Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Americans getting too fat for x-rays/scans

krwlz · 07-27-2006, 07:52 PM

I too, am skinny. Just a fast metabolism, hard as hell to gain muscle mass, but I never gain fat weight.

Now just a theory I've been tossing around for a few days, totally conjecture, but on the idea of overweight americans, and weight loss, I'm going to toss it out. None of this is meant to offend (i really dont think it will anyway, but... )

The american culture focuses heavily on gratification. Consider this. If from infancy and through child hood, you were to always eat until you were "full" I have to imagine this in turn would slowly stretch the capacity of your stomach out. Not a real big stretch of the imagination to see that as a possibility. In addition, as Americans, we eat what we want, not what we need.

Fast forward from an early life of always eating until gratification, and possibly stretching the stomach. Now your 25, 30, or whatever and want to lose weight. Now you try to diet, and lo and behold, it feels like starving yourself, because your stomach is larger than it needs to be.

The amount of office job, rather than physically demanding work, just compounds this problem. 40-60 hours a week you work in the office, and even as a skinny guy that would just like to gain some muscle and tone... Working out after that blows. You're still tired, and it's a major effort to force yourself to do it.

So while it is an individual problem, I think largely the issue stems from our culture.

As adults, we need to take care of the problems ourselves, but as parents, I think (as much as it might pain you to deny your child what he wants) we really need to encourage a good diet, not stuffing yourself, and a lot more phyical play time in order to arrest this growing (and I don't even want to use this term) epidemic.

Much easier said than done, but I think the only way to solve the problem as a whole, is to start from the earliest point possible, aka, early childhood.
(EDIT/NOTE: I am not a parent, and as we I refer to americans in general. I was always active as a child, I loved video games, but when the sun was shinning... I took full advantage of it)

07-27-2006, 07:52 PM	#42 (permalink)
krwlz Fledgling Dead Head Location: Clarkson U.	I too, am skinny. Just a fast metabolism, hard as hell to gain muscle mass, but I never gain fat weight. Now just a theory I've been tossing around for a few days, totally conjecture, but on the idea of overweight americans, and weight loss, I'm going to toss it out. None of this is meant to offend (i really dont think it will anyway, but... ) The american culture focuses heavily on gratification. Consider this. If from infancy and through child hood, you were to always eat until you were "full" I have to imagine this in turn would slowly stretch the capacity of your stomach out. Not a real big stretch of the imagination to see that as a possibility. In addition, as Americans, we eat what we want, not what we need. Fast forward from an early life of always eating until gratification, and possibly stretching the stomach. Now your 25, 30, or whatever and want to lose weight. Now you try to diet, and lo and behold, it feels like starving yourself, because your stomach is larger than it needs to be. The amount of office job, rather than physically demanding work, just compounds this problem. 40-60 hours a week you work in the office, and even as a skinny guy that would just like to gain some muscle and tone... Working out after that blows. You're still tired, and it's a major effort to force yourself to do it. So while it is an individual problem, I think largely the issue stems from our culture. As adults, we need to take care of the problems ourselves, but as parents, I think (as much as it might pain you to deny your child what he wants) we really need to encourage a good diet, not stuffing yourself, and a lot more phyical play time in order to arrest this growing (and I don't even want to use this term) epidemic. Much easier said than done, but I think the only way to solve the problem as a whole, is to start from the earliest point possible, aka, early childhood. (EDIT/NOTE: I am not a parent, and as we I refer to americans in general. I was always active as a child, I loved video games, but when the sun was shinning... I took full advantage of it) Last edited by krwlz; 07-27-2006 at 07:54 PM..