New fat gene found
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EdFred
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Re: New far gene found
You know what regulates me being fat? My own sorry lack of self discipline - just like eeeeeeverybody else.
I've cut to 1200 calories a day, and holy crap, I've lost 23 pounds since my birthday, with no other changes to my diet or lifestyle.
Am I hungry at times? Yes. Do I stuff more food in my face when I get hungry? No. I suck it up and deal with it.
You know what regulates me being fat? My own sorry lack of self discipline - just like eeeeeeverybody else.
I've cut to 1200 calories a day, and holy crap, I've lost 23 pounds since my birthday, with no other changes to my diet or lifestyle.
Am I hungry at times? Yes. Do I stuff more food in my face when I get hungry? No. I suck it up and deal with it.
steingar
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EdFred
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Re: New far gene found
Yeah, it's called exercise, and when I get down to target weight, I'll go back to a normal diet. Something I'm pretty sure these people with the "fat gene" are adverse to. Or is there a gene that makes people not exercise too?
Yeah, it's called exercise, and when I get down to target weight, I'll go back to a normal diet. Something I'm pretty sure these people with the "fat gene" are adverse to. Or is there a gene that makes people not exercise too?
masloki
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Re: New far gene found
I'd say Ed is 80-90% right. I do know a few people overweight that eat consistently less than I do but do not shed a significant amount of weight. There is research out there demonstrating that once you go overweight and drop back down, your body does darn near every trick to get you back to that previous weight. Showing that two 140 pound women doing the same exercise, burn different amounts of calories. The one that shed 20-30 pounds consistently burned less for equivalent exercise. This isn't genetic predisposition, but weight loss and keeping it off isn't easy.
I'd say Ed is 80-90% right. I do know a few people overweight that eat consistently less than I do but do not shed a significant amount of weight. There is research out there demonstrating that once you go overweight and drop back down, your body does darn near every trick to get you back to that previous weight. Showing that two 140 pound women doing the same exercise, burn different amounts of calories. The one that shed 20-30 pounds consistently burned less for equivalent exercise. This isn't genetic predisposition, but weight loss and keeping it off isn't easy.
JOhnH
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Re: New far gene found
Actually, I bet there is a gene that makes some people less prone to exercise. I would love to lay on the couch, eat chips and watch football all day. My wife would go crazy if she couldn't go for a walk or a bike ride or hike a nature trail or go swimming. She has that exercise gene.
I started a diet and exercise routine 3 years ago and lost about 45 pounds. But it is a struggle every single damn day. I get up at 4:30am 5 days a week to go to the gym for an hour. I go to the Gym after work 4 days a week for another hour. I also go to the gym once or twice on weekends.
My breakfast is a quarter cup of Greek yogurt with a quarter cup dry oat meal and some blueberries stirred in.
I eat a big salad almost every day for lunch with a little vinegar and olive oil. I do admit I put some Blue Cheese in for flavor and occasionally, some olives.
For supper, I fix a plate the same size as my wife's plate and she easily maintains her weight at about 80 pounds less than me and I never go back for seconds. When we have meat, it is usually a small portion of fish or grilled boneless, skinless chicken breast.
But if I slack off for a day or two, the pounds start adding back up again. That just ain't right, but I am dealing with it. I would pay THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS if I didn't have to go through this for the rest of my life. But I suspect I will, and I suspect I will die earlier than someone without such a weight problem.
God, I miss pizza, Chili, Chicken Wings, Scotch, beer, wine ribs, and French fries. Normal people can eat that stuff but I can't.
Oh, and when you get to your target weight and go back to your regular diet, my guess is that you will balloon back up to more than you used to be.
Actually, I bet there is a gene that makes some people less prone to exercise. I would love to lay on the couch, eat chips and watch football all day. My wife would go crazy if she couldn't go for a walk or a bike ride or hike a nature trail or go swimming. She has that exercise gene.
I started a diet and exercise routine 3 years ago and lost about 45 pounds. But it is a struggle every single damn day. I get up at 4:30am 5 days a week to go to the gym for an hour. I go to the Gym after work 4 days a week for another hour. I also go to the gym once or twice on weekends.
My breakfast is a quarter cup of Greek yogurt with a quarter cup dry oat meal and some blueberries stirred in.
I eat a big salad almost every day for lunch with a little vinegar and olive oil. I do admit I put some Blue Cheese in for flavor and occasionally, some olives.
For supper, I fix a plate the same size as my wife's plate and she easily maintains her weight at about 80 pounds less than me and I never go back for seconds. When we have meat, it is usually a small portion of fish or grilled boneless, skinless chicken breast.
