"not to lump everyone together who has a weight problem"

[robblok]

I wonder, where is the "new blood" posting on this forum.

I know they're out there, surely a significant percentage of Thaivisa members have issues around their weight.

So why do only a very FEW of them regularly post on this forum?

Of course I suppose some of the regular posters have never had any issues around weight ... so that's kind of odd unless they are medical doctors, which generally they aren't.

I recall some years back we had a scientist with a lot of knowledge about obesity posting here and that was amazingly helpful, but not recently.

Yes I've got my theories which I can guess you can guess, so I won't even say.

It's simple.

Posts about personal issues which involve self-esteem and failure, even on an anonymous forum, are less likely to attract many people.

Easier to post a comment on how "a booze ban in Thailand" is violating our basic human rights (close to 12,000 views in 24h) than to reflect on personal weakness.

Also many guys could care less how they look as long as they have money and rent some girl.

Your post about alcohol is right on the money. So many guys here have totally let go even more as back home.

[h90]

It's a conspiracy!

No its not, JT just put all the new blood on his ignore list.

the new and the old blood.....

[singa-traz]

...

Left with the impression this poster doesn't listen to a blind word of what anyone says. Some good points amongst the garbage.

Which points do you disagree or are uncomfortable with?

The fact that it should be irrelevant if people like to exercice or not?

So, which points need clarification?

[mommysboy]

Although quite skinny anyway, and keen on activity, I have tried to lose weight entirely by controlling my diet. I wanted to do this because I am ditching the muscle man approach, and also want to see what it is overweight people have to go through. Most of my family members have weight issues.

It's damn hard. The biggest problem is living with a sense of hunger to a greater or lesser extent, and foregoing that lovely pigged out feeling you can only get by eating crispy pork, fish and chips, or a stack of donuts.

So I see the problem in a nutshell, and no amount of exercise, encouragement, talking through emotional issues, etc, really will succeed, unless and until a way can be found of satisfying appetite to the full. otherwise, the person that does lose weight ends up like Tantalus for evermore, a negative pay off!

Hence, I wondered what the best foods are at making someone feel full without utilising sugar.

I can only think of potatoes, porridge, weetabix, butter, eggs, fatty cuts of meat, etc.

[Jingthing]

Just for fun, because as usual the original topic isn't stuck to here anyway, so why even try!

Fit athletes. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKwZIFLVD7Y&feature=youtu.be

[Jingthing]

I wonder, where is the "new blood" posting on this forum.

I know they're out there, surely a significant percentage of Thaivisa members have issues around their weight.

So why do only a very FEW of them regularly post on this forum?

Of course I suppose some of the regular posters have never had any issues around weight ... so that's kind of odd unless they are medical doctors, which generally they aren't.

I recall some years back we had a scientist with a lot of knowledge about obesity posting here and that was amazingly helpful, but not recently.

Yes I've got my theories which I can guess you can guess, so I won't even say.

It's simple.

Posts about personal issues which involve self-esteem and failure, even on an anonymous forum, are less likely to attract many people.

Easier to post a comment on how "a booze ban in Thailand" is violating our basic human rights (close to 12,000 views in 24h) than to reflect on personal weakness.

I disagree.

The reason is because the majority tone on this forum is little different than the RUDE comment section you see on any news item about weight issues. Mostly people who have never had a weight problem, are not scientists, are not doctors, but instead just a bunch of moralizing and bullying with simplistic lectures, eat less, exercise more, there is NOTHING else to it. Obviously there IS a lot more to it. Why would people struggling with these problems come to such a RUDE place like that for any kind of help?

Edited October 25, 2015 by Jingthing

[MaeJoMTB]

I disagree.

The reason is because the majority tone on this forum is little different than the RUDE comment section you see on any news item about weight issues. Mostly people who have never had a weight problem, are not scientists, are not doctors, but instead just a bunch of moralizing and bullying with simplistic lectures, eat less, exercise more, there is NOTHING else to it. Obviously there IS a lot more to it. Why would people struggling with these problems come to such a RUDE place like that for any kind of help?

As far as I can see, most people have a weight problem at some point in their life, if not when they are young, certainly when they get older.

They can be roughly divided into 3 groupings.

1. Don't care.

2. Do care, but can't be bothered to do anything about it.

3. Do care, and make the effort to change themselves.

[singa-traz]

I wonder, where is the "new blood" posting on this forum.

I know they're out there, surely a significant percentage of Thaivisa members have issues around their weight.

So why do only a very FEW of them regularly post on this forum?

Of course I suppose some of the regular posters have never had any issues around weight ... so that's kind of odd unless they are medical doctors, which generally they aren't.

I recall some years back we had a scientist with a lot of knowledge about obesity posting here and that was amazingly helpful, but not recently.

Yes I've got my theories which I can guess you can guess, so I won't even say.

It's simple.

Posts about personal issues which involve self-esteem and failure, even on an anonymous forum, are less likely to attract many people.

