Seriously, how is anyone dumb enough to be fat?

[Aractus]

I've struggled with my weight all my life, from a very young age. I got up to almost 400 pounds in my late teens, and I got back down to about 230 (I've since gone back up to about 260).

Thanks for sharing, Ryant.

However, if you were never taught good habits from the start, it puts you at a tremendous disadvantage. It's hard to go out and exercise if you're already overweight.

Well, it's hard because you learned bad habits, and most people are actually unaware exactly how bad their habits can be. You could eat nothing but healthy foods, like sandwiches home cooked veggies, chicken and fish every day and still gain weight if you're eating too often and/or having portion sizes that are too large. The habits can be just as bad as the person that eats a $7 large pizza hut pizza for dinner every day.

But the other thing is that losing weight through healthy eating habits is easy, whereas you're right that losing weight through exercise is hard (although truth be told not that hard), because you have to make a conscious effort whereas with eating you don't.

But as I've said a few times now, it's actually a much slower process to gain weight than it is to lose it. Don't believe me? Watch the UK series "supersize vs superskinny" and tell me if you find any episodes where at the end the thin person gained more weight than the fat person lost.

My brother typically weighs between 50-55kg - and it's obvious he's not getting all the nutrition he needs, you just have to look at his skin to see that. His girlfriend does make him eat a bit better, and recently he actually weighed 60kg (which is the bare minimum weight that he should weigh to be healthy). She went away for 2 weeks, and he lost at least 5kg in just that time! When he tells me it's hard to gain weight, I know that he's actually correct - doesn't matter who you are, weight gain is slower and takes longer than weight loss. Doesn't change the fact though that his diet is deficient and needs to be changed. I have no idea exactly what he eats every day, but I'd assume he skips breakfast and that he may be eating too much fibre instead of carbs. More than likely he probably needs to start snacking through the day.

It's a habit that you have to make, to do an activity that may be difficult, to get results that take a while to really show. On top of all that, if you've never had to be significantly overweight, you don't know how crippling it can be to expose yourself to the ridicule of being fat. I had people make fun of me for being a fat kid who was trying to do something about it. Even without outright ridicule, I always felt everyone's eyes on me. It was terrible.

I believe very firmly that in at least the majority of cases say 90% or more, the responsibility lies on the parents. But I know of programs here in Canberra where kids are given free breakfast at school and many of them love it because their parents never make them breakfast. Mine didn't either, as it happens, but I did eat breakfast all the way through primary school until high school when I stoped - want to know why?

I used to get up at 6AM and watch cartoons, that's when they came on. I would have cereal every morning and watch cartoons from 6AM to 8:30AM when I had to go to school. From about year 3 on the cartoons started at 6:30, and from about year 5 or so on they started at 7AM. Accordingly I got up when the cartoons started. I used to get up at 7:30 on the weekends to watch cartoons too, but then at some point they stopped being shown early so I'd sleep in to 8:30 or whenever it was that they started. My whole morning life as a primary school child revolved around getting up to watch TV!

And I'm actually hoping to get back into this habit soon. It might sound crazy, but it's what I loved most about getting up early as a child! And one day when I have children I hope that I can pass that experience on to them - get up at 6 and watch cartoons! Except, actually do it as a family - that's the one thing that I didn't have, even my brother was too lazy most of the time to get up for the cartoons!

There are also other factors. One of them, for me, was that I had to work a lot of hours at two low-wage jobs to make ends meet, which makes actual exercise a luxury I often couldn't make myself enjoy, as well as much of my food being purchased with convenience, rather than health, in mind.

But you still have healthy options available.