I'm that way but I'm still in good shape. I work out hard everyday (jog, sprints, pushups, pullups, situps) but I will gain weight easily. People like my best friend that can eat all the junk food and pizza they want, never work out and still stay looking fit make me jealous as hell. People who are afraid to get any exercise and eat every meal at fast food places really just piss me off. I feel sorry for them at the same time. I got a job at a burger joint I used to work at just until I go to boot in the spring. Already today I saw lots of fatties ordering enough food to feed three people. I always just picture Sgt. Hartman yelling at them, "YOU SLIMY, WALRUS LOOKING PIECE OF ********! YOU ARE A DISGUSTING FAT BODY! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!" I've gone about...3 1/2 days without food about once a year since I was about 11. After the first day you seriously don't even know it. You don't get hunger pains or anything. I'm sure it's not healthy losing 8 pounds that fast like I do everytime. I started doing it for religious reasons but I keep doing it now that I am an atheist, because, well, I don't know why.
Did anybody see the Frontline special on obesity tonight? It's been shown before actually, but it's a very good one hour synopsis of the problem, solutions and diets. It's just not a genetic thing. Our genetics haven't changed in the last 50 years, and the number of obese people in the US has quadrupled. The problem is every fat person thinks they're one of the people who has genetics as their root cause, because it absolves them of any culpability.
Let's see. Mid 20's, 5' 11.5" 192 lbs (Slightly overweight on BMI) eat a lot of red meat with some chicken and shellfish. Junk food addict. Non-smoker who tries to have a regular exercise routine but doesn't want to spend money on a club memberhsip that he may not use regulary. Genetic disposition to diabeties (both Grandfathers had it). Guess I'm a normal person.
I don't have a problem with the concepts of free choice and personal responsibility, but the problem is not that simple. To be sure, there are many, many people who have crappy eating habits, don't exercise, have decent incomes and access to recreational outlets, and so have no one to blame but themselves for their weight problem. But I personally know a number of people who have struggled with their weight since childhood. And at least two of them were never big eaters. Here's where I blame the parents. By not feeding their kids properly, and not encouraging them to exercise (in both cases, they describe lousy diets and no exercise), they may have set their kids up for adult obesity that becomes almost intractable. Many nutritionists now believe that kids who have a surplus of fat cells face a difficult time in maintaining their weight as adults. And BTW, both of these people are motivated, disciplined individuals who have repeatedly tried to lose weight (which they've succeeded, at times, in doing) AND maintain the lower weight, which they've not succeeded in doing. So to a certain extent, parents who help create chubby children often consign their offspring to an adulthood of yo-yo diets and all the complications from lifelong obesity. As for me, I just finished a salad containing water-packed sardines, lettuce, tomatoes, radicchio, avocado, Kalamata olives, red pepper, steamed kale marinated in garlic and extra-virgin olive oil, broccoli sprouts, cubed tofu, red wine vinegar, fresh basil, a sprinkle of sesame seeds and freshly ground black pepper. Bon appetit.