Easier to post a comment on how "a booze ban in Thailand" is violating our basic human rights (close to 12,000 views in 24h) than to reflect on personal weakness.

I disagree.

The reason is because the majority tone on this forum is little different than the RUDE comment section you see on any news item about weight issues. Mostly people who have never had a weight problem, are not scientists, are not doctors, but instead just a bunch of moralizing and bullying with simplistic lectures, eat less, exercise more, there is NOTHING else to it. Obviously there IS a lot more to it. Why would people struggling with these problems come to such a RUDE place like that for any kind of help?

JT's theory: The tone of a few posters is scaring away people who might want to share their story about weight control, as they might be reminded that they could try to stop over-eating, and that it would be beneficial is they move more.

Assumption: Those few posters never had weight problem in the first place ... what an assumption!

If you make the effort to recall or to look for it, you will find my posts in this forum where I openly shared the following:

• Gaining more than 20KG since I moved here
• How I made the decision to ACT
• What I actually did
• The result (including posting a few graphs)

Feel free to setup criterias to exclude me from qualifying to have had weight problem. I'd love to see that.

I'm pretty sure "the other posters" are in a similar situation.

Yes, we (the regular posters being put on trial :-) ) have and post strong opinions.

As for not being scientist ... I'd like your follow-up on the earlier post on the article you mentioned. you have been strangely quiet on this.

Post #30

As for the moralization argument, I actually agree with you.

I DO think it's WRONG for people, who are overweight, to keep over-eating, not exercicing enought, and looking for a magic pill.

I like the fact that you consider my post as "Simplistic lectures" ... Some others posters recently find in them good points.

I agree with you that Obesity, as a social problem is complex to address. On a personal level ... No.

There are just 3 variables that you have control over:

• What and how much you eat
• Your physical activities
• Your environment, and that includes the people around you.

In my journey to regain control of my weight, I have meet really inspiring people, who made the decision to change their lifestyle, and as a result their life.

Like you and me, they like food, and for whatever reasons, they abuse it for a certain period in their life, but them decided it was time for them to be retake control.

A few weeks ago, another friend of mine just completed his first 10KM,. He could barely run for 5 minutes a year ago because of his weight issue.

Some even changed drastically their diet, adopting a vegetarien diet.,

Those type of people inspire me.

I strongly disagree with your view that your posts on the progress of research on obesity are helping people, on the contrary, I think you are hurting them.

The underlying message that transpire from your recurring posts is that overweight people are not 100% responsible for their condition, and that the pharmaceutical industry might find "a cure" in the near future. While certainly interesting reading, those are unhelpful for people who actually need to act now to lose weight.

For information, I'm still overweight, but as I mentioned before I can now run a marathon, and it does have a very positive impact on your confidence in being able to address the weight issue.

People don't change when they are in a confort zone, and I hope that the content and tone of my posts, shake them off this deadly confort zone.

But maybe you are right, we might just be a bunch of moralizing, bullying, simple minded posters, who never had any issue with our weight ... or you could be very wrong.

[Jingthing]

...

But maybe you are right, we might just be a bunch of moralizing, bullying, simple minded posters, who never had any issue with our weight ... or you could be very wrong.

Yeah, maybe.

Welcome to my ignore list.

Edited October 25, 2015 by Jingthing

[singa-traz]

...

But maybe you are right, we might just be a bunch of moralizing, bullying, simple minded posters, who never had any issue with our weight ... or you could be very wrong.

Yeah, maybe.

Welcome to my ignore list.

If you are a friend of JT, I sincerely hope you can help him. He obviously has more issues than just obesity/being overweight, and I seriously think his line of posting in this particular forum is more than counter productive, it's dangerous.

Yes, I do use harsh words for people who refuse accountability, but nobody can call this bullying.

I'm sad that he chose to quit the discussion, but that is his decision. To me, he chose to quit, he chose confort.

Well, I'm off to running now ... I have a body to take care, and I chose not to quit easily.

[chiang mai]

This is starting to look like the Hunger Games (no pun intended), another contestant has died, boing, onto the ignore list you go.

[chiang mai]

Let me try and add some value to all of this:

Up until age 58 I was tall and skinny and could eat many thousand calories a day and with or without exercise, my weight never budged from 75 kilo's. Even if I starved myself my weight never changed, such was my metabolism for most of my adult life.

At age 60 I started to gain weight, a slowing metabolism along with a less active lifestyle seemed to account for it all. But soon I was up to 80 kilo's and it didn't come off easily so I decided to live with it and to try and convert the fat into muscle via exercise - it worked somewhat.

At age 65 I'm extremely active and carry more muscle than I ever have before in my life, I also carry more pounds around the gut than I care to, but alas I can do little about that - a separated abdominal muscle and a prolapsed lower disk means that exercise for the abdomen are difficult and potentially dangerous - I weigh in at 83 kgs.