But if I slack off for a day or two, the pounds start adding back up again. That just ain't right, but I am dealing with it. I would pay THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS if I didn't have to go through this for the rest of my life. But I suspect I will, and I suspect I will die earlier than someone without such a weight problem.
God, I miss pizza, Chili, Chicken Wings, Scotch, beer, wine ribs, and French fries. Normal people can eat that stuff but I can't.
Oh, and when you get to your target weight and go back to your regular diet, my guess is that you will balloon back up to more than you used to be.
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Re: New far gene found
"new far gene found"
I read the thread title and thought there was a gene that leads to a predisposition to generate useless regulations.
Cheers
"new far gene found"
I read the thread title and thought there was a gene that leads to a predisposition to generate useless regulations.
Cheers
JOhnH
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Re: New far gene found
That was my first thought too!"new far gene found"
I read the thread title and thought there was a gene that leads to a predisposition to generate useless regulations.
Cheers
steingar
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Re: New far gene found
Sorry, just noticed that typo. Can't go back and change it any way I know.
"new far gene found"
I read the thread title and thought there was a gene that leads to a predisposition to generate useless regulations.
Cheers
Sorry, just noticed that typo. Can't go back and change it any way I know.
EdFred
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Re: New far gene found
Well, my regular diet, wasn't that regular. I cook everything from scratch at home. And in doing so, I stumbled upon creating some extremely tasty, but extremely fattening sauces. As good as an alfredo sauce made with cream cheese and butter is, I was packing on the pounds when I would eat about a cup and a half worth of sauce on a dinner plate covered with about 2-3 cups of cooked pasta and 2 chicken breasts deep fried in egg wash and panko, along with two slices of garlic bread. That was dinner. Probably in excess of 2500 calories. Plus lunch was probably a fast food meal that day as well.
Well, my regular diet, wasn't that regular. I cook everything from scratch at home. And in doing so, I stumbled upon creating some extremely tasty, but extremely fattening sauces. As good as an alfredo sauce made with cream cheese and butter is, I was packing on the pounds when I would eat about a cup and a half worth of sauce on a dinner plate covered with about 2-3 cups of cooked pasta and 2 chicken breasts deep fried in egg wash and panko, along with two slices of garlic bread. That was dinner. Probably in excess of 2500 calories. Plus lunch was probably a fast food meal that day as well.
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wabower
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Two guys, one obviously older, are standing at adjacent stalls in the men's room. The older guy says "I don't drink, smoke, stay out late or consort with women. I only eat the healthiest of foods, exercise regularly, maintain the same weight at which I graduated high school and today I'm celebrating my 84th birthday."
The other looked back and said "How?"
The other looked back and said "How?"
Just another EXCUSE for fat, lazy people with NO self control to blame their problem on...
DavidWhite
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I'm not fat! I've got a glandular problem!! Now pass the Ho Hos.
This is your lucky week.... Good News is Twinkies hit the store shelves yesterday... Bad news is............ Ho Ho's wont be re-introduced for another month or so...
Please don't go bonkers till then David..
steingar
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Just another EXCUSE for fat, lazy people with NO self control to blame their problem on...
No, just genetics and biochemistry. Some day you'll get off your soapbox, wake up and realize that the data never lies. The data is neither conservative nor liberal, and is utterly colorblind. And the data is always right. Always.
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah....
At first they said smoking was good for you...
Salt was bad for you,,,, then it was ok...
Eggs were bad for you,,,, then it was ok...
Liquor was bad for you,,,, then it was ok..
Rinse and Repeat.....................
You just have to love that DATA stuff..
JOhnH
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Just another EXCUSE for fat, lazy people with NO self control to blame their problem on...
I'm not sure if you are being sarcastic or not, but I'd like to know why people get so worked up about stories like this? What causes someone, who is probably just as screwed up in other ways, to demonstrate such a fake superiority complex?
I'd wager that if self control could be measured, my "self control" exceeds most people on this board in most areas. But appetite control is the hardest thing there is for me to control. Being hungry is not something you can control. It is something you suffer through. With no end in site. Ever. At present, I have my weight under control and it is going on 2 years now. I am still heavy, but I am in great shape and my 36 inch pants fit better than my 44s used to. And my 172 seems bigger now.
But when people try to act like they are better than me because they don't have to struggle, it really makes me think less of them. A LOT less.
bnt83
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Is it more work being fat or fit?
You decide.
