Name That Caption

B4QpUtmCcAAsMA3

About Tony Heller

Just having fun
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

85 Responses to Name That Caption

  1. R. Shearer says:

    Coaches Hunger for Wins (and food in America)

  2. nielszoo says:

    Global Warming Destroys Europe’s Agriculture… Starvation Imminent… Will The US Be Next?

  3. SxyxS says:

    Well,in the USA everything is bigger and everything is on discount,
    therefore you get two coaches for prize of one(and you only have to pay them just one salary)

    but mayebe,just maybe
    this is the effect of too much sugar,fat and GMO in food where it does not belong .

    • GoneWithTheWind says:

      “the effect of too much sugar,fat and GMO in food”.
      Seriously ignorant. Those four football coaches are obese and obesity is genetic. Everyone with an agenda blames obesity on their own biased ideas. If you are obese it is damned near impossible to diet to a normal weight and stay there. It isn’t about food and it most certainly isn’t about GMO or the other boogeyman in people’s minds. Conversely if you are genetically predispsed to be slim it is impossible to eat enough to be obese.

      By the way I lived in Europe for years and there are a lot of fat people there. It s down right scary to drive the back roads and see the 350 lb hausfraus riding a bicycle. If they were to veer into traffic it would be like hitting a moose with a Volkswagen.

      • thepoliticalronin says:

        Maybe 10% of obesity is genetic or secondary to hypothyroidism, metabolic syndrome or some other disease. The remainder is choice. Poor food choices coupled with sedentary lifestyles. To blame genetics for obesity is to remove responsibility from the individual.

      • SxyxS says:

        i don’t know about the coaches condition nor wether they ars obese or not mr.
        but there are far more fat people in the USA than i have seen in germany or france or swiss or spain or the former countries of yugoslavia.

        And even black people in Africa are not that fat as black americans.

        As most us-americans are either from european or african origin and share therefore the similar genes there is no genetic explanation.

        How many football clubs exist in the USA right now?maybe 20+.
        And still such a small number can produce so many fat coaches??
        Let me tell you: in the past 50 years germany may has produced one coach who is as fat as the “skinniest” of those 4 u.s. coaches above
        and right now you won’t find 4 coaches in entire europe(soccer,handball,basketball combined=speaking of several hundred teams)

        This is statiscally impossible that the usa can produce so many more mega fat guys,
        therefore the reason is somewhat different.

        70years ago the USA did not have such an obesety problem & epidemic obesity occured in almost all countries after adopting the “american way of Food”,
        therefore gmo,sugar and fat in combination with sugar substitutes are a much more logical explanation(sugar substitutes disbalance your hormones as the taste of sugar in your mouth makes your body release hormons for the calories,but no calories enter your body.

        • GoneWithTheWind says:

          Sorry you are wrong. Obesity is genetic. Simple as that. I don’t mean BMI> 30 I mean obesity as in 300, 350, 400 lbs. It is genetic. These poor souls would dearly love to be 170 lbs but they cannot do it. If they muster the will power to stay on a starvation diet for a year or two and also manage not to get seriously ill in the process they can get to a more or less normal weight. But then they must stay on a starvation diet to maintain it. People who are thin usually eat very much like what we think obese people eat. They eat junk food, fast food, four meals a day (I am describing myself too) and still are a normal weight. They cannot become obese if you promised them a million dollars to do it.
          As for 70 years ago I can tell you that I am 71 and I remember 70 years ago and indeed they had fat and obese people. Fewer perhaps, mostly women but they had plenty of them. I have the pictures. I agree that higher levels of physical activity back then kept people slimmer but there were still lots of obese middle age housewifes, and some obese men as well.

          If GMO, sugar and fat made you obese I wouldn’t be able to fit this computer on my lap. I eat four meals a day and always have. I eat at least 4 ounce of chocolate every night for snacks. Last night I had a bag of chips, 8 large chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk for my forth meal. This morning I had eags over easy three thick bacon slices, hash browns with gravy and pancakes (damn I’m getting hungry again just thinking about it), three cups coffee with three heaping spoons of sugar in each cup. When I was a kid I would eat bacon raw because the fat was sooo good. Where’s my obesity?

          I have to finish quick my wife just made divinity and it’s calling my name…

        • Justa Joe says:

          “How many football clubs exist in the USA right now? maybe 20+.
          And still such a small number can produce so many fat coaches??”

          You don’t know what you’re talking about. Pretty much your entire post is ill informed. There are 32 NFL (pro) teams in the USA. Three of the four coaches shown are college football coaches there are about 128 Division 1 college football programs.

