Is Obesity A Choice? (Science Explained)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 มิ.ย. 2022
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References:
Overfeeding Study:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2336074/
Resting Metabolic Rate Study:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30321...
NEAT Study:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9880251/
Hunger Research:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23509...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31037...
Biological Factors:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34426...
Calories In Calories Out:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25733...
Rise in Obesity:
www.thelancet.com/journals/la...
Environmental Factors:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34426...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21872...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28975...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30941...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/f...
jamanetwork.com/journals/jama...
Dr. Mike Israetel Video:
• Is obesity a choice? i...
Good video from Ben Carpenter:
• Is Obesity A Choice? I...
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Written by Jeff Nippard
Filmed by Jeff Nippard
Editing by Jeff Nippard
Music by Bankrupt Beats: • Video
Music by Epidemic Sound: Sneaky Fingers - T. Morri
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Is obesity a choice? In this video I am breaking down what the science says about the causes of obesity and sharing my opinion on the question.
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About me: I'm a Canadian natural pro bodybuilder and internationally-qualified powerlifter with a BSc in biochemistry/chemistry and a passion for science. I've been training for 12 years drug-free. I'm 5'5 and fluctuate between 160 lbs (lean) and 180 lbs (bulked).
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Disclaimers: Jeff Nippard is not a doctor or a medical professional. Always consult a physician before starting any exercise program. Use of this information is strictly at your own risk. Jeff Nippard will not assume any liability for direct or indirect losses or damages that may result from the use of information contained in this video including but not limited to economic loss, injury, illness or death. - บันเทิง
A few more thoughts after reading many of the comments
I’ve noticed two recurring bits of pushback:
The first argument goes something like this: “Sure, these factors all show that not being obese is HARDER for some people, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still a choice. Hard choices are still choices.”
I’ve noticed this coming mostly from people who are either currently in good shape, or used to be obese but have since lost a lot of weight. While this life change IS commendable and I have a huge amount of respect for anyone who has done it, to me, this feels similar to those who have gotten rich telling poor people that they are poor because of their poor choices. “I am not poor anymore. You can be not poor anymore too, if you make the right choices.”
Obviously, no one is denying that people CAN change their lives around, and work their way to success. And no one is arguing that people have no control over their lives. But people who fall for this argument are usually blinded by survivorship bias. OF COURSE people who got out of poverty will attribute their success to their hard work. OF COURSE people who lost weight will attribute their success to their good food choices. But what about the people who worked hard just as hard as you did, but didn’t get out of poverty? What about the people who made just as many good food and exercise choices, yet remained overweight? We don’t hear from those examples as much.
Saying that obesity is still a choice, even if it is harder for some people, is like saying poverty is a choice, even if it is harder for some people. Even though being poor is technically a matter of spending more $ than you make, there are simply too many contributing factors to shift the blame entirely to the individual for their “choice” to be poor. Similarly, even though being obese is technically a matter of eating more calories than you expend, there are simply too many contributing factors to shift the blame entirely to the individual for their “choice” to be obese.
Maybe we’re speaking past one another and merely debating the semantics of the phrase “a choice”, but even still, it doesn’t seem like a good phrase to use.
Let me try a few examples that I left out of the video:
If you get a tattoo on your body, that is 100% your choice. If you get cystic fibrosis (a genetic disease) that is 100% not your choice. If you have the “right genes”, you get cystic fibrosis. As I see it, because obesity has both controllable behavioral inputs (like making healthy food choices) and uncontrollable genetic and environmental factors (like your baseline hunger and childhood diets), it must sit somewhere in between those two extremes. But because the phrase “a choice” implies a simple, binary decision and places the onus entirely on the individual, it can’t be the best way to describe a multi-factorial condition as complex as obesity. It just doesn’t fit.
The second argument I’ve been hearing is that "weight loss is so simple, though: It’s just calories in, calories out."
On the surface, this is true. But again, it is the same as saying: “getting rich is simple: just make more dollars than you spend!”
Humans are not robots. Telling people to “just eat less” or to “put the fork down” isn’t effective most of the time. It CAN work, just like telling people to “just work harder” CAN make some people rich. But it just isn’t the answer most people need to hear. If you build up the discipline to put the fork down today, you might pick it up twice as much tomorrow. The development of obesity is complex physiologically, psychologically, socially and politically, and there are thousands of researchers who have dedicated their entire lives to understanding it and how to address it. If it were as simple as “putting the fork down”, obesity wouldn’t be the enormous multi-disciplinary riddle that it is today. Hope that makes sense!
I'm really glad to see a fitness influencer talking eloquently about this sort of thing, there's so much horrid discourse about obesity within the "fitness" community
This video was incredible Jeff. I admire the work you put into your content. For a long time I looked at obesity as 'a choice', binary. But this video has really made me re-evaluate my presuppositions regarding obesity. I'll adjust accordingly. Again, great work!
Jeff c'mon... I respect your ideas but that's something logical. Everyone who starts to eat in a moderate regimen and train will EASILY become leaner. Nobody is telling that obese have to get in shape and have 6% bf. Going from obese condition to around 20, even 25% bf is a SUPER IMPROVEMENT, and this improvement will take the obese one to be not obese anymore, it's SIMPLE. Isn't the same concept as becoming rich because money don't rely on you, they are given by a number of circumstances. And, trust me, becoming rich is not about working harder, because if this were true we would have a billion of billionaires. Instead, getting leaner rely just on yourself and the choices that you make. And even training is not about working harder, but working smarter.
Sorrt Jeff, but by following this logic, even getting a tattoo would not be a choice. Think about it ;)
You addressed that from the 1970's heavily processed high calorie foods became more readily available and cheap, but something that is not mentioned is that cheap healthy options are limited and far between leading many to turn to primarily those processed foods. It's not that there is a choice in their mind, but instead, one option is cheap and will fill their belly
Changing the thumbnail was a smart move. TH-cam is now recommending this again :P
I was just looking at it thinking wait that video just came out wtf
bro i thought I traveled back in time or some shit
@@pocket1122 right you peeped that too i was confused
That’s what I thought!!!!!! So smart. I’m like how did this add up? That just got released
Honestly kind of brilliant. I’m the producer on a TH-cam show and I’m definitely stealing this idea lol
the thumbnail change confused the hell out of me
Your not the only one
For a second, I was like "Oh god, has a year passed since that video was uploaded?".
Yeah that fucked me up
actually so cringe you shouldnt be allowed to do that
@@ohhhbirdy5975Womp Womp
This man is so smart man, my man really changed the thumbnail and its working
Right had me scratching my head 🤣
What was the previous thumbnail? Does it matter, or is the point that changing it just reboots the vid?
@@Subgenrelol The new thumbnail features a very recent jubilee segment about this topic while the video was posted over a year ago
@@cawdpoints Oh shit! I didn’t even notice the upload on the original video haha, I follow Jeff and just assumed this was a new video. That is wild
Man this man is a marketing genius man. Man
Man so smart he made a response video 1 year early
Mana got insane observation haki
What happened
@@Anonymous82819 he changed the thumbnail to a video that came out this year yet this video is over 2 years old.
I'm glad you brought up stress and depression (among the other many factors). Really goes against the overused dogma of "everyone has the same 24 hours in a day."
Tru.
how did u watch the video in 5mins
@@danieltooley675 watch it in 1.5x speed
Very true but then the next question is, is depression and anxiety something you have control over. Not, is it easy, but do you have the ability to control it to some degree. I think most folks that lift consistently know the answer to this.
But stress and depression do not subtract from your 24h / day; they provide resistance to you doing *something* with the same hours as everyone else. Depression or not, everyone finds it difficult to go to the gym, yet there are people who go and people who don't. Also, I may be suffering from depression and have 0 motivation and yet go to the gym and take care of myself, whereas someone else doesn't suffer from anything and chooses not to go. The amount of effort you have to exert changes, sure. But everyone does have the same 24h / day
That thumbnail change confused tf out of me but that worked 😂 I was like how is this the thumbnail but the video came out two years ago 😂
Same😂😂😂
It’s still relevant too
At my most successful weight loss, I was working a job that I liked, had friends that I saw outside of work, and was feeling happy for the first time in a long time. I ate healthy because I liked feeling healthy. I was able to exercise more because I wasn't constantly worried about people judging me.
At my least successful, I was in college, completely burnt out, miserable, and had virtually no social life. I was anxious, depressed, and ate garbage because I felt like garbage. I left the house as little as possible because I felt ashamed to be in public. The only exercise I got was commuting to and from school.
External factors are REAL and pretending like they don't matter is not helpful. Sometimes you have to work on the problems surrounding an issue before you work on the issue itself. There's no way of knowing what a person is dealing with; it's not fair to simplify their struggle to "just eat fewer calories, bro."
I also had debates like this with my bf (he´s slim and never had problems with overweight, more with underweight). He thinks fat people have the wrong choices and "you can see where it comes from" when they once in a blue moon go to eat burger or pizza etc. But I (was overweight with all the diagnosis and learning nearly every food is bad but not learning how to eat to become slim) think they can have it once in a while. Regularly eaten it´s not good for your health. But it´s always easier to blame the victim instead of helping them (or at least not say bad stuff at them).
