I know it sounds like common sense, but I think a lot of us grew up with parents that made us finish our food even if we weren’t hungry. So eating more than we needed was normalized, and it became difficult to just stop mid meal.
Growing up with not much also conditioned you to eat everything on the off chance you can get a full meal. This has been a point of contention with my SO several times. They came from a well off family and they have no problem not finishing their food or not using some ingredients in the fridge whereas I’ve been conditioned to finish all meals no matter what and to be able to use up everything (not letting stuff expire) stored in the fridge.
Strong “you can’t let good food go to waste” in the post-war generation, including in my own family. It’s so ingrained even in the next generations that many of us will just “finish their plate” even though there’s no necessity there. Some of us are quite well off now, but attitudes around food haven’t changed. You have to finish your plate. You can’t let good food go to waste. People elsewhere are starving. People worked hard so you could have this food. You don’t know when you’ll be able to have a nice meal like this again.
Like you, I realized the difference when I met people from different, well off, culturally food-secure backgrounds. They’d just stop eating, and throw the uneaten leftovers in the trash. Doesn’t matter how good the food was. Doesn’t matter how expensive the food was. Doesn’t matter that you could eat the leftovers later.
I had a really hard time landing on some reasonable middle ground (you can save leftovers, but you’re allowed to stop eating when you’re full, etc.). Made me realize that it’s so much more cultural than personal. Also raises questions about what we’re going to pass down to the next generations, intentionally or not.
It’s also not rocket science to figure out, how much you need to eat and plan your groceries accordingly. I seldom throw away food or let it go to waste and I really dislike, if others do.
I’m a 100 pound they who’s always - always - had trouble eating past the full feeling.
Like to me. Eating ‘one more bite’ past being full is worse then going to the gym and putting 20 extra pounds on.
Exceptions happen for holidays where we graze all day on many different foods. Variety being the spice of life n all.
But if it’s a 3 course meal. I’ll eat until I’m full. Pack it away. And eat later.
All you can eat places are completely wasted on me.
Sometimes with North America potions I get meals out of a 20/40$ take out.
Yeah, seems obvious but when your entire childhood is filled with shame because “there are starving kids in Africa so finish your plate”, it’s not so simple. Or when you realize that eating is the basically the only joy you have in life, it’s not so simple. Or when you have to take medications for your mental health and the side effects are that you over eat, it’s not so simple. Or when you have no time to exercise bc both you and your wife have to work to afford anything in this stupid economy, it’s not so simple.
Don’t stop when you’re full. Stop when you no longer feel hungry.
I got down voted to fuck in another thread for saying this lol
The amount of excuses fatties come up with is actually depressing. You don’t have to swap every meal for a boring salad, you don’t have to run ten miles a day, you don’t have to meticulously count every calorie or commit to fad diets etc etc etc.
All you have to do is eat less. It’s simple, it’s easy. No one gives a fuck that you’re busy, or a super taster or that you comfort eat, or that you feel super hungry before bed time. None of that is stopping you from eating just a bit less.
There are a minority of fat people who have significant mental or health issues of which I empathise, but for most, it’s a combination of greed and the inability to delay gratification.
You need only two things to achieve and maintain a healthy weight;
- Be honest with yourself
- The will power to not consistently over eat
Edit: and here come the downvotes again lol you know I’m right, it’s just that the truth hurts.
I downvote you, as a thin person, because you are an asshole. And this is kinda stupid:
There are a minority of fat people who have significant mental or health issues of which I empathise, but for most, it’s a combination of greed and the inability to delay gratification.
Perhaps think about it more. Or don’t comment on other people’s bodies.
You: Wahhhhhh not being a fat ass is hard.
You: Reeee I have to be an edgelord online because having empathy is too hard and I don’t respect people who have bodies I don’t like.
Such “empathy” leads to early deaths of people, who have families. It’d be better to stop being a fat fuck and give a shit about staying around for your loved ones.
