Why Women Lose Weight—or Don’t

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  • Posted By: cheeringurl0289 @ 12/08/2007 12:03:30 PM

    I completely agree with lindilou. If someone is on the heavier side and happy with who they are and how they look, then it should be okay. If you are a guy or a girl just looking for someone who have the "great looks" gene and the perfect body and the the best shape, then that is very shallow. There are some very attractive thicker people in this world. And a majority of them are the nicest people and the most confident people. I don't necessarily think that it is all about looks for some people I think it is about the confidence level of the person. So Ladies if you have curves...embrace them and love them. BE CONFIDENT!!

  • Posted By: fat-chicks-rule2 @ 12/08/2007 11:47:02 AM

    listen there are women out there who are beautiful but overweight. who cares if they are! what matters is whats on the inside

    • Posted By: 2peas_in_a_pod @ 12/08/2007 11:54:47 AM

      For starters, their potential mate may care. Looks and attraction aside, someone who is looking for a long-term partner may have serious concerns about whether that woman will still be with them - or able to enjoy life's activities with them - years down the road.

      • Posted By: fat-chicks-rule2 @ 12/08/2007 12:02:24 PM

        i happen to be in this room with my 530lb girlfriend, i love all the stuff we can do together because shes not super *** skinny

  • Posted By: Dixieland1014 @ 12/08/2007 12:01:29 PM

    You know what I was going to keep quiet.. but you ignorant people have just gone too far.. I am 5'2" and 215 lbs. I am happy the way I am. I have a husband who loves me and thinks I am sexy just the way I am.. I do not sit at McDonalds all day.. I don't know why people automatically think that fat people are lazy. That is not the case.. how many larger ladies have said that they eat well and exercise? If you don't want to date someone who is over weight then fine don't do it. But keep our hateful opinions to yourself. If you want to eat like a rabbit every meal for the rest of your life fine.. me personally I'd rather have a piece of fried chicken here and there and be happy.. here's too all you larger ladies out there.. we are beautiful no matter what these people say.. hold your heads up.. just because they're skinny it doesn't make them better than us.

  • Posted By: fat-chicks-rule2 @ 12/08/2007 12:00:27 PM

    ok dont believe me look on this site at all the hott bbws "big beautiful women"
    http://www.dimensionsmagazine.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=7

  • Posted By: ocardo1 @ 12/08/2007 12:00:03 PM

    Please.just stop putting soooo much food in your mouth.You will lose all the weight you want .SELF CONTROL. is the key.In countries thast have no food there are no overweight people PERIOD! Push the plate away .Eat one halh of what you currently eat and you will lose weight.THE END

  • Posted By: Symphony1980 @ 12/08/2007 11:59:19 AM

    I agree with Becerraxo ... the chemicals they put in our foods is super sizing Americans to an obesity crisis ... I grew up eating a high protein diet eating chicken every which you can prepare it ... I've noticed the chickens today are GIGANTIC oviously pumped up with growth hormones ... it's no wonder our children in this generation are AMAZONIAN in size ... and it's sad hearing people make deragatory and mean comments towards over weight people ... you know sometimes it's genetic and or the foods we eat or people just love to eat. I'm glad there's an awareness now in giving hope to help people eat healthy whether you skinny, fat or in between.

  • Posted By: teto1904 @ 12/08/2007 11:58:27 AM

    CAN YOU SEE HOW THE MEDIA IS ALREADY WORKING YOU PSICOLOGICALLY TRHOUGH FEAR? LOOK AT THE SIDES ???CERVICAL CANCER, WARTS, ETC??? BE AFRAID AND BE A SLAVE OF ???PSEUDO-SCIENCE???! YOU KNOW WHY MOST OF WILD ANIMALS DON???T HAVE SO MANY ILLNESS AS HUMANS? BECAUSE THEY LIVE IN EQUILIBRIUM! AN ANIMAL MAY BE AFRAID SOMETIMES BUT DOESN???T LIVE IN FEAR!

