Sensible Erection | The Weight of the Nation

Tuesday, 22 May 2012

quote [ [This documentary] examines the scope of the obesity epidemic, ... [reveals] what science has shown about how to lose weight, maintain weight loss and prevent weight gain..., documents the damage obesity is doing to our nation’s children,... [and] examines the major driving forces causing the obesity epidemic, including ...the strong influence of the food and beverage industry. ]

A free, streamed, four-part HBO documentary about the obesity epidemic in the United States.

Being obese myself, this was very interesting to watch. It seems like there is a common theme in the United States that solutions to our national problems are hindered by the entrenched interests of corporations and the wealthy. The documentary also highlights one of the biggest reasons that people stay fat, once fat: if you take two people weighing 150 lbs, one that has always been 150 lbs and one that dieted to get down to 150 lbs, the calorie needs of the one that dieted are far lower than the one that was never fat to begin with.

A well-researched book on weight loss and maintenance: http://thesmarterscienceofslim.com/">The Smarter Science of Slim

The book details the metabolic changes that occur in the obese, which make it nearly impossible to use calorie-restriction diets to lose weight and keep it off. It has the thickest reference section I've ever seen in such a book, and the conclusions contradict nearly every facet of the common understanding of diet and exercise.

[sci&tech] [by Avid@5:02pmGMT] [+4 Interesting]

Comments

genesplicer said @ 5:30pm GMT on 22nd May [Score:1]
It's carbs.

KingPellinore said @ 5:55pm GMT on 22nd May
Trans Fats!

Spleen23 said @ 6:38pm GMT on 22nd May [Score:2 Insightful]
It's liveing a wealthy nation where we don't have to work hard and can eat whenever, whatever, and as much as we like.

Mad March Harris said @ 7:15pm GMT on 22nd May
Eat more, move less; the dual-rule for guaranteed weight gain.

a.talisan said @ 4:24pm GMT on 23rd May
I don't think that wealth implies obesity. In fact, if you have a very small budget for food, the cheapest things you can buy are loaded with calories and are entirely unhealthy. It costs more in both money and time to eat healthy and exercise than to eat whatever.

If you're just saying that most jobs don't require physical exertion, I agree and I'm sorry for jumping up and down on you. ^_^

theolypse said @ 8:48pm GMT on 26th May
The cheeks on that emoticon look fat.

KingPellinore said @ 5:56pm GMT on 22nd May [Score:3 Funny]
"Girth of a Nation"

azazel said @ 6:16pm GMT on 22nd May
Before even checking I'm willing to bet money on that it won't be available in my region.

azazel said @ 6:20pm GMT on 22nd May [Score:3]
And now I will have to eat those words. Good for you, HBO!

Donating money to cancer research now. A bet is a bet, after all.

happyman said @ 1:28pm GMT on 23rd May
I posted the youtube link below (or above if it gets upmodded)

Ubie said @ 6:28pm GMT on 22nd May
We've been using the South Beach Diet with great success. The first two weeks suck, but after that it's fine. Mostly in my case it gives me structure for portion control and eating foods that are better for me. Also, since diabetes runs rampant in my family having a solid foundation for foods that are low on the glycemic index has made me feel infinitely better.

user420 said @ 6:32pm GMT on 22nd May
The main issue with American's weight problem is the fact that as a whole the people here lead ever increasingly sedentary lifestyles. Simply put, we don't do shit. We go to work/school, come home and spend our free time sitting infront of our TVs, computers or vidyas.

Diet is a contributing factor for sure, but if we actually got off our asses and did anything to burn some of those calories it wouldn't be so bad.

aliron said @ 7:14pm GMT on 22nd May
I imagine that's the same for the Japanese businessmen, and they're not all fatty fat fats.

chold_numa said @ 10:35pm GMT on 22nd May [Score:1 Underrated]
You work in Japan, you take public transport, which means a fair amount of walking unless you live next to a station at both ends (which is unlikely to be the case for most people). Also, food portions are smaller in Japan, and generally less fatty than western food (very little fried stuff).

My chief complaint about Japanese food (in Japan) is the prevalence of cabbage as the chief green leafed vegetable. There's only so much cabbage a man can eat. You need alternatives.

happyman said @ 12:52am GMT on 23rd May
pickled cabbage

Gyro said @ 2:49pm GMT on 24th May
Fat doesn't make you fat.

mechanical contrivance said @ 11:27pm GMT on 24th May
Fat makes you juicy.

GordonGuano said @ 7:18pm GMT on 22nd May [Score:2 Underrated]
Run three miles, drink 12 ounces of Gatorade, and you're right back where you started, calorie-wise. Which is not to say that we don't need more exercise as a nation, but that calories are insidious. And "sports drinks" are anything but.

user420 said @ 7:57pm GMT on 22nd May
Yes, but you can also eat all the health food you want and still not lose weight if you're not doing anything to work those calories off.