Personally I hate being over anything over 190#, even tho I am around 6 feet tall. The extra weight takes its toll on the skin grafts of my feet.
I have a hard time with tunnel vision as I get focused on a big project then slack on weight management.
You decide.
Personally I hate being over anything over 190#, even tho I am around 6 feet tall. The extra weight takes its toll on the skin grafts of my feet.
I have a hard time with tunnel vision as I get focused on a big project then slack on weight management.
EdFred
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It's not about a superiority complex. It's that it just gives a lot of people an excuse to be slovenly. "I must have that fat gene, can't do anything about it, pass the Ben and Jerry's." The problem is, if we blame it on a gene, and the the AMA gets involved, pretty soon, we're spending tax money to "help" people whose diets consist of Lucky Charms with chocolate YooHoo for breakfast, Wendy's Baconator meal for lunch, and a KFC bucket for dinner. All the while snacking on pork rinds, Funyuns, and Jolt cola between meals, because they have a "medical disorder." That's the problem I have with trying to "blame" it on a gene.
bnt83
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Ever seen a very obese person on break from a desk job?
Teaching thyself self control is step #1.
EdFred
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Ever seen a very obese person on break from a desk job?
Teaching thyself self control is step #1.
I had a friend/acquaintance that passed away last year. We figured he weighed over 500lbs. They had to cut the house open to get him out when he died. I only knew him when he was big. I friend went to HS with him, and said he wasn't always that way. He used to play tennis, exercise, everything. Then he just let himself go. I remember we had a get together at another friend's house and he shows up with two footlong subway sandwiches, a full size bag of doritos, and a 2 liter of pop. It was all gone within 30 minutes of getting there, and then he was talking about stopping to get food on the way home. Coupled with his tech support desk job, yeah, it's a gene.
steingar
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The better the understanding, the more control we can exert. There are people who, if given safe and biological appetite control, will use it to achieve sustainable weight loss. Not everyone will, but even if a small percentage do it could be a lot of people. Lots of obesity in the western world.
bnt83
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The folks who try different things like coffee, tea, drinking more water, folks that keep trying will ultimately succeed.
EdFred
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And I would say 95+% of that is portion control and food selection, not genetic. Hell, I was guilty of it. Go to a restaurant, and look at the menu items. "24oz porterhouse with two sides, free rolls, and an appetizer, followed by dessert. Don't mind if I do!"
One time I had TWO 24 oz porterhouses plus appetizer and dessert at a restaurant in one sitting.
bnt83
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jesse
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Re: New far gene found
That. I've been around some very skinny people that actually eat incredibly poorly the main thing is that they just don't eat that often because they are very rarely hungry. When they do, it's crap food, but they fill really quickly and was probably the only thing they've ate that day.
That. I've been around some very skinny people that actually eat incredibly poorly the main thing is that they just don't eat that often because they are very rarely hungry. When they do, it's crap food, but they fill really quickly and was probably the only thing they've ate that day.
azure
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If there's a single gene for putting on weight then I probably have it. I was overweight for most of my adult life until about 10 years ago. It wasn't lack of exercise since I've hiked and ridden a bicycle all my life too. Like most people, everything I ate went instantly to my waist. I couldn't keep the pounds off. On New Years Day 2003 I weighed 175 lbs. Then that winter I gave up sugar-sweetened drinks and started seriously controlling my food intake. I dropped 35 lbs in about 5 months and by August weighed in at 138. I've lost another 3-4 lbs since then and haven't been above 140 since.
People talk about learning to live with hunger. In my experience, the hunger goes away. Today I eat 2 main meals a day with a smaller snack in the evening. If I overeat, I feel uncomfortably full the next couple of days and compensate by eating lighter. My diet is still not the greatest. I rarely eat red meat but I'm not a vegetarian either, and I have a weakness for dairy (both yogurt and cheese). But I've managed to keep obesity at bay without really trying for nearly 10 years. This isn't willpower, my appestat is just set differently than before. In fact, when work stress is high, I actually have trouble maintaining my weight and tend to lose involuntarily.
If I had a "fat gene", I don't see how I could have flipped my body from a high BMI maintaining to a low BMI maintaining state. I think it's likelier that fat metabolism is determined largely by dietary habits, possibly through feedback mechanisms involving insulin and insulin resistance (but I'm not a biologist, and could be way off base here).