          Also former football players now coaches don’t make for representative examples of the general population. Certain positions in football require bulkiness

        • Ivan says:

          Obesity is genetic.
          Only to the extent that stupid people feed their children sh!t food, and they feed their children sh!t food, and so on it goes as eating habits are set early in life.
          A rather esoteric definition of “genetic,” but I suppose it works.

        • Smokey says:

          GoneWithTheWind,

          My wife isn’t fat. But her brother is over 400 lbs. He typically has a mid-afternoon ‘snack’ of 12 tacos, deep fried. He makes Elvis look skinny.

          I don’t see genetics there, I see gluttony.

        • GoneWithTheWind says:

          You are reading too much into the concept of genetics Smokey. It does not mean that every child of a specific individual who is obese will also be obese. Many traits that are genetic are not passed along to every child and weight or obesity is a good example of this. Genetics could make someone obese at 12 years old or normal weight until midlife when they suddenly start gaining weight. Genetics often makes some women become obese after bearing children while others lose the baby fat easily. Genetics made me tall at 6’2″ and my sister short at 5’2″. It also makes my weight normal at 208 lbs and my sister obese at 250 lbs. I can eat anything I want as much as I want and as often as I want to without gaining wieght and my sister has been on a diet for 45 years. We don’t have the same exact genes because we are siblings.

      • John B., M.D. says:

        GoneWithTheWind –

        You again. You are the same guy that told me (in the past) that I have an eating disorder with my BMI of 23 despite my muscular athletic frame and history of sub-3 hour marathon, and knowing nothing about my eating habits or psychology, or having any formal medical training.

        Why has the prevalence of obesity (BMI >30) and morbid obesity (BMI > 40, or >35 with cardiovascular risk factors) been increasing? You deny any etiology other than genetic?

        You need to learn the concept of “multifactorial.”

        In my experience with thousands and thousands of obese patients, there is usually a genetic component, along with a combination of poorer diet and exercise habits.

        • Olaf Koenders says:

          BMI = Bullshit Multiplier Index.

          Anyone using the BMI scale to score anyone regarding health or weight alone has a brain disorder. They should ask bodybuilders to lose weight because of their high BMI and suffer a punch in the face.

        • GoneWithTheWind says:

          You are overly sensitive I doubt I said eating disorder and I doubt I addressed your weight specifically. I do think it is an error to establish that a BMI of 20-24,9 as “desirable”. It is probably for most people unhealthy. If you are BMI 23 and healthy I don’t see the problem. If on the other hand you insist everyone should be BMI 23 then that is where I would disagree. But lets look at a hypothetical question; if someone offerred you a million dollars if you could get your weight to 350 lbs and keep it there for a year could you do it? I bet you couldn’t. Yet my sister in law could win that bet easily, hell she is already 400 lbs. You see it is genetic. She can’t lose the weight.and you more then likely couldn’t gain the weight. Is it poorer diet? I doubt it she eats a good diet and I eat just about everything including chocolate, junk food and fast food. By the way did you know that Mariah Carey is obese based on the BMI? She’s kinda hot but the crazy BMI claims she’s a porker. What do you suppose she would look like with a BMI of 23???

        • John B., M.D. says:

          BMI is imperfect, of course, since it doesn’t take into account muscle mass.

          Body fat percentage is probably a better measure, but is more costly and inconvenient to measure.

          The vast majority of patients I have cared for are overweight or obese, and only a small percentage of the time have I ever had to correct the BMI to account for athleticism.

          Some of the worse cholesterol profile numbers I have seen are in football players who play lineman – muscular but also excessive fat.

          Obesity and morbid obesity are becoming more prevalent. Genetics do not explain this. Caloric imbalance, for whatever reason, does. 3500 kcal = 1 pound of adipose.

        • GoneWithTheWind says:

          “Obesity and morbid obesity are becoming more prevalent.”
          I don’t disagree with that. But I think a lot of the facts around this are being ignored because they conflict with the meme. In 1998 BMI replaced the hieght and weight measure and with that one simple change the rate of obesity doubled. Peoples weight didn’t change but suddenly under a new measurement they were declared obese. Secondly some races/ethnicities are 2-4 times more likely to be obese and in this country twoof these ethnicities are becoming a greater percentage of the American population. Understand that point their rate of obesity hasn’t changed but the numbers of obese went up. That wouldn’t be because of eating sugar, drinking sodas or eating GMO food it is simply because blacks and hispanics are 2-4 times more likely to be obese and there are now many more blacks and hispanics in this country then there was 10 years or 20 years ago. Is there more obesity and overweight in general today then 50 years ago? I would say yes. This is a natural result of more food available while at the same time less physical work required to survive. BUT that does NOT mean someone who might weigh 170 lbs under normal conditions now weighs 300 lbs. Understand that point because it’s important. With food more readily available and physical activity down people gain maybe 10% not 100% more weight. Everyone can gain a little weight but it is difficult to gain so much weight that you become obese. Obesity is genetic. Being overweight is genetic, being thin is genetic. It is all but impossible for an adult who is naturally thin to eat himself into obesity. It is even difficult for an overweight person to eat themselves into obesity. An obese person is genetically obese and they cannot help it and it is almost impossible for an obese person to diet themselves into normal weight. Almost anyone can change their weight by 10% more or less and in fact it is easy but almost no healthy adult can double their weight or cut their weight in half “easily” by their diet alone.

