Good point Country~ mouse. PCOS and Hypothyroidism can definitely inhibit a person's ability to stay healthy.

And certain medications too make it difficult NOT to gain weight.


For me, I look at the big picture though. If you were a completely healthy person (no diseases or genetic inheritances) what would a factor to obesity?

I realize it's a complicated issue, but I am a firm believer of education: defining the importances of eating habits and the importances of exercise.

Yes. It wasn't a matter of not being allowed sweets - there was no money for them. Home baked goods were available at times, when my mom could get free apples for pie - but that was meaningless to us as kids. It wasn't a twinkie. It wasn't what OTHER kids had in their lunch boxes. Soda pop was available at Christmas, Easter, and maybe 4th of July. I remember staring at the bottles in anticipation of the event. The LACK of having such things created such an intense desire for them, for my sisters and I, that when we started earning our own money, guess what we wanted?

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Gotcha.

Back in those days i am sure they ate that way because it was cheaper and easier. Living on a farm i'm sure beef was the main staple of meats for family meals obviously because they could come by it cheaper than others. I'm guessing they didn't worry about such a diet back then because farming is such hard physical labor that they worked off big calories after every meal,so they probably figured being overweight would never be an issue. Sounds like it's catching up with them now. Parents can be stubborn though so it might be hard to change that.

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"Go on, get outside, get the stink blown off ya!!"

This is a great topic and I agree with a lot of points. For me it was a bit like Calimari, when I had money I could buy whatever I wanted and I wanted what I was not allowed to have at home. Also when I got a car, where did me and my friends head, but to Mcdonalds for lunch everyday!! the pounds started creeping on, then I got married, had kids, and preganncy was used as an excuse to not watch what I was eating. I knew it was wrong, but I couldnt stop.
I think in my case it is like an addiction, I told DH i cannot go near any ice cream, or certain foods, if I have one I wont be able to stop from eating the whole packet or box. It is something in my head that clicks and stays on when I want something fattening and sugary. I ahve to wokr through it, I ahve to tlak myself out of it, I have to eat something else instead.
Right now as I am typint this I am dying for potatoe chips, I am full from a healthy small lunch, but I just need the crunch, so instead I am munching on a handfull of Kashi cereal, that provides the same crunch factor. If I get some chips and eat one, it wont stop there, it will continue till i devour the whole bg.
It is a visual result of an internal disorder. It is not laziness, I have worked out and worked out till I am blue in the face, but then I will eat bad, so then I wont lose any weight.

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We buy things we dont need,
with money we dont have,
in order to impress people
we dont like?
(Ramsey, D)

I guess I would kind of fall around Mari and Rakshanda's explanations or reasons for obesity, personally. It was not a money factor for us as much as a fact that we didn't often have chips, cookies, or anything like that. So when we did, it was my brother and I sneaking the bad foods in....gorging on them. It's definitely not a lack of education in my case. I KNOW what I need to do, I just don't do it. I have been in organized athletics since I was a young child, through college.

Like Rakshanda mentioned, it is like an addiction. The difference however, between a food addiction and a drug or alcohol addiction, is that you HAVE to eat food to survive. It's readily available, you don't have to break any laws to get it. And with the direction society is going (pre-packaged, processed, fast-paced foods) it's not making it any easier.

If anyone wants to think that I (and many others) actually CHOSE to be overweight, and succumb to the ridicule as a child, even through college and beyond, has no idea what it is actually like. AND, when you have a best friend growing up who was a beanpole, with the metabolism of an olympic athlete, it makes it even harder. "Well, she's eating it, so can I!!" It's totally a mental/addiction for me.

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~Jenn~

I just wanted to add this blog, this is a lady losing wieght, she was 278Lbs and is now around 200Lbs. the last two days she is writing about how she is binging and how it is affecting her to buy bad food and eat it. Please read it to understand how bieng fat is and how it is an addiction. It is a great blog.

Escape from Obesity

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We buy things we dont need,
with money we dont have,
in order to impress people
we dont like?
(Ramsey, D)

Thank you Country mouse for bringing up PCOS. Many times I feel like "what is the point of trying to lose weight?" because I have so much stacked against me. Recent research has stated that a woman without PCOS with normal weight can eat the same as a woman with PCOS and the woman with PCOS will gain weight.

I think that by thinking that obesity is a lack of education is, for lack of a better word, ignorant. I would be classified as obese (barely) in the BMI scale. I actually teach a college class on Wellness - it has to do with emotional, physical, social, spiritual and intellectual wellness. So I would say that I have the knowledge.

However, I don't like exercise. I am a clutsy person and totally unathletic. I am not good at telling my body to do what I want and get my body to do what I want when I want. I was always a music/ performing arts person. I have fully enjoyed watching sports and understand many aspects of sports (more than many women do). I grew up in a family of girls (mom and sis and I). My dad had sports pushed on him by his father and became disinterested in sports b/c of that. So dad never pushed sports on us and encouraged us in what interested us.

I will walk, but finding time with 2 small kids and still able to get sleep is hard to do.

So, I guess please do not tell me that I am uneducated - because with all the information that is out there that is almost saying that obese people (me) are unintelligent. Some people enjoy exercise more than others - they might be skilled/talented in that area. I am not. I would fall flat on my face.

I agree with those saying there is no one answer. It is uncontrollable for many people.

I am thankful that I have self control and discipline.

I have the PCOS as well, so I have that stacked against me. I do yoga every week - I've done it for 25 years. DH and I ride our bikes 11 miles most weekends, and shorter trips during the week. In the winter, we have an exercise bike. On vacations we like to hike, and at home we walk the neighborhood a lot. In the winter, I do an exercise video. I've also taken years of dancing lessons. I have done years of weight watchers, I used to work out with a personal trainer doing aerobics, kick boxing, and weight training. I never lost a pound. The ONLY thing that helps me lose weight is a very low carb diet. So, I try to watch carbs, but my doctor won't let me do the Atkins or any of the really low carb ones. So I just kind of maintain in a 10lb range. It certainly isn't lack of education or laziness.

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