If I see my weight move to 85 kgs I slash my diet quite drastically and I try to exercise more - as I get older I find fat burning exercise more difficult plus my love of good food has increased, today I love food more than I ever have before. But getting rid of 2 or 3 kgs is not difficult, even if it is only temporary, it means a couple of missed meals, a few smaller meals and leaving the car at home and walking rather than being lazy and driving, it's all quite easy really. But if I were to allow my weight to increase to say 90 kgs, eliminating that much excess would be very difficult, the trick therefore is to react sooner rather than later to any weight gain, at some point it must become almost impossible to shed double digits kilo's of excess fat.

Finally, I do find that my weight increases around this time of year, this despite no change in diet of activity levels. Rightly or wrongly, I put it down to an internal switch that makes the body store fat as the weather turns cooler.

And finally finally: my diet is pretty clean following a bout with Type II some years ago, mostly all good stuff and very little bad. But I do know that even a very small diversion from my healthy diet will make me add pounds far too easily and those are pounds that are increasingly difficult to burn, as I grow older. The answer is, eat a healthy diet, count calories and exercise as much as possible, nobody lives for ever.

[canuckamuck]

Let me try and add some value to all of this:

Up until age 58 I was tall and skinny and could eat many thousand calories a day and with or without exercise, my weight never budged from 75 kilo's. Even if I starved myself my weight never changed, such was my metabolism for most of my adult life.

At age 60 I started to gain weight, a slowing metabolism along with a less active lifestyle seemed to account for it all. But soon I was up to 80 kilo's and it didn't come off easily so I decided to live with it and to try and convert the fat into muscle via exercise - it worked somewhat.

At age 65 I'm extremely active and carry more muscle than I ever have before in my life, I also carry more pounds around the gut than I care to, but alas I can do little about that - a separated abdominal muscle and a prolapsed lower disk means that exercise for the abdomen are difficult and potentially dangerous - I weigh in at 83 kgs.

If I see my weight move to 85 kgs I slash my diet quite drastically and I try to exercise more - as I get older I find fat burning exercise more difficult plus my love of good food has increased, today I love food more than I ever have before. But getting rid of 2 or 3 kgs is not difficult, even if it is only temporary, it means a couple of missed meals, a few smaller meals and leaving the car at home and walking rather than being lazy and driving, it's all quite easy really. But if I were to allow my weight to increase to say 90 kgs, eliminating that much excess would be very difficult, the trick therefore is to react sooner rather than later to any weight gain, at some point it must become almost impossible to shed double digits kilo's of excess fat.

Finally, I do find that my weight increases around this time of year, this despite no change in diet of activity levels. Rightly or wrongly, I put it down to an internal switch that makes the body store fat as the weather turns cooler.

And finally finally: my diet is pretty clean following a bout with Type II some years ago, mostly all good stuff and very little bad. But I do know that even a very small diversion from my healthy diet will make me add pounds far too easily and those are pounds that are increasingly difficult to burn, as I grow older. The answer is, eat a healthy diet, count calories and exercise as much as possible, nobody lives for ever.

But you are one of these calories in equals weight gained end of story people; believing we all fall under the same rule. Now I see that for you in the first 60 years, calories meant nothing at all to you. And only in later life did your metabolism slow to a point that your weight needed to be managed.

Since I was 12 years old, If I ate too much I got fat, I was actually fatter in high school then I am now at 49 and I was a farm kid who played sports and had to do actual work. If I had the attitude in my life that I could just eat "many thousand calories a day with or without exercise". I would have been 200 kg by now. And I know the skinny farm kids I grew up with could eat way more than me and they still got bugged about being so skinny.

Why was my life different then yours then. Why have I had to manage my weight my whole life when you only had to do it after 58.

I'll tell you why, because we are not all the same. Some of us have to work much harder to keep an average weight.

And this is the point JT is trying to make, there are other factors involved with weight gain other than food intake and exercise. And this is why he brings out recent studies for discussion.

[h90]

...

But maybe you are right, we might just be a bunch of moralizing, bullying, simple minded posters, who never had any issue with our weight ... or you could be very wrong.

Yeah, maybe.

Welcome to my ignore list.

Singa-Traz: Welcome in the club

[chiang mai]

Let me try and add some value to all of this:

Up until age 58 I was tall and skinny and could eat many thousand calories a day and with or without exercise, my weight never budged from 75 kilo's. Even if I starved myself my weight never changed, such was my metabolism for most of my adult life.

At age 60 I started to gain weight, a slowing metabolism along with a less active lifestyle seemed to account for it all. But soon I was up to 80 kilo's and it didn't come off easily so I decided to live with it and to try and convert the fat into muscle via exercise - it worked somewhat.

At age 65 I'm extremely active and carry more muscle than I ever have before in my life, I also carry more pounds around the gut than I care to, but alas I can do little about that - a separated abdominal muscle and a prolapsed lower disk means that exercise for the abdomen are difficult and potentially dangerous - I weigh in at 83 kgs.