Nobody doubts that you or anyone has stress. But what you're describing is still choice... In college, burnt out, no social life. Those are all choices you made. Many people go to college and have the opposite experiences that you're describing. For example, almost every single college athlete.
@@mikestryker240 I don't know what you're basing any of that off of, but I'll tell you now that I'm a Computer Science major, so athletics really don't apply to me.
@@GashPlague My point was that the decisions you made are what ultimately caused your struggles. It was based on the remarks that you made such as busy with college, no social life, burnt out. My example with the athletes was to demonstrate that the reasons you described, were more of excuses and choices. Athletes go to school and also have extreme workloads.
@@mikestryker240 Very little of my life was a choice. I needed a well-paying job to live and those jobs are only available to the educated. I understand that there are people who are far more driven than I am and able to do a lot more than me, but that's kind of my point.
Drive is not something you can just pull out of your ass. Drive is something that develops when you are able to focus on more than just survival. It's much harder to be ambitious when you're putting in 80 hours a week and just barely scraping by. Morale plays an integral part of mental (and to a larger extent, physical) health. This is something that is very hard to understand if you've never been in that situation.
Who knew a thumbnail change will bring this vid back to me
Me 2 what was it before though
It is crazy how different hunger can feel. I used to be over-weight with generally a low metabolism and was always hungry. I reached a healthy weight through exercise. But then for a while I was depressed because of very real life issues and I never felt hungry. I felt over-satiated without even eating. I lost 15 pounds in a month with no real change in my behavior besides not liking food. For many people I can imagine it would work the other way. We should always be tender hearted with people. You cannot know them enough to judge.
In the one on one conversations you have to be kind and tender. But when discussing this topic objectivelly we shouldn't deviate from what's factual for the sake of kindness.
Your metabolism is higher when you're bigger, countrary to popular belief.
@@jamesc3953 Exactly bro its not like being underweight where some people genuinely just can not access food. It's lazyness
@@Ignasimp Telling fat people they aren't lazy sods on a systemic level isnt just being kind for kindness sake. The first step to weight loss in many cases isn't telling yourself you're a fat lazy loser. But rather that you are a good in many ways, and that you deserve to give yourself a healthy life style because of that.
@@Itchy__ "The first step to weight loss in many cases isn't telling yourself you're a fat lazy loser."
actually it is. listen to anyone that was fat and their motivation to fix themselves.
"I looked in the mirror and was disgusted" is going to be their answer almost every time
"I couldn't walk up the stairs without losing breath" etc
same way a drug addict must admit that they're addicted to drug before any motivation to quit can start
Jeff talking rock-solid science with empathy, care, and nuance. You're very quickly becoming one of my favourite voices on the internet, and you're doing very valuable work
Agreed. The more popular someone is, the more influence they have on the public. Jeff had every opportunity here to hop on the mindless "no excuses, only grindset" bandwagon that is so popular nowadays. Instead he is hitting us with the cold, hard, facts.
And using studies of sample size 24 lmfao. How about finding a TH-camr that researches prior to making videos rather than writing a script then finding the studies to back up later regardless of the level of controversy surrounding the topic.
@@josephg9249 Spare me your salty bs. Jeff puts more effort into the research for one video than most people do on their entire channel. He's not running the studies, he's doing meta analysis. Tell me how you would do a large scale study in a metabolic ward? Please? Do you have any idea what kind of money that would take? The economics of it make no sense. Maybe 24 is not a large sample size but its better than zero and Jeff always mentions the sample in the videos and to take them with a grain of salt.
@@josephg9249Okay, this comment misses the mark on many points. 1. Jeff does not run the studies he cites nor does he set the parameters for them. 2. Longitudinal studies are expensive to conduct for any researcher, ever additional participant increases the cost. Furthermore, longitudinal studies tend to always suffer from lower recruitment and retention of participants. It’s hard to get humans to do anything for an extended period of time with little to no compensation. Related to this, longitudinal studies with high researcher involvement with the participants is all of those things mentioned above but worse. Now you have to actually manage each participant as a researcher. It would simply be impractical to keep constant near daily track of even 100 participants due to monetary limitations, and also the amount of time and energy available to each researcher on involved in the study which tend to be relatively few compared to the participants. 3. You are not aware of Jeff’s process, and he does not only a good job at researching each subject he talks about, but also presenting the research clearly and with clear citations. Anyone who watches his videos can scrutinize them based on the papers he cites and he does that very intentionally. Not to mention that research papers (primary sources) are not always free, and often require either a subscription to a journal for access, or direct payment for the paper itself. Given that Jeff has never claimed to be attached to an institution that would pay for these journals for him, it’s safe to assume that a good amount of expense on his part is incurred to deliver accurate information to his audience for each one of his videos.
Your comment is either a troll, or simply not well thought out at all. Either way,
you should definitely engage in more critical thinking before you critique someone’s hard work next time.
@@josephg9249 "I hate obese people and will make up any excuse to validate myself."
I encourage you to develop empathy. Life is a lot more rewarding when you care about people.
Clever thumbnail swap
lol this was a sneaky thumbnail change😭😭
As someone who has never struggled with obesity, but almost everyone in my immediate family has, I’ve always known this is true. I had a terrible gag reflex growing up, which forced me to eat very slowly and chew thoroughly, and this helped me to not overeat. This, combined with feeling less hungry generally than others in my family, helped me remain thin without really trying. Meanwhile, family members are trying their best and seeing few gains. It’s frustrating for them, and the last thing they need to hear is that they aren’t trying hard enough, when people in their family don’t try at all and are at their ideal weight.
You cannot know, just by looking at someone, how hard a person is working to achieve their health goals.
But all that you guys are saying its still basically a choice for 99.9 percent of people. Yes people will have vastly different difficulties doing so, but its still a choice. And to be fair if you look around you majority of the fat people doesnt have that hard of a struggles to do so.
@@alexmichl3137 ?
@@alexmichl3137 yea the point is is that it is a choice but is way harder for some people, both who say "its a choice man just dont eat" and "i was born to be fat" are both wrong, answers in the middle
@@kibbylol Yes but the first one is true for 99.9 % of fat people and the other one is true for 0.1%. All you guys are saying and also Jeff is trying to present in a "scientific" can be basically summed up by saying its still choice with different difficulty. But for most people its just that they dont want to change theyre lifestyle.
calories in, calories out, OBESITY IS A CHOICE!
Thumbail got me confused for a few seconds
Who else thought bro was a time traveler for a second
Bro ong
I’ve been struggling with my weight literally my whole life, failed so many times trying to lose fat, but I have faith that one day I will reach my goal and finally be truly happy. Currently, it’s been 4 months since I started my weight loss journey and it’s going slow because i’m not really exercising... I just got some diet help from Next Level Diet which guided me to reduce my food intake. But if I really want to, I could still eat something without restricting. I already lost 27 pounds and I’m much happier everyday :) Of course, there are times when I fall off but that’s why it’s called a journey. It has ups and downs but as long as you have faith in yourself, all your hard work will pay off ❤
>one day I will reach my goal and finally be truly happy
This is never going to happen. Oh, you will reach your goal, alright, it's just the goalpost will move up and up. Just a heads-up, if you're not happy now, you likely won't be later. I wasn't and I went from obese to model lean. It won't help, happiness comes from within.
@@Tumeq i agree it’s not good to chase happiness if u do you will never truly be happy
You can do it 💪
@@mattyhickman3995 Thanks for support
@@Tumeq thanks for this . I needed to hear this . I need to Change this mentality
The most important part is the encouragement. If an obese person makes the decision to change for the betterment of their own health, they're already likely facing an enormous amount of challenge from their own body and psychology alone. If we truly want to consider ourselves fitness-minded people, we should be applauding their every effort and positive choice, understanding of their relapses, and accepting of them into our fitness communities.
Exactly. If you're making fitness content with the intent to genuinely educate and help overweight people, kindness, compassion, and acknowledgement of varying degrees of burden is a huge step in creating a welcoming environment. That's why "obesity is just laziness" is not "much needed tough love"-no one wants to watch content that makes them feel worse about themselves than they already do.
@@marinal2705there is a big difference between calling it laziness and calling it a choice. Not all choices are easy ones.
Bro really went back and updated his thumbnail
Lol I was trying to figure out why that was there
Smooooort
Made me watch so it worked lol
That's called strategy. Tons of people do it
@@alexanderholmes9481 yea, I know
This adds a lot more humility to the discussion. Growing up, I found it easy to think people were simply out of control with how big some of them got, and I scoffed at their absolute disregard for their own health, but maturing has shone light on many more angles of the topic.
P
You are wrong. The most provable is that non of the people you saw being obese had any real excuse. They are obese because they are not willing to make the sacrifices that have to be made.