        • Baa Humbug says:

          @GoneWTW
          Obesity is genetic ha? Then riddle me this Fatman…
          Take the person with the worst genetic disorder that causes them to be obese. Feed them only water and fresh air for 5 days. How many kilos will they gain?

        • GoneWithTheWind says:

          You got me Baa Humbug. Your brilliance has totally defeated my arguement. Starvation trumps genetics therefore GMO (or HFCS or junk food or something). Your brilliant arguement is exactly the arguement of many others here, i.e. “you are right because your bias is superior to logic and reason”.

        • John B., M.D. says:

          GMO food (as if genetic manipulation of crops hasn’t been going on for centuries) is not pertinent to this discussion. Highly-processed foods with high caloric density is pertinent. High-fructose corn syrup (e.g. 55% fructose, 45% glucose) is practically identical to sucrose (table sugar, 50% fructose, 50% glucose), and the body converts fructose to glucose enzymatically – also not relevant.

          Waist-to-hip circumference a better predictor of sudden cardiac death than BMI: http://heart.bmj.com/content/early/2014/10/30/heartjnl-2014-306238

          GoneWithTheWind – Even you admit that obesity is not 100% genetic when you point out that availability of food and physical activity have changed as our economy has become richer and machines do more physical labor. Can poor diet and sedentary lifestyle cause a 150 lb person to get to 300 lb. Absolutely. Can that 300 lb person get back down to 150 lb? Absolutely, though very difficult to reverse. Does birth weight influence future risk of obesity? Yes (and maternal factors independent of fetus genetics plays a role). Has the prevalence of obesity increased if correct for ethnic background? Yes, obesity has increased over time across all ethnic groups. Do both genetics and environment play a role? Without a doubt.

          In the clinical context, belief in genetics as the sole cause of obesity serves more to absolve a patient of any personal responsibility in determining their weight and health status, than it does to actually solve the problem.

          Things are not black and white – lots of gray:
          http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1010679 “Over the past few decades, there has been a dramatic increase in the prevalence of obesity in many countries.”
          http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1103216 “As compared with the control group, the group with a randomly assigned opportunity to use a voucher to move to a neighborhood with a lower poverty rate had lower prevalences of a BMI of 35 or more, a BMI of 40 or more, and a glycated hemoglobin level of 6.5% or more, representing relative reductions of 13.0%, 19.1%, and 21.6%, respectively.”
          http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1208051 (read entire article, also top of Table 3)
          http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1309753 (see bottom of Table 1)
          http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1310577
          http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1400613

        • GoneWithTheWind says:

          John B.
          Most of your post was about the risks of being obese. I have no arguement with that position at all.
          But part of your post touched on a very significant point that I would like to elaborate on:
          “Can an adult easily go from 150 lbs to 300 lbs and then back to 150 lbs?” The answer in general is no. What is true is an adult who weighs 200 lbs can easily increase their weight to 220 and back to 200lbs. Or a person who weighs 250 can easily increase their weight to 275 and then back to 250. And this point is key to understand part of the issue about obesity. Your height and weight and many other physical factors (waist vs hip ratio, leg strength vs upper body strength, etc.) are for the most part predetermined by genetics. There is some ability through your evironment to modify this predetermination and we see it all the time. If a child is denied adequate protein during the growing years they will often be shorter then a sibling or parent that was not denied adequate protein. Another example is if a person is constantly fed a diet insufficient in calories and MDR of other essentials they will be thinner then someone who has easy access to all they can eat. In that last case let me ask you which is the “norm”? Is the restricted diet going to be the “standard” that we judge everything else by? If it is then when people have adequate food we will conclude that the numbers of people who are overweight and/or obese will increase under those conditions. But if we take the opposite view that the “norm” is when everyone has access to adequate food then when food is limited we see more people who are underweight. The results are identical but the conclusions are exact opposite. But in both cases what we are seeing is genetics pure and simple. If it was simply the greater access to food then 100% of the people would be overweight or obese.
          The genetic trait of obesity is valuable for exactly the reasons I just illustrated; that during periods of famine peple with a genetic propensity to be obese will live while the slim svelte person would have died. That is why ethnicities that come from socities where food insecurity was a fact of life (like Africa and much of South America until just recently) that genetic trait is more common while in places like Northern Europe where farming and herding was more common and food in general was more available the obesity trait was less common. But it is still totally the results of genetics.