If I see my weight move to 85 kgs I slash my diet quite drastically and I try to exercise more - as I get older I find fat burning exercise more difficult plus my love of good food has increased, today I love food more than I ever have before. But getting rid of 2 or 3 kgs is not difficult, even if it is only temporary, it means a couple of missed meals, a few smaller meals and leaving the car at home and walking rather than being lazy and driving, it's all quite easy really. But if I were to allow my weight to increase to say 90 kgs, eliminating that much excess would be very difficult, the trick therefore is to react sooner rather than later to any weight gain, at some point it must become almost impossible to shed double digits kilo's of excess fat.

Finally, I do find that my weight increases around this time of year, this despite no change in diet of activity levels. Rightly or wrongly, I put it down to an internal switch that makes the body store fat as the weather turns cooler.

And finally finally: my diet is pretty clean following a bout with Type II some years ago, mostly all good stuff and very little bad. But I do know that even a very small diversion from my healthy diet will make me add pounds far too easily and those are pounds that are increasingly difficult to burn, as I grow older. The answer is, eat a healthy diet, count calories and exercise as much as possible, nobody lives for ever.

But you are one of these calories in equals weight gained end of story people; believing we all fall under the same rule. Now I see that for you in the first 60 years, calories meant nothing at all to you. And only in later life did your metabolism slow to a point that your weight needed to be managed.

Since I was 12 years old, If I ate too much I got fat, I was actually fatter in high school then I am now at 49 and I was a farm kid who played sports and had to do actual work. If I had the attitude in my life that I could just eat "many thousand calories a day with or without exercise". I would have been 200 kg by now. And I know the skinny farm kids I grew up with could eat way more than me and they still got bugged about being so skinny.

Why was my life different then yours then. Why have I had to manage my weight my whole life when you only had to do it after 58.

I'll tell you why, because we are not all the same. Some of us have to work much harder to keep an average weight.

And this is the point JT is trying to make, there are other factors involved with weight gain other than food intake and exercise. And this is why he brings out recent studies for discussion.

I have never disputed the fact that individual metabolic rates are variable, one person burns calories faster or slower than another. But that doesn't change the basic premise of calories in vs calories burned and I think it's down to the individual to determine their own burn rate and adjust accordingly.

[robblok]

Although quite skinny anyway, and keen on activity, I have tried to lose weight entirely by controlling my diet. I wanted to do this because I am ditching the muscle man approach, and also want to see what it is overweight people have to go through. Most of my family members have weight issues.

It's damn hard. The biggest problem is living with a sense of hunger to a greater or lesser extent, and foregoing that lovely pigged out feeling you can only get by eating crispy pork, fish and chips, or a stack of donuts.

So I see the problem in a nutshell, and no amount of exercise, encouragement, talking through emotional issues, etc, really will succeed, unless and until a way can be found of satisfying appetite to the full. otherwise, the person that does lose weight ends up like Tantalus for evermore, a negative pay off!

Hence, I wondered what the best foods are at making someone feel full without utilising sugar.

I can only think of potatoes, porridge, weetabix, butter, eggs, fatty cuts of meat, etc.

So what your saying is its easier when you add exercise but you don't because fat people can't exercise ?

Best foods are proteins for making you full and making sure you don't eat high GI products as you wil get hungry fast.

For me stuff like wholewheat bread and oats work too, but I always add protein to the mix.

[jacky54]

Fat folks should be paying more on flights

[h90]

Let me try and add some value to all of this:

Up until age 58 I was tall and skinny and could eat many thousand calories a day and with or without exercise, my weight never budged from 75 kilo's. Even if I starved myself my weight never changed, such was my metabolism for most of my adult life.

At age 60 I started to gain weight, a slowing metabolism along with a less active lifestyle seemed to account for it all. But soon I was up to 80 kilo's and it didn't come off easily so I decided to live with it and to try and convert the fat into muscle via exercise - it worked somewhat.

At age 65 I'm extremely active and carry more muscle than I ever have before in my life, I also carry more pounds around the gut than I care to, but alas I can do little about that - a separated abdominal muscle and a prolapsed lower disk means that exercise for the abdomen are difficult and potentially dangerous - I weigh in at 83 kgs.

If I see my weight move to 85 kgs I slash my diet quite drastically and I try to exercise more - as I get older I find fat burning exercise more difficult plus my love of good food has increased, today I love food more than I ever have before. But getting rid of 2 or 3 kgs is not difficult, even if it is only temporary, it means a couple of missed meals, a few smaller meals and leaving the car at home and walking rather than being lazy and driving, it's all quite easy really. But if I were to allow my weight to increase to say 90 kgs, eliminating that much excess would be very difficult, the trick therefore is to react sooner rather than later to any weight gain, at some point it must become almost impossible to shed double digits kilo's of excess fat.

Finally, I do find that my weight increases around this time of year, this despite no change in diet of activity levels. Rightly or wrongly, I put it down to an internal switch that makes the body store fat as the weather turns cooler.