@@Ignasimp Lmao yes at the end of the day, but how their mentality and habits came to be is not so black and white as “they like to eat a lot”
@@Ignasimp dunno about obese people, but you have no excuse for judging people for sure ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@betheprotag of course. If they only like to eat a lot then they have no excuse for being fat. I like to eat a lot myself.
I was an overweight kid and my family kept blaming me because I wasn’t exercising enough even though in hindsight I was pretty active. I know now that your weight is a lot about your diet, something kids have zero control over. As an adult, I’ve lost a lot of weight just by having control of my food and wish I could tell my younger self to not blame yourself about your weight.
My mom would plate our food and get mad if we didn't want much. We overate. She has an eating problem. In my early 20's, I dieted exercised and went from 44 waist to 32. She got depressed and bought ice cream every three days because it was on sale and got angry if we didn't eat it. I ballooned back up. I got a job at a fast food place and gained even more weight. Went to the gym and managed the weight better but fast food daily kills weight loss. Now years later, I mostly control the food for the family, I exercise, and jog and I've lost 32 pounds since November. My mom despite being confined to a chair because of obesity related disability is still managing to sabotage my results by ordering pizza every week because she refuses to care.
kids have a lot of control over their diet in the form of overeating, but yes you are right that stupid parents impact their kids lives negatively. nevertheless, as an adult with a functioning brain and access to the internet, each spare lb of fat on your body is your own choice to keep it on there. people writing 'choices are hard'... yeah no shit, the right choice for a lot of things is hard. its still a choice that millions of other people made before you with your same conditions, so make it. or dont
i get he made this video to appeal to the avg fat person on YT and grow his channel, but a choice is a choice.
Pretty sure I gained 5 lbs from finally moving out. Better quality food I could buy and I could eat whenever. My mom didn't make too much food, just enough. And it's not like I had a choice in what I ate living in the country. Almost possible to get employed without moving out, but I was going to school at the time, and no grocery stores nearby if I did have money.
@@jkhan337 stop making excuses, you still have a choice. My girlfriend orders pizza and I still grab my chicken and rice from the fridge
so your family were giving you high calorie foods and still blamed you as a kid, DA FUK?! LOL
The studies on the Dutch Hunger Winter are also pretty eye-opening. In short, children who were in utero during the famine conditions of winter 1944-45 grew up to be much, much more likely to be obese and suffer diseases such as diabetes compared to their siblings born before or after that period. Their bodies were essentially imprinted into believing they were always in starvation conditions, and impacted both their behaviors (binge eat because you don't know where the next meal is coming from) and their metabolism (store more fat to survive the next famine).
yeah they were extremely insulin resistant and over 90% of them got diabetes
Were there actual genetic differences between the two siblings or was it a function of the cultural response that someone who grew up in a famine might have as opposed to one who didn't?
@@sabirzain5053 Neither of those is the cause: it has to do with epigenetics, where some of the many genes that an organism has get labelled to be expressed, whereas others remain dormant. In other words, while the siblings are genetically similar and grow up in the same environment, the one who was conceived during the Hunger Winter has their obesity-promoting genes 'turned on', whereas the sibling who was conceived in times of plenty has those genes 'turned off' or dormant, even though they are part of their DNA as well. You can look up DNA methylation and acetylation as well as epigenetics if you want to know more about this.
That is talking extremes and Jeff is not targeting extremes. There are many situations where choices are defined by your environment. A child technically cannot control all choices offered to them but, they can once they get out of that environment. Could damage be done that can hinder this in the future, sure but are these people the majority? No. General topics should cover the general audience and not extremes as you can give bad information verily easily.
There are almost no kids being born in the USA who came from parents in “famine conditions”. That doesn’t explain the sudden rise in obesity
Thanks for this video. Some great information. 1 year ago, I was 560lbs. It has taken so much work to get down to my current weight of 415lbs. I have a lot more to go but understanding these other factors helps a lot.
Good job bro.
Congratulations bro, you lost more weight than some people weigh. 🙌
wow bro ... 145 pounds is incredible. truly commendable.
Keep up the good work man!
Well Done bro ! You lost almost my whole bodyweight, it blows my mind ! Respect ! And i'm over here struggling to loose a few KGs ... :)
My conclusion from my whole weight loss journey is that it's probably not your fault that you are obese, but it's still your responsibility.
This ignores health conditions like thyroid issues that are not practically possible for anyone to compensate for on their own.
@@zaferoph no it doesnt, just because it's your responsibility doesn't mean you are on your own. Get help there's plenty if you want, but you are the only one who can start the process, specialists will help you but it's not their responsibility, it's yours.
@@HarderBetter I understand that you're not actually familiar with how severe these conditions can be and often are but please don't talk about things you don't know anything about. The amount of free time, money and effort required to handle some of these issues is far more than what you can comprehend it seems.
Unhealthy food is cheaper per meal relative to the time it takes to make. Medicine is expensive in many countries too. And on top of that you need regular contact with a doctor regarding your medication and a dietitian regarding your food up until the point that both are in balance without any issues. That alone takes a long time.
@@zaferoph This isn't relevant to the subject. None of this absolves anyone of their personal responsibility. If you don't take care of yourself, no one else will. Change always begins with the person facing the issue, regardless of the difficulty. You can either sit back and lament the cost of treatment or the complexity of the process, or you can take action-even if it's just seeking help. I refrain from judging those who are obese because life is complex and unfair. I don't blame people for their obesity; I'm simply saying that regardless of the circumstances that led us to a difficult situation, the responsibility to act is ours.
@@HarderBetter oh now I know you were born lucky on many levels. Sorry, not everyone was born in a financially stable family.
I love how Jeff prioritizes the facts and still always comes off as level headed and empathetic.
😨th-cam.com/video/eProUYaIyhQ/w-d-xo.html
Yeah mostly, but been slipping up recently. The bias in his sumo video was evident
Yeah like the time he was talking about how „ safe „ the vaccine is right ? Now that tens of thousands of people have heart problems he simply pulled the good old „ my statements were true at the time „
@@drabnail777 true
@@drabnail777 sumo isn’t cheating
It's probably fair to say that everyone can make the choice not to be obese. But for some people that's just a really damn hard choice that requires a ton of work. For other's they practically couldn't get obese if they wanted to. It's a "choice" for both people. But that doesn't mean it's the same choice for everyone.
It makes more sense to say that becoming obese is not a choice, but remaining obese could be (albeit difficult one).
It's like saying a smoker made the choice to have cancer, it's semantics. Most of these things are just probabilities not conscious decisions. The smoker doesn't choose to have cancer, but can possibly choose not to go on chemotherapy
I think of it as someone who was born financially privileged and someone who wasn’t. While they can both become wealthy, the person with the better circumstances has a head start. Someone born into a home with the privilege of good genetics, established healthy eating habits passed on by their parents, disposable time for working out will have it easier to maintain a healthy weight vs someone who had the opposite. Although just like you wouldn’t glorify someone living in poverty, but hope they find the resources and opportunities to better themselves, one should also hope obese people are advocated for to access healthy, affordable food, education and creating a more stress-free environment to get them at a healthy weight vs this whole fat acceptance movement that is going on.
This is basically muddling the issue. In this sense nothing is *really* your choice, because you are influenced by your genetics and your environment. But that's all that this is: different life choices have different difficulty levels for different people of different circumstances. This is self-evident, but it doesn't weaken the case of personal choice in the slightest, because at the end of the day everyone has the ability to eat less than they do. If you muddle this issue by saying "but there's a difference in the willpower required to do so, so it's not a REAL choice", then nothing in the world is in your control and you're perpetually a victim of circumstances. Terrible advice from a fitness influencer.
@@alexf7797 Thank you, great observation. I love Jeff's videos, think he is very informative and well researched, but this one is absolute bull... It is 100% a choice.
@@alexf7797 Everyone IS victim of circumstance. That's reality. Humans are predictable and society is deterministic. You can predict an infant's outcome in life just by their zipcode with scary accuracy. You can predict someone's probabilities of finding a mate just from their facial structure. Life is just numbers and stats. This video isn't advice, its analyzing a widespread issue.
For example if I were to give you personal advice on how make it out of poverty, it's going to sound totally different (maybe even completely contradictory) to how one should structure our society to ameliorate poverty. For example "you should stop wasteful spending and set aside some money for a retirement fund" vs "we should improve schools and help increase wages" One is changing variables across broader society, while the other is just for the individual. You cannot replace one with the other, you need both.
The thumbnail change made me think Jeff was a time traveler or something lol
I realised that I'm genetically blessed in the metabolism side, my physique genetics are average but this video helped me understand how I was able to eat so much without gaining much weight. For people that are struggling to loss weight they have my complete respect, for lots of people is really hard as Jeff have pointed out
I have no respect for the fat acceptance movement though.