          “In the clinical context, belief in genetics as the sole cause of obesity serves more to absolve a patient of any personal responsibility…” Here is the problem with that and as a doctor you should be concerned. If you do not know the truth, the real reason for something or worse if you deny the truth and prefer a phony reason because it fits your bias then you cannot cure the person you are treating. No obese person wants to be obese and simply prefers to sit on a couch and eat bon bons. That is incredibly naive. They have an eating disorder that they cannot control. Sadly most obese people cannot be coerced or bullied into thinness and diets don’t work or in those cases where they work for awhile do not work for very long. If you have a patient who is 5’3″ and weighs 400 lbs you cannot cure them by demanding they eat less. Years after they have stopped going to you for care because of your unwillingness to understand their condition they will still weight 400 lbs. ALSO to tell every child/teen/young adult that they need to eat less because the U.S. has an obesity epidemic is a diservice to the 80% of them who will never be obese no matter what they eat or the 60% of them that will never be very overweight no matter what they eat. You cannot treat the 20-30% of people who have a genetic propensity to be very overweight or obese by punishing the 60-70% who will never be very overweight or obese.

        • John B., M.D. says:

          I don’t disagree with everything you said.

          You nailed it here: “during periods of famine peple with a genetic propensity to be obese will live while the slim svelte person would have died.”

          To carry your argument further, the same genes that conferred a survival advantage in hunter-gatherer days or during famine are now killing us when food is plentiful.

          Eating disorders are not all genetic. Thus you have mentioned yet another environmental factor (e.g. bullying during childhood over a different issue can lead to maladaptive behaviors such as eating).

          Bottom line, clinically speaking, patients cannot control their genetics. They can only control lifestyle. Sure, there are drugs to give which cause minimal weight loss, and surgery to restrict caloric intake or nutrient absorption, but it is up to patients to take full personal responsibility for their weight and health. Nothing else works in the long-run. And it takes a lot of effort and conscious strategy, not just willpower. Patients who want a quick easy fix will fail, period.

        • GoneWithTheWind says:

          John I think we are in agreement.

        • Gail Combs says:

          I think both of you are missing the boat.

          There is a lot more to weight gain (at least for females) than caloric intake and exercise. After menopause I gained quite a bit of weight. I went on a low carb diet, felt great and lost thirty pounds. Then the bod said YIKES! STARVATION! and without changing anything, (I LIKE a low carb diet) I gained back all thirty pounds plus ten. Most women especially after childbirth or menopause have similar stories.

          I know a pair of sisters. As young women A was slim B was chubby. After having kids, A gained a lot of weight and B became as skinny as a rail.

          Telling us our experiences are not true and if we would exercise more and eat less does nothing useful. Oh and I gained the forty pounds originally while eating 1 packet of oatmeal and two healthy choice dinners while putting in fencing and building barns often in 95+ heat. (We lived in a travel trailer while the house was built so meal choice was limited)

        • GoneWithTheWind says:

          Gail; what you are referring to is genetic ! It is clearly a different problem for women post menopause. For me, a 71 year old male, what you are describing doesn’t exist. Other things do for some men and those other things are genetic as well. I assumed that everyone understood that being a woman or a man and how that affects obesity or weight problems in general also understands that is genetic. I am genetically a man just as you are genetically a woman. Our health and wellness issues are different for that reason alone.

        • Baa Humbug says:

          @GWTW
          You didn’t answer my question but you did miss my point it seems.
          It doesn’t matter if it’s genetics or lifestyle, the incontrovertible fact is if one retains more energy than they expend, they’ll more than likely put on weight.
          Is it harder to find the balance if one is genetically predisposed to gain weight easier than one who is not? Sure.
          Does it help to claim it’s genetics rather than an imbalance in energy going in and going out? No. It’s just an excuse to remain overweight.
          Lifestyle always trumps genetics. As my question above demonstrates, nobody gains weight unless they shovel food down their throat.
          Convenient excuses absolve people of personal responsibility. You can preach all you like about genetics, but if you’re fat, you’ve chosen to be so, period.