And finally finally: my diet is pretty clean following a bout with Type II some years ago, mostly all good stuff and very little bad. But I do know that even a very small diversion from my healthy diet will make me add pounds far too easily and those are pounds that are increasingly difficult to burn, as I grow older. The answer is, eat a healthy diet, count calories and exercise as much as possible, nobody lives for ever.

But you are one of these calories in equals weight gained end of story people; believing we all fall under the same rule. Now I see that for you in the first 60 years, calories meant nothing at all to you. And only in later life did your metabolism slow to a point that your weight needed to be managed.

Since I was 12 years old, If I ate too much I got fat, I was actually fatter in high school then I am now at 49 and I was a farm kid who played sports and had to do actual work. If I had the attitude in my life that I could just eat "many thousand calories a day with or without exercise". I would have been 200 kg by now. And I know the skinny farm kids I grew up with could eat way more than me and they still got bugged about being so skinny.

Why was my life different then yours then. Why have I had to manage my weight my whole life when you only had to do it after 58.

I'll tell you why, because we are not all the same. Some of us have to work much harder to keep an average weight.

And this is the point JT is trying to make, there are other factors involved with weight gain other than food intake and exercise. And this is why he brings out recent studies for discussion.

First of all these people who can always eat tons of food and don't get fat, are usually not eating as much as it seems and they are usually more active than it seems. The body can blow out some energy by converting it to heat. But that isn't that much, else these people would sweat a lot.

Still the same counts for everyone....eat more get fat...eat less get slim. There are some variations between people and some aren't as hungry as others. But there are no magic other facts than food intake and exercise. It is just some will be hungry while others don't.

[h90]

Fat folks should be paying more on flights

make a price for the seat than add for every kg no matter if it is clothes, fat, hand baggage or checked in baggage.

Would be only fair....

[chiang mai]

Let me try and add some value to all of this:

Up until age 58 I was tall and skinny and could eat many thousand calories a day and with or without exercise, my weight never budged from 75 kilo's. Even if I starved myself my weight never changed, such was my metabolism for most of my adult life.

At age 60 I started to gain weight, a slowing metabolism along with a less active lifestyle seemed to account for it all. But soon I was up to 80 kilo's and it didn't come off easily so I decided to live with it and to try and convert the fat into muscle via exercise - it worked somewhat.

At age 65 I'm extremely active and carry more muscle than I ever have before in my life, I also carry more pounds around the gut than I care to, but alas I can do little about that - a separated abdominal muscle and a prolapsed lower disk means that exercise for the abdomen are difficult and potentially dangerous - I weigh in at 83 kgs.

If I see my weight move to 85 kgs I slash my diet quite drastically and I try to exercise more - as I get older I find fat burning exercise more difficult plus my love of good food has increased, today I love food more than I ever have before. But getting rid of 2 or 3 kgs is not difficult, even if it is only temporary, it means a couple of missed meals, a few smaller meals and leaving the car at home and walking rather than being lazy and driving, it's all quite easy really. But if I were to allow my weight to increase to say 90 kgs, eliminating that much excess would be very difficult, the trick therefore is to react sooner rather than later to any weight gain, at some point it must become almost impossible to shed double digits kilo's of excess fat.

Finally, I do find that my weight increases around this time of year, this despite no change in diet of activity levels. Rightly or wrongly, I put it down to an internal switch that makes the body store fat as the weather turns cooler.

And finally finally: my diet is pretty clean following a bout with Type II some years ago, mostly all good stuff and very little bad. But I do know that even a very small diversion from my healthy diet will make me add pounds far too easily and those are pounds that are increasingly difficult to burn, as I grow older. The answer is, eat a healthy diet, count calories and exercise as much as possible, nobody lives for ever.

But you are one of these calories in equals weight gained end of story people; believing we all fall under the same rule. Now I see that for you in the first 60 years, calories meant nothing at all to you. And only in later life did your metabolism slow to a point that your weight needed to be managed.

Since I was 12 years old, If I ate too much I got fat, I was actually fatter in high school then I am now at 49 and I was a farm kid who played sports and had to do actual work. If I had the attitude in my life that I could just eat "many thousand calories a day with or without exercise". I would have been 200 kg by now. And I know the skinny farm kids I grew up with could eat way more than me and they still got bugged about being so skinny.

Why was my life different then yours then. Why have I had to manage my weight my whole life when you only had to do it after 58.

I'll tell you why, because we are not all the same. Some of us have to work much harder to keep an average weight.

And this is the point JT is trying to make, there are other factors involved with weight gain other than food intake and exercise. And this is why he brings out recent studies for discussion.

First of all these people who can always eat tons of food and don't get fat, are usually not eating as much as it seems and they are usually more active than it seems. The body can blow out some energy by converting it to heat. But that isn't that much, else these people would sweat a lot.

