I think we are mostly agreeing here. On the genetics issue, however, we have very different ways of looking at it. I was raised to believe that I have a genetic predisposition to obesity (a lot of it in the family), and as a consequences, I have to be more disciplined and active than others.

Knowing I have a genetic predisposition means I have a heightened responsibility- I do not think that acknowledging the role of genetics in any way justifies fatalism about one's weight/ physical condition. If anything, it should be a red flag that a person might need to pay special attention to their physical condition and eating habits to prevent obesity.

The key is to starve yourself and ride 350 miles a week. Weight loss is easy then![/QUOTE]

unfortunately this is 100% true........

Ding ding ding...


Winner winner chicken dinner. Of course there are genetic predispositions. But diet still plays the biggest role.

They covered that 50 years ago in a classic Twilight Zone episode.

you fatties are still in here bickering?

I started commuting at 292. No idea how much I lost the first year (didn't ride in the winter) and gained a lot of it back. Since getting my scale June 2010, I've been no bigger than 278.5 and as of this morning down to 257.4.

I'm with you, genetics will only make you susceptible to gaining lots of weight. Of course there has been lots of changes in our diets and what those foods are made of that screwing us up.

I think the Food Pyramid screwed us over, 6-11 servings of grains/breads a day means you are eating at least 1 piece of bread with every meal. Now, 20ish years later, they've decided to change it, but it is still carb heavy.

Obviously you are part of the big lie perpetrated by the sports equipment complex and medical profession...

In other words, unidentified chemicals take unidentified actions on identified genes to make everyone except Grumpy fat.

I think I'm beginning to understand why people didn't realize I was screwing around when I connected obesity with global warming.

I got it Banner, you're too smart a guy to believe something as that.

They are skinnier than me because ...

1) They actually do eat less than me despite appearances to the contrary.

2) They exercise more than me.


Neither of those options would be hard to believe because I have a fairly large appetite ... and I'm sure there are lots of people who exercise more than I do.


They are not skinnier than me because of genetics, bone size, metabolism, muscle mass vs. fat mass, mysterious chemicals, global warming, global cooling, or any other excuses people might dredge up to lay fault on anyone or anything other than themselves.

I'm not anymore...down to 169lbs...5' 10 1/2"....sprinter weight. I still suck at climbing though...but that is cardio/recovery issue.

Processed foods and a sedentary lifestyle = fat people.

The "Obesity Boom" started when the government told us to eat a low-fat diet. An explosion of low-fat, "healthy" food items appeared in the grocery stores, most of them full of sugar and simple carbs that quickly become sugar. Sugar while doing exercise is one thing, eating sugar while sitting on the couch playing X-box or watching Jersey Shore marathons is quite another. Junk food doesn't trigger the "I'm full" response from your body so you just keep shoveling it in. Fast food used to be a treat, now it's a daily affair for lots of people. Saturated fats became evil because of a doctor and his faulty research and now everyone cooks with crappy vegetable oils that are even worse for you.

Kids no longer walk to school or play outside or ride bikes. Adults buy riding lawnmowers for their postage stamp sized yards and leaf blowers.

Eat real food, eat less of it, and go ride your bike. Quit blaming genetics and the BMI scale.

-I'm bbattle and I'm a fattie who will demolish any bag of potato chips that somehow gets into my house. 5' 8" and 164 lbs.

another blog to check out: https://www.fatcyclist.com/

omg the fatness!

Ah the 41! So many righteous yet only one right. A good and accurate post.

Genetics ftw. I eat 2 large bags of chips a week - but other than that, I eat healthy choices. Last time I got my body fat checked, I was @ 8%. I was 5'9 @ 155lbs. I'm actually down to 150lbs now. I generally eat 3500-4000 cals a day, but I'm pretty active. Gym 3 times a week, bike almost daily and run at least once a week.

My entire family is all small (at least my mom's side where I got my metabolism genes) and eat don't eat as healthy as I do. I can lose weight very easily but gaining is very hard for me.

One of my favourite episodes! I watched it as a re-run though.......

Well I did offer three options.
Categorizing others wouldn't be big of me.

