Not being fat also involves lifestyle choices that are easier to make when you are rich. E.g. want to go workout but you live in a sucky climate? No problem, just drive on over to the gym! Want to live in a better climate where you can bike to work every day? Sure, just move to the bay area. Want to work out before lunch? You have a high value job, your employer will be flexible.
Then sometimes its just a matter of context. I've totally gained weight since the gym in my apartment complex suddenly shutdown, and the pollution has been so bad this winter (700+ 2.5PM) that my options for doing much anything active have been severely limited.
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.
“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”
Control your eating. More Protein, more veggies. Eating in a way that is healthy and keeps your weight down is not expensive. A few bodyweight exercises can be done several times a week and take only a few minutes. It's possible to be in good shape and lean even if you are poor. If you want too.
Ok Governor Schwarzenegger, I think you are missing the point. There are three factors that determine your healthiness:
1. Willpower/discipline/ (i.e. if you want too!)
2. Habit (nurture)
3. Environment (income, climate, work schedule, nearby grocery stores)
Any deficiency in one factor must be made up by another. Yes, (1) is good enough if you have a lot of willpower/discipline to spare, but not all of us do. (2) is ideal, but maybe our parents didn't do such a great job. (3) allows perhaps allows you to overcome (1) and (2), but not always.
Close, but not quite. I'm more german than austrian.
Actually I'm doing my PHD on adherence to healthy habits and behavioural change (preventative medicine with a focus on exactly these things). ;)
The whole willpower shtick is a bit overplayed based on the available evidence. The real (first) problem is often learned helplessness. And then a lack of knowledge on how to change things and which things are most important. Shaping your environment and changing your habits without using significant amounts of willpower.
It's doable.
"Stop being fat, it's easy, look at me how fit I am"
Which is very, very, very true. I was 240 pounds, went down to 155 - and hell yah, I will repeat it back to you - "Stop being fat, it's easy, look at me how fit I am". Gym, sweat and cry as I did. The first thing you'll notice too is how much less self-pity you have. And that's manly too.
I was going to post that nobody who has actually been through it will tell you that it's easy. I guess I was wrong. I think you're probably missing the point.
I weighed slightly less than you (something like 105kg / 230lbs), dropped down to around 70kg (155lbs) mostly on diet changes, and am currently hovering around 75kg (165lbs) having been doing weight training for the last four months. Not done yet obviously (still some more body fat to get rid of), but I'm getting there.
It feels easy from here, certainly, because I'm used to it. Getting here required a lot of hard work (in my case, over a period of a couple of years), and a lot of persistence.
The problem is getting started - knowing what you need to do, getting on with it, and sticking to it. It's intimidating, and it requires quite a lot of commitment. The trick is that, once you've got going, it actually gets much easier. You just need to get going first.
I'll completely agree on this though: DO IT. Seriously, just do it. It's all going to be worth it in the end, because you'll feel so much better for it.
