"It's Genetic." Riiiight.

How come it wasn't genetic 2 or 3 generations ago?

Because 2 or 3 generations ago it was politically correct to tell someone nobody gets fat from eating salad.

yeah but there weren't nearly as many overweight people around then.

what made this gene kick in suddenly?

I think body type, age, metabolism contribute to weight, but real obeseness IMHO is a result of a **** diet and sedentary lifestyle.

Ever since I was so sick in 2005 I have developed a small spare tire that persists no matter how I watch my diet, lift and do cardio, which I do religiously. Who knows, maybe it's just age, but damned if I'm going to get fat. It's a cosmetic issue to an extent, but more of a good health thing.

I want to feel good and be active into my old ages if possible.

Being really obese is counterproductive to that.

People who are overweight however, can still be great people and even sexually attractive. They shouldn't be made to feel guilty about their body weight.

Television, computers, fast food, grocery manufacturers marketing processed junk food, dependency on grocery stores for high-priced produce rather than growing your own, migration to homes in cities that don't have garden space, hormones in meat and poultry that create imbalances in the human body, necessity of two-income families to keep up with inflation.

I can go on with more.

Slappy constantly pokes fun of, or hassles the overweight in the world, but the truth is it's from a feeling of sheepishness. He has porked more fat chicks than anyone I know. Here is a picture of his prom date and high school sweetheart......






it's okay Slap, we're your friends.

Most fat people are fat because their intake is larger than their output (exercise)... it's simple math.

Kids are no longer allowed to run and play the way we used to; they're inside watching tv or video games or on the internet.

Kids get driven to school by paranoid parents so they no longer get to walk there.

There are more fast food places than when we were kids.

There are more fattening food choices in the grocery stores - and they'll even spread cheese on your cracker for you!

Many families have both parents who work so there is less monitoring of what kids are eating.

No one drinks water anymore!

I have definitely porked a couple of "thick" women, but proud to say none were obese.

However, the worst situation ever was the anorexic. That haunted me for months. DAMN YOU, ALCOHOL! DAMN YOU TO HELL!!!! (my fist is raised in the air)

One of my memories is a chick in Cloumbus Ga. who was an above the elbow amputee who used to like todo your ass with her stub while giving you head. That was interesting.
but I digress.....

I do agree with you, and my comments weren't meant to be taken as a joke.

It is try though that 2, 3 and more generations back there wasn't this "epidemic" The way some discuss the genetics of it appear to want to discount all of the reasons this society has gained weight, many of which have been mentioned. (lack of activity, poor diet, etc)

Of course some people are predisposed to be larger, look at their ancestors and you'll sometimes see generations of heavier than average people. The same way you'll see families that are taller, shorter than average.

The gene is the seed, and will set parameters, but we have gone overboard with giving that gene too much credit.

If many overweight people when out and worked the way our great grandfathers and great grandmothers did, they wouldn't be the same person in a year.

Has anyone ever seen a really overweight Amish person?

There are quite a few things we've learned about the human body's genetic makeup that we didn't know a few generations ago. Does that make the current knowledge invalid? Should we revoke all the pharmaceuticals that have been developed to help correct some genetic deficiencies because that information wasn't known a couple generations ago and label people as hypochondriacs?

I'm not understanding what you are saying Butrfly.

Of course we know more about genetics than we did a few generations ago.
However, our genetics in itself have not changed in just a few generations.

Ergo, if we are walking around today with the same basic genetic structure as our family of just a few generations back, why are we walking around weighing so much more?
If our genes have not changed, it's obviously our life style.

100 years ago, a person may have had the genes to predispose them to weight gain, or the ability to hold onto weight. As we all know, a good thing in times past, when we could not rely on a steady supply of food.

This person would not be, by todays standards much overweight. They probably would have what would be considered today maybe a few pounds overweight, but sturdy and healthy.

What kept that persons weight in check was primarily physical activity. Farming, hunting, blacksmithing, housework that didn't rely on the tools we have today. Preparing a meal was a workout.
If they were living in a good time, they ate hearty meals with plenty of fat, but worked it off. No refridgeration or cans, so vegetables and fruits were fresh.

Today, that person would most likely be significantly larger, because he/she would not longer have to work so physically hard to just get the dealings of daily life done.

In the last generations we haven't suddenly developed an entirely new set of genes, we are just not using our bodies in the way they were evolved to be used.

A person who is of normal weight today, and doesn't have to do anything in particular to stay that way, would be a leaner person back then too.