The first study shows me that heavy outliers exist but also that most people are somewhat similar. The issue I have with the metabolism explanation is that many people use it as a default excuse, for themselves or for others. The amount of people that have said that they cant gain or lose weight because of genetics does not track with the amount of people that are at the far ends of the spectrum. The majority of people are within the 15-20 lbs range, which to me is not really that much over 3 months. Issue because this applied to me as well. For so long I believed the people that told that I just have a fast metabolism, not much I can do about it. Then I started to track what I eat and eat consistently more and within 2 months I reached my desired weight. Turned out I just didnt eat all that much.
@@HadenBlake I don’t go out of my way to shame fat people, but I do have a problem with people who encourage others to stay fat just cause they refuse to partake in a healthy lifestyle. As for the economic issue, I think govt needs to do a better job at regulating what gets put into our food supply and not just cater to whatever helps corporations make a fat profit (no pun intended).
@@HadenBlake glad you understand bro. And yes, the obesity epidemic is not just a personal issue but a societal one. The least people can do is not promote it into our culture through stuff like “fat acceptance” and at least encourage people to make better choices. I hope you succeed in your fat loss journey bro, don’t let extreme ideologies or internet hustlers discourage you from your goals 👍
@@HadenBlake ay bro no shame in progress. Progress is progress even if you only lose a few grams and not kilograms I'm glad you started the journey and I really want you to reach your goals. Remember don't do this because you want to look a certain way for society to accept you for how you look, do it for yourself to enjoy a healthy life and as you say enjoy your kids and remember too IS A JOURNEY NOT A RACE!.
As a doctor, especially as a neurological recovery doctor, I can just congratulate you for this absolutely wonderful video. I couldn’t say it better. This video should be presented at schools.
Schools are a scamm youre part od the problem
Are you a Physiatrist by any chance? (AKA Physical Medicine and Rehab doctor)
No you don't you mean you categorize the people!
This video is best not shown at all to anyone who wants to make a change. It basically tells people that their progress is determined by their genetics and their own will has no effect as losing weight (obesity) is not a choice.
It essentially is a science-backed black pill.
@@dougt4283, exactly 😌
Excellent video, Jeff! Agree completely. You only have to be a trainer for, like, a month to realise just how different people are in this regard! Or to see the difference that a contraceptive pill or epilepsy medication can make. Or hypothyroidism. Hormones alone can completely throw off an AMR calculation. All of which you mentioned and expertly supported 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Hey i know u.
Its always nice to see you!
My brother takes epilepsy medication he doesn’t train though. How can that affect his diet? I’d like to know more about this
Love to see you supporting other excellent creators like yourself.
Adam, yes 👌💪
I've lost 60 pounds and I really wish people understood everything in this video. I was depressed my whole adult life; calculating every bite I took wasn't a priority. I could hardly get out of bed let alone excersize and cook a healthy meal. I have finally began to recover and am very close to my goal weight. It took over a year to get this far and it was not easy. I have the utmost sympathy for people like me who struggle to lose weight. People who've never been overweight don't seem to understand that it's not fixable overnight. Just because I'm overweight right now does not mean I'm not doing everything right to fix it.
@@TB-dz6zl If nobody thinks that, then it's weird how many people will say "why don't you just lose weight" in response to any weight related problem. Yeah, I am losing weight, but that doesn't make it easier to find clothing in the meantime.
@TB-dz6zl The average dress size in the US is 14. At my biggest I was a 16. I'm a 10 now. Any brand refusing to make clothes for people my size or larger is ignoring over half of their potential customers just because they don't like how their clothes would look on us. It's elitism, not concern for our health or justified punishment for gluttony. They are leaving money on the table just to tell the average person to stay home until they're thin enough for clothes. If every overweight person started losing weight tomorrow, there would still be a need for clothing beyond XS,S, and M
@TB-dz6zl nothing you're is contrary to anything I'm saying. You're right we shouldn't have such a high average but that's the reality and it's not gonna change overnight no matter how often companies and brands try to shame people out of their products. That is the point you're not getting. Failing to make clothing for overweight people doesn't prevent obesity it just leaves obese people uncomfortable living their lives. Which does not help the obesity issue. Any time it's suggested that any sort of accommodation be made for obese people, everyone jumps out of the woodwork to say that people shouldn't be obese enough to need it. Yeah you caught me. I shouldn't need size 10 jeans and I shouldn't have needed size 16 jeans but being unable to buy jeans didn't help me lose weight any faster it just annoyed me in the meantime. No need to kick obese people while we're down and make our lives harder when we're just trying to get by.
@TB-dz6zl ah so you genuinely believe fat people should wear nothing but sweatpants and oversized T shirts until they are "thin enough". You should have just said you don't see fat people as human at the beginning.
@@aryssamansfield9735 respect bro. But it is a choice at the end of the day eventhough its hard
I see what you did there with the thumbnail Jeff 😏
Still an excellent video
I was obese from 6-28 years old and always thought that was simply the cards I was dealt. Managed to get to "normal" BF% levels in a year and kept there since (with some small cuts among the way). Yes, I had to make MAJOR lifestyle changes, I will have to be "calorie conscious" for the rest of my life and will never be Instagram shredded, but it is possible to fight all these factors (which certainly exists) to stay in a "normal" BF range.
Absolutely.
the statement that "obesity isn't a choice" doesn't really mean that if you're fat then you're simply screwed. It's just that people who judge those who are overweight or label them as lazy or weak willed are being incredibly reductive and uninformed
I feel your pain I’m the same way. It’s hard to watch all your peers eat and drink whatever they want whenever they want while you have to be very conscious on what decisions you make.
@@MetalliCxZero I personally think it simply means that people consume more calories than they burn. I wouldn't judge someone negatively in that regard. However, we cannot deny that obesity is a consequence of those actions (be it intentional or not). Sure, there are factors as to why some folk are hungrier than others, may take longer to lose weight, etc.
u can be instagram shredded if you really really want to. if u dont thats cool but never say never
I've been struggling to not preach this stuff to my family when it's multiple factors contributing to their obesity. Thanks for reminding me to be more compassionate and aiming to point them in the right direction. I just wish they asked me more often instead of being complacent.
obesity is a choice bro to say it’s not means if we look at mass murders who almost all the time have external factors that contribute to them killing are we going to ask is murder a choice? because we know it is 🤦🏾♂️
@@tohhhype2043 murder inherently requires a choice to commit, regardless of outside factors. Obesity doesn't *always* require a choice, so it's a bit different. There are tons of medical factors that contribute to obesity that aren't always due to a purposeful choice. Most of the time obesity is more or less a choice. But not every time like murder. Super slow metabolism, thyroid issues, severe injury, allergies to certain foods, etc.
One example is one of my friends from the Marine Corps has ALS that developed when he was in his mid 20s. He's obese now, and it had absolutely no choice involved.
@@tohhhype2043 the age someone becomes obese is also a large factor. I became obese at age 11 when I tried to lose weight after the doctor told me I was overweight. I have a friend who became obese at age 22 because he thought it would be fun. The argument for murder isn't a good one and is also fucking stupid. A better one would be involuntary manslaughter which is the act of accidentally killing someone versus murder which is intentionally killing someone.
Obesity is not a choice but a series of choices everyday all year. That is the problem. Once you're in it, it is very hard to get out precisely because you need to decide to get out every single time.
It is sort of like studying a subject you don't like (lets say math). It is easy to decide to start studying (and even then it often is not), but it is very hard to keep deciding to continue studying. Because you will have that decision every 5mins you keep reading and it is "easy" to stop.
There’s no reason to be compassionate.
I was confused how this was a year ago but then thought you probably just changed the thumbnail
almost two years ago now 🤯
Excellent video, Jeff. As a former obese person I am often too hard on obese folk. Thank you for reminding me my own experience doesn't qualify me to judge how hard others have it.
There is also the mental element - I didn't realize I was a stress eater before I didn't move in on my own and my stress levels decreased and suddenly I didn't have those giant cravings anymore, but opted to eat what was in the fridge instead of ordering take away, to use as comfort/ soothing tool for the evening. Great video as always, Jeff!
„Just Eat It.“ - Not Michael Jackson
Exactly - I've had many similar moments. I thought most of my early adulthood that binge eating is just "part of who I am" and that other people who don't overeat just have more self-control than I do. Once I started to eat regular meals (regarding whether I felt hungry or not) my need to binge dissappeared almost completely. Realising this one thing has contributed the most to me losing weight and managing a healthier weight over time. Sometimes we're just not aware of what is shaping our eating behaviours.
@@oona4787 this! so true. food is used as a comfort too by our bodies and a coping mechanism.
The interesting thing is that Im the complete opposite- if im having a stressfull day I eat very little, sometimes a bread is enough.
Just shows the different coping Mechanisms
@@Asoftenkameshee especially when learned from a very young age. You can unlearn habits you established during the first three years of your life (It´s not easy).
Over the last 10 months, I went from 230 pounds to 165 at 6 foot flat. Whenever people ask how I did it I usually find myself saying something along the lines of eat less and move more. 10k steps a day not only increases the amount of calories you can eat in a day, but also offers a plethora of other health benefits. At the end of the day, discipline is key, and it's simply about being good more often than not.