Still the same counts for everyone....eat more get fat...eat less get slim. There are some variations between people and some aren't as hungry as others. But there are no magic other facts than food intake and exercise. It is just some will be hungry while others don't.

Put another slightly different way:

Fast metabolism + average caloric intake = hard (weight) gainer.

Fast metabolism + above average caloric intake = norm.

Slow metabolism + above average caloric intake = obesity

Slow metabolism + average caloric intake = overweight person.

Slow metabolism + below average caloric intake + exercise = norm.

And between Fast and Slow is a whole slew of sub-speeds as indeed average is just one point on a multi point scale.

And as a previously skinny person who tried every trick in the book to gain weight, I can confirm that a diet of over 4,000 calories a day plus exercise produced no weight gain and no unusual sweating.

[h90]

Let me try and add some value to all of this:

Up until age 58 I was tall and skinny and could eat many thousand calories a day and with or without exercise, my weight never budged from 75 kilo's. Even if I starved myself my weight never changed, such was my metabolism for most of my adult life.

At age 60 I started to gain weight, a slowing metabolism along with a less active lifestyle seemed to account for it all. But soon I was up to 80 kilo's and it didn't come off easily so I decided to live with it and to try and convert the fat into muscle via exercise - it worked somewhat.

At age 65 I'm extremely active and carry more muscle than I ever have before in my life, I also carry more pounds around the gut than I care to, but alas I can do little about that - a separated abdominal muscle and a prolapsed lower disk means that exercise for the abdomen are difficult and potentially dangerous - I weigh in at 83 kgs.

If I see my weight move to 85 kgs I slash my diet quite drastically and I try to exercise more - as I get older I find fat burning exercise more difficult plus my love of good food has increased, today I love food more than I ever have before. But getting rid of 2 or 3 kgs is not difficult, even if it is only temporary, it means a couple of missed meals, a few smaller meals and leaving the car at home and walking rather than being lazy and driving, it's all quite easy really. But if I were to allow my weight to increase to say 90 kgs, eliminating that much excess would be very difficult, the trick therefore is to react sooner rather than later to any weight gain, at some point it must become almost impossible to shed double digits kilo's of excess fat.

Finally, I do find that my weight increases around this time of year, this despite no change in diet of activity levels. Rightly or wrongly, I put it down to an internal switch that makes the body store fat as the weather turns cooler.

And finally finally: my diet is pretty clean following a bout with Type II some years ago, mostly all good stuff and very little bad. But I do know that even a very small diversion from my healthy diet will make me add pounds far too easily and those are pounds that are increasingly difficult to burn, as I grow older. The answer is, eat a healthy diet, count calories and exercise as much as possible, nobody lives for ever.

But you are one of these calories in equals weight gained end of story people; believing we all fall under the same rule. Now I see that for you in the first 60 years, calories meant nothing at all to you. And only in later life did your metabolism slow to a point that your weight needed to be managed.

Since I was 12 years old, If I ate too much I got fat, I was actually fatter in high school then I am now at 49 and I was a farm kid who played sports and had to do actual work. If I had the attitude in my life that I could just eat "many thousand calories a day with or without exercise". I would have been 200 kg by now. And I know the skinny farm kids I grew up with could eat way more than me and they still got bugged about being so skinny.

Why was my life different then yours then. Why have I had to manage my weight my whole life when you only had to do it after 58.

I'll tell you why, because we are not all the same. Some of us have to work much harder to keep an average weight.

And this is the point JT is trying to make, there are other factors involved with weight gain other than food intake and exercise. And this is why he brings out recent studies for discussion.

First of all these people who can always eat tons of food and don't get fat, are usually not eating as much as it seems and they are usually more active than it seems. The body can blow out some energy by converting it to heat. But that isn't that much, else these people would sweat a lot.

Still the same counts for everyone....eat more get fat...eat less get slim. There are some variations between people and some aren't as hungry as others. But there are no magic other facts than food intake and exercise. It is just some will be hungry while others don't.

Put another slightly different way:

Fast metabolism + average caloric intake = hard (weight) gainer.

Fast metabolism + above average caloric intake = norm.

Slow metabolism + above average caloric intake = obesity

Slow metabolism + average caloric intake = overweight person.

Slow metabolism + below average caloric intake + exercise = norm.

And between Fast and Slow is a whole slew of sub-speeds as indeed average is just one point on a multi point scale.

And as a previously skinny person who tried every trick in the book to gain weight, I can confirm that a diet of over 4,000 calories a day plus exercise produced no weight gain and no unusual sweating.

yes with a slow metabolism you need less food....no problem at all. Exercise would be good but is not necessary.

Well 4000 calories a day isn't that much when you exercise....Cut the exercise take care that a good fraction of the 4000 calories (or make it 5000 to be on the save side) are burgers, coke and sweets and I guarantee you will gain weight.

There is an excellent video from Katie Hopkins who was very skinny ate herself fat and than diet it off again. Unfortunately I can't find that video anymore. It was in UK on TV as documentary.

