The reality of obesity

by Lady Lee 52 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Princess

  I was actually referring to the comment made by a man, not LL although I guess the point is valid regardless.

  so I feel that I'm ok at 5' '7 3/4" 138 lbs just like Princess. I have a average/small bone structure.

  Yep, I'm actually a bit closer to 5' 8 than 5' 7 and I'm 135 lbs. How funny that we are the same size.

  My driver's license says 126lbs. I need to change it since I know that I can't weigh that again. I'd look horrible if I lost nine pounds. I really did forget to change that last time, it also still says I need corrective lenses and I had my eyes fixed to 20/15 three years ago. I'm not lying.
• 

  wednesday

  when my hubby and i married, he was 5 '81/2 inches and weighed 130 #(he looked rather thin). But he was healthy and could eat as much as he like. and he was very active. About 40 he began to gain wieght, and now at mid 50's i slighty over 200. According to DR. phil a relistic wieght for him would be about 177-195. (he is large boned.) Most of his weight is in the abdomen(so common as we age) and really other than that, he does not look overweight. I am including him on my weight loss program b/c i want him to be around with me for a long time. And after the 2 recent deaths of robert palmer(early 50's) john Riter(54) and am more concerned than ever.(abdominal weight is considered more dangerous than weight around the hips and thighs.)
• 

  Princess

  Good point wednesday. My husband recently went on the South Beach Diet which claims to help you lose belly fat first. It's a heart healthy diet, similar to, but not the same as Atkins. The results are impressive. He has lost over 20 lbs in about five weeks, all of it seems to be from his belly area. He looks awesome. It's not an easy one to follow since you do have to cut out the carbs you love to eat, bread, potatoes, fruit, for the first phase anyway. You do eventually get to add them back in. The thing that helps you to succeed, from what I can see, is the fact that you should NOT be hungry. The doctor says in the book that if you are hungry, you did not have enough to eat and you need to eat more.

  In the evening we eat low fat, no sugar added fudgesicles instead of ice cream. They are surprisingly tasty. OK, they aren't ice cream but they satisfy the craving and you feel better about yourself for not giving in.
• 

  Prisca

  Lady Lee, thank you for starting this discussion. Many people don't understand what it is to be overweight, particularly if you have been overweight since childhood.

  If you think having been a JW has given you issues, imagine what is like to be overweight on top of that!!!! Abuse of overweight people is silently santioned, yet society has become overly concerned with political correctness in other areas.

  Mulan - YOU ARE NOT OVERWEIGHT - especially in the sense of the article Lady Lee posted. Being 15 pounds "overweight" is NOTHING - NOTHING - compared to being 50 or 100 pounds overweight.
• 

  Mulan

  It's 30, Prisca. If it was only 15, I wouldn't be as upset.
• 

  Prisca

  30 is still nothing to fuss over.
• 

  donkey

  I have taken the following snippet from: http://www.obesity.org/subs/fastfacts/obesity_US.shtml

  The number of adults who are overweight or obese has continued to increase, as shown in Table 1. Currently, 64.5 percent of U.S. adults, age 20 years and older, are overweight and 30.5 percent are obese. Severe obesity prevalence is now 4.7 percent, up from 2.9 percent reported in the 1988 - 1994 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

  The number of adults who are overweight or obese has continued to increase, as shown in Table 1. Currently, 64.5 percent of U.S. adults, age 20 years and older, are overweight and 30.5 percent are obese. Severe obesity prevalence is now 4.7 percent, up from 2.9 percent reported in the 1988 - 1994 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

  Table 1

  Increase in Prevalence (%) of Overweight (BMI > 25), Obesity (BMI > 30) and Severe Obesity (BMI > 40) Among U.S. Adults.
  	Overweight (BMI > 25)	Obesity (BMI > 30)	Severe Obesity (BMI > 40)
  1999 to 2000	64.5	30.5	4.7
  1988 to 1994	56.0	23.0	2.9
  1976 to 1980	46.0	14.4	No Data
  Source: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Health, United States, 2002. Flegal et. al. JAMA. 2002;288:1723-7. NIH, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults, 1998.

  So we have had close to a 50% increase in obesity in the USA. Are we genetically pre-disposed to obesity? Perhaps - but it certainly does not appear to be the the easy scapegoat obese people might want to make it into.

  Jack
• 

  Lady Lee

  Donkey No one has said it was an easy issue. In fact everyone here has struggled with it a great deal. And people are talking about what they have done to work on their issue.
• 

  shamus

  LL,

  I couldn't read through all your responses, but I know how people look at obese people. I am not obese, but realize that it can have many causes, not necessarialy eating too much! Those people are in the minority!!!

  It is a horrible thing to have... I couldn't imagine.
• 

  patio34

  Well, i had a very simple problem that was easily solved and lost a lot of weight practically effortlessly after that. Actually, i battled weight for decades until i tripped on my solution. I even ran a marathon, ran lots and lots, and was putting on weight during that training. For me, exercise was not a big part of the solution.

  I was so excited about my ease in shedding most of my unwanted weight, i've written about 60 pages of a book about it. I thought "why hasn't anyone explained this?!?"

  I have shared this with a few people and I have to admit that they didn't have the success i did. Well, two did out of about seven. However, it may be they didn't follow it or they didn't have the problem I had had.

  Well, anyway, the gist of it was that i was never eating enough during the day to offset evening hunger. I mostly followed the old saw about "breakfast like a king, lunch like a peasant, and dinner like a pauper" and quickly lost about 50 lbs in 6 months. This worked so well for me because it seems that I, and I suspect a lot of people as Dr. Phil was quoted as saying, change chemistry when they're not eating enough-- especially when they're active. Our bodies are difficult to deny and we're rewarded with a built-up hunger later in the day that causes all kinds of cravings. I would feel full in my stomach after dinner, but couldn't stop snacking. This was because my chemistry had changed and my bloodstream did not have enough nutrients. Imo, hunger/cravings are driven by your blood content, not what's in your stomach.

  I checked a few other diets when doing my program and they all had less calories during the day than i was allowing. I stuck to 400 cals for breakfast, 100 snack, 400 lunch, 100 snack, 200 dinner, 50 snack. Some weeks I lost 4 pounds. I believe this is because most of the calories were consumed when being active during the day and metabolism is higher.

  This was after about 35 years of yoyo dieting. Of course, it has to be healthy foods and there were several other principles i used and still do. But this was over a year ago and i've never put on (and off) more than 3-4 pounds. It takes a little will power and planning but is definitely doable. Well, there's lots more i teased out of other health books that applied to me and other studies and experience i used in the book.

  The book has stalled, but if anyone is interested there may be a way to send it to you (gratis) electronically. The name of it is appropriately, Weight Loss so Easy You'll Feel Guilty.

  Pat