@@cnlevan you consumed more calories than your body needed despite your health status. It’s that simple. If you had eaten less you would’ve lost weight. Respectfully, thermodynamics is not fake.
@@thepowerliftinginvestor8490 yes it is that simple in terms of the mathematics. However, achieving this caloric deficit may be more difficult for some than others due to individual factors that Jeff explained, as well as the two examples right here
so, on the one hand, there were no obese people at auchwitz. not for every long at least. so sure, there are some known easy ways to lose weight. eat less and just do more work. it is a simple, simple math problem. the problem is, it is a very, terrible way to live. no one sticks with that life style because it is a terrible way to live. if you paid someone like nicotrel to live with you, and forced you to lose weight (eating almost 0 food, and attacked you so you kept moving), you would lose weight. it would just be a terrible way to live though.
so it's not really that we need more science to prove "eat less move more" per say (unless we just want more creative ways to accomplish this). i think the value add is to figure out why "it's so hard for obese people" to try and live that way.
so, is eating less harder for obese people, or do they just complain more? do they suffer more?
@@cnlevan the difficult way i've learned to say it in my life, :there were no fat people in the concentration camps. if you are doing work, and eating a reasonable amount of food, then you can always work more and eat less, and then you will lose weight". it will not be enjoyable, but it will work. and i say this as someone who badly, badly, badly needs to take this advice.
it sounds like a simple math problem, but it s a terrible, psychological problem. failing and eating more food just covers up the psychological problem.
@@cnlevan that's scientifically impossible..you were eating more than you were burning
Smart thumbnail change but also, this is the best video on the subject i've seen that actually addresses nuance unlike coach greg. If you've the genes, and built good habits from childhood onward, of course you wont understand why others are obese. A good chunk of the damage IMO happens in people's formative years. Through well meaning ignorance or full on negligence, adults fail kids and dont set good eating and discipline habits. This snowballs down the line and then when you're an adult with other responsibilities and want to make a change, you dont have the tools to do it effectively. Its 100x more impressive for an obese person to hit the gym lightly for a week and cut back on soda than it is for these fitness influencers to break PRs and micromanage their diets. It doesnt absolve personal responsibility but lets not act like its a simple "just eat less" situation.
I love how jeff changed the thumbnail smart move😂😂😂
I was thinking the same thing😂
My brother suffers from a severe learning disability and has been obese since he was a teenager. I honestly consume more food than him these days and I am a healthy weight and always have been - he weighs 80lbs more than I do. He doesn't have capacity to understand things like food choices but my parents generally try to manage his portions etc. I sometimes can't understand how he doesn't weigh less as when I calculate his caloric needs for maintenance I'm fairly certain he isn't hitting it.
It is easy for someone who has never struggled with food or their weight or mental health to say "it's a choice". I thought this video was fantastic, well balanced and presented and I loved the compassion that came across. Great job Jeff!
Wishing you and your family all the best! Some genetically-linked disabilities are associated with an altered metabolism--maybe this is the case for your brother? For example, due to genetic changes on chromosome 21, individuals with Down syndrome often have lower resting metabolic rates than expected for their height/weight.
@@redacted7058 hey no he doesn't have downs syndrome but is severely autistic and has limited understanding. Even though he goes for walks most days he is otherwise very sedentary and also his autistic traits mean he rushes to finish his meals or snacks so likely isn't in touch with his fullness cues so those may be factors. I do also think genetically he is more prone to put on weight and has a naturally slower metabolism. I just think it can be easy for people to judge without understanding the full picture! Thank you for replying 😊
Sounds terrible and i feel for you. But the extra weight is coming from somewhere, and the body doesnt just create and store energy (fat), goes against laws of psychics.
“Is obesity a choice?” is a fundamentally different question than, “Do your choices contribute meaningfully to your obesity?”
How are depression and being poor choices?
@@AustinWeber17 eating healthier is cheaper than eating unhealthy if you chose the right foods. Eating unhealthy is bad for mental health
@@AustinWeber17 You're missing the point, those who are affected by depression or poverty have a higher risk of becoming obese but neither of those factors lead to obesity on their own, so altough the margin for error is much smaller for them, they could still avoid obesity through their choices.
How is it fundamentally different?
@@falschgedenkt9086 One is saying that you consciously choose to do while the other is an unconscious decision based on series of conscious decisions.
This is massively important. I am just coming out of a 6 year period where I drank 4-6 dark beers per day (my preferred brew has 256 calories per 12 oz, and I didn't learn this until about 6 months ago) and I would eat an entire family sized pizza 2-3 times a week at night. I walk about 10,000 steps a day but no other real regular exercise beyond normal office work and some core exercises a few times a week to prevent back injury. I gained 85lb. I'm 6'4" with a large frame size and high lean mass. Every partner I've ever had says I feel like sleeping next to a furnace. After tracking my intake/supposed caloric needs for 8 months and extrapolating those back, on a calories in/calories out level I should weigh at least 140lb more than I do. I quit drinking 6 weeks ago and I'm down 15lb. I find that alcohol destroys my ability to tell if I'm hungry and I mindlessly eat and drink more. Anyone who doesn't have empathy for people who have unique struggles with weight and doesn't understand decision fatigue and the power/privilege of education. Find that one thing in your life you can't seem to gain control over. Organization? Time management? Being a better driver? Now imagine that was weight management and integral to your well being.
Well said. I think too many people view weight loss like a math problem when it's far more than that. The main thing is that a person deserves respect no matter what weight they are. To be dismissive of the reasons behind their weight gain and to treat them like petulant children or voracious monsters because they haven't figured out a weight loss plan that works says more about you than them.
@@GashPlaguewhile I agree that we need to be kind, we do not have to ignore that choices are being made. Decision fatigue playing a role means there must be a decision within the mire of feelings. Also, taking someone’s responsibility away, takes away what power they do have over the situation, for how can they change it if they did not cause it? Instead, I offer we should not call someone a bad person or judge someone to be, simply by their apparent weight, whether large or small. Rather, specify that the behaviors leading them to an unhealthy situation are. Meaning, do assume that they aren’t doing work to improve their situation or that they aren’t aware of it.
How the fuck does he have the thumb nail of a jubilee video that wouldn’t come out for another eleven months am I tripping or is Jeff some sort of transcendental being
there must be an option to change thumbnails
I feel like environmental factors are hugely downplayed and always last in these type of videos. In my opinion, it's a greater driving force than biology (as demonstrated by disparity in obesity rates in developed countries, which is not explained solely by genetics since immigrants tend to adopt the same rate of obesity as the host country). Here are some additional considerations in addition to those in the video:
Zip code: Many people of low SES live in food deserts where there are no grocery stores for miles and miles, making it harder to buy nutritionally balanced food.
If you live in a poor neighborhood, many schools severely lack funding to provide proper nutrition physical education programs. How many schools run proper affordable cafeterias with tasty healthy foods, and not just serve up pizza and fries? Can they afford to run sports teams or have equipment for people to exercise? How do you go for a run if you don't have access to a gym or your neighborhood has no parks? Maybe it's dangerous to exercise outside because it's not safe.
Education: With schools no longer teaching home economics, many people don't have the knowledge to interpret nutrition labels and cook healthy foods! Someone could be eating 1900 calories, but if they are severely deficient in a key nutrient, they will end up driving up their hunger response and keep eating. Countries like Japan that teach balanced diets at an early age show drastically lower rates of obesity!
Psychology and conditioning: we are taught to finish our plate and not waste food while combining ridiculous portion sizes. it's been shown that people will tend to just finish their plate not realizing they are eating more. Compound that with astronomical portion size and it's very easy to make people gain weight. Many psychological studies show that hunger suppression depends more on habit and psychological factors than actual physical satiety signals. A study gave people with short term memory loss a meal and then waited for them to forget, and gave them a meal again, over and over. They kept eating and eating until their stomach distension got so uncomfortable they had to stop and that was the only predictor of when the subject would stop eating. So clearly, hormonal signals of satiety aren't strong enough to override psychological conditioning.
Vicious cycle: How do you eat properly if all of the above compounds into parents unable to have time or afford quality food to cook for their children, end up buying bags of chips or a fast food burger to feed their kids? Their kids end up with metabolic issues and the starting point when they can control what they can eat is at obesity. Then they have to learn how to lose weight, while not losing dangerous amounts of protein, and be able to afford proper nutritionists and workout locations. To top it off, there will be a host of medical issues in the family due to poor diet, leading to huge medical bills, and the cycle starts again.
Poverty is extremely expensive and the ability to control what you eat and how much you exercise is a lot harder for some people than just walking to your nearest grocery store and going for a run. If we want to end the obesity epidemic, start with properly funding schools, invest in proper infrastructure in poor neighborhoods and give people the resources to be able to choose without giant hurdles in their way.
Very well said. As someone whose family is of low SES, I can speak to these truths a lot. I was in the midst of gaining weight right after high school but as soon as I left to college, losing weight and being healthy was substantially easier. It is tough to be healthy and make the right decisions when the system is constantly working against you.
