The Cause of Obesity?

**anoop** · 12-30-2011, 12:27 AM

Here is an article which many will disagree.

Are obese people fat mainly because they are lazy or because of their life style or their genes?

The Cause of Obesity

**CDB** · 01-11-2012, 01:10 PM

People are obese for various proximate reasons, the ultimate reason is always just a plain calorie surplus. All the wanking about how much genetics vs gut flora vs exercise or lack thereof contributes is only useful in as much as you can pin specifics to an individual case to help them better understand what they need to do to get to a healthier weight. For example, if a person is unlucky enough to have the type of gut flora which leads to them absorbing a lot more calories than others from the same meal, that's only helpful in as much as they now know they need stricter and smaller portions overall. However, I don't think we're at the point where such specifics can be and are routinely diagnosed and who knows if we ever will be.

**anoop** · 01-11-2012, 08:33 PM

Hey CDB,

Did you get a chance to read the article?

It s true that obese people eat more than lean. The question is why are they dong t in the first place?

And I am copying my practical recommendations here:

1. We should focus more on health than weight or the cosmetic aspects.
2. It is clear than moderate weight loss of 10-15 lbs of weight loss in obese people can have dramatic improvements in their health.
3. It is also very clear that eating healthy and exercising has a beneficial effect on health independent of the change in body weight.
4. The major cause for obesity is your genes and not the lack of will power or lifestyle.
5. Obesity is not the fault of obese people. So treat them with respect.

**anoop** · 01-20-2012, 07:39 PM

In the second part, I reply to the important question “If it is largely genes, why is there an obesity epidemic?”

Here is the second part: The Cause of Obesity - Part 2

**anoop** · 01-30-2012, 10:56 PM

In this last part, I will be replying to some of the most common questions and comments people had about the first two articles.

The Cause of Obesity - Part 3

**faz** · 02-04-2012, 04:08 AM

i think i read somewhere that there are efficient and ineffecient body types,and the effecient body types are actually the ones that gain fat and hold onto it easily.

this dates back to ancient times,when holding onto fat (the best energy source) would have been an advantage,maybe fat people are not lazy its just there bodies telling them,you've done enough now sit down and relax,dont burn to many cals you might need them later.

**anoop** · 02-04-2012, 09:05 AM

Hi Faz,

Thanks for the reply.

It is true. Bouchard has shown this with controlled feeding experiments in identical twins. This was true for both weight loss and weight gain. They gained different weights and lost different weights for the same calorie and energy expenditure. And the variability ranged from from 13-24lbs! So there are people who gain weight easily and lose weight easily too. But we lump them all together.

That was the thrifty gene theory. But it doesn't explain why there are lean people in the same obeseginic environment. And leptin works on the energy expenditure side too. It is clearly seen when they inject leptin in leptin deficient mice. Even before losing weight, they starts moving around like normal mice. But before they would just sit there dong nothing. Could be the same with humans too.

**QuantumPositron2** · 06-04-2012, 06:35 PM

That was the thrifty gene theory. But it doesn't explain why there are lean people in the same obeseginic environment.

Of course it doesn't. Its multifactoral. Ditto for hypertrophic signaling. Ditto for strength development. Until the various factors are exhaustively identified and their interactions are able to be described by mathematical formulae we will not have an optimal solution, nor be able to enumerate the solutions available.

-Q