Seriously, how is anyone dumb enough to be fat?

[Aractus]

Two years ago i weighed in at a whopping 425 pounds.
today, i weigh 260 pounds.

Just one question - how long did it take you to get to 425lbs? Longer or shorter than 48 months?

Your body will burn x amount of calories daily just because you are alive. This number is known as your Basal Metabolic Rate.

Correct. For an average man it's 2500, average woman 2000, once you're older than 40 your requirements drop by 200 calories - and, someone that is overweight or obese requires more than average to maintain weight (thus has a higher metabolism), and for this reason can eat 2500 calories/day (man) and lose weight.

i currently consume ~3200 calories per day, leaving me with a caloric deficit of ~700 cal/day (because i have learned my body can handle it). across one week, i will lose roughly 4900 calories due to my restricted diet alone.
one pound of fat=3500 calories. 4900/3500=1.4 pounds lost per week. I usually lose more than this simply due to the crazy amounts of exercise that i do.

Not 100% accurate. One pound of fat yields 3500 calories. One pound of muscle yields 600 calories. If you are losing more weight than your maths shows then it could be because you are losing muscle as well as fat which will drop your weight faster. Whereas if you are building muscle mass then the net result should be lower weight loss than your maths.

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I'd say we are bombarded with commercials for fast food all the time - and fast food is a MAJOR contributor to obesity in our societies.

I agree. In fact, I think people are educated through experience and when they eat take away or other pre-prepared meals it teaches them that "this is a meal".

This is bad in Greece but its worse in the UK. I catch a lot of UK TV and the sheer number of ads for take-away's is astonishing. KFC, McDonnalds, Fast Food Chefs (with an ad about stopping people cooking over the weekend), pizzas (various) and so on.

Well yes, but also they want you to "supersize" and bundle meals etc. I had a burger not long ago at a local chain, it really wasn't very good I can make much better at home, and I was asked three times if I wanted chips and gravy. THREE TIMES! I feel like going back with rape-crisis flyers "no means no" and putting them up all over their joint.

Genuinely what proportion of our meals are prepared at home any more?

That makes no difference since you have healthy or unhealthy options for takeaway anyway. If you're eating takeaway more than once a day - and you aren't eating healthy meals - then it is indeed cause for concern.

Even if you do stagger to the supermarket - how many pre-prepared meals are there on the shelves, in the refrigerators and frozen for you to choose from?

No idea, because I've never bought one. In fact I spend extremely little time in the isles since I generally go straight to meat/produce/baked goods and then the fridge for eggs, cheese, milk, bacon...

Actually depends how technical you want to get - the 2-minute noodles I used to eat. But they don't have enough calories to be a problem if you eat them as a meal, if you eat them as a snack you may be in trouble!

Why are people overweight?

The food industry.

It's easy to blame others, but I wouldn't do so