Yes, I agree. The only reason I put biological factors first is because they are more in line with the focus of my channel and the interest of my viewers (fitness and science stuff). Also, because the environmental factors carry more political baggage, they are harder to use as an entry point into this topic for viewers who come with heavy pre-existing political bias.
Schools are incredibly "well funded", politicians have been throwing money at schools to solve problems for a long time. That's not really the problem. You could run far better schools for half the price. But you are right to point out that the schools could be run far better.
NEAT is to some extent a matter of choice. Once I learned about the benefits of fidgeting, I made a conscious effort to do more of it when I’m alone.
There’s considerable social pressure from childhood on to suppress fidgeting. I don’t recall much of this, so perhaps my baseline propensity to fidget is below average.
It’s actually kinda fun to fidget and do “chair squats” while sitting, and to pace during phone calls intentionally.
@Grand Slamwich It's very simple, I concern myself with data and critical thinking, not with narratives that are spread and influence people to think certain ways unthinkingly.
"CICO is not that simple"
*Greg Doucette screams in distance*
I'm so thankful that you took the time to put this together. In our world the total disregard and shame obese people have to endure as their own exclusive shortcomings is nothing short than cruelty. I've personally experienced that pressure beginning at the earliest memories of my childhood where I was given celery at birthday parties instead of the celebration cake piece, the daily constant bullying from the obnoxious comments to the straightup physical and sexual abuse by my school frenemies and the constant medical shaming and trips to the nutritionist office depriving my siblings of every food related pleasures thus marginalizing me in my own home. Now, a full decade into therapy I know and accept that I'll always be in remission and at risk for an eating disorder and body dysmorphia. Just like we wouldn't shame a schizophrenic patient for taking medication for their condition, obesity should absolutely be addressed thru this multiaxial analytical lense including some pharmaceutical help. The trouble is most obviously to treat the underlying issues first like the psychological trauma then to re-educate and reframe the cognitive frameset towards self-compassionate discourse to enable stable healthy holistic approach to lifestyle rather than full on shame driven radical diets followed by binge sessions.
Did he update the thumbnail
I see you did a little switcharoo with the thumbnail since the release of the new Jubilee video ;)
Smart to update the thumbnail lol
I was over 300lbs and it’s was a choice and it was also a choice to lose weight. I wasn’t taking care of myself.
I believe that being obese is 99% a choice , however being overweight is most likely not . Even with everything working against you , like lack of sleep , slow metabolism etc , there is absolutely no way that you will get dangerously obese if you try to have any active lifestyle at all or make the slight effort to not eat way too much
"Is X a choice?" is more of a "push" question. It's not usually asked by people seeking an answer, but by people who want to shape how you think.
You do a great job here of addressing the question as though it were an honest inquiry, seeking an honest answer. Even setting aside the research, your objective, but not uncompassionate, tone communicates really well. Hell of a skill.
It's really impressive that you film right and edit these episodes all by yourself while staying in such good shape. Hats off to you man and thank you for giving me the knowledge that I need to keep going.
Well I guess he´s doing It Full Time, so its not really that hard and he grew with It over the years. I won´t say its not a hell of a work ethic I´m just saying once you quit netflix and or YT everyone can build his hobbies or business. And jeff is the best example for that
It’s a choice, but in the same way poverty is a “choice.” You can become fit or skinny, however the hurdles are so high for some people that it’s too difficult.
something something new thumbnail
The internet loves over-simplification, & it's great that you're researching such a nuanced topic. Thank you Jeff! 👌👍
I think it has something to do with ego, too. If i'm lean and they're fat, i'm doing something right and they're doing something wrong,and so i'm better than them at something in some way, in an area that's important to me.
@@herculesbrofister265 "i'm better than them at something" this but unironically
@@herculesbrofister265 they are at health risk because of their obesity while you are not because you are no obese, you are objectively doing better than them in that case
every topic can be broken down into simplicity. Einstein famously said "if it can't be explained in simple terms, it's false"
@@Simon-talks that's not what he said, and tbf he probably didn't even say the correct phrase either, which is: "if you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough". But Einstein gets credited with saying a ton of phrases all the time, and I doubt he said ALL of them, he was a physicist, not a philosopher.
This is an incredibly well put-together video that really highlights the multiple factors leading to obesity. The fitness community can be quite toxic occasionally through relentlessly blaming and shaming people who are overweight without a fundamental understanding of metabolic activity. As a doctor, it's important to attempt to underline all of the issues a person may be experiencing when it comes to gaining/losing weight.
In addition to your point about differences in hunger/satiety - this is mediated hormonally by a number of compounds, mainly ghrelin and leptin. When your body moves away from homeostasis (or your base weight), your body will do whatever it can to get back to 'normal', i.e. decreasing your leptin levels, making you generally hungrier all the time. Unless you are able to resist the urge to eat calorie-dense foods forever, you're more than likely to regain your calorie surplus and gain weight. This is one of the reasons that so many people who lose a lot of weight initially tend to return back to where they started.
Bullshit. You can eat calorie dense foods and not be fat even with a slow metabolism.(which I do and I have) People who are obese have an over eating and bad food choice addiction. I know all about addiction because I used to have both of those and several other addictions. The day you stop blaming everything else and take responsibility for your own decisions is the day you make long term progress. And to debunk the other dumb shit you said about people's homeostasis weight(I can't believe YOU'RE a doctor and don't know this) That doesn't last very long. If you lose the weight then stay at maintenance calories for about 3 months, all of that goes away. I know because I've done it from 235 all fat no muscle, to 215 some fat some muscle, to 195 low fat mostly muscle. The thing is you can't diet off 100lbs then eat whatever you want anytime you're "hungry" and then expect it to stay off. Yes you will be hungry but if you stay at maintenance that will go away.
@@Mikaeel84 It's wild to me how people like you don't seem to understand the difference between an explanation and an excuse, and then use you personal anecdotal experience to try and undermine well observed and scientifically documented facts. The way people like you take personal offense at the idea that someone else might struggle to repeat your success, it says a lot more about you than the people you're criticizing.
@@jeffjeff376 I struggled like crazy to reach my success and I still am but it all comes down to what you want more. Would you rather look good and be healthy but not eat what you want when you want or the other way around. Both are hard in different ways.
@@Mikaeel84 The fact that you struggled for your success doesn't give you the right to be weirdly resentful and judgmental of other people who are struggling and may find comfort in understanding the explanations for *why* they're struggling. Beyond comfort, explanations like those provided by Nippard and the MD you were insulting, also help to identify solutions and to remove shame from the whole process.
Shame is psychological poison, more likely to cause people to fall into counter-productive self hatred than to create positive change. When you paint a simplistic and non-scientific view that dismisses all these explanations for why some people struggle more than others, when you imply that it only comes down to willpower and self control, you are judging and shaming those people who may be struggling for reasons that most people don't.
@@jeffjeff376 it does come down to will power and self control. Some just need to try harder than others. In my experience people make excuses for why they are fat because somebody told them they are a special snow flake instead of doing what needs to be done. Positive change usually comes from necessity not coddling. You feel bad so therefore you do what you need to feel good. When someone doesn't feel bad for being fat they think it's ok and that people aren't disgusted by them when they really are. It's called enabling. Like people who are addicted to pain pills then they are told they have a genetic predisposition to being an addict. I've known multiple drug addicts and all that does is enable them. They use it as an excuse for why they aren't clean instead of admitting they just aren't willing to go through the pain of detox and resisting drugs so they can feel better. We haven't survived thousands of years by coddling. It was the strongest survive. 1000 years ago your bitch ass would be dead. Unfortunately that's not the case anymore.
My man playing 3d chess with the algorithm
Another thing to consider is how much energy you expend at your job. Yesterday I found out about apple health tracking my steps and you can definitely see a huge difference in my steps for different periods in my life. As a college student, I had an average of around 7,000 steps a day, during the start of the pandemic I had around 2,000, and now, since I work at a grocery store, I take an average of 14,000 steps daily. I also have to lift heavy things frequently for my job. Since we all spend a lot of time at work, I think it’s definitely something to be considered.
For me, if I decided “let me try to get 10,000 steps a day” I would have to make literally no lifestyle changes. Meanwhile, for maybe an office worker, they would have to allocate more of their free time.
Yes, and there other elements to it, like how far you communite to work. I had time for exercise in the morning before I started this job an hour and a half away. I am not saying it's impossible to wake up half an hour earlier 2-3 times a week, and maybe do some more in the weekend but it's way more inconvenient.
@@MsMinoula and then you'd be cutting into your necessary sleep, or cutting into time for your hobbies, and neither of these make it easy to make better choices about food.
@@user_.b yup, thsts exactly how it goes
Over a decade being overweight, battling obesity, begging everyone from doctors to strangers on the internet for help, going to every single source I could find to get more information, this is literally the first time I've heard of "NEAT". Thank you.