[ttthailand]

One item that has not really been mentioned a lot is the amount of weight that needs to be lost and the time it takes to loose it. I can gain 1kg in two days if I eat out of control. I go on a two week holiday to the States and forget and I gain 3kg without even thinking I am really eating much. But I know my normal food intake goes up by 100% as I figure I have earned the right to reward myself after a year of daily exercise and checking and regulating my weight and food intake. It will then however takes about a month to loose that 3kg as I can not stop 100% of my food intake or I would die. So basically I have to be very careful what I eat for a month just to get back to normal. I am only talking about a few kg. If I were to let my self-control go I could see myself gaining 15kg in 3 or 4 months. It would take me perhaps a year to loose that weight.

Basically what I am saying is that it is a slow process loosing but a fast process gaining. So those over weight need to play the long game and understand it is about self control and little else. You let yourself go now you need to pay the price and it will not be quick and easy. If you are 50kg overweight it will take years to loose it and keep it off without doing crazy unhealthy things. Maybe one lb a week watching your diet every day.

[h90]

One item that has not really been mentioned a lot is the amount of weight that needs to be lost and the time it takes to loose it. I can gain 1kg in two days if I eat out of control. I go on a two week holiday to the States and forget and I gain 3kg without even thinking I am really eating much. But I know my normal food intake goes up by 100% as I figure I have earned the right to reward myself after a year of daily exercise and checking and regulating my weight and food intake. It will then however takes about a month to loose that 3kg as I can not stop 100% of my food intake or I would die. So basically I have to be very careful what I eat for a month just to get back to normal. I am only talking about a few kg. If I were to let my self-control go I could see myself gaining 15kg in 3 or 4 months. It would take me perhaps a year to loose that weight.

Basically what I am saying is that it is a slow process loosing but a fast process gaining. So those over weight need to play the long game and understand it is about self control and little else. You let yourself go now you need to pay the price and it will not be quick and easy. If you are 50kg overweight it will take years to loose it and keep it off without doing crazy unhealthy things. Maybe one lb a week watching your diet every day.

yes, true....you can do good for 4 weeks and destroy everything in just 1 week....

No you would not die if you stop 100% of your food intake....The body can run an amazing long time without any food. If adding some amino acids, vitamins and essential fat acids you can go for weeks or months, loosing like 2-3 kg per week only. Surely unhealthy but won't kill you. For short time some even claim that it is healthy (fastening).

[ttthailand]

Other than going on holidays and gaining a few kg and then taking a month to loose it I basically stay at a healthy weight all year. I however weight myself at least twice a week and if I have gained I then eat less if I loose I know I am free to relax and have that ice cream. I never let myself get too far over or under my healthy weight.

What can someone do that is 50kg over ..... Control control control..... It's a long road to get back to a healthy weight and when you do you can not give up the fight. You have to monitor your weight and adjust you food intake to maintain.

[robblok]

Other than going on holidays and gaining a few kg and then taking a month to loose it I basically stay at a healthy weight all year. I however weight myself at least twice a week and if I have gained I then eat less if I loose I know I am free to relax and have that ice cream. I never let myself get too far over or under my healthy weight.

What can someone do that is 50kg over ..... Control control control..... It's a long road to get back to a healthy weight and when you do you can not give up the fight. You have to monitor your weight and adjust you food intake to maintain.

Basically I am the same as you also control the food and weigh often. i do exercise a lot and am not fat anymore. I just have different (real hard to attain goals) if my goal was normal weight it would be easily done but my goals is more as that. Normal weight was the goal when I was 25 kg overweight now it is great abs and muscle tone.. that is quite a bit harder.

[vogie]

The majority of obese people are obese because the won't stop shovelling food down their gullets.

They need to develop some self-respect and learn to control themselves.

but telling them this fact is considered very rude

But why would you 'want' to tell somebody about their weight when its none of your business?

[robblok]

Let me try and add some value to all of this:

Up until age 58 I was tall and skinny and could eat many thousand calories a day and with or without exercise, my weight never budged from 75 kilo's. Even if I starved myself my weight never changed, such was my metabolism for most of my adult life.

At age 60 I started to gain weight, a slowing metabolism along with a less active lifestyle seemed to account for it all. But soon I was up to 80 kilo's and it didn't come off easily so I decided to live with it and to try and convert the fat into muscle via exercise - it worked somewhat.

At age 65 I'm extremely active and carry more muscle than I ever have before in my life, I also carry more pounds around the gut than I care to, but alas I can do little about that - a separated abdominal muscle and a prolapsed lower disk means that exercise for the abdomen are difficult and potentially dangerous - I weigh in at 83 kgs.

