Weighty thought: Friends' obesity can be contagious, study says

A new study suggests obesity can spread like an infectious disease
and that your odds of becoming obese are greater if your friends
and family put on weight.
Bit of a "no shi% Sherlock" study I think. Much of what comes out of
the Framingham study (which is right down the road from me BTW) is
very "no duh" but that's what you often get with large epi studies
such as this one. Also works in reverse, leaner people tend to hang
out with and or effect other leaner people, etc. Also, a fat friend
or family member increases your chances of being fat (again, no duh)
but a fat person living next door does not, which again makes
perfect sense as they are not in their social network per se.

Lots of people that are trying to lose weight don't realize that
success may require that they start hanging around with different
people. If you don't change your environment then chances are good
that you won't change your behavior either.

Pretty much the same with any large (or even moderate) change in
behavior, motivation, or outlook. If you stick with a group of drunks
and try to stay sober, it's much harder. Same with smoking and trying to
not smoke - though second-hand smoke does come into play.

Okay, the analogy's not perfect. But anyway, you get the gist.

Selah.

--
I have nothing at all against well-trained, knowledgeable Indian
technical support. I hope to speak to one before I retire. --JW, ASR

On Jul 27, 5:42 am, Steve the Geek wrote:
Lots of people that are trying to lose weight don't realize that
success may require that they start hanging around with different
people. If you don't change your environment then chances are good
that you won't change your behavior either.

Pretty much the same with any large (or even moderate) change in
behavior, motivation, or outlook. If you stick with a group of drunks
and try to stay sober, it's much harder. Same with smoking and trying to
not smoke - though second-hand smoke does come into play.


That's why one of the worst things that a fat person can do is to
participate in ``support'' groups, online or in real life. For every
one person in such an environment who is motivated to do something,
there will be fifteen others who hate anyone who succeeds. They
secretly, perhaps unconsciously, want to maintain the status quo: to
stay the way they are /and/ sabotage everyone else who makes progress.

Moreover, you will just be wasting time listening to some losers
whine, complain, and keep exchanging the same misinformation that gets
them nowhere.

Kaz Kylheku writes:

On Jul 27, 5:42 am, Steve the Geek wrote:
Lots of people that are trying to lose weight don't realize that
success may require that they start hanging around with different
people. If you don't change your environment then chances are
good that you won't change your behavior either.

Pretty much the same with any large (or even moderate) change in
behavior, motivation, or outlook. If you stick with a group of drunks
and try to stay sober, it's much harder. Same with smoking and trying to
not smoke - though second-hand smoke does come into play.

That's why one of the worst things that a fat person can do is to
participate in ``support'' groups, online or in real life. For every
one person in such an environment who is motivated to do something,
there will be fifteen others who hate anyone who succeeds. They
secretly, perhaps unconsciously, want to maintain the status quo: to
stay the way they are /and/ sabotage everyone else who makes
progress.

Support groups have a pretty good track record in real life. In fact,
I think that you would be hard pressed to find something that works
better. Of course, you need a support group that is actually
supportive, but that's a pretty low bar.

More on that in a bit.

Moreover, you will just be wasting time listening to some losers
whine, complain, and keep exchanging the same misinformation that
gets them nowhere.

Sounds a lot like misc.fitness.weights .

Seriously though, I have been thinking a lot lately about the factors
in my life that made it possible to incorporate exercise into my life
on a long term basis. I don't have workout partners or a gym
membership. I don't play organized sports, and I don't compete (yet).
I have always assumed that I didn't have (or need) an exercise support
group.

However, looking over my exercise logs and my posting history it is
pretty clear that quite a bit of my success to this point is due to my
time spent on misc.fitness.weights. I use misc.fitness.weights to
help me choose training protocols, to set goals, to pick out (and
purchase) equipment, etc. What's more, I find that when I spend time
away from misc.fitness.weights my workouts tend to suffer as well.

Quite frankly, that last bit scares me a little. I am hoping that the
reason for this correlation is that /life/ is simply intrudes on both
exercise and available USENET posting time, and so both suffer when I
get really busy. On the other hand, I am afraid that I have to at
least consider the possibility that I even find misc.fitness.weights
to be *motivational*. That's truly a dark thought.

If misc.fitness.weights can be considered a workable support group,
then just about anything qualifies . Like I said earlier, the bar
is set pretty darn low. I imagine that as long as you steer clear of
the fat acceptance groups you should probably be just fine. I, of
course, would suggest giving misc.fitness.weights a try, but my own
experiences have biased me against jogging and other forms of low
intensity cardio.

BTW, thanks misc.fitness.weights. I appreciate the help.

Jason

Kaz Kylheku wrote:
:: That's why one of the worst things that a fat person can do is to
:: participate in ``support'' groups, online or in real life. For every
:: one person in such an environment who is motivated to do something,
:: there will be fifteen others who hate anyone who succeeds. They
:: secretly, perhaps unconsciously, want to maintain the status quo: to
:: stay the way they are /and/ sabotage everyone else who makes
:: progress.
::
:: Moreover, you will just be wasting time listening to some losers
:: whine, complain, and keep exchanging the same misinformation that
:: gets them nowhere.

Spoken (written) by a true genius & expert on what it is to be a "fat
person".

heh.