My Observation Today About What Americans Weigh

Jean-Paul said:
In France, we spot the American tourists kilometers away, they are so overweigh and out of shape.

Weight is simple Thermodynamics....energy input = energy consumption no change
More energy ( calories) than needed excess stored by body as fat, weight gain
visa versa

Diet..cut sugar, fructose, veg oils except Virgin olive oil, alcohol.
I am a veggie for decades, walk 5..9 km/ day

Bon courage

j
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Generalizing is a dangerous game, particularly when it's meant to be insulting or condescending.
Not all American tourists are overweight and out of shape.
But you already knew that.
 

StarSong said:
Generalizing is a dangerous game, particularly when it's meant to be insulting or condescending.
Not all American tourists are overweight and out of shape.
But you already knew that.
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No but many are. I lived in Europe and saw I could spot most Americans a block away. That was years ago and I can only imagine it's worse now. As well as spotting us a block away, I heard us a block away.
 
StarSong said:
Generalizing is a dangerous game, particularly when it's meant to be insulting or condescending.
Not all American tourists are overweight and out of shape.
But you already knew that.
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If they aren't overweight the French figure they aren't American and vice versa. The British do it, too. I was standing in line at some tourist spot in England and the English woman next to me pointed out a group of noisy, brightly dressed tourists and told me they were obvioulsy those disgusting Yanks. I passed the group later and heard them speaking French.
 
Actually I am an American! Living in Paris on and off a long time. The behavior, speech tone, appearance and culture are so different, thus any who are non native French stand out.

When I return to USA ( or UK) I suffer from culture shock...I avoid supermarkets, restaurants and cities in general.

The French culture, mentality and language took many years to begin to understand.

Bon Soirée

Jon
 
Jean-Paul said:
Actually I am an American! Living in Paris on and off a long time. The behavior, speech tone, appearance and culture are so different, thus any who are non native French stand out.

When I return to USA ( or UK) I suffer from culture shock...I avoid supermarkets, restaurants and cities in general.

The French culture, mentality and language took many years to begin to understand.

Bon Soirée

Jon
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How did you end up in Paris? I was born there as a military brat but returned home shortly after one year in France and two years in Germany.
 
StarSong said:
Generalizing is a dangerous game, particularly when it's meant to be insulting or condescending.
Not all American tourists are overweight and out of shape.
But you already knew that.
Click to expand...
Starsong, the laws of thermodynamics are inescapable. Energy is neither created nor destroyed, it can only change in form. Thus my note about the cause of weight change is not " generalizing", just physics.

Bon courage

Jon
 
Blessed said:
How did you end up in Paris? I was born there as a military brat but returned home shortly after one year in France and two years in Germany.
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So, in 1970, as a young engineer working at a NY office of a French electronic firm, we built and shipped a huge Analyzer for ESRO, European Space Agencies. It arrives to Paris totally wrecked due tofreight damage. But the chief engineer had no passport, and I had one, I was assigned to immediately fly to the factory and fix the system, during a weekend and return.

Each day telex arrives in Paris that I should continue work another day. Lived in hotels in 5th eg rue des Écoles, near Sorborne. Eventually I stayed 3 months in Spring 1970s. Returnd ever since and finally learning French and have résidence in 6th by St Germain des près. A dream!
Vive la France !
Cordialement

Jon
 
Jean-Paul said:
Actually I am an American! Living in Paris on and off a long time. The behavior, speech tone, appearance and culture are so different, thus any who are non native French stand out.

When I return to USA ( or UK) I suffer from culture shock...I avoid supermarkets, restaurants and cities in general.

The French culture, mentality and language took many years to begin to understand.

Bon Soirée

Jon
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First time I was in Paris, 1963, three 20 year olds heading east. Got off the metro, rush hour, lost....stopped a lady, probably on her way to work......she just turned around and took us to where we needed to go......greatly appreciated.

In Saudi my late wife had an arrangement with Air France......sold tickets on the project...we got, (generally upgraded), free tickets. Just about the only people who balked at overnighting in Paris were Quebeckers who often complained that they were treated like hicks.
 
Jean-Paul said:
Starsong, the laws of thermodynamics are inescapable. Energy is neither created nor destroyed, it can only change in form. Thus my note about the cause of weight change is not " generalizing", just physics.

Bon courage

Jon
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In my response I bolded your statement, "In France, we spot the American tourists kilometers away, they are so overweigh (sic) and out of shape."

That was the insulting, condescending generalization to which I referred, not the basic laws of physics that we began to learn in primary school classes.

Jean-Paul, if you stick around SF, you'll read numerous posts by members who've battled weight problems most of their adult lives, have dieted repeatedly, exercised religiously and feel great frustration (and often shame) at their inability to lose weight.

My own body is slender, and for that I credit a happy combination of DNA, a reasonably good metabolism, good mental health that doesn't need calming with food, drugs or alcohol, a healthy eating style, and general good health that (so far) allows me be physically active. In that order.

Not all are so fortunate.
 
fmdog44 said:
The real crime is these people are young like under 30 and the choice of food at fast food restaurants all and I mean 100% unhealthy and it is everywhere we look. I don't see it ever ending and sadly it is 100% avoidable.
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America's obesity is something that, for the sake of conflict, I avoid. My wife and I have been to the US many, many times. We loved it, we were always, and I mean always, made to feel welcome. So commenting on, what is the subject of this thread, pains me. It is the diet, of course it is, but it's the companies, like the tobacco companies, that create the addiction of an unhealthy diet. I don't want to say too much, as I have said, America is a country that my wife and I both love, a country where we have been made to feel most welcome.