Shaming and insulting people makes them more overweight.
You can read about it here, for example, if that isn’t too complicated for you:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6565398/
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2014/sep/fat-shaming-doesnt-encourage-weight-loss
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/effects-of-fat-shaming
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14647001211048300
Do you want people to be overweight because otherwise you wouldn’t get a pass looking down on them? Perhaps you should look for a therapist.
I have one because I have disordered eating actually, and needed to stop killing myself with food.
Oh gee, all that and nowhere does it say that an insult equals 3,500 calories! It’s the words that make you fat! I should have known. /eyeroll
Trying the pitty party now? Being miserable doesn’t excuse you to try and make others feel miserable.
It may be simple but certainly not easy. Food can become a serious addiction.
I’d put food addiction under mental health issues which I did say I empathise with, but these are a minority of cases. Not every fat person is food addicted.
It is easy. There’s nothing hard about recognising that you’re overweight and then looking at the amount of food on your plates and saying “from now on I’ll have 20% less than that”, then weighing yourself a few months after that to measure your progress and adjusting the amount you eat further if necessary. You do not need a PhD in food science or biology, nor do you need the will power of the most mentally strong human that’s ever lived to be able to commit to eating a bit less.
I’d put food addiction under mental health issues which I did say I empathise with, but these are a minority of cases.
As far as I know, it’s a lot more than just a minority, but if you have a source and information I’m not aware of, please share. Always eager to learn.
For the sake of our discussion, let’s assume you’re right and mental health reasons are just a negligible minority. There’s also an obesity pandemic going on right now in most of the (western) world. Has been for a while, I hope we can agree on that.
So, if there’s an obesity pandemic going on, but losing weight is simple and easy, and it’s not majorly mental health reasons, I gotta ask: Why are people overweight/fat/obese? Do you think people want to be fat? What’s your point here?
Because most people are lazy and or stupid and don’t want to make the effort to do the things they need to do even more than they don’t want to be fat. Every single fat person I know over eats at every meal and is always snacking and even when they do try to diet they give themselves tons of cheat days and fuck themselves over. It’s as simple as eating less calories than you need but they can’t manage it because they’ve trained their bodies to expect them to be constantly cramming garbage down their gullet and if they don’t they’re hungry all the time which is apparently impossible to deal with for them because they have no willpower.
It’s as simple as eating less calories than you need
Agreed. It’s simple. But simple is not necessarily easy. There’s a difference.
but they can’t manage it because they’ve trained their bodies to expect them to be constantly cramming garbage down their gullet
Sounds a hell of a lot like an addiction to me.
[…] lazy and or stupid and don’t want to make the effort […] cramming garbage down their gullet […] they have no willpower
Your entire response is filled with vitriol. You attribute a serious problem that has become a pandemic to an individual personal fault rather than acknowledge there might be a systemic problem, which leads me to believe that not only do you hate or despise overweight people, but you put them down to make yourself feel superior.
I think most people want a fit and healthy body, but that many people are not willing to trade cake now, for that nice healthy body that might be a few months or more away.
I’m not really trying to make a point. I’m just saying things how I see them.
many people are not willing to trade cake now
Honestly, I think it’s not about willingness. There are so many people who try and try and try but relapse over and over again. There’s a reason why diets are so popular (even if they don’t work long-term). It has become an entire market. Losing weight is not easy, because at the end of it all it is an addiction for most. It has nothing to do with willpower and whatnot. If that was the case, fat people would never achieve anything in life. And yet there are, for example, fat doctors. Studying medicine is hard as fuck and needs a lot of willpower. So what’s stopping them if not an addiction? Especially as doctors they know the havoc being obese wreaks. Being obese is not fun at all. If all that was needed was willpower, we wouldn’t have a pandemic on our hands.
I’m not really trying to make a point. I’m just saying things how I see them.
I know. And I’m challenging your opinion because I truly believe losing weight is simple, but simply not easy.
