I think what these people are trying to tell you is that some human bodies do not obey the laws of nature. They are magically able to create mass out of nothing. Therefore, it doesn't matter how many calories they put in their mouths.

Uhmmm...no.

congrats - that is truly amazing!

Not really but that's because I don't have sympathy for anyone.

people should just be nice

that pisses me off also. Plus, they keep complaining that they're fat. Hell, I have a leg disability that makes it near impossible for me to walk, but guess what? I still do it and I have never used a scooter in my life. Not even a wheel chair yet these fat people are riding around on scooters getting fatter and they complain about it. In my opinion they have lost the right to complain about it considering they do nothing to try to help their situation..

So ya, scooters should be for old people AND disabled people that can't get around otherwise. For christ sake, I still ride a BICYCLE even though my legs are fucked and will only get worse as I age. I deal with the extreme pain, the weird looks from people and all that shit because I don't want to become useless. They're allowing being fat to be a reason to be lazy and have people do shit for them. You're fat? In most cases you can lose it and walk no problem. I can't "lose" my leg disability and will never be able to walk like the average person. By the time I'm 40 I'll be lucky if I can walk and that's 5 years away.

To make things worse, I once got insulted by a fat person riding a scooter because of the way that I walk. So ya, I got mean and said "At least I walk you fat lazy fuck" and walked away. So do I have sympathy? NO!

I think being overweight, as we see, is a very emotional, very complicated issue.
There is not a "one size fits all answer."

As for me personally, I have never been overweight, but my weight has certainly fluctuated.

In terms of feeling bad for fat people...it really depends I guess.

In general, not really. Most people who I personally know are fat because they eat too damn much and don't exercise. Point blank.

One person on the other hand had a serious addiction to food. He was at least 450-500 pounds (more maybe-I'm bad at gauging these things), had both knees replaced and had to take viagra because when you're that fat...you can't get it up. He was a serious emotional eater and had deep seated issues with food since childhood. I feel for people like this what I feel for alcoholics and drug addicts, some people are more predisposed to addiction and it sucks. Really. But there comes a point where you have to make a personal choice and say "I can not continue this. "

His doctor basically told him it wasn't a question of if he would die but when. He then finally took control of his health and started a fitness program for morbidly obese people with UC Irvine. His insurance was unwilling to pay for this program: which included monitored work outs, group therapy sessions and supervised meal plans. The insurance did offer to pay for a bipass. It's disgusting because it's like putting a band aid on pneumonia. Treat the fucking cause, not the symptoms.

This man is now slimmed down to a XXL which for him is a major accomplishment. He can shop at normal stores instead of Big and Tall and actually has a sense of pride in self.

My long winded point is this, people have various addictions and diseases which manifest in different forms. It might be food. I feel bad for these people, but at some point you must take responsibility for yourself and take care of your own health. No one else will do it for you.

Serious medical conditions which are the minority of cases, do not apply, obviously....

Do you have a dictionary?

the thing I find strange is that most fat people say it's because of a medical condition. Yet statistically there is an incredibly higher percentage of fat people in the USA, UK etc compared to other countries. For me it's all a case of the fast food, lazyness and "being fat it ok" mentality. I've lived in many countries around the world and I think it's fantastic that in central/eastern Europe girls are more conscious about their looks. People are healthier and walking along the beach is much more pleasant :)
I don't have sympathy for fat people unless I know for a fact that it is caused mostly by some serious medical condition.

Superstar ..I also have PCOS and insulin resistance. I have been here. I have done the metformin thing (still do) and all. It took me years to get the balance right so that my body would lose weight. Finally, what worked for me was to go low GI and make up the majority of my diet with slow burning food. That made SO much difference to my weight loss.

I get what is being said about the numbers game and the fact is that it is indeed true that my weight loss came when I started counting every damn calorie I eat. I have done that for just about every meal that I have cooked for two years now. So, yes, it is true that even for me it is about the number of calories I eat but it is also about what makes up those calories. If I eat things with fast burning sugars I can stay within my calorie allowance and my weight will start to push up. If I eat the exact same calories of slow burning (low gi) foods it goes down.

What isn't taken into consideration with the 'it is just math' line is that the math may be true but that it still doesn't mean it will happen like clockwork. I have had weeks when I have been well bellow my required calorie deficit and not dropped a single pound. Then, another week I may have eaten a bit more than I should have (but not hugely) and that will be the week I drop weight.