People talk about learning to live with hunger. In my experience, the hunger goes away. Today I eat 2 main meals a day with a smaller snack in the evening. If I overeat, I feel uncomfortably full the next couple of days and compensate by eating lighter. My diet is still not the greatest. I rarely eat red meat but I'm not a vegetarian either, and I have a weakness for dairy (both yogurt and cheese). But I've managed to keep obesity at bay without really trying for nearly 10 years. This isn't willpower, my appestat is just set differently than before. In fact, when work stress is high, I actually have trouble maintaining my weight and tend to lose involuntarily.
If I had a "fat gene", I don't see how I could have flipped my body from a high BMI maintaining to a low BMI maintaining state. I think it's likelier that fat metabolism is determined largely by dietary habits, possibly through feedback mechanisms involving insulin and insulin resistance (but I'm not a biologist, and could be way off base here).
bnt83
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Re: New far gene found
Aren't those the ones that die at 45 from hypertension, still skinny?
Aren't those the ones that die at 45 from hypertension, still skinny?
jesse
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bnt83
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Don't forget a lot of them have the disgusting habit of cigarettes, food tastes like s*** so they don't eat much of it.
JOhnH
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First, at 175 pounds, you were not fat, unless you are about 3 feet tall.
And even if you were fat, and even if there is a fat gene, that doesn't mean that all fat people have the fat gene. And it doesn't meant that all people with the fat gene are fat.
And even if you have the fat gene, and if you were actually fat, and if you were able to consciously defeat and overcome the effects of that gene, are you theorizing that your example would hold true for everyone?
I have been eating one of the healthiest diets of anyone I know for a few years now. And just this thread is making me incredibly hungry. So I will go home and slice a few tomatoes and put them over some mixed lettuce and celery and spinkle some olive oil and organic apple cider vinegar over it and call it lunch. And I will pass by several pizza joints and a few fried chicken places and try once again to resist the temptation.
Now Smokers on the other hand, they are filthy stupid creatures and I have no tolerance for them. If they wanted to, they could go cold turkey. Try that with food.
And even if you were fat, and even if there is a fat gene, that doesn't mean that all fat people have the fat gene. And it doesn't meant that all people with the fat gene are fat.
And even if you have the fat gene, and if you were actually fat, and if you were able to consciously defeat and overcome the effects of that gene, are you theorizing that your example would hold true for everyone?
I have been eating one of the healthiest diets of anyone I know for a few years now. And just this thread is making me incredibly hungry. So I will go home and slice a few tomatoes and put them over some mixed lettuce and celery and spinkle some olive oil and organic apple cider vinegar over it and call it lunch. And I will pass by several pizza joints and a few fried chicken places and try once again to resist the temptation.
Now Smokers on the other hand, they are filthy stupid creatures and I have no tolerance for them. If they wanted to, they could go cold turkey. Try that with food.
bnt83
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Smokers - A lot of them were skinny when they started, and like the inability to quit smoking, end up eating and lot and get fat too. Double whammy.
MAKG1
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I dunno. I read the title and immediately thought of this guy:
Not much "new" about that, though.
Not much "new" about that, though.
azure
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I'm 5 foot 7 (female). According to this BMI calculator, my BMI was 27.4 which is overweight. At my heaviest around 26, I weighed in at 196 (BMI = 30.7 = obese >30). I was definitely fat, and I had tried and failed several times to get down to and stay at a normal weight.
That's certainly true. But the theory that fat people have a genetic difference from normal weight people has been argued for years on the basis that some people simply can't keep the weight off, that their energy requirements or the way they metabolize food is different, and if that's true, I certainly fit the description. IOW I don't know my genotype, but I definitely had the phenotype of the average American who can't keep the pounds off.
I'm saying that my experience is more consistent with the theory (which isn't mine) that dietary habits control metabolism as much as metabolism controls dietary habits. I can't say whether this holds for everyone, but I can say that it took many months, even years before I noticed that my body really had changed in a way that would be difficult to reverse. I never expected it to happen to me, but it did.
I hope it gets easier for you, John. Really.
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steingar
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As much as I detest tobacco products and the industries that produce them I have some sympathy for the users. Nicotine is easily one of the most addictive drugs known to man, and societally acceptable to boot. Yes, some can easily kick the habit, but there are those who cannot, everyone's brain chemistry is different. Just because one can doesn't mean all can. Sort of like how not everyone can bench press 300 pounds despite the fact that some can.
masloki
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Yep, if anything science has taught us, there is no one truth about the human body. Social smokers that never get addicted, social smokers that takes months before they are regular smokers but have a high success rate or high failure rate when quitting, and smokers that get addicted straight away and fail frequently when quitting. I suppose non-smokers are on that spectrum too.