Keep searching and digging! The helpful advice is out there!! You can do it but it’s true, we aren’t taught this stuff and given what we need to succeed, we have to go out and find the information for ourselves, and wade through all the ignorant people in the process. You’ve got this! I believe in you
Try interval fasting and low carb, your body can adjust to those in a few weeks and it can bring very good results
The problem is there is only one solution calories in, calories out, but how you get there is a choose your own adventure that depends on your unique situation. You need to find what works for you, which means whatever you can maintain as a new lifestyle. I am a perimenopausal (read hormonal as a 13 year old) woman and I was starting to have joint issues. I chose to increase activity as that was easier than being super restrictive with food because I knew that I could increase activity but I’d never stick with it if I couldn’t eat what I wanted within reason. (My husband jokes that I exercise so I can eat dessert). Educate yourself on portions, nutrients, and how your unique body system works. Recognize that you can tweak along the way and it doesn’t have to be perfect from the start. Find the one thing you can do right now, that would be so easy to add in (10k steps per day for me). Focus on only doing that for a month. Each month add another thing, increase intensity, start a food log, focus on getting more protein, whatever seems right for your goals. Almost 2 years later, I hit the gym almost every day and have cut back some to protect my knees but also know about how to set my food for the best nutrient diversity and based on activity because I started with one habit and grew it. Don’t expect to do it all at once. It’s too much. Focus on doing a little at a time.
Literally just eat less calories than you burn, and you will lose weight. It's not fun, but it's the truth. Eat less. Exercise more. Lose weight. Done.
With few exceptions, It’s years of daily lifestyle decisions that lead us to where we are at. Years of good decisions can lead you to a good place, even if genetics makes it tougher.
Thank you for your considerate take! I have recently lost nearly 25 pounds and am hoping to lose about 55 more, but I've been struggling with weight management for over 20 years due to PCOS, stress, and depression. I developed an eating disorder in my early 20's and have yo-yo'd between extremely restrictive diets and binge eating, in addition to overly strenuous workout regimines that caused me to iniure myself, halting my weight loss entirely. Only after I managed to maintain a healthy diet WITHOUT being overly restrictive of my calories (while still struggling with the impulse to restrict further or using exercise as punishment for eating) have I FINALLY been able to start getting in shape. It's easier now that I've been working at it for months, but it's nowhere near as simple as "eat fewer calories" like so many people on the internet who have never struggled with their weight make it out to be.
Thank you for this, you clearly did a great deal of research to do this. I commend you on your ability to convey complex ideas in an easily digestible way.
As an Obese lifer about 2 years ago I chose to believe it was a “Switch” and decided to hit it. This worked for me and today I am 104 pounds lighter and very very active. I have to keep an eye on my macs and stay disciplined with activity but I’m in Obese Recovery. I cheat about 2 or 3 treats a week but with the rest of my days of lean proteins and veggies it doesn’t affect me. So as the ex over 300 pounder I agree so much with all this. But for me I turned it into a switch that I was ready to flip. If your watching this video to make a change in your life keep it up. You can do it.
I really believe that we tend to avoid talking about the spiritual because it's so hard to quantify, or it makes a certain portion of the population uncomfortable, but that is what has been giving me the most power to flip that switch to transform my life from fear of the impossible (or improbable) to becoming anything if I put my mind and body to it. This has nothing to do with God or religion, but everything to do with understanding that in essence our bodies are just slabs of meat on the table without the lifeforce or energy to not only guide, but create and carve out our lives with it. Even recently I learned that no matter our age, we can still find ways to heal and regenerate ourselves without being reliant on meds.
I, myself, have lost 90 pounds and have gone from non-athletic all my life to a more athletic lifestyle and build. And it only happened because I was ready to make the change. And throughout all obstacles, setbacks, injuries, and life stresses of loved ones suffering, I was still able to change over time.
Kudos to you for making that change!
Congrats @Tatted 1969 . The same happened to me, I am still obese but lost a 100 lbs. If someone else is reading this and you are obese, maybe you are looking at all these factors in the video and thinking yeah I cant stop obesity, maybe you cant completely get to low bmi or bodyfat % but even 5-10 lb reduction just feels better and life gets easier.
@@mnikhk Absolutely, keep the fight going.
Why calling it a cheat? Its just part of your 'diët' , but i would like to call it your lifestyle. I eat chocolate everyday because I LOVE it, doesnt mean im cheating. Just eat the 'bad' foods in moderation.You can fit everything in your diet♥️
Great video. This is a difficult topic and you covered everything perfectly. Definitely saving this to share in the future! Thanks and keep up the great work Jeff.
“Blessed” is a rather strong word for someone with fast metabolism
Quite simply, there is something so refreshing about your vids and I can't put my finger on it yet. Perhaps it's that lack of hubris or whatever. Easy to listen to, easy to watch, because you have done all the hard work. Although you'd think the topics have been done to death, you revive them with a calm, rational approach that is quite appealing. I was going to comment on your 'few more thoughts' post below, but it looks like you have plenty already. Suffice to say, I think we are born with a hand of cards, learning how to play them (or not) is the only choice. Keep the vids coming. Great stuff.
Jeff, I love ya. During last two years I lost about 40kg. Went from morbid obese (124kg) to normal weight (85kg). Your "smartest ways to get lean" video helped A LOT. But I've always strugled to explain why people shouldn't just laugh at fat people. You've just done that for me. You named every single problem overweight people face in their life. I've been there. For 30 years. This is spot on. Also I'd add that vicious cycle when depression leads to comfort eating, that leads to weight gain, that leads to depression.
Good on you for finally choosing to lose weight.
Somehow, i doubt that thinking you're doomed by your genetics and having no choice would lead to any productive outcome in the end.
@@Pedro_Le_Chef Bro you have no idea what you're talking about, that isn't what people mean
@@Pedro_Le_Chef I love how jeff can make a well thought out and nuanced video on a difficult topic and so many people still manage to completely misunderstand it.
I had a very draining job in the past years , I took around 30 kg , that put me in the obese category.
I stopped it 2 month ago for another job, I'm already 5 kg down without changing my habits. I just have a better sleep and less stress.
Thanks for pointing other factors. The "motivational stuff" you can find in the fitness sphere that "it's your choice you fat trash".
keep going hard dude, i hope it only gets better
The impact of switching from a high stress job to a low stress one cannot be overstated. I couldn't lose weight until I got my current job, where I have a good boss, a manageable workload, and I'm treated with respect. (Decent salary and good health insurance are also very helpful.) The office culture also highly encouraged us to get up and move around instead of being bound to our desks all day, and that change helped snowball into more overall physical activity. I was in a good enough space mentally to pick up lifting, and got a trainer to make sure I didn't hurt myself. Then I started working from home during the pandemic, and the temptation of office treats was gone, and I had plenty of extra time to cook nutritious meals and squeeze in more exercise throughout the day. The person I am today, 100 lbs lighter, would not be here if I hadn't quit the stressful job that was keeping me obese.
The thumbnail change 😂😂😂
Great video and great channel! I love how you anchor all your discussion in actual research which you clearly cite! Also found it funny, you could replace « obesity » with almost anything and the thesis of this video would still hold true 😄 nonetheless it’s so easy to overlook.
Very well done, as usual. Very important topic that deserves to be addressed in this way. Glad you're still doing what you do (including the never-ending and consistent improvement). Respect, homie.
As always, amazingly put together. I do fitness for 5 years. Now in late 30's. Try to implement scientific approach. Live in Ukraine. With the beginning of war and kicking in depression, I jacked up my training routine to counterbalance negative factors. However found myself struggling to loose any fat while reducing overall calories consumption (just saying, not the biggest problem people have here).
Sleep quality is also often an overlooked factor. Overall health (and wealth) is always an underlining condition for any sport or fitness. On the other hand none should ever wait environment to improve to start doing fitness. Even when you are not reaching your goals difference between sincere attempt and accepting defeat is massive.
Be safe
I pray to your folks and you ofc. Slava Ukraini.
Very solid overall breakdown of the issue at large. Pointing out the underlying mechanisms, while maintaining nuance and empathy.
Hey Jeff. Just ordered your Ultimate Guide to Body Recomposition program. Is there a food scale you recommend? Seeing a lot of conflicting reviews… thanks buddy.
I've been working really hard on my weight loss by making better choices and exercising more, I did lose all the weight about ten years ago (kept it off for about 6 months) and then I packed it all back on. Thankyou for making a video that doesn't enable bad choices, but also shows compassion. I go to the gym at like 2am in the morning as people are so judgemental and rude towards me when I'm at the gym, lifting weights and doing my cardio days. I carry all my weight around my gut and I'm quite slim everywhere else so i get I look odd, but considering how hard I work and try everyday it's quite hurtful.
I've been addressing so many different things about food and it's incredibly difficult, so for a super fit person like yourself to encourage people to not right someone off as a fat greedy pig and look at all the factors, was honestly super healing to read for me. My mother is a sloth, overeats and doesn't try to lose weight ever, and I try to eat less, and work out and we're both judged for being 'fat pigs', I'm going to keep working at all my issues with food and self control and I've made massive strides for my own personal journey, even if nobody else can see it yet.
