What do you think causes obesity?

[Paralyzer Z]

Now according to Wikipedia (as well as other sources) there is a growing rate of both adult and child obesity in the United States. Hell an unincorporated territory of ours American Samoa has a 93.5% of their population obese. That is ridiculous, to have almost all of your people be that unhealthy. Granted that there are low level and high level obesity stages I believe so it's obvious that not ALL of the residents of the territory look like Yokozuna. All insensitivity, aside, I have wondered, why would someone get themselves unhealthy?

I myself am not the fittest person in the world, far from it actually. Hell a couple of years ago a doctor told me I had become obese, but parental reaction soon fixed that weight and I started working out. To this day all I know is that I love to eat, eat fast and over-stuff myself so much. However I don't know why I would want to give myself, or more importantly anyone else give themselves that feeling. I was watching an eating disorder video, however it was on anorexia nervosa, a purging disorder. Now my level of obesity was low, and rid of quickly, by I am still overweight, however some people in this world have gotten to grotesque levels of fat consumption. My theory on this is that people are craving something, something other than food, mental satisfaction of some sort. When the void isn't met with it's desire, than people use food to fill it up. Digestion from my experience gives physical and mental feelings of enrichment. Then again I am no psychologist, and the official scientific reason for over-eating remains unbeknownst to me. So, I have given my theory now it's your turn.

What do you think is mental reason that people let themselves become obese?

 

[#hamler]

They don't care? Is that a mental reason? It's like you're eating and eating, pretty soon you're fat, then you look in a mirror and you realize you're fat, and you say "fuck it," and keep eating. Seems logical. A combination of that and being lazy is probably the best reasons so many are obese nowadays. Laziness contributes alot to being obese. Whether it's grabbing something extra to eat between meals, not fixing dinner instead of going out, quick and processed food, too lazy to work it off are problems I even face at times.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

It's a passive result of our culture. I don't think anyone wake up in the morning and says "today I want to get really fat" or, more realistically "I have this serious issue, and to get past it, I need to eat until I get really fat". We, and I'm not just speaking for Americans here, have an issue with personal responsibility. The American Dream has gone from "living a stable, profitable, and happy life with your family in which you work a full-time job and own a house" to being able to do whatever you want, whenever you want. That's generally what happens to society when you have an over-abundance of EVERYTHING, and no self-control to regulate your intake.

I'm an overweight male in his mid 20's. That's very common for an American citizen, but it's something I'm actively working on as well. I don't eat large portions because I want to be fat, I eat them because I have the available food, it's delicious, and when I serve it up there's no reason to eat less. It's all about disciplining not just the body, but the mind. And once you've eaten huge amounts of food, without any exercise for the majority of your life, that is what your body and brain get used to. It becomes so that working out, eating healthy, or controlling your portion size is an active choice, and it's pretty difficult to consistently keep yourself in check. It's why weight-loss is such a ridiculous industry in America.

It also doesn't help that ALL of our food is bad, and you have to pay 4x as much just to eat remotely healthy. That's what happens when you let the government make corn a non-profitable commodity, and sell it at dirt cheap prices. Actually, dirt is officially less expensive than corn at this point. I know, that comparison probably makes no sense. The corn issue is huge, but it would take a lot of explaining to actually understand the issue. Suffice it to say that farmers aren't selling corn because it's been regulated too cheap, and they can't make a profit off of it. So instead they use it for feed for cows, which gives them all sorts of health issues (our government actually created E. Coli) and make mass-produced meat terrible for our bodies.

ANYWAYS, the point is we have no self-control, and giant corporations have killed our food supply and made it unhealthy.

 

[SomeAreSet]

Well,what it boils down to is that 1) they eat too much or they eat garbage and 2) don't work off the excess calories they've consumed. Now there could be many reasons for eating too much and not working out. Firstly,when I say "eat too much",I don't mean they eat enough to put a buffet restaurant out of business. If you eat more than what you need,then you're eating too much. As for not working off the excess,they might be too weak to work out (disabled people,people with chronic illnesses that prevent them from overexerting themselves),too lazy to work out,or have conditions due to illness or medication where their weight increases dramatically.