Though with enough excerise people can eat pretty much whatever they want.

backSLIDER said @ 8:32pm GMT on 22nd May
i'm a motorcycle mechnic and i do a lot of walking. I chose this style life because i can eat what i want (fast food only once a paycheck or so) and eat as much as i want. I have a buddy who is a cook and he says "work hungry, why else would you be working?"

sherlock said @ 4:31am GMT on 23rd May
Some types of Gatorade, yes. Others have far fewer calories (75 - 120 or so for 12 fl oz vs 300). But the problem isnt that sports drinks are anything but, but rather that the average person drinking them is anything but an athlete. Real athletes aren't training to lose weight, and they may burn 1000+ calories in a workout. For real athletes *maintaining* weight can be difficult. Consider the emdurance runner, for example, who runs 100 miles a week. He may need 4000 calories a *day*. And yes, they actually need to replenish their electrolytes, unlike the average joe schmoe.

quaint said @ 6:02am GMT on 23rd May [Score:2 Underrated]
It's what athletes crave.

happyman said @ 1:32pm GMT on 23rd May

Supreme_Coconut said @ 3:25pm GMT on 23rd May

theolypse said @ 8:50pm GMT on 26th May
Gatorade being sold in gas stations is hilarious.

Mad March Harris said @ 7:21pm GMT on 22nd May
Being immobile and diet are equally the cause and outside of an individual basis you can't place one in higher importance than the other. Asia generally doesn't have a massive obesity problem because despite being very sedentary their diet doesn't typically reach into quadrupling their daily required caloric intake. Americans and Europeans are also sedentary but compound it with a culture of inhumanely high-calorie snacks, meals, and the sheer size of their portions. And particularly portion size is a massive problem because you can eat very high calorie foods and not be fat as long as you aren't eating too much of them (that limit being mitigated either by daily recommendations or just doing as much exercise as possible).

user420 said @ 7:51pm GMT on 22nd May
I understand this, but all the talk about obesity I hear always concentrates on diet. It gives the impression that if we eat better the lbs will magically drop off.

You go to a grocery store and most every food has some buzz word on it proclaiming it to be healthy, people buy them in bunches yet it doesn't do anything for them. They don't understand that it's diet AND exercise that's needed.

GordonGuano said @ 8:25pm GMT on 22nd May
The grocery store can't sell you exercise, or they'd be pushing that as well. I'm in agreement with you that it's crucial, but if people are only changing one thing, I'd rather it be diet. I got to a really bad place with my weight last year (and am by no means out of the woods yet) and lost about 50 lbs before exercise even started to seem like an option. And there are plenty of people out there way worse off than me.

tom the fish said @ 12:00am GMT on 23rd May [Score:1 Underrated]
I lost 100 lbs 3 years ago and have kept it off without using exercise. I stopped drinking anything that wasn't water and counted calories. Worked just fine.

snowfox said @ 8:14pm GMT on 23rd May
Excellent! I do something similar while I will outline in some detail in case it helps anyone here.

I lost 60lbs and about ten pant sizes after highschool through similar techniques. Better sleep schedule and meal timing, plus slow replacement of junk with other things. I am currently a big fan of peach tea Mio.

The key is slow substitution of different foods that are better for you. Instead of a handful of chips, I eat a handful of almonds. Instead of ranch dressing, I use a low fat Italian. Instead of soda, water or maybe unsweetened ice tea or Mio. Instead of candy, fruit or some kind of healthy fruit snack. Switching to whole grain bread and brown rice. Slowly reducing how much sugar I put in something so that I barely notice the progressive reduction in sweetness.

The biggest one, and it really helps, is always waiting 30 minutes before getting a second portion so that I have a chance to feel like I'm full. Usually I end up not wanting that second plate anymore.

If anyone wants to swap substitution tips or healthy snack and meal ideas, feel free to contact me =)

mechanical contrivance said @ 12:20am GMT on 24th May
Instead of chewing gum, chew bacon.

sherlock said @ 1:30am GMT on 24th May [Score:1 Funny]
I only had to read to the 4th word until the line changed to dr Nick's voice in my mind's ear.

mechanical contrivance said @ 2:21am GMT on 24th May
Hi, everybody!

bltrocker said @ 1:07am GMT on 23rd May [Score:-1 Troll]
Obesity can be stopped easily with less calories. It's that simple. I've known some lazy-ass anorexics in my life, and they were skinny as hell. You won't really be healthy if you never move, but not obese? Sure.

a.talisan said @ 4:31pm GMT on 23rd May [Score:1 Insightful]
It isn't "just that easy."

