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by 300bps 4713 days ago
I am 41 years old. I have been thin my entire life. I don't try to "pin down" my "maintenance level" and frankly don't even know what would be involved in that.

When I am doing more physical work, I make sure I eat a bit more. When I am doing less physical work, I make sure I eat a bit less. It's not easy but it's really not as difficult as you are trying to make it seem. Further, I don't believe that people with legitimately diagnosed medical conditions make up a significant portion of the overweight population.
3 comments
zrail 4713 days ago
> I have been thin my entire life

I'm happy for you. People have different metabolisms, and there wouldn't be an entire multi billion dollar industry and worldwide government initiatives to help people if there wasn't a legitimate problem. Your beliefs don't enter into the equation. At all.

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300bps 4713 days ago
People have different metabolisms

That's your belief.

there wouldn't be an entire multi billion dollar industry and worldwide government initiatives to help people if there wasn't a legitimate problem

That's your belief.

Your beliefs don't enter into the equation. At all.

Allow me to turn this one right back around to you. You have a series of old wives tales that you believe and then tell people that their beliefs don't matter. I'm frankly surprised you didn't yank out the "I'm big boned" defense which has been as disproven as a person's intrinsically "faster metabolism".

The funny thing is that I'm usually lectured about how to be thin by people that have struggled with their weight their entire life. These people have had years and years of being overweight, have no idea how to truly eat and their weight has see-sawed their entire life. All the while, I have maintained the same thin weight. For 41 years. But they insist on how wrong I am and how right they are.

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Karunamon 4713 days ago
>That's your belief.

Really? Resorting to "Well that's just your opinion, man" on HN?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2009/08/25/5-metabolis...

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300bps 4713 days ago
Really? Responding to a thread that you apparently didn't read. It was the person I was responding to that started the "your beliefs don't mean anything" point. And I demonstrated how silly it was to him which led you to accuse me of doing it.

Oh and your link even agreed with me so you're apparently batting a thousand here.

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maxerickson 4713 days ago
The AMA recently recognized obesity as a disease. Of course, that does not end the argument about whether it is a legitimate medical condition.

And plenty of the 35% of adults that are obese have problems like insulin resistance and high blood pressure (both of which are certainly medical problems). They are also generally at higher risk for cardiovascular problems.

There are probably many people who are told they have metabolic syndrome but fail to understand that this may be (at least partially) a result of their weight problems, not simply a cause of it.

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nitrogen 4713 days ago
Lucky you. Lucky me, too, since I'm basically the same way. But we're just lucky; there are millions of other people out there who aren't like us, whose metabolism, instincts, and upbringing betray them. There's no reason to believe that willpower, hunger, appetite, or satiety feel even remotely the same across the population.

See this whole thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5300587

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