Weight Control - was: Pills for longevity in the next decades

[Guest guest]

Hi Logan:

So you say weight gain is just not that simple, and list five

supposedly irrisistible temptations to explain it. From what you

say, if it is correct (I have no knowledge of the factors you

describe) then it looks as if there are perhaps hundreds of calories-

worth of temptations coercing people to eat too much. You do not

quantify it, but I would guess at least, say, 300 calories

of 'coercion'?

I suggest that cannot be correct. If it were, then those who make no

effort to resist these temptations would put on an extra 100 pounds

of weight every 3.2 years. (300 x 365 x 3.2 / 3500 = 100 pounds).

Do you know of even a single case where weight gain has been that

fast? My impression is that, as noted in my earlier post, the people

who are 100 pounds overweight got that way over decades. In other

words, and as I also pointed out, even the people who are grossly

over weight get there on a daily excess of only about 50 calories.

SO ......... *IF* I am correct you still have not answered the

question I posed which is " why do some people not have what it takes

to restrain themselves to the extent of a mere ~50 calories a day? "

On the other hand, *IF* you are correct, and all the physiological

temptations you describe are real, then the question becomes: " Why

is it that these over-eating people manage to restrain themselves to

the tune of 250 calories a day, but are apparently incapable of the

final extra 50 calories of restraint they need to maintain a stable

weight? "

[Or for those who put on only 50 extra pounds in twenty years, why

are they unable to restrain themselves just the 25 extra calories a

day that, if they had done it, would have resulted in a stable

weight?]

Whichever way you slice it, and whatever rate of weight gain you want

to talk about, it comes down to small daily caloric amounts. THIS,

INCIDENTALLY, SHOULD BE VERY ENCOURAGING TO EVERYONE, because it

suggests the degree of restraint required is not that huge.

Yesterday I was in a coffee shop eating one multi-grain bagel with

nothing on it, and a cup of coffee with nothing in it. At the next

table, with his back to me so I could observe without causing

offence, was a man reading a book. He had bought a box of donuts

that were made of white flour that had first been deep fried and then

dipped into liquid sugar to give them a sugar coating. I timed it

(and logged onto the coffee shop chain's web site later to check my

facts). He was eating them at a rate of 1800 kcal per hour (although

he didn't have quite an hour's supply, but there was plenty more

where they had come from). The time was noon. So presumably this

was lunch. I don't know what he had eaten for breakfast.

He was about 5' 10 " (tall), and had a waist measurement of between 95

and 100 inches. I estimate his WC/H = ~1.4; his BMI, who knows?

Perhaps 72?

I think 'addiction' is the right word for this. It is in the mind,

not in the physiology, imo.

Rodney.

> > Does it really take super-human determination to exercise the

> > restraint necessary to forego that last half a banana a day? If

it

> > does, then congratulations to the members here! But perhaps they

> > just don't care, as Francesca seems to be suggesting?