So, what are you saying about pharmecuticals? The most I can say is they have been developed to try to counteract the weight gain incurred by people no longer living in concert with nature.

Am I saying there were no obese people in ages past? No I'm not.

Am I saying there would be many less obese people today if they ate and worked the way people did in the past? Yes I am.

High fructose corn syrup

It's everywhere, in everything. If you drink soda pop or eat processed food you're getting loads of it. And it's evil. For some reason it doesn't signal fullness no matter how much of it you consume. Corn farmers are subsidized so there's an overabundance of it and therefore it's incredibly cheap so it's the sweetener of choice for most processed food products.

If you like "horror" stories read Raising Less Corn More Hell by George Pyle. There's even a connection between corn and the really deadly strain of E.coli.

Eat fresh unprocessed food and you'll be healthier even if you're not skinny.

Here's some people from TV shows I watched as a kid, some as new shows, most as reruns. I'd say they were all made in the 40's 50's and 60's.

I can remember looking at all these people and thinking "Boy, they're FAT!" For some, like Fred and Ethel, they would rib each other, Ethel calling Fred "Fat Boy" and Fred making remarks like she broke his glasses when she sat on them because she was so fat. In some of the shows, they'd play up the fact Ethel liked to snitch choclates out of the box, and other treats. Note she snitched little choclates from a candy box, not a king size hershey with almonds bar.

Fred and Ethel Mertz "I Love Lucy"


Hazel Burke "Hazel"


I thought Ethel Merman was HUGE!


As well as Ernest Borgnine (he was married to Merman for a brief while)
Here is Borgnine in his Oscar winning role as "Marty". In it it was a sad sack looking for love. Poor fat guy who was too shy to meet someone.
Fabulous movie....go rent it.


The point is, just a few years ago, we looked at these people and thought them overweight. I doubt any of them would raise such an opinion today. At the most people might think they could loose a couple of pounds.

Why did they appear so large then? Well, for one, like with Ethel, a piece of choclate was a piece of choclate. For another, none of them had microwaves, computers, or instant anything. If they wanted to change a TV channel, they actually had to stand up and walk across the room. Same with answering the telephone.

All due respect to people who honestly are overweight due to genes, on the whole I think the condition comes more from super sizing and video games.

Side note: While growing up, I went to school with a boy who really WAS obese. His entire family was. Not to go into detail, but take my word for it they were one of those families who had a double dose of fat genes, and honestly, none of them where ever going to be small enough to not be noticed. However, I do remember them as being this rare occurence. Today, well, look around.

I have always (except when pregnant of course) been thin or at least within my ideal weight. After having two babies, I was heavier than I ever had been (still not considered overweight). I used to drink a 20 oz soda every day. I stopped several months ago - I did not drastically change much else in my diet or exercise other than just be aware not eat much crap (which I didn't much any way). I lost one size - now I am back to the size was pre-babies.

Sugar does play a huge role. Some people just think "fat free" when in reality all those simple sugars alone can make you fat.

wow bi- tell us more about the "stump job"

Hmmm, I guess it's good that farmerman and bear are speaking of 'excersise' as their constructive input to this thread. Always with the digressions, always with the digressions.

[size=7]Why do I always read them?[/size]

Are fat people allowed in here?

I dont think that being fat is in your genes at all. I think being fat is a learned behavior.

Your parents taught you ( as the fat person) that you had to eat everything on your plate because ___ insert guilt trip here_____.

Meals have become an event and not fuel for life.

We revolve around food all day every day. At least americans do .

Lunch is a special time of day... there for people eat special.
Special large servings of sugar, fats, and other rich carbs.

What we eat is not healthy anymore either.
Our farmers are not producing things in a normal manner, they are slathering everything with pesticides that cause cellular breakdown in our bodies. This stops normal digestion and development.

As someone said, everything has corn syrup in it.
It is like sprinkling sugar on every meal, in every drink, and even in some soaps and toothpastes.

our environment is making us fat, and we are blindly accepting it. Calling it Normal, and referring to fat people as Big and beautiful.

No, a few generations ago we were NOT fat.
We worked for everything we had. We washed our clothes by hand. Our food wasnt in a plastic wrapper just waiting for a microwave.. alot of times our dinner was living in our back yards waiting to be killed, boned, and cooked. Our salads were growing out in the acres around our houses where we had to walk 20 minutes or so just to cut what we needed for dinner.

But, I am only mirroring the other posts.

Fat people ( and I mean 300lbs + ) are fat because they wont stop eating.
Period.
That isnt genetic, sorry.