The first time I lost all the weight, it was due to a wonderful PT who would literally kick people out of the gym if they were rude to anyone overweight/ out of shape in his gym. He treated me like a human being, and he was kind to me, and it was almost a familial relationship like a kind older brother. That was the first time I was ever treated properly despite being big and I will forever be thankful to him as he really inspired change, and this dude was JACKED. Yes I packed it all back on over time, but I started to address my issues and make small incremental changes for the better more and more. I no longer eat a stupid amount daily, and I work out 2- 3 times a week now, and I'm adding more effort as my body adjusts to the routine. I don't want obesity to be enabled like it is currently, I just want the human being to be seen and those of us 'fatties' that are actively trying to change be treated with dignity and respect even though we might look like the 'lazy fat pig' ones still, for now.
I'll send you some progress photos down the line bro, but seriously thankyou for this video.
scuse the grammar/ spelling errors g.
Fuck yeah dude. Keep up the hard work!
Remember that health and weight loss are not synonymous. If you aren't losing weight how you want, you're still improving.
That is so sad reading what you saying. No people deserve being hated for they bodyfat, especially those one who wanna change. It's shame that those people were shaming you like you are something bad, while their behavior to the other people should be ashamed by itself.
I hope you will continue this path to become more healthy and beautiful person and will not allow these dark days darken your heart.
No one should be judged for being overweight in a gym. Sounds like a bad gym. There are lots of overweight people at my gym and I always admire and respect their efforts and so does everyone else. What caused you to gain all the weight back? I would push myself harder if I was you. 2-3 days is fuck all. Try 5 days a week, weights and 30 mins cardio. Thats what I do and eat lots of meat, veggies and eggs and ive lost 5.5kg in 6 weeks. Sorry you've been treated that way but if you grind harder you will lose weight. Youve done it before
Choice, but is not easy. At all.
Great video! I also heard that environmental temperature changes both energy expenditure and levels of hunger, people use to eat more in the cold, but also spend more energy to heat the body. I also noticed that I felt very warm during winter when I used to bulk, but usually I freeze pretty quickly and try to not spend a lot of time outside.
Thank you for the incredibly thoughtful video. I'm not obese, nor do I have a tendency toward obesity, but this video is important for helping us understand the difficulties others may be having trying to manage their weight.
Other people being overweight is not my business therefore I don’t judge.
Very level headed. Reality and genuine compassion. Great vid, Jeff. I’m trying to help some friends lose weight and this opened my eyes a bit more. Keep up the great work mate
This video is such a breath of fresh compared to the attitude that some other fitness influencers take in this space... thanks for the fantastic, science based videos!
Immense respect for covering this topic Jeff
If someone is fat I’m not gonna shit on their choices unless they are claiming body positivity, if someone can own up to being unhealthy or is actively trying to revert their changes then there is no issue
Wow this was truly enlightening and useful. It's so needed today. Both for us with the drive and ability to focus on fitness and those who may struggle to get their health under control.
Lots and lots of choices. Some have much more difficult choices than others for factors based on hunger response and natural tendencies to move more. But it should be encouraging that everyone can empower themselves to change if they want to.
The same is true for very thin people wanting to change
Nice thumbnail change
Just opened the video to say that the thumbnail change was genius!! I was so confused for a second lol
I’ve always loved how positive, real, and empathetic your videos are
He's just catering to the fat masses. An obese person can still lose weight, if they choose to put the fork down and put in the work, regardless of all the factors mentioned in the video.
It's hard for anybody to lose weight? Yes. Is it harder for some individuals to lose weight? Yes, but it's still possible for them to be and stay in a caloric deficit IF THEY HAVE THE WILLPOWER AND DISCIPLINE TO WORKOUT AND EAT LESS.
@@MedAb8 he literally said it’s possible for some but much harder for others. There are many factors that go into weight loss and that’s what the whole video is about. It’s much more complex than just willpower. For instance, to stay in a calorie deficit and feel “full” it’s helpful to eat a lot of nutrient dense foods that are more filling. These foods are more expensive. He is not catering to the obese population, he is helping others realize that fat loss is a long journey and some people have more obstacles than others.
@@MedAb8 he made sure to emphasize that is both hard to do but possible for anyone
@@laurenelias6763 since it is possible (although hard) for anyone, as you've just said, and since there are still too many obese people in the world despite the fact it was possible for them to stay in shape (although hard). We can safely assume they lacked the knowledge, the willpower, and the discipline to stick to a healthy lifestyle to keep fit.
Yes, it could be harder for some individuals and LESS HARD for others. But if they CHOSE to fight their desires and urges and STUCK to a healthy diet and regular exercise, they wouldn't have become that fat.
@@MedAb8 correct
Hands down some of the best scientific health and fitness content available online. Presented in a digestible way without giving way to being comprehensive in coverage. Thank you for all the work you put into your videos.
Could of given that 5 to cancer researxh
@@BuffGuy71 you could have invested that time in learning proper English
@@BuffGuy71 what even is that supposed to mean? Like wtf, how can you say that?
@@prymexxxx He's probably fishing for reactions and he's getting exactly that.
@@prymexxxx What does that $5 symbol even mean?
Hey Jeff,
Question regarding resting metabolic rate: Did the subjects who burned more cal at rest have more muscle than those who burned less cal? I’ve read lean mass burns more calories at rest than fat mass does. However, I don’t know by how much. Would it be a substantial enough difference considering varying body composition from person to person?
Someone needs to send this to Myron lol
Anyone arguing that “obesity is a choice” just wants to feel like they are better than other people who don’t have as strong “willpower” or “decision making ability”.
Seriously, why else would someone argue this angle on obesity? What else would people on this side of the debate be after (unless perhaps this is about healthcare / societal costs of obesity).
In any case, I appreciate Jeff’s empathetic (but nonetheless scientific) angle on this topic. If we value actually helping people, then this is the right approach. Now, it’s a whole nother question whether obese people ought to be helped in the first place, or if they should have the right to exist as an obese person without anyone de-valuing them or questioning why/how they are the way they area.
100% agree
turning fitness in to a liberal hugbox is the worst possible outcome. Fitness is a place for people to succeed and for others to fail, it's not a place to discuss why it's okay to be a fatso liar.
nah you are making the statement seem offencive when its not. did you choose to eat more than you should? yes.
First of all I'd like to thank Jeff for one more detailed and super well produced video. The work you do for the industry is amazing! Now, even if the base physique you find yourself is not really a choice and depends on many external factors, all of us have the choice to chance. Of curse, it's harder for some people, but I really think you shouldn't say it's not a choice. That's very depressive and untrue. I've known many people throught my life that have overcome incredibly hard instances of obesity, and if they had sat on their couch doing nothing their situation wouldn't have changed a bit. So it's very much possible and changeable. People should be more sure of that
I have always had to eat less than others and work out hard to maintain a good physique. As I am approaching age 34, I am grateful that I had to work hard when I was younger, because it set me up for a good habits that keep me in great shape to this day. Meanwhile, I watch all those that were naturally skinny in high school struggle with slowed metabolisms from aging. Trying to look at the glass half full!
This video is just pefect. Very good work, keep going!
Super important and informative and not cheesy at all! Really. I'm always blown away with how good you are with your words.
Jeff, a question...in the first study that you mentioned: does 1000kcal refer to the each individual's metabolic rate? or is it 1000kcal surplus from a setpoint for everyone? If latter, it really makes sense that different people will react differently, since they all have different BMR.
Great question. It was the former, which really shows how profound the individual differences are, and that they extend beyond just BMR: “After the base-line period, the men were fed a diet containing 4.2 MJ (1000 kcal) per day more than their established base-line energy intake from food, 6 days a week for 100 days.”
@@JeffNippard I assume exercise and other physical activity also controlled for in the study?
Hopefully exercise was controlled too.
Why 6 days a week though? That 7th day can really tip the needle in either direction
@@pepecebolla69 Not really
Well, at least in my own experience, I've followed diets with and without a weekly cheat day. No cheat day, great progress. Cheat day, no progress at all. It can make a difference (in my own experience anyway).
You should have been in the "Middle Ground".
Of course
Not being obbese is a hard concious decision for some, but it is still an active choice. Most things worthwhile are not easy but they are rewarding and you as the individual will never know what you are missing from overcoming these hard choices if you never push yourself past that realm of absolute comfort. Take things one step at a time big or small as your steps may be make the active choice to walk, youll start feeling better all around when you do
Yeah the small personal choices can have a strong ripple effect. In my diet I used to focus managing my carb intake/carb types and that led me to overeat more often. In the last 8 months returning to weight lifting I focused more on managing protein intake and I have always felt satiated doing so. For some focusing their diets on the fats intake helps them too. There are some extreme external factors we can't help change or can't immediately address. But in the quest to be physically/mentally healthy, it is possible to modify details that leave a huge impact.