The science doesn’t fit the common prejudice:  fat people don’t get fat by eating more or differently, exercising less, or any other variation on the blame theme.  BUT we all get nicely derailed from watching what the powers-that-be are doing by getting self-fixated and navel gazing.

Check out The Case Against Weight Loss Dieting by Amptoons on the ALAS blog.  Read Paul Campos’ The Obesity Myth or J. Eric Oliver’s Fat Politics.  Or don’t.  But do be aware how carefully coerced we are to hate out bodies—and to judge others.  And who benefits?

This is all very complicated stuff. It’s so hard to imagine how stuffing huge amounts of crappy food in your mouth throughout all your waking hours could ever make you fat.

I sympathize with you Marjorie… and yes, simplistically put, the reason most overweight people are too heavy is TOO MUCH FOOD (for their unique body, metabolism, energy expenditure).

But we both know it’s a lot more complicated an issue than this.

A BIG part of the problem is that unlike almost any other addiction, YOU CANNOT JUST GIVE UP FOOD. Ask any drug or alcohol addict if they think they’d be successful giving up their addiction if they just used LESS drugs or booze instead of stopping. Ha!

What is a mystery to me is that I can drop 20-30 lbs easily WHEN THE MOOD STRIKES ME. I can just one day decide I want to lose weight and for reasons unknown to me (and believe me I’ve been at this for 60 years) sometimes I can lose without very much problem and other times the project is a complete failure.

I don’t go “on a diet” anymore - they DO NOT WORK - I just substitute higher fat/calorie foods for lower. A couple of celery stalks with light cream cheese for that cheddar cheese sandwich, etc.

But it doesn’t really matter. I’ve NEVER been able to keep it off. It may take a few months or a few years, but that 20-30 lbs keeps creeping back.

Another mystery… IT NEVER GOES HIGHER than that. It’s almost as if there’s something inside of me that is actually running things which pays no heed to MY conscious wishes. It’s almost as if my body WANTS and NEEDS to be “heavy set” and doesn’t give a damn what our charts and health officials proclaim.

So far… and that’s “far” - my doctor says all systems are “go” - no weight related problems indicated whatsoever even though my BMI (Body Mass Index) is over 30. Maybe the answer is to remove the mirrors from my home and pay no attention to what anyone says. I’m unique and that’s that.

With a few, very few ,exceptions, the reason people are fat/obese is because they eat too much, make unhealthy eating choices and sit on their fat butts in front of the television or their computer. I speak as an overweight female sitting on my fat butt in front of my computer. There is no easy answer to losing weight except diet and exercise and the diet must be a lifestyle changing and permanent way of eating. I’m trying, but I sure do miss those Big Macs.

There are folks who, through some combination of exercise, food choices/quantities and genetics, are able to maintain a healthy weight. Most of them can’t understand the fuss about weight - they don’t even think about the issue because, for them, it isn’t one.

However, there are many who, for more reasons than can be counted, cannot seem to find or maintain the magic relationship among the aforementioned variables. The fight either to get to a healthy weight or, more commonly, get DOWN to a healthy weight all their lives. The thing about being overweight is that it’s a creep-up-on-you kind of thing. You gain one pound, which sneaks up to 10, then 50, then 100 and soon you’re just too big to move enough to lose anything. You’re doomed.

Teenagers with a tendency towards “chunky” should be taken aside EARLY and counseled until they demonstrate by their behavior that they understand that it’s as essential for them to keep active no matter what as it is for a diabetic to take his/her insulin shots… if they want to live that is.

Our bodies are designed to MOVE and DO WORK. As with your automobile if you don’t USE IT you will LOSE IT. There are more “car problems” caused by UNDERUSE than overuse. Taxis often run well for 300,000 miles or more - they’re used all day, every day, and serviced when they should be. Many privately owned cars, especially ones just driven around town once in a while, are clogged up with gluey fuel and carbon, and are piles of junk by 100,000.

While there are some who have no control over their weight, far too many are unable to stop over-eating and use reports like this to excuse their weight.
Contagious? Explain the normal sized children of plus-sized (and larger) women/men.
Virus? Think a tad more study is needed to get too excited about that. The study didn’t state if the replication was never-ending or did it have a point where it stopped, once the virus ran its course.
And if it is never-ending, why are there not a lot of 1200# people?
I don’t mean to belittle those with a medical reason for weight gain.
It’s those that won’t stop eating whatever, whenever. And whose exercise is walks of 100’ or so maybe 10 times a day.