FWIW, a personal story: For my height, back in late October 2005...... I was 35 pounds overweight, pushing for 205.... i had not noticed how big i was getting- even if people had told me.....But for some reason it's different when you notice it with the #s to "prove it" in the scale..............Obviously, this concerned me... So instead of eating late, i ate early in the day, instead of "10% real" juice drinks for breakfast, skim milk ... Forgot for the longest time (except this past Christmas) what soda was, unless it was diet soda......instead of scrambled eggs in the mornings/brunch, cereal.... if i was hungry afterwards, or for any cravings whatsoever.... there was the huge -almost sugarless- cereal box (which once you eat, you have no choice but to bite it like a thousand times to break it down, helping me not to be too hungry afterwards) ......and the conscientious decision to buy lots of fruit/low fat yogurt to fill the void.... And a big FU on my part to all fast food created.... Drank only water, skim milk, actual orange/fruit juice (the 100% kind), tea w/no sugar added Instead of fixing things in a hurry for lunch or dinner, which inevitably led to fried crap....... i started to order food from a Peruvian restaurant that serves what IMO is the closest thing one can find to "home-made food" not actually made at home, and affordable as well...Since i had made it a habit for years to have soup quite rarely, i thought this was the best way to force it upon myself to have it, so that one becomes full quickly and eats less stuff afterwards....and also because i figured, it'd also help supply liquids which would get tiresome if i tried drinking the supposed 8 glasses of water one "has to" drink every day... Also tried exercising at least an hour every day, whether bike, light weight lifting.... etc... Well a bit over 2 months later.... I am 8 pounds "overweight", so i lost 27 pounds, without starving myself to death... For those who say nagging, or people who scold others might backfire....maybe they have a point.. but had my weight gain not been brought up usually enough by others... i would not have bothered to check it.. and would have done nothing about it...But i am relatively young.... NOw.... if one saw say .. a relative going up there in age and in an "unhealthy weight" i don't see much wrong with bringing this up in a gentle way....I'd certainly feel worse if diabetes and/or heart problems were to trouble someone i cared about, and i had not tried anything, not even in passing... to try anyway.... I understand the personal responsibility part, no doubt.. but there is also a little room to show one cares for others' health/wellbeing .... w/o pushing so hard as to appear like a bonafide jackass trying to impose one's will...
I'm sorry, but the fat people apologists on here need to stop. This is the problem. For years, the news has been warning us about the dangers of our inactive lifestyle, filled with fast and convenient and deadly foods. In America, food is our last vice. We don't really drink, we don't really smoke cigarettes, and we can't take mistresses when we're older. So why not just let yourself go? I was up to 235 lbs in Germany, thanks to the beer and schnitzel. I got back to under 200 in about half a year, by working out, eliminating soda and minimizing fast food. Let's face it, we all know HOW to lose weight. BUt our friends tell us it's not our fault, its glandular, and so we should just keep on down the highway to Hagen-Daas. The point has been made. Our genetic makeup has not changed in thousands of years. Why are we all suddenly fat? Our culture of eating crap on the run and inability to walk more than ten feet from the parking lot might have something to do with it, no?
I went to a Christmas party last month with my parents (who just celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary) and their friends with a few of us 50-60 year old kids. It was a dinner party with a live band and dancing. My parents who have lost many of their friends were one of first couples out on the dance floor, but it quickly became a crowded floor with lots of 80+ couples out there. A couple of things I noticed was that these survivors ate a reasonable sized meal, kept pretty trim, and got out on the dance floor. There was no one there that I would consider obese. Also, I'm pretty sure that none of these people were smokers. On the other hand, at work, I took my own inventory of the approximately 100 people in my department. It was close to 25% that I considered obese. Our family went to the Iowa State fair last summer. I was amazed at how many obese people there are. We had a Hungarian exchange student with us. I don't think he'd ever seen so many overweight people in his life - an unfortunate introduction to life in America. It's sad, we're killing ourselves with overeating, smoking, and by not exercising enough.
I am seeing a lot of studies lately about the dangers of mouth breathing (especially by U of Stanford). Here is one example: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andr...is-not-just-activity-6962803089330372608-i3f7
This book is a great summary. TL;DR version: Americans have known this at various times, but we periodically seem to forget. But this was common medical advice in the 18th and 19th century, and seems to be making a comeback Edit: the book is mentioned in the first comment.
I have been a mouth breather since I was a child. I have narrow sinus and and been hit in the nose a few too many times with a soccer ball (only half kidding). I played soccer most of my adult life (until early 50s) and have had no real issues with mouth breathing until the last couple of years. I finally went and had a sleep apnea test. Well, I had mild to moderate and have used a CPAP machine for the past year. Big difference in my sleeping and overall energy. Plus, I have started breathing through my nose during the day (almost like I head to be retrained). I still can't breath during exercise. Worth looking into mouth breathers at any age. I wish that I had done something more 5-7 years ago.