Right now, I am on a plateau that is driving me nuts because I am so close to 100lbs lost. It isn't being helped by me recently being put on a medication that has weight gain as a side effect. I am working out 6 days a week just to keep from gaining. I am very within my calorie deficit too but it just isn't budging. I feel that is eventually will and in the mean time I know I am eating a very healthy diet.

I think what stops so many people from finding the power within themselves to climb this mountain is the pressure they feel to drop all their weight nearly instantly. It simply isn't how it happens if you want to keep it off and be healthy with your loss.

As I have said, it has taken me over two years to get to nearly 90lbs lost. It will take me for sure over another year to get to my ultimate goal. People such as myself who have issues where it takes them physically longer to drop weight then a lot of other people most likely have tried 'diets' over and over again and lost a bit and then met a wall. They become discouraged by the wall and then give up.

I totally know that I have been guilty of that all my life. I would drop 20 or so pounds and then nothing for a weeks and then give up. This time, I didn't and instead of being on a 'diet' I just totally changed the way I eat and live and decided that is what I would do no matter if I lost weight or not. It is only by sticking with it and not judging my rate of weight loss by anybody else's that I am seeing my weight go and stay off.

I have a typical apple shape where most of my weight is in my belly. I get now that part of the reason I used to give up was that my belly just doesn't budge. It wasn't until I lost over 50lbs that my belly started to drop any real inches. Okay, my body around me was but this big thing wasn't moving. It still is bigger than you would think it should be for my current weight. It simply will be the last thing to go on my body. Yet, I was judging all of my previous weight loss attempts on it.

People that think they are a failure because their weight isn't coming off as fast as somebody on The Biggest Loser or somebody on one of the milkshake diets need to be shown that this is a long term thing. The quick fix culture makes so many people feel they are never going to drop weight. They usually will but they need to be shown that they have to do it on the pace *their* body will go.

If it wouldn't take a stupid number of years for me to train, I would think about going into counseling to help other people that I have been as big as me find that inner strength to not give up on their own bodies.

Sarah, i have the deepest respect for someone going through what you are going through. i've been there. i've done it. i know hard it is. I think its a tremendous tragedy that people can be so dismissive of your efforts and achievements and start saying "oh.. well, its a medical thing" when it just isn't.

Its only when you actually sit down, write everything down. plan out meals. plan out your total calories, total grams of fat, carbs and protein for the day and start paying attention does everything come into focus. and your right, where you are getting those calories does matter. the glycemic index is important in terms of controlling hunger and maintaining energy levels within the strict number of calories you eat in a day.

For me, its horrible that people won't do what you're doing. They'll buy pills. They'll buy crappy "seen it on tv" ab machines or whatever. but they won't actually try. they won't try because there is not a quick fix. an easy fix an a fix that doesn't require extraordinary determination, focus and discipline and its horrible that we live in a world where people are so quick to adopt excuses and basically demand that everyone accept that their bodies defy the unbreakable laws of physics (energy in vs energy out)

You've managed to do something that so very few have the strength of character to do and i think that's amazing. I think people like you, doing what you are doing should be what people point to. rather than the ever so elusive, ambiguous and vague "medical condition". the world would truly be a better place if people were just as quick to say "well... look at what Sarah achieved, i guess it is possible"

Thanks. I do think there are medical *factors* for many - myself included. However, there is a difference between having a medical factor that makes it slow and damn hard to drop weight and one that makes it impossible to lose weight. I don't think people intend to make an excuse but more that they really don't believe they are capable of making such a journey. I have been there, I really understand.

These days people that haven't seen me in a long time notice my weight loss when our paths cross. To a single one they will ask me 'how did you do it'? Firstly, I point out that I haven't 'done it' yet because I still have a lot to go. Then I always reply 'pretty boring really..counted calories and exercised'. Their faces usually fall waiting for me to tell them I found some miracle solution.

Hypothyroid, PCOS, excess cortisol excretion and insulin resistance are NOT rare conditions. They affect women the most, but they are very common. And while a poor diet and lack of exercise does not help these conditions, they definitely make it harder to lose weight when your metabolism AND appetite are not 'normal.' Women with PCOS and insulin resistance are HUNGRY. Truly hungry. This is why they need to eat foods that promote the most amount of satiety and control their insulin levels or else hunger and bingeing are inevitable on a typical weight loss diet. No one should "diet" anyway, all you have to do is eat a little less and move a little more. We're been trained to think that weight loss = starvation. Not so. You can eat a LOT and still lose weight if you manage your calorie bank and stay active.