A lot of people can lose weight simply by eating less,eating healthier,and exercising more,but a lot of people are uneducated about nutrition and exercise. A lot of people think that dieting involves giving up good tasting food for tasteless alternatives,when a good diet is nothing like that. I could have fried chicken today,but not have it again until next week. It's not crack,I don't have to keep going back for more. Same goes for Big Macs and doughnuts and pizza. If you only ate those things once a week,it's not a problem. Of course,don't twist the system and have all of those things once a week. I found Men's Health's "Eat This,Not That" a really big help. It sounds like a plug,but the book has a whole list of healthier alternatives in everyday situations,like what kind of low-fat,low-sugar ice-cream to get,what to order at a Burger King,etc. so you don't end up eating almost a thousand calories at lunch or in front of the TV.

Speaking of fried chicken and Big Macs,another reason why the obesity rate is rising is because fast food and junk food are widely available,cheap and more convenient. Most people would take a double cheeseburger over a tuna salad if it saved them 20 minutes. It's almost impossible to compete with the price ranges of fast food,because those things are widely produced and full of artificial product,unlike a chicken breast. Not to mention fast food is pumped full of artificial flavouring,which makes our taste buds desensitized to natural foods. A grilled chicken breast is delicious,but if you've been eating a cheeseburger,you would find it tasteless because the cheeseburger is full of sodium and sugar and fats. People are slowly becoming turned off by real,nutritious foods because of the prices,the time it would take for such a meal to be cooked/served at a restaurant,and the way it tastes.

As for exercise,there's the age old "I don't have the time to go to the gym" excuse,so people make that excuse and stop exercising altogether,when many exercises like running and taking a walk after dinner or doing push ups at home don't require any gym equipment. People start acting like they can only run at a gym,and it really just boils down to laziness and a lack of motivation.

So,those are what I think are contributing to rising obesity rates,but really,anyone with 5 hours a week to spend and a good nutritional knowledge should be able to stay fit and healthy. Laziness and a lack of motivation is a key factor. People used to want to look like models,but then they found out that criticizing models for portraying an unrealistic body image was easier than feeling like shit and trying to lose weight. Then they go out and they see people as fat or fatter than they are and they feel better about their own obesity. It's a vicious cycle and a lot of people lack the self-discipline to break from this false perception that they're fit. People used to want to be number 1,now they're just looking to not finish last.

 

[CH David]

There is no mental defect or anything in healthy people that let them become obese. It's just plain old fashioned being lazy. I'm not in the greatest shape, and it's because I'm lazy. I have no motivation to work out. Whose fault is it? Mine. Not the healthiest eater but I place no blame on anybody but myself. You see mothers and fathers blaming fast food places like McDonalds and Burger King for why they or their child is fat. No dipshit, it's your fault because you eat there 5 times a week and don't exercise.

The cause of obesity is the fact that things are so easily accessible now and you don't have to do much to get them. Fast food for dinner? Sure why not? Let's order a pizza for dinner. OKAY! Can I play video games? Yeah don't go outside and play with your friends you little fatass! It's our fault as a society. People are less active and want to eat whatever they want.

 

[Dagger Dias]

As far as mental reasons go.... I think that laziness and depression play a large part in it. If someone just doesn't care and has no motivation to do anything but sit on the couch eating burgers all day, then they will begin getting obese. Depression can be linked to it too. While the lazier people just don't care and thereore have no motivation.... Depressed people (at least from my own experiences) have no motivation either and use food to make them feel better. Eating foods that taste great obviously feels good, so why not have that extra slice of pizza if you feel like the world hates you? At least you'll feel a little better. Well, over time that builds up and can make someone obese. I'm sure there are more mental causes out there, but those two come to mind the quickest for me because both deal with a severe lack of motivatiopn and if one is not motivated to stay in good health, then they have a larger chance of becoming obese.