I know this is a really general question, but hear me out.
I often come across a couple of interlocking ideas that exist in the medical community that fall under the umbrella: diets don't work.
I read an article in the New York Times a few days ago about obesity in pregnancy and the Dr. said that most women don't become obese by eating too much or eating the wrong things...
I also just saw this video, done by a bariatric surgeon. His point is slightly different-- he says that people don't become obese by eating too much. They become obese by eating the wrong kind of food...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U40tKCxHHtc#t=1148
So, I'm just really curious about this. In my own case, I can definitely say that I became obese because I ate too much and too much of the wrong things. At first, I gained weight because I ate large quantities of sweets, and after a while, I kept gaining because I ate all the time and also, large quantities of high calorie foods. That being said, I was a pretty serious binge eater all the way through my teens and twenties, but due to exercise, and I guess a pretty good metabolism, I never got obese until after my first pregnancy at age 30. Before that I hovered between the high normal end of BMI and the low overweight end of BMI. I can also say that even with rigidly counting calories and running 4 miles a day and consuming consistently between 800 and 900 calories, I was unable, at age 51 to drop my weight below 186, which is in the overweight range for BMI, so obviously my metabolism has changed.
Now, since hanging around 3FC, I've noticed that we really are all different. Some of us not only are struggling to lose weight, but we also have serious "food issues". Others seem to have pretty normal eating habits, but maybe just too much concentration on stuff like fast food...
So, I'm just wondering. Do you think you got fat while eating normally, or do you think you got fat because you eat a lot more than your skinny peers?
(and on that note, I know that there are these mythical people who eat whatever they want and never gain weight, and maybe that's true, but my impression has always been that the skinny people who order cheeseburgers and large fries at every meal usually don't actually eat as much as we think-- they don't finish their food, or they skip lots of meals... etc. Also, not sure any of this pertains as much to guys.)