In general it's much harder for a woman to lose weight than a man due to men having so much more lean body mass than women. Women were designed to be fat and water storing machines to produce babies. We're definitely not designed for modern day desk jobs and the plethora of refined carb foods. Then take hormones and menstrual cycles into the equation and you have a whole new animal because women also weren't meant to have as many menstrual cycles as we do in present day.

The human genome has been evolving for millions of years but it's only in the past 100 years that introduced a ridiculous amount of new foods, chemicals, preservatives and other things that our internal program doesn't know what the fuck to do with it. In terms of evolution, we're still infants. What we know about the human mind and body is nearly nothing compared to what we don't know.

Men, women, weight loss, food, calories, etc., all have many, MANY gray areas. There is not a one-size-fits all solution for everyone or every situation, however, the very basic fundamentals ring true for everyone: Eat as many real, minimally processed foods as possible and stay active. This recipe works for everyone but just how you get it to work takes a lot of tweaking and experimenting. What works for you might not work for me and vice versa. You gotta educate yourself and through trial and error, you will find what works. The only diet that works is the one you can stay on today and the rest of your life. So, forget the celery and water. Just scale back on what you already eat, eat the healthier, wholesome, homemade versions of it and before you know it, you have a new lifestyle that doesn't make you feel miserable from being hungry. :thumbsup

I still think I may go the surgery route sometime this year... once the recession starts to tide over. Honestly, I hate taking birth control and metformin. and all that.

But the best thing that worked for me was cutting out any and all sugars and fake sugars. That includes "crystal lite" which every trainer, dieter, whatever tell you that you can drink to replace water.. but with PCOS.. you can't. It still triggers/floods your insulin.... But the best thing that works for me was waking up every morning and doing my metform + a shake with citrus/raspberries/blackberries. Raspberries and blackberries have a high level of fiber... as well as being low in sugar.. mixed with the concoction of the cinnamon to regulate the blood sugar levels.. and the 25-40g's of protein.. (depending on what ya used)... It would keep you full all day.


CONGRATS on 90lbs!! :) Are you doing a breakfast, sarah? My one goal right now is to get right back into doing the shake every morning... then lunch and dinner being sugar and carb free... unless it's whole wheat... with the GI diet.. it said for every 15g's of carbs.. you need 7 grams of protein... so I'm going to make it a part of the lifestyle...

My biggest excuse is lack of routine.. I'd always fit in the gym.. but not fit in the time to figure up everything.. I get frustrated and wish I could be like a normal chick or dude.. and just count the calories... not have to balance all the other shit out too..

But yay.. When you get to 100lbs.. you need to post :)

No not really, only if they're overweight is caused by meds or such

It's annoying when people say "Its genetics".
Genetics doesnt make you eat potato chips, sugar drinks, french fries and candy bars instead of fruit and vegetables.
There were no obese cavemen.

Not that we are cavemen I am sure we all get by what you mean, curious how you know this though?

Not like obesity is a new thing that has only came out in the past 100 years or something.

Nope...
 

I only have sympathy for the devil

It always seems as if overweight people have tons of excuses and fit people have tons of answers.

I'm willing to bet the majority (including about 90% of obese people in this thread) do not suffer from medical conditions serious enough to keep you obese. Your endocrine system might not be at perfectly optimal levels however, it is most likely bullshit to think you are an exception to the rule. Some people just need to work harder to reach specific goals... if your thyroid is under performing, then you might need to work a little harder... that is life.

Unless you're a type I diabetic, you are probably insulin resistant because of your weight and borderline type II diabetic. Lose the weight, watch your insulin sensitivity return to normal.

From the 50's until today, obesity has skyrocketed in the US... this isn't a case of genetic de-evolution... this is a case of poor choices and over convenient, sedentary lifestyles over long periods of time.

Just because you think you're eating healthy and you work out for a year and don't lose much weight doesn't mean its a medical issue... it took years and years for you to get exactly where you are.

Those that have made the jump from obese to fit aren't lucky, they are hard working people who have changed their lifestyles completely and don't look at eating right and working out as a "diet"... it is simply everyday life.

Look at this shit...

http://tulanepadova.pbwiki.com/f/117...hEstat1206.gif

Shit congrats on losing the weight. No no sympothy for fat people i am fat and have none. I don't feel they need sympothy..