  • Posted By: erynnsmama @ 12/08/2007 11:52:10 AM

    I am the poster child for the above woman. At 50, I am 5'3" and weigh 185 lbs.
    BUT WAIT I am a former fitness trainer who has exercised all her life, but
    am on a MUCH NEEDED antidepressant (Paxil) and have been for over 10 years.
    I used to LIVE on the stairmaster, but as menopause hit, i slowed down, and stopped
    completely for a while. I exercise hard, but it makes my appetite ravenous.
    I now realize one thing. You MUST count calories if you are to keep the weight off.
    No fad diets, just count the calorie count of every morsel that slips past your lips, and you MUST
    exercise every day. Period.

  • Posted By: teto1904 @ 12/08/2007 11:56:39 AM

    CAN YOU SEE HOW THE MEDIA IS ALREADY WORKING YOU PSICOLOGICALLY TRHOUGH FEAR? LOOK AT THE SIDES ???CERVICAL CANCER, WARTS, ETC??? BE AFRAID AND BE A SLAVE OF ???PSEUDO-SCIENCE???! YOU KNOW WHY MOST OF ANIMALS DON???T HAVE SO MANY ILLNESS AS HUMANS? BECAUSE THEY LIVE IN EQUILIBRIUM! AN ANIMAL MAY BE AFRAID SOMETIMES BUT DOESN???T LIVE IN FEAR!

  • Posted By: sweatpeas4 @ 12/08/2007 7:23:15 AM

    OK JOEK NOW IT ALL. I weight 225 pounds and I run 3 miles a day, i BENCH PRESS 40 POUNDS, squats, leg presses arm, back and lat workouts. You cannot call people FATTY. It is very ignorant of you. Also just because someone is fat does not also attach the word STUPID to them. Your a true *** in the true essence of the word. You would certainly look at me on the street. Many men turn their heads and flirt and so would you. Take your attutude and give it to your wife I'm sure she really appreciates your anger. She's probably fat according to your standards.

    • Posted By: JoeBruin @ 12/08/2007 7:44:38 AM

      You sound like one of those thick softball playing lesbians. So, um, pass. No thanks. Go try out for men's football next year, Ms. Linebacker. LMAO. And yes, I do prefer chicks in the 105-110 lbs range.

      • Posted By: nativemedic @ 12/08/2007 11:54:46 AM

        JOE GROW UP GOD YOU DON'T EVEN MAKE A BOY MUCH LESS A MAN. GET A LIFE AND TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR SELF. NO WOMEN BIG OR SMALL WANTS A JERK SO FIX YOUR SELF FIRST

      • Posted By: franticweasel @ 12/08/2007 8:27:51 AM

        YOU MAY PREFER THOSE KINDS OF "CHICKS" JOE BUT I AM WILLING TO BET YOU HAVE NEVER HAD ONE OF THEM... OR ANY WOMAN FOR THAT MATTER. GOOD LUCK WITH BEING THE LONLEY VIRGIN SHALLOW HAL.

  • Posted By: nativemedic @ 12/08/2007 10:55:29 AM

    Big Daddy is right , health is more important than BMI, funny I have seen thin people and their very unhealthy I am not talking the once that are nut with it. Being happy with your self is what life is about not your BMI. I am sick of people looking at the modles that are most of the time kids or sick with eating disorders and thinking that is normal, come on living a healthy life style is important but few people in real life are at the perfect weight or anything we don't fit on a chart. I have a son that if you look at the perfect weight is over but he work out all the time and is all muscle. time to take the charts and put them in file 13. look at the person.

    • Posted By: lindilou @ 12/08/2007 11:53:25 AM

      Seems to me that people who judge others by how they look are pretty shallow. What's YOUR predjudice? Fat...thin, black..white, blonde...brunette, you could go on forever. Predjudice boils down to fear of whatever you don't like. Jeez, some of the comments I've read make me want to tell the people, "just get a LIFE" If you don't like me because I'm not what your fantasy is, it's your loss.

