big problem soon.

You do sound like you've kept active all your life Julie, It must have made quite a bit of difference to your size. Just a thought; Muscle weighs heavier than fat.

In a documentary I watched some time ago [I'll try and find a link] a couple of scientists wanted to find the reason why some people were fat, and some were thin.
Metabolism was their first port of call. But they found in a group of around a thousand assorted shaped people, some fat people had a fast metabolism, and some had a slow metabolism. Same results with the skinny people. It was concluded that metabolism played no part in the deposition of fat. Later studies have shown that chemical differences in the brain act on hunger and the suppression of appetite.

Re: Obesity to be a big problem soon.

Perhaps as you say it's about chemical make up they have never really found out what causes people to have a sweet tooth or prefer savoury foods. So much we don't know but blaming fat people as some do doesn't help anyone.

Re: Obesity to be a big problem soon.

I really don't know how many more times I'm going to have to explain why I can't/won't walk to work or the grocery store. I mean... is this bothering you guys or something?

Yes. Where I live, the roads are very busy and those big semi trucks (18-wheelers) go flying down through there at warp speed. Just on the main corner alone, there are 11 white crosses to mark all of the people who have lost theirs lives on that corner. There are at least two accidents reported there each week.

If you go the other way, you're also risking it. Just this past winter a hit & run happened on that road - a man walking was hit by a car and left for dead, the driver didn't even stop. The speed limit on that road is 50mph. People usually drive 55-60. An isolated incident? Nope. It happens more often than you think. It's like an epidemic around here, people being hit by cars.

I'm going to get out there and walk that highway or take the other road that's just as dangerous as the highway? I think not.

I walk. In my neighborhood. But I don't leave my neighborhood, not on foot.

Re: Obesity to be a big problem soon.

I know and you're absolutely right. I get that others may think it's possibly just my stubborn hard head keeping me from walking to the store, but it's not. It's distance and safety. We don't live in quaint little villages with cobblestone streets and stores that line each sidewalk (I wish I did), or on an island that has its own community. It's a different world here. The crime is rising as well.

Believe me, if I could move to a nice little town where everything was safely accessible, I would.