If I see my weight move to 85 kgs I slash my diet quite drastically and I try to exercise more - as I get older I find fat burning exercise more difficult plus my love of good food has increased, today I love food more than I ever have before. But getting rid of 2 or 3 kgs is not difficult, even if it is only temporary, it means a couple of missed meals, a few smaller meals and leaving the car at home and walking rather than being lazy and driving, it's all quite easy really. But if I were to allow my weight to increase to say 90 kgs, eliminating that much excess would be very difficult, the trick therefore is to react sooner rather than later to any weight gain, at some point it must become almost impossible to shed double digits kilo's of excess fat.

Finally, I do find that my weight increases around this time of year, this despite no change in diet of activity levels. Rightly or wrongly, I put it down to an internal switch that makes the body store fat as the weather turns cooler.

And finally finally: my diet is pretty clean following a bout with Type II some years ago, mostly all good stuff and very little bad. But I do know that even a very small diversion from my healthy diet will make me add pounds far too easily and those are pounds that are increasingly difficult to burn, as I grow older. The answer is, eat a healthy diet, count calories and exercise as much as possible, nobody lives for ever.

But you are one of these calories in equals weight gained end of story people; believing we all fall under the same rule. Now I see that for you in the first 60 years, calories meant nothing at all to you. And only in later life did your metabolism slow to a point that your weight needed to be managed.

Since I was 12 years old, If I ate too much I got fat, I was actually fatter in high school then I am now at 49 and I was a farm kid who played sports and had to do actual work. If I had the attitude in my life that I could just eat "many thousand calories a day with or without exercise". I would have been 200 kg by now. And I know the skinny farm kids I grew up with could eat way more than me and they still got bugged about being so skinny.

Why was my life different then yours then. Why have I had to manage my weight my whole life when you only had to do it after 58.

I'll tell you why, because we are not all the same. Some of us have to work much harder to keep an average weight.

And this is the point JT is trying to make, there are other factors involved with weight gain other than food intake and exercise. And this is why he brings out recent studies for discussion.

First of all these people who can always eat tons of food and don't get fat, are usually not eating as much as it seems and they are usually more active than it seems. The body can blow out some energy by converting it to heat. But that isn't that much, else these people would sweat a lot.

Still the same counts for everyone....eat more get fat...eat less get slim. There are some variations between people and some aren't as hungry as others. But there are no magic other facts than food intake and exercise. It is just some will be hungry while others don't.

Put another slightly different way:

Fast metabolism + average caloric intake = hard (weight) gainer.

Fast metabolism + above average caloric intake = norm.

Slow metabolism + above average caloric intake = obesity

Slow metabolism + average caloric intake = overweight person.

Slow metabolism + below average caloric intake + exercise = norm.

And between Fast and Slow is a whole slew of sub-speeds as indeed average is just one point on a multi point scale.

And as a previously skinny person who tried every trick in the book to gain weight, I can confirm that a diet of over 4,000 calories a day plus exercise produced no weight gain and no unusual sweating.

Wow, I on the other hand gain weight easy.. and muscle too (my only genetic gift) But making sure i look real toned is a bit harder. Ok I do set hard goals for myself but still I need a challenge. I love doing hard workouts with real heavy weights, and dislike doing much cardio even though I got a great concept 2 model D rower. Truth be said the weight lifting sessions are so hard and my body needs time to recover that adding more rowing would be hard. I now use the rower as a warmup machine. I might be able to do more but its mentally hard.

[robblok]

The majority of obese people are obese because the won't stop shovelling food down their gullets.

They need to develop some self-respect and learn to control themselves.

but telling them this fact is considered very rude

But why would you 'want' to tell somebody about their weight when its none of your business?

I would never do that with strangers, but giving family members a head up that they are going the wrong way is a different thing. They teased me in the past and that helped me a bit. But mainly my motivation came from myself.

[h90]

The majority of obese people are obese because the won't stop shovelling food down their gullets.

They need to develop some self-respect and learn to control themselves.

but telling them this fact is considered very rude

But why would you 'want' to tell somebody about their weight when its none of your business?

Well it is the fat one who want an advice, but are frustrated when they hear they should eat less.

I don't comment on other people, if they don't ask me, even when it almost brakes my heart when seeing some obese girls......Don't be attractive for boys, don't get a good job, when 30 first problems like pain in the back or diabetics will start, etc etc.

While it could be complete different.

[canuckamuck]

I have never disputed the fact that individual metabolic rates are variable, one person burns calories faster or slower than another. But that doesn't change the basic premise of calories in vs calories burned and I think it's down to the individual to determine their own burn rate and adjust accordingly.

Ok I agree with that, but herein we see the struggle. It is difficult to be consistent with a lifetime of smaller than average portions. Not so easy to leave food on the plate when you really have room for more. Not so easy to always decline offers to eat more when with friends, not so easy to always be a little hungry and know it isn't going to change. Now if a person is eating large portions or snacking a lot, or doubling down on the high GI foods, than I have no sympathy. It's the guys that try and have to keep on trying, that need a break from the smug pricks who couldn't gain weight if they ate a bucket of rocks.

So if there are any advances to help a guy out, I want to hear about it.