  • Posted By: becerrax6 @ 12/08/2007 11:34:13 AM

    Americans are the most obese. I believe alot of it comes from the way the food is processed. Take for an example I went to Mexico with my 3 kids we lived down there for 6 months and in this time we did not change our eating habits but we all lost alot of weight. I dropped a total of 35 lbs. in 6 months and my children became very thin also, but as soon as we came back to the U.S. we gained it all back plus a little more. We ate the same. I cook, I dont do much fast food. I think alot of obesety is due to all the additives they put in the food. Plus think about it, I met a man where I work that worked on a chicken farm and he told me that it took a matter of 2 weeks to raise a chick into an adult chicken. Imagine, think about it, everything that they give that chicken to grow in such a short time we eat also. Hello! We here in America are meat lovers most of us and how is it not possible for all these chemicals they give the animals to grow, not affect us also? The food here is not natural thats why this country is so fat! I myself am overweight but in this year I have dropped 45 lbs buy eating lots of salads and sandwiches, drinking lots of water juice and milk. I am a person who worries alot about my weight due to the fact that I was overweight as a kid. When I was a kid there werent very many kids who were fat like now days. So me being the only fatty I was picked on terribly and I grew up with a low self esteem because of it. When I graduated from high school I dropped 100 lbs. and believe me it changed my life. Guys that I would have a crush on that would never look twice at me were now asking me out on a dates. It's amazing how different people treat you because of your size. I kept the weight off for many years untill I had my second child and decided i wanted to not have anymore for awhile so I started using birth control methods which was the biggest mistake I made in my life. I gained 80 lbs from getting the shot and then trying the pill. Let me tell you once you get fat from birth control it seems almost impossible to lose the weight. But finally I am starting to lose some weight after struggling for the last 6 yrs. I've now lost 45 pounds, so I'm half way to my goal, but it has been a real struggle.

    • Posted By: earthlinked @ 12/08/2007 11:52:15 AM

      To becerrax6: You and I so agree...everything you say about your personal experience bears out what I said in my post about the effects on our bodies of eating unnatural foods. And yes, we must consider medications unnatural as well...though we might have to take them, it's only reasonable to expect they may bring unintended consequences to the health of our bodies.

  • Posted By: Britter @ 12/08/2007 11:51:46 AM

    2 years ago, I wieghed 295 pounds. I currently weigh 205 and am steadily losing. I am only 35. I had tried so many mays to lose weight that I almost quit trying until I met my weight loss coach. She plans menus and workouts weekly... I am grateful to her!
    When I workout, I know there are people at the gym watching me. I am still a size 16... can you imagine the looks at size 32 in the gym on the treadmill?
    My weight stems from many reasons - insulin resistance, genetics, depression... Taking the huge step to change my life was the most difficult choice I have ever made.
    Eating right is time consuming. It's a daunting task. We live in a fast-food nation with instant gratification. Our education on eating properly is sadly lacking. No one should idet to lose weight, but make a life change.
    We take better care of our cars than we do our permanant vehicle - the body. I have learned to use proper fuel to encourage my own health. I would never fill my gas tank with 18 gallons of water, that would never work! Our bodies deserve proper fuel also.
    I feel for those who are overweight or obese. I have been there. I also realized that I did it to myself. Yes, there were medical difficulties - but those are not a crutch. It takes hard work to lose weight - hours at the gym, hours preparing proper healthy fuel. In my life experience, I know it can be accomplished!

  • Posted By: fabulusatforty1368 @ 12/08/2007 11:51:04 AM

    people relater over weight women as lazy, well lets say that medication that causes a 50 lb weight gain and another that does the same we have a very different situation I am very active and was on a harmone that created wt. gain along with a anti- depressant that did the same and was not informed of other options so I went from 176 to 250 in a matter of 2 years I quest a total hysterectomy at 32 did not help but some of us hope that we pick a doctor that can help us and not just medicate to get us out the way

  • Posted By: Symphony1980 @ 12/08/2007 11:49:06 AM

    I agree with Becerraxo ... it's what's in our food that is making us fat ... I've never had over an weight problem I grew up on a high protein diet eating chicken every which you can prepare it ... but today the chickens are pumped up with hormones to super size them ... hasn't anyone noticed the chickens are over sized? And our children in this generation are AMAZONIAN in size ... it's noticeable expecially when you're trying to figure why my son or daughter are so huge when no family members are that size. There's alot more to discuss and we can go on and on ... there is something oviously in our foods that is making us over weight.

