@Hitcore reading your latest rant, I can see that we basically agree and your scenarios gave me the usual chuckles, too. I'd say the difference is mostly in angle, or perspective of the situation and crucially, that while scientific knowledge about obesity in the genuine science community has come on massively in the last decade or two, they're the first to say that they have a
long way to go to fully understand this very complex problem. A key advance has been the development of these GLP-1 "agonist" drugs (that word really irritates me, dunno why, just does) that get right under the skin of weight gain and help massively to control it. No wonder they're all the rage around the world now.
This lack of knowledge by even the very top scientists leads to arguments amongst themselves and especially to the Great Unwashed, like us. Well, not me, I'm Special, don't say I didn't warn you.
Yes, that energy equation must be balanced, so repeating the energy in must equal energy out mantra as some sort of explanation, means nothing. We know this, no one argues this. It's how it's balanced, or otherwise, that counts. The fact remains that two unrelated people of the same sex, hight, age, ethnicity, health and several other factors can be given the same amount of calories from reasonable food along with exercise, one will get fat while the other won't. Scientific studies have proved this, what we already know from life experience, so it's not just marketing. This is what leads to the question of "why are thin people not fat?" which gets right to the heart of the problem. Answering it properly is leading to lots of new science about this problem and confirmation and expanded knowlege of known science, too.
Lemme reply to some of your rant here and it shouldn't turn into a massive heated back and forth, either.
And sure, we live in a society, driven by corporate greed, where it's easier to get unhealthy food than healthy foods. I recognize that this is far from ideal. But it is not impossible. Choose the banana over the Snickers bar. Choose fresh meat cuts over processed chicken nuggets, and so on.
That profitable obesogenic environment created to generate vast, limitless profits for the evil men and women behind them that we must all live and buy the crap that our corporate overlords demand of us to obediantly do. Alas, it mostly works as that food is freely available and is often cheaper than the good quality stuff. Plus, it's been engineered to be morishly tasty, so how can one possibly resist?! Just have at it!
Yet, resist we must and at least some of the time, it's not impossible. It's also true that many people who eat the same crap just remain stubbornly thin throughout their lives, even when they get old, while the rest of us look on with great envy - and that includes me. (Important note: I'm actually really thin, but that thinness somehow disappeared down the back of the sofa years ago, never to be found again, alas.) Why is that? Again, we come back to the question of why are thin people not fat. Note that said thin people aren't necessarily at peak health though as high levels of junk food and little quality food will reduce the health of anyone over time, but the effects are way less acute since fatness related diseases are usually absent.
Most of my family is overweight, sometimes downright obese. It's easy to point at genetics then and say "oh it runs in the family". And some of them do say that. But I know them. I know what they eat. I know what I have been eating. It's not pretty. I do have a nephew who is in great shape. You know why he is in great shape? Not genetics either (he has the same genetics as the rest of us after all). This guy gets up every morning way before he needs to get up, puts on his running shoes, and runs for miles. Every morning. Plus that his diet is sensible, he actively avoids fastfood and most other superprocessed foods.
I'm really sorry to hear they're like that and yes, it
does run in families. Again, put such people in that obesogenic environment, little to no direction and support with their diet and exercise, plus the inevitable daily cravings and they'll just succumb to that obesogenic environment. I know, I'm one of them.
Now, change that equation by putting said fatties on Mounjaro, Wegovy etc before anything else and what happens? Lots of side effects that's what, plus weight loss without even trying as it kills their appetite and cravings to the point where they can look at food, but be unable to eat it, especially in the beginning when the body isn't used to it. I've recently experienced exactly this and have now lost a few pounds already. Other, more unpleasant side effects happen too like diarrhea, but let's not dwell on those. They can be Googled if you want to know about what they are. Suffice to say that such meds should only be taken under the strict supervision of their doctor, never off label like so many rich fools do. And then used only as directed and as per the information leaflet that they all come with.
These fatties begin to lose weight without changing anything else, either. Now
that's something we can work with! Of course, these drugs should go hand in hand with professional support regarding diet and exercise to continue that weight loss and help to keep them healthier, too. Alas, this second half of the treatment can be sorely lacking, but that's a healthcare service issue. Again though, people can do their own research along with joining diet groups of people in a similar situation, so not a dealbreaker.
It's great that you're winning the Fight the Flab war, but think how much effort and motivation you're putting in now and for the rest of your life to achieve it, even as your body becomes ever more efficient at holding on to that weight and in fact, increasing it as you age, frustrating your efforts. Do you really think you can keep this up for the rest of your life? For some it's possible, but that's a vanishingly small number, somewhere between 2 and 5%, so if you can't maintain it, you're not a failure. No, like everyone else, you are likely to eventually need medicated help to keep this going.
I know that this will be dismissed as anecdotal evidence
I move to dismiss, Your Honour! Well no, just messing.
TL;DR only few people can't help obesity, most people CAN help it, so do better. Yes, for some it's more difficult than for others, try harder then.
No, unfortunately, most people can't help it, for the reasons I've explained above, so this is where we differ, due to that new scientific knowledge from recent years. They can try and fight it and may have temporary successess, but in the end it will result in failure as their bodies get older and naturally fatter. It's about time this old view of blaming the victim was thrown out and the new one of recognizing weight gain and overweightness as the chronic health condition that it is. No, that's not a catch-all excuse to just eat unlimited amounts of chocolate, fried food, random garbage, etc with wild abandon either and claim you can't help it and most people aren't like that, either. That would be a real quick way to an early grave, damn. Basic responsibility remains and I think you'll find even those few people who have given up like this will be more than happy to change their ways with the help of weight loss drugs and professional guidance for diet and exercise.
The biggest irony of all, is that us fatties are the ones with the genetic advantage in famine environments as we tend to store the food energy as fat rather than burn it as thermogenesis when they eat, so will last longer under such conditions. That's unfortunately why evolution went this way, but in today's modern obesogenic environment it's a disaster as it can't be switched off. Maybe one day it will be, we'll see, but don't hold your breath.
Now, your North Korea example is a great illustration of this. Most of the population are being starved, while one Fat Fuck stuffs his Fucking Fat Fuck face with fried food and all the other garbage. Result: they're all skinny while he's a Fat Fuck. Man I love saying Fat Fuck so offensively (in self-important caps), don't you?!
Since I started on setraline, an SSRI antidepressant, I gained weight like nobody’s business! No change whatsoever!
www.bbc.co.uk
Took hours.