        • GoneWithTheWind says:

          Baa “nobody gains weight unless they shovel food down their throat”

          You are indeed missing the point. If you truely believe that it is that simple then you are naive. An obese person, not just someone with BMI>30 but someone weighing 350, 400lbs, cannot lose the weight period. And they didn’t want to be that heavy and simply decide one day to overeat just so they could become obese. To blame them for not being normal is like blaming someone for only being 5’4″. Why couldn’t you be 6′ tall?? You could have if you just tried harder. Don’t give me those lame excuses that everyone in your family is short. You should have done more stretching or something. Hell I’m 6′ tall so that proves that anyone can do it if they really want to.
          Do you understand how silly that is? An obese person has a genetic health issue. Treating it requires that you understand it is a genetic problem and that they can’t “will” themselves to be thin. If you treat them as though they are simply gluttonous then it makes as much sense as treating cancer with Laetrile.

        • Baa Humbug says:

          @GWTW

          To blame them for not being normal is like blaming someone for only being 5’4?. Why couldn’t you be 6? tall??

          Now you’re being silly.
          It seems you either didn’t read all I wrote or didn’t comprehend or deliberately omitted what I said, ergo…

          Is it harder to find the balance if one is genetically predisposed to gain weight easier than one who is not? Sure

          You’re just wasting my time

      • Gail Combs says:

        Ivan says:
        Obesity is genetic.
        Only to the extent that stupid people feed their children sh!t food,….
        >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
        Actually it is to an extent genetic. The female who could put on weight in the fall as a response to the increased amount of carbohydrates available (Fruits and grains) was more likely to survive the winter lean times AND keep her baby alive while carrying a fetus.

        This is why women have a heck of a lot more trouble losing weight and why in centuries past a plump woman was considered desirable.

        (Now a days women are supposed to look like young boys… tells you a lot about the French fashion designers doesn’t it.)

        With livestock it is called flushing.

        Flushing Ewes
        Just what is flushing your ewes? Flushing means increasing the level of feed offered to the breeding ewes, mostly in the form of energy,[carbohydrates] starting approximately one month prior to the introduction of the ram. [breeding is in the fall ~September]

        With the increased amount of feed offered, the ewe will begin to put on weight. This will then signal the ewe’s body that she will be capable of raising more than one lamb. In turn this will increase her ovulation rate, which results in a higher lambing percentage or more lambs born per ewe.
        http://extension.psu.edu/courses/sheep/reproduction/flushing-ewes

        • Ivan says:

          The female who could put on weight in the fall
          Sigh… if only it was just in the the fall…..

        • Gail Combs says:

          Ivan,
          We now have access to carbs from grains and fruit (and refined sugar) all year round and we do not go through winter starvation but the body does not know that so the weight gain trigger is left in the ‘on position’

      • thepoliticalronin says:

        gonewiththewind
        “I don’t disagree with that. But I think a lot of the facts around this are being ignored because they conflict with the meme….”

        http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/c1/d4/0b/c1d40b84292e3e18a63abf6ed5698620.jpg

        • GoneWithTheWind says:

          Well let me make it more clear for you. Imagine an island with 100 people on it all of Northern European descent. The people barely had enough to eat and all had to work hard. The obesity rate was say 10%. Then through cheap energy and modern inventions they people were able to grow more food then they could eat and also no longer worked hard and the obesity rate jumped to 15%. And this stayed like that for many years. Then one day 30 people moved to the island, 15 of them originated from Africa and 15 originated from Mexico. At the same time 30 of the people who originally came from Northern Europe left. Still 100 people, still more food then they can eat, still no hard work to live but with that one move the obesity rate jumped to 30%. Now lets assume someone has been observing this and suddenly a lightbulb went off over his head and he said “eureka the reason obesity is suddenly epidemc is because we now have refined sugar (or GMO, or use BPA in cans, or HFCS). So you tell this observer, “wait a minute, didn’t you notice that some ethnicities have more genetic obesity then people from Northern Europe? And the observer replies “don’t confuse me with the facts, Dr. Oz says this is all because big food is poisoning you and if you would just stop drinking sodas we would all svelte and beautiful. And you are dumbfounded and repeat “didn’t you notice that we have more people living here now of an ethnicity with a higher propensity to obesity?” Then the observer goes on to rant about people who overeat or that there is too much GMO or whatever. And you mumble to yourself that ths guy simply cannot see the facts as they are and is stuck in his favorite bias (meme). You might even point out that the rate of obesity for all the people from Northern Europe hasn’t changed but the observer is so busy reciting his meme that he no longer hears anything.

        • Gail Combs says:

          GoneWithTheWind,

          One interesting fact is during WWII the commander of a Japanese prisoner of war camp went nuts trying to keep American prisoners from starving to death. Supplies to his camp were strictly rationed but because Americans have different metabolisms (and were bigger) they required more food than the Japanese.

        • rah says:

          Gail right off the bat westerners were at a disadvantage as a prisoner of the Japanese even if their captors had adhered to the “Rules” of war. Those rules require that the captor feed the prisoners the same calories they feed their own troops. Because of the generally smaller size of the average Japanese, and their reliance on rice as their primary starch/carb staple, their calorie requirement was a little less than 2/3rds of that required by the average westerner for subsistence.