Have you ever been in pain so severe you could think of nothing else?

When you start to go into calorie restriction, your body says "Hey, I'm starving." Which is a very base biological drive. It causes pain. It causes loss of attention. It hijacks your brain to be unable to concentrate on anything but alleviating that pain.

It takes a lot of energy and will to override it and ignore it.

So you would be right if we could just up and rewire/ignore body error messages, but being as we can't - sure, factually "It's just that simple" - but in practice, no it is not.

mrcucumber said @ 5:01pm GMT on 23rd May
I read an article somewhere detailing that having restricted calorie intake (forcibly, i might add - as in war, famine, economic downturn) - like starving for periods of your life - somehow correlates to a longer life span.

chold_numa said @ 10:07pm GMT on 23rd May
Tested on mice. Possibly works for people.

I think there was an observation made (somewhere) that girls who had severely reduced caloric intake (ie. an eating disorder) for extended periods appeared younger/less developed than others in their cohort. However, these people were not particularly well or healthy at the time.

puravida said @ 4:03am GMT on 14th Jun
Starvation isn't fun

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment

Paradise Lost said @ 2:10am GMT on 23rd May [Score:2 Interesting]
I've read articles by old school lifters (ie, dudes from the 20s), who were fairly cut themselves, but instead of starving themselves like today's show-ready bodybuilders, still stayed strong, lean, and fit all year around, recommending diets that would make most people scream. Bacon, milk, mutton, eggs, bread, and butter! But these guys obviously exercised fairly regularly too, and they say nothing about their portion size, as this probably wasn't an issue then. Plus, no regular Soda, candy bars, or really snacks of any kind. You could probably fit most of the food into three or four aisles (meat, dairy, bread, seasonal fruits & veggies) of today's supermarkets.

There are guys like John Stone (johnstonefitness.com) who, after losing their initial "fat-guy" weight and dropped 60 pounds, eventually settled into a bulk/cut routine and he'll end a bulk at 220 and drop to 175 @ 6% bodyfat in four months and still eat between 2400 and 2800 a day!

Also, check out the studies here for diet + exercise results being better than either alone (not to say you won't have people that lose just through calorie restriction, especially if you're severely overweight). http://exrx.net/FatLoss.html

mechanical contrivance said @ 11:25pm GMT on 22nd May [Score:1 WTF]
That kid has huge boobs.

blibblob said @ 1:09am GMT on 23rd May
Is it still pedophilia if it looks like a tiny obese woman?

Naruki said @ 1:35am GMT on 23rd May
When you mentally go to fondle the crotch, is there something dangling? If so, then yes.

mechanical contrivance said @ 1:49am GMT on 23rd May [Score:1 Funny]
Fat women with penises are children. You said it, not me.

lilmookieesquire said @ 6:51am GMT on 23rd May
I bought a food scale for like 50 bucks and use a calorie counter: myfitnesspal (there's a free app on iPhone too).

I also use fitocracy to keep myself motivated (and lurk other people's workouts to get new ideas for my own)

happyman said @ 12:05pm GMT on 23rd May [Score:1 Good]
Found it on Youtube!

donnie said @ 10:14am GMT on 24th May
16:05

"Being wealthier is not nearly as protective against obesity as it used to be"

Now that is some twisted logic.

theolypse said @ 8:49pm GMT on 26th May
Do untwist, would you?

43770 said @ 5:19am GMT on 29th May
+1 Thanks

happyman said @ 1:52pm GMT on 23rd May
On a related note, how is assbastard doing post gastric bypass?

KingPellinore said @ 4:19pm GMT on 23rd May
From what I've seen, he's just "bastard" now.

GordonGuano said @ 7:31pm GMT on 23rd May
Dude had to hire two bodyguards to deflect some of the pussy that gets thrown at him now.

GordonGuano said @ 7:32pm GMT on 23rd May
"Gets thrown"="throws itself", derp.

assbastard said @ 7:49pm GMT on 23rd May [Score:5 Good]
Fairly well, thanks! Down about 185lbs, sitting pretty around 340, haven't started exercising at the behest of a doctor because my ligaments/tendons haven't shrunk with the rest of my body yet, so I'm at extreme risk for injury to them if I do anything high or medium impact. I'm just waiting for warmer weather so I can try swimming.

mrcucumber said @ 8:36pm GMT on 23rd May
Can you walk for an hour daily?

assbastard said @ 2:16am GMT on 24th May
Likely not, given how badly my knees hurt already.

zenviper said @ 3:01am GMT on 24th May
Have you tried a rowing machine?

chold_numa said @ 3:19am GMT on 24th May
Or amputation.

You get rid of joint pain AND lose weight. Win win!

pleaides said @ 6:06am GMT on 24th May
Happy Birthday :)