@lly HuffPo is an opinion site, which means that it's not consistent. In this case the article I linked is well sourced, and in particular the quote is a summary of an academic meta-study coordinating 361 published weight studies. The study author is a professor at San Diego State, so this not the rantings of some crank. My point is not that she shouldn't try to eat as healthy as possible - my point is that focusing on weight is not a useful way to go about it.

@lly As to my inability to stick to a healthy diet, I don't take it personally because I don't have to. I enjoy the genetic privilege to eat whatever I want and maintain a weight within about 10 lbs of what I weighed in High School. What I do take personally is the presumption that being overweight is necessarily the result of a character flaw because it's both incorrect and denigrates those people I know who live a healthy lifestyle and maintain a weight that is socially frowned upon.

@AgustínLado That's unfortunately not in line with the current science, as it presumes a static system. What actually happens is you are born with a weight that your brain will defend, which is a good thing as it fends off both starvation and obesity. You can change that, but it takes as long (or longer) to move that down as it does to move it up - and focusing on your weight or how much you weigh doesn't move the dial.

@AgustínLado It's a process which takes years. NBC wrote a decent piece on it a few years back: nbcnews.com/better/health/…

@AgustínLado That's why I can eat as poorly as I do and get away with it. I started with a ridiculously low default body weight and, while it's moved up, I had a lot of headroom (and still do). My wife, on the other hand, eats ridiculously healthy and her default body weight is slowly moving down - but she started with a much higher default body weight. If she wasn't actively trying to change that, she could do everything right and her weight would stay in about a 20 lbs range.

@AgustínLado The problem isn't losing weight and going back to eating 12 boxes of Peeps in one go - it's that your brain desperately wants you to eat those Peeps, and unless you are very careful about tricking your brain, it will always win.

@AgustínLado Particularly as it has access to measure fun stuff like the amount of fat in your bloodstream, so filling up on low-calorie snacks won't fool it.

@Morgen The links you've added just further acknowledge what I said: It's not that changing your diet won't make you lose weight, the issue with 'diets' is just that people don't follow them. Psychologically people have a hard time not falling out of them. As I already pointed out: your entire view of obesity is completely and utterly falsified by the fact that people 200 years ago weren't as obese.

@Morgen No, people aren't born with a genetic weight. That's silly. Look, you're obviously very emotionally invested in this topic for whatever reason. And people who are emotionally invested in something tend to go to extremes to defend their positions. Obviously you can lose weight/fat, and you can do so for an indefinite amount of time.

@Morgen The funny thing, if anything, the links you've posted and what you say are actually more in line with obesity being due to a "character flaw" (or some psychological reality) than anything I've ever said. You say stuff like "Your brain desperately wants you to eat those Peeps", so in other words... A character trait.

@Morgen The funny thing is that I very much advocate an acknowledgement of the importance of genetics, and yet to do so I also have to counter this predetermined view of genetics that you have.

@Morgen Maybe the metabolic processes after eating Peeps render pleasing stimulus in your brain. And you want that! Endorphins are known as the hormons of happiness - their presence in the brain stimulates the fell of happiness and they are produced when cocoa is metabolised. That's why a lot of people have habit: If sad or stressed, eat a chocolate bar.

If your brain wants you to eat something it is because your body needs something. If you want steak, you are probably in a need of proteins. If you want fruits you are propbably in a need of vitamins. If you want Peeps you are probably in a need of endorphins. The problem is, when endorphins drop, you realise you did something wrong and they drop even more. You eat another box of Peeps to refill. Positive feedback guaranteed.