          There most certainly is a genetic predisposition to obesity in some humans but I strongly believe the majority of obesity in the US is because of eating habits and the abundance of cheap high calorie foods. I have four siblings. I have a brother and sister that are obese. My other brother and I are not. Though at age 59 I’m 6′ and go 215 lb and feeling heavier than I like.

          You know there are a lot of fat truckers. But the guys with the biggest asses. The ones that waddle instead of walk. The ones that seem to need oxygen after they climb up into their truck. Are generally the same ones you’ll find at the trough at the all you can eat buffet in the truck stops. Even if they’re so big they can’t fit in a booth and should be using two chairs to fit their butts on. They are also the same ones that I see third in line at the closest pumps in the fuel line to the door of the truck stop. Even when there are empty fuel islands down the way.

          It is a matter of conditioning and will and giving a damned about your diet for the vast majority of us.

        • Gail Combs says:

          RAH,
          I certainly agree eating habits and exercise are part of it. Where I disagree is when people think ONLY eating habits and exercise count.

          For over forty years I was 36-24-36 and 125 to 130 lbs. Then all of a sudden my metabolism changed and NOTHING I do short of straight starvation will get the weight off. For example I have been up for over ten hours today and all I have eaten is 3 cups of tea (no sugar) and I just eat a hard boiled egg. Not exactly a pig-out. For dinner I will probably have some home made chicken soup containing chicken, celery, onion, mushrooms and bok choy (No rice or potatoes or other starch.) for a treat I might have a cube of very dark chocolate (5 grams carb. 75 cal.)

          Despite eating like that I can’t shed weight any more.

          Two of my female friends were overweight. One as a young girl and the other as a young woman. Both got the ‘eat less exercise more’ crud for years. (Donna single handed ran a twenty stall boarding stable with very clean stalls so we both laughed at her doctor idiot doctor telling her to exercise more.) Finally doctors ran test on these ladies and found they both had under-active thyroids.

          Up until recently most doctors were men and most dismissed any complaints by women as ‘female hysteria’ Weight loss in females is just another issue that is dismissed by the male orientated medical establishment. We are NOT men and our metabolisms are geared completely differently. Our hormones are different and our biological purpose is different.

        • Gail Combs says:

          RAH,

          On the Japanese you are making my point. Also the introduction of more food/meat has cause the height of the Japanese to sky rocket. I doubt the bigger Japanese of today could survive on what the Japanese WWII troops ate anymore than the Americans could.

          Genetics + Environment but you can not leave out the genetics.

        • rah says:

          Ah hell Gail. I knew guys that always had to get the pinch test because they didn’t meet the Army height-weight standards that could out run and out ruck most of us that didn’t. I’ll never prejudge the physical capabilities of a big person, excepting those that are obviously grossly obese, just because they have the the physique of a fire plug. It just doesn’t work that way. But any way one cuts it this country has more than it’s fair share of obese people. And my point was/is that most of it is because of behavior. Though for others it could genetics or in quite a few cases medications they are on.

          There was a time when I was at less than 3% body fat. 6′ – 32″ waist, 182 lb. And I’ve never been a skinny person. In 9th grade I wrestled in the 155 lb. class. But I found out that I performed better physically and mentally when I carried between 4-5% body fat. My endurance suffered it seemed when I worked my body fat too low. Yea I know, marathoners and triathletes and such work to get under 3%. But it just didn’t work that way for me.

          My best wishes that you find the right formula to make your metabolism behave the way you want. But if it doesn’t then I hope that you do not allow it to effect your self image because that is how a lot of the real damage is done.

  4. Joseph says:

    Great point, Tony.

    I know you love soccer/football. Maybe you’ll agree with me here – American football is the most overrated sport on the face of the Earth.

    • Most boring sport on the face of the Earth – along with NBA basketball.

      • Mat Helm says:

        You sound like a progressive, lets handicap everyone. But to compare Football to the NBA is just being stupid. Football takes a team of great players, whereas the NBA and soccer takes one with a following of non narcissistic mediocre players.

        • Those other 7 billion people must just be confused.

        • MrX says:

          I’m with you on most things, but the other 7 billion people are confused. I like soccer somewhat. But OMG it’s boring. And the fake dives just drives me nuts. If you like people with no spine, then soccer’s your sport. And then there’s the magic sponge. It fixes all injuries magically after delaying the game countless minutes which rarely get added back. And then refs that ALWAYS picks sides. FIFA as an organization makes the Mafia envious.

          One thing soccer does have is that in poor countries, you only need a ball to practice and it can lift families and communities if one of them makes it to a professional league.

