Which one of these statements do you agree with more?
Read slowly. They say opposite things…
1. “Overweight and obesity result from excess calorie consumption and/or inadequate physical activity.” U.S. Surgeon General
OR
2. “Most studies comparing normal and overweight people suggest that those who are overweight eat fewer calories than those of normal weight.” – National Academy of Sciences, Diet and Health.
It is interesting how much the small print matters, especially when it comes to your health.
I remember something my doctor once told me. I never ate breakfast or lunch and couldn’t lose weight. He told me to think of my body like a woodstove. If I just get the fire going and only throw the occasional piece of wood (fuel) on the fire, the fire would die out. If we want our bodies to work properly and if we want to lose weight, we need to fuel our bodies, not starve them. It’s just a matter of putting the right fuel in them.
I chose statement B because my scrawny brothers and husband eat like PIGS. They eat a ton more than I ever thought of eating. When I was younger and very skinny, I used to eat a LOT. When I stopped eating so much (because I was afraid of gaining weight) I gained weight. HHHMMM…
Now I’m losing weight by putting the right fuel into my body.
~Roxanne~
Hi Kim,
It is not just the calories consumed, but their glycemic index along with insuline resistance that causes the body to store carbs rather than burn them.
In other words you could eat fewer calories, but still convert them to stored fat.
Muscles need glucose for fuel, so excercise can reverse the storage process.
If the Surgeon General’s statement were the single cause of obesity, then it would be a real easy fix.
It has truth to it, but it is an oversimplification.
I voted for #2.
Death to the fries,
Tom Doiron
http://www.TomDoiron.com
I thought both answers had a lot of merit. It is true the body goes into starvation mode, if it is not fed regularly.
On the other hand, I observe people in restaurants. You can pretty much guess accurately what the plates of the overweight will look like. Then look at what the slim people are eating.
Also, many people who skip beakfast and sometimes even lunch, pig out and eat more than three meals at that time.
Many people don’t realize that you can gain weight by not eating enough just as you can by eating too much. It doesn’t make sense to them because of what we are traditionally taught about why the body gains weight.
I wrote a blog about this some time ago. You can read it at:
http://understandingyourhealth.blogspot.com/2007/12/how-can-i-eat-more-and-lose-weight.html
Joe Washburn