I feel a bit silly arguing medicine with a surgeon, but anyway-

Firstly--nobody mentioned gastric/bariatric surgery as a solution to anything,
Secondly--telling fat people to starve themselves thin is not a cure, it is a treatment that completely avoids confronting the cause. Of course the cause isn't known, and that's not your fault--but the point still stands.


Let's play a game: we'll call it "What Causes This?" Everybody get your doctor hats on! Are you ready?

1) What can cause a person to drink too much water?

2) What can cause a person to breathe too much?

3) What can cause a person to shake too much?

4) What can cause a person to talk too loud?

5) What can cause a person to sleep too much?

6) What can cause a person to cough too much?

7) What can cause a person to squint their eyes too much?

8) What can cause a person to weigh too much?

All the above questions are similar, in that they all involve acts that can be controlled consciously--yet any of the first seven is presumed to have a medical cause that can be addressed directly. Obesity is the last medical condition left that is still acceptable to blame entirely on the patient's lack of self-control.

If you look back on the entire history of medical science, it doesn't make any sense at all that people would willingly make themselves suffer with being obese.

Road biking is the only sport you can sit down on your saddle, behind a pack. Being following effortless at 40 kph.

Add any triathlete or any runner into the category and you lose all the fat guys. You can bike easy at 40 kph being fat, you can't run at 15 kph when your fat. End of story.

And you have 2 large bag of chips grease floating around in your coronary arteries around your athletic heart. Whatch out at 65, you might not be able to train 7 day a week when you have angina at rest

My friend is kind of like you. 5'6" 115 lbs. He tries to get bigger, but goes about it entirely the wrong way. He will literally eat a bowl of crispy bacon while watching TV. Almost no exercise. He also eats at 1AM and whatever he feels like (anything with meat and extremely little greens). His comments are kinda wacky too. "I'm stuck at this weight, and nothing is working! I want to get bigger."

Well, what IS working inside of him is all that grease building up in his arteries. No matter what though, he won't listen because he wants to get big.

Genetics is not always ftw. Especially when it messes up someone's way of thinking!

You never took a logic class did you?

So the roughly 700 people that took 6 hrs or more to run the marathon portion of Ironman Canada were all lean hard specimens? I suspect if you were to look at the pictures you'd see quite a few fatties in that race.

If anyone actually wants to spend more than a few minutes in an attempt to understand some science behind the obesity epidemic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

It does not go into detail about genetic/racial differences in how foods are processed in the body (it is outside the scope of the lecture) but it does attempt to de-bunk the notion of calories in, calories out being the primary concern when talking about obesity.

I really have no interest in arguing with anyone about this. Every person can choose what they want to believe. But I think it's incredibly naive so say that obesity is purely a result of calories in calories out and that obese people only have themselves to blame.

I have seen that a while ago, I think he's mostly right. Like he said at the beginning. "Our genetic pool did not changed in the last 30yrs, but boy, oh boy has our environment sure changed."

It might not be calories in, but its definitely what we eat thats the problem. If you start eating 85% vegetables, you will lose weight no matter how much you eat.

Yeah I agree that what you eat is a huge problem. But that means it's not just about calories in, calories out. Some posters here seem to think that is an absolute, and he specifically targets that mentality (as well as the idea that all obese people are just weak willed sloths).

He also mentions at the start of the video I link below that "obesity is part of the human condition. There are about 60 different medical causes of obesity." He doesn't go into it obviously as the video is about the current obesity epidemic, but the point remains that there are other factors contributing to obesity, that can be more important than calories in/out. For example, It's fairly well accepted that stress for example will make you gain weight easier, and smokers will gain weight if they quit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z5X0i92OZQ
(It's the same guy delivering another version of the same lecture, slightly different anecdotes/slides in parts.)

The video caption is
"In a special event hosted by the County Office of Education on March 24, 2011, Dr. Robert Lustig, Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, in the Division of Endocrinology Director of the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health (WATCH) Program at UCSF, speaks about the role of sugar and the contribution of biochemical, neural, hormonal, and genetic influences in the expression of the current obesity epidemic both in children and adults."

Of course it isn't JUST your diet but that is prob. the greatest factor in determining if your gonna be fat or not. I doubt that a genetic predisposition could make you eat the fried chicken, fried beer, fried butter etc. that I saw at the Texas State Fair a few weeks ago. Seriously fried butter!!! Eaten by itself!! Pure madness!