The first "biggy" that I ever saw was a young man, so big was he, that he walked with a backward lean, much the same way an expectant mother does in the latter stages of pregnancy, he did so to counterbalance his enormous stomach. He wore a baggy pair of shorts, they probably enhanced the size of his thighs, but even so, it was impossible to see daylight between his legs anywhere above the knee. The sight depressed me. How can it be so?

The answer is simple, the companies responsible should be treated in much the same way as the tobacco companies and the cause of obesity be highlighted in the same way that we know of the link between smoking and cancer. Whilst some have slipped through the net, many smokers of yesteryear are non smokers today. If draconian measures can succeed with tobacco, then why can it not succeed with diet?
 
horseless carriage said:
America's obesity is something that, for the sake of conflict, I avoid. My wife and I have been to the US many, many times. We loved it, we were always, and I mean always, made to feel welcome. So commenting on, what is the subject of this thread, pains me. It is the diet, of course it is, but it's the companies, like the tobacco companies, that create the addiction of an unhealthy diet. I don't want to say too much, as I have said, America is a country that my wife and I both love, a country where we have been made to feel most welcome.

The first "biggy" that I ever saw was a young man, so big was he, that he walked with a backward lean, much the same way an expectant mother does in the latter stages of pregnancy, he did so to counterbalance his enormous stomach. He wore a baggy pair of shorts, they probably enhanced the size of his thighs, but even so, it was impossible to see daylight between his legs anywhere above the knee. The sight depressed me. How can it be so?

The answer is simple, the companies responsible should be treated in much the same way as the tobacco companies and the cause of obesity be highlighted in the same way that we know of the link between smoking and cancer. Whilst some have slipped through the net, many smokers of yesteryear are non smokers today. If draconian measures can succeed with tobacco, then why can it not succeed with diet?
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And very often, that addiction begins as a toddler when parents unknowingly start feeding them the kind of food that is addictive. :cry:
 
A moment please.....My family was overweight, cardiac, and circulatoire disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure,Dad had fatalities stroke at 66.

I have found that intermittent fasting to be effective for weight control and overall extends lifespan and health

Personally a veggie since 1976, recently years down to 1..2 meals per day. That gives the digestive tract and body a rest each day from digesting and processing your food. The best food is at the farmers markets, fruits, veggies, with bread and cheese or yougert.

I believe the obésité and diet issues in USA are caused by both early poor diet habits, as well as psychologie, eg compensation of personal problems by overeating.
so, blaming corporate food firms is not a solution, since each of us has their own free will to decide and make personal life choices.

As an optimist, I still seek to learn, and extend my quality of life.

Wishing all of you an ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC healthy holiday!

Jon
 
Whenever anyone would call my dad "skinny" he would put on his fake girly mannerisms and say, I prefer to be called "slender."

I always liked, "slender." I never liked it when men would call me "lean," or "fit." It made me feel like a construction worker. The worst was one day when my husband and I were talking to a neighbor (this was before he got his retirement belly and I quit smoking) and the guy said, "Ya'll look like ya'll have tapeworms."
 
There's a Gatorade commercial now airing that depicts various fit people exercising. It also shows a massively fat woman doing something (stretching or yoga, I'm not sure.)

I'm of two minds about this. When I see an overweight person at the gym I think, "That's great. You are welcome here."

But when I see this on TV I also think, "You (the makers of the advertisement) are normalizing a deadly condition. You would never show someone smoking, but you show someone carrying about 150 extra pounds."

I guess in the end I would rather have the overweight people included as an encouragement to go out and do some activity. But it's a weird world. I had something like 700 people in my high school class and I can only think of about three people who were seriously overweight. There would probably be 70 now, maybe more.
 
JimBob1952 said:
I guess in the end I would rather have the overweight people included as an encouragement to go out and do some activity. But it's a weird world. I had something like 700 people in my high school class and I can only think of about three people who were seriously overweight. There would probably be 70 now, maybe more.
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We only had one in my class of 200 (poor girl.) I don't think showing fat people on TV is the same as showing people smoking. People can't leave their fat at home and just because young people see something on TV doesn't mean they're going to see it as ideal and copy it. It certainly won't offset all the messages young women get from magazines and movies that tell them they have to be thin to be acceptable.

Anorexia is far more deadly than obesity.
 
OldFeller said:
This just in...View attachment 259122
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Oh just stop it. America has an obesity rate of 36%, Italy 20%, Australia 30%, Canada 30%, United Kingdom 27%, France 22%. It's a world wide problem and America leads those other countries in giving up smoking. As those countries follow the stop smoking trend they gain weight and start catching up with us. As the French and Italians drink their wine and smoke their cigarettes and write books about why they don't get fat they're filling up the lung cancer wards. They have no reason to feel superior to us.
 
Della said:
We only had one in my class of 200 (poor girl.) I don't think showing fat people on TV is the same as showing people smoking. People can't leave their fat at home and just because young people see something on TV doesn't mean they're going to see it as ideal and copy it. It certainly won't offset all the messages young women get from magazines and movies that tell them they have to be thin to be acceptable.

Anorexia is far more deadly than obesity.
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Thank you, that is a very thoughtful comment.
 
Son is very obese and we've talked to him again and again. Its his lack of "lifestyle management". He owns a software company and sits for most of the day (and some nights). He is a mindless eater and avoids exercise, travels extensively where he sits at clients facilities and takes them out for "fine dining", then gets back on a plane (First Class Cabin) for home or another client's office... rinse and repeat!

The last time they were down to stay with us, hub told him "you need to take care of yourself, son...you know I want you to bury me and not the other way around.

As hub says "you have to want something else more than eating.
 


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