        • Any sport is boring if you don’t understand the game. Soccer can be an incredibly interesting fast paced game, but unless you play you won’t see 95% of what is going on.

      • Gail Combs says:

        AMEN,

        Give me something exiting like rugby.

      • Dave N says:

        I’d personally rate NBA basketball way higher, though I suspect you’re referring to the copious number of stoppages. How can a 48 minute game seriously last over 2 hours? At least they appear to be taking moves to fix that.

      • northernont says:

        Ahem,, excuse me, but Canadian football with its 3 downs, larger playing field, deeper end zones, all contribute to higher scoring games, making it fun to watch.

      • John B., M.D. says:

        For me, soccer was a lot more fun to play than to watch.

        The whiners who fake injuries in soccer are annoying.

        Plus, I like watching games where scoring occurs more often, hence me not liking hockey either.

        Personal taste, that’s all.

        I don’t like the repeated head trauma in either football or soccer.

    • gator69 says:

      IMHO, professional sports in general is one of the largest wastes of time and money on this planet. I played many sports as a child, and learned a great deal from those experiences, lessons that assist me to this day. What people gain from watching others achieve goals while they do nothing of value, is a mystery to me. I just don’t get it.

  5. GM SUV Ad:

    You may fit your whole family into a Fiat 500 designed by Europeans but is it prudent with these men on the road? Drive a Suburban and improve your odds!

  6. KTM says:

    If I wanted to see a bunch of guys slowly jog around for 90 minutes, I’d go watch a Senior Citizen 5k.

    • Justa Joe says:

      Take the fastest sprinter in soccer, and race him against the fastest sprinter in the NFL. I guarantee that the NFL wide receiver or defensive back is faster.

  7. Mat Helm says:

    Misleading picture. Those guys have always been huge, even before the fat. Stand them next to the soccer wusses and you’ll see that they’re also a foot taller and two feet wider. Also of note is that most coaches played “support” rolls on their team. As in never got the real credit they deserved. Whereas soccer coaches are a name brand, a pretty face if you will to sell tickets. Because anyone idiot could do it. Like the NBA, it’s all about the talent….

    • Olaf Koenders says:

      I’m just big boned.. NOM NOM NOM..

      I got a pituitary problem.. NOM NOM NOM..

      It’s genetic.. NOM NOM NOM..

      “Support rolls”? Better not be any lettuce in there.. NOM NOM NOM..

      • Justa Joe says:

        Take a NFL nose tackle like say Vince Wolfork. He has Height: 6-1 and Weight: 344 lbs. he benches 375 lbs. He’d break you in half.

  8. Baa Humbug says:

    Their outfits also tell a story.
    1-) Average Joes’ coaching sports teams entertaining average Joes’.
    2-) Pretentious sons of biaches no different to their kin the Eurocrats, pretending to entertain average Joes’.
    Probably got there the same way that they played the game, i.e. complain to, and harass the referee to throw an opponent out of the game hoping to ensure an easy win rather than win by merit, pretend to be injured in order to have opponent thrown out, pretend you were the only one that mattered in scoring a goal by forcefully running away from teammates and demanding fan adoration exclusively for yourself, and being all round pussilanimous mammas boys who never take responsibility for themselves. Pull hair, bite and spit on an opponent just like a gutless coward yet somehow pretend to be a man etc etc etc

    Pic 1 Real people
    Pic 2 Assholes

  9. Curt says:

    To be competitive at the highest levels of American football in most positions, you must bulk up well beyond your “natural” weight. When you are actively training, you can keep much of the extra weight as muscle, but this requires continual aggressive training.

    When you stop playing, it is extremely difficult to take off this weight, and almost impossible to keep it as muscle. And you must completely alter your eating habits. Very hard to do all this.

    You would get a very different picture showing American basketball coaches.

  10. philjourdan says:

    The Maddens vs the Landreys.

  11. nigelf says:

    “In America we don’t have to forego food to pay our petrol and electric bills”

  12. Justa Joe says:

    This seems like a cherry pick. I don’t know if there are any fat soccer coaches, but there are certainly some svelte football coaches.

    Also all of the football coaches shown are currently not head coaches. Rex Ryan is the last picture. He’s still a head coach, but will be terminated at the end of the season. Ryan has also lost a lot of weight since that pic was taken.

    • Justa Joe says:

      What about the Sumo wrestling coaches?

    • David A says:

      I agree, a likely cherry pick, less true then depicted. All sports are interesting to play, and can be fun to watch, if played well, with high skill and intense competition. Watching sports politicized like the Ram players recently did is very annoying.

  13. reformedii says:

    I have been a Disney nut since my first trip to Disneyland in 1960. I now have dozens of videos from all the Disney parks.