  • Posted By: fat-chicks-rule2 @ 12/08/2007 11:48:39 AM

    there are alot of women out there who are happy being overweight and are really beautiful. who cares if their "overwieght?" their still going to be beautiful and are extremely good in bed.

  • Posted By: shawnn77 @ 12/08/2007 11:46:13 AM

    American women compete amongst themselves. They spend huge amounts of money doing so. They want to look among their peers Thus, if someone is twenty pounds overweight and all of her friends are thirty, she is ok with that. Also, I believe the incidence of overweight/obesity in older women can be attributed to the same phenomena. When women marry or are in a steady relationship (usually at this older age} they no longer have to compete amongst themselves for men. On the other hand, women who are underweight and feel that they are "OK", is a totally different story. One that i have no idea why they feel that way. I would leave that assesment to a Psychiatrist.

  • Posted By: sidewinder @ 12/08/2007 11:45:51 AM

    I find this to story to be true in the conversations I have had with other woman they really would just like to drop 10 lbs or 20 lbs at the most still leaving them significantly over weight .I feel this is okay for getting them started on the road to regular exercise and healthy eating.But I hope big is not the norm.I am a regular encourager of trying to stay fit.

  • Posted By: Analyzer @ 12/08/2007 11:13:59 AM

    I too lived in Europe and now America. In Europe most countries have Social-Democratic systems. There seem to be more activities for free or at a lower cost than in the U.S. There are more "distractions" (from food) that you can engage in without having to pay an arm an a leg. Here one of the cheapest things is: Food (see Mcdonalds and Co's $1 menu's). In Europe there is more "Green" (in the cities) per capita then in most U.S. cities. I live in San Antonio Tx, I have to drive 20 min's to the closest public park to play w/my son. That's sad. In Europe I could join a local city basket ball team, soccer team, hand ball team, swim team, In the U.S. Most cities don't have that, and again if you want that you have to go to a pirvate entity and pay big bucks. It's demotivating and demoralizing, that (among many other things) impacts ones psychie and may drive a person to engage in unhealthy activities, such as eating (among other things), because you can find a fast food on every corner. Capitalism has it's pros and cons just like everything else. U.S.A. has become too complacent with it's "Fatness" and is trying now to treat the obese person instead of the Root Causes, some of which are mentioned above.

    • Posted By: rich99 @ 12/08/2007 11:43:18 AM

      You have got to be kidding?

  • Posted By: 2peas_in_a_pod @ 12/08/2007 11:43:11 AM

    Regarding personal choice - I wholeheartedly agree with BRespnsybl that obesity is not merely a personal freedom that only affects the obese. It affects our entire nation in countless ways. Everything from higher healthcare costs being passed on to us all, to losing loved ones at an earlier age because of obesity-related disease, to even fewer seats available per flight because the airlines needed to increase seat sizes. It's not an issue of being judgmental or mean. It's an issue of our family's health, our children's health, and our nation's health.

    And to address points about medical causes - Yes, there are certain medical reasons for weight gain in SOME, but that is very much the minority. Also, having a medical condition does not doom a person to be obese in most cases. It can make it that much more difficult, though not impossible, to lose the weight or it may mean getting treatment. I've heard several people mention thyroid disorders. I have hypothyroidism, as do some of my other family members, and we take medicine for it. I have a daily prescription that's no big deal and then I need to be extra conscientious about what I eat and my physical activity. I could have just said "I have a thyroid condition" and left it at that, allowing myself to gain weight. Instead, I took control of it and now have a healthier body and weight.

    Now to address complaints about the BMI index. It does not claim to be the 100% accurate, final word on a person's healthy weight and BMI. The tool says it is just that - a tool - to help determine a typical person's BMI. It also points out that those who are especially active with a lot of muscle and those who are light weight but lack muscle could get an inaccurate reading and should use other measures to determine their actual BMI. But for the average person, it helps give some idea of whether you fall into the range of underweight, normal weight, overweight or obese. It's a starting point.

    People who are overweight or obese are not bad or unworthy of love and support. However, we should also not accept the rising rates of obesity as "just the way things are" or make excuse after excuse for it. It's alarming, and for good reason. It's not about vanity; it's about health, trends in consumerism and priorities as a nation, the messages we send our children, and economics.

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