    The DIFFERENCE in the America of the 1950’s and now is so obvious from the videos [converted 8 mm’s for the 1950’s] !

    The crowds of the early days showed HARDLY ANY obesity!! Except for “little ole ladies:)” [grandmas!] and grandpas!!! EVERYONE was SLIM! I’d bet that less than 10 % of the early 1950’s crowds were “fat.” The later those videos get, the fatter WE GET!

    Obesity [yeah I am 66, 5’10” and abut 20 pounds OVER] is a sign of greed and selfishness! Is anyone here surprised?

    • Gail Combs says:

      It is a sign of a change in eating habits.

      In the 1950s Mom made dinner and it was a salad with meat and two veggies. Desert was for special occasions and soda only appeared for birthdays and holidays. Mom also sent you to school with a lunch. However in some schools that is now illegal because of possible food swapping and allergies.

      Now Mom is working and uses fast foods for dinner or prepackaged and the kids are eating school lunches heavy on the carbs. Soda and candy machines are now found in the schools and thanks to the MILK IS EVIL campaign whole milk with HUNGER KILLING FAT is no longer served. Instead you see kids slurping sugar laden sodas.

      Under the new school lunch rules, which were written by the Agriculture Department and championed by Michelle Obama, lunch trays must have at least a half-cup of fruits or vegetables, and milk must contain no more than 1 percent fat.

      Foods containing trans fats are also banned in school lunches, and higher minimum calorie levels must be met, despite the lower-calorie fruits, vegetables, and portion sizes, leading one unnamed school district to admit to the GAO that it sometimes adds pudding and potato chips to its menu to meet the calorie guidelines.
      link

      One of the biggest problems though is no exercise. Kids today do not walk to the bus stop and instead of playing outside, they sit in front of a computer screen. Instead of riding a bike, they ride an ATV.

      Many of the kids I deal with today have now leg or upper body strength. It is really pathetic when a little old lady (me) can out walk and out lift a teenage boy. Their coordination is bad too.

  14. E.M.Smith says:

    Blame It On Crisco

    Seriously though, transfat is preferentially metabolized but takes something like 50 times longer to process. It looks to me like it gums up your fat metabolism via enzyme binding. At any rate, in the old days / old diet we had a lot of butter and lard that are turned to energy effectively. Once the “animal fat is bad” propaganda began, both heart attacks and obesity took off. Only recently has there been a quiet ‘walk back’ on that with the realization that the 1/3 or so transfat in traditional margarine was far far worse than butter.

    With folks becoming aware of that, the American food industry has moved to mon-glyxeride and di-glyceride (that need not be reported as trans-fat on the label) as a way to get the same crap into their products (for ‘mouth feel’ and ‘texture’ and never spoils… i.e. even bugs don’t eat it…) Look for a loaf of bread without them. Nearly impossible.

    When I get below about 1/4 gram of trans-fat or mono/di glycerides / day, my energy level goes up and my weight goes down. IMHO it’s a pattern… To do that requires essentially no commercial bread, snacks, baked goods, or most processed foods with ‘fats’ in them. Hard to do, but I like making my own bread and don’t mind no processed snack foods, so it works OK. Unless I’m on the road.

  15. ktwop says:

    Dress code for football coaches.
    Reblogged

  16. Jason Calley says:

    I am surprised to see an argument about whether obesity is genetic or nutritional. Is anyone here old enough to remember the old commercials for Certs Mints? “Certs is a candy mint! No! Certs is a breath mint!”

    Rather obviously, genetics vs nutrition is a false dichotomy. It is not “either or”. If obesity were strictly genetic, you could not induce it in rats by feeding them corn syrup and MSG. If it were strictly nutritional, you would not have the people who can drink a quart of eggnog for lunch and not gain weight.

    Obesity is caused by genetics — and nutrition — and probably gut flora — and probably stress levels — and maybe antibiotics — and probably who knows how many other factors, maybe including the phase of the moon and what color socks you wear.

    • John B., M.D. says:

      Yup, you understand the concept of “multifactorial.” Don’t forget less physical activity at work and lack of exercise.

      In my experience, obese patients tend to blame genetics instead of taking responsibility for that which they can control, i.e. diet and exercise. Then they complain of needing so many pills for blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, musculoskeletal aches and pains, …

  17. Kenneth Simmons says:

    The NFL-the National Foodball League!

  18. kuhnkat says:

    Pansies tend to be more effeminate and are more body aware…

    • Olaf Koenders says:

      Yup, like bodybuilders and fit guys with abs – they get more sex from women THEY choose. Does “kuhnkat” translate into “couch potato” or “armchair sportsman” where you live?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *