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Everyone blames food/diet/portions for this, but personally I think the car-centric culture should also bear a large portion of the blame.
When I stayed with friends in Europe, they easily ate as much as my American friends, but everywhere we went we were either walking or biking.
Meanwhile, in the VAST majority of the US, if you so much as want a safe place to walk that isn’t adjacent to the pervasive pedestrian-hostile street design, you need to take a car to get there.
American car culture essentially turns the average routine into ferrying oneself from chair to desk to chair to bed, intermixed with brief walks throgh scenic parking lots.
We need to counter the sedentary lifestyle within the design of our actual cities, but its the american way to push societal problems onto the responsibility of the individual… so I do not see this changing within our lifetimes.
Sure, that may be true although I’d push back on your assertion that people somehow won’t notice they’ve added 100lbs unless they walk everywhere.
The main issue is that processed foods are very high in calories and low in everything that is good for you and these foods are absolutely everywhere in the US. Work meetings frequently have a box of donuts on the table (700 calories each) huge sodas are common, coffees are more like a dessert than a drink, etc.
According to my watch if I do a 15 minute walk with some light jogging that’s around 120 calories. I’d have to do that twice to cancel out a single can of soda.
Yes maybe ‘notice’ 100lbs gain is a strong word, but you don’t fully realize it until you actually start wheezing doing something you used to consider normal. If your only exercise is walking from the car to your desk job and back you may just chalk it down to being a little out of shape.
The main issue is that processed foods are very high in calories and low in everything that is good for you and these foods are absolutely everywhere in the US.
Definitely, that is the main issue. I’m just saying the benefts (even just the weigh-control benefits) of walking are more than the calories spent.
Walking is a very low intensity exercise that will not burn a lot of calories, but is it’s the only exercise you get it’s a whole lot better than nothing.
How fast do you think weight is gained or how long do you think people spend in cars that gaining an excessive amount of weight is a surprise? No arguments about walking being healthier, but for most people, time in the car isn’t that significant.
If, in your whole day, you never walk more than 100 meters at a time (likely, if you go by car everywhere) you may not notice the weight gain for years.
If you live in a place with an elevator or on the ground floor, get your food delivered or get it at a drive-in, do most of your shopping online, go to places with parking lots, where you just walk maybe 20-30 meters before you sit down, you’ll not notice your health is going to shit.
As someone that lives in the world you’re describing and drives everywhere, you’re wrong. Weight doesn’t just all of the sudden exist. Walking 40ft instead of 300ft twice a day is not going to make a noticeable difference. Again walking is healthier, but nobody has ever driven, gotten really fat, and then wondered what happened.
Walking 40ft instead of 300ft twice a day is not going to make a noticeable difference
No but walking 1 km from/to the station or going by bike certainly is. As is walking during holidays or whatnot.
Most people who gain weight do realize it by feeling it rather than by looking at the mirror, especially since it is a very slow process. If you feel the struggle walking 300 feet and you don’t have other issues, you’ve probably gained a lot of weight already.
Everyone blames food/diet/portions for this, but personally I think the car-centric culture should also bear a large portion of the blame.
When I stayed with friends in Europe, they easily ate as much as my American friends, but everywhere we went we were either walking or biking.
Meanwhile, in the VAST majority of the US, if you so much as want a safe place to walk that isn’t adjacent to the pervasive pedestrian-hostile street design, you need to take a car to get there.
American car culture essentially turns the average routine into ferrying oneself from chair to desk to chair to bed, intermixed with brief walks throgh scenic parking lots.
We need to counter the sedentary lifestyle within the design of our actual cities, but its the american way to push societal problems onto the responsibility of the individual… so I do not see this changing within our lifetimes.
I’m not sure that’s correct, check out how many calories you’d have to burn just to cover those in a can of soda.
I think walking does way more than burning calories though.
For one it gives you a lot more awareness of your physical condition, if you go everywhere by car you may barely notice your weight has doubled.
Secondly I find any physical activity, especially running or walking, helps to combat urges for stuff like snacking.
Sure, that may be true although I’d push back on your assertion that people somehow won’t notice they’ve added 100lbs unless they walk everywhere.
The main issue is that processed foods are very high in calories and low in everything that is good for you and these foods are absolutely everywhere in the US. Work meetings frequently have a box of donuts on the table (700 calories each) huge sodas are common, coffees are more like a dessert than a drink, etc.
According to my watch if I do a 15 minute walk with some light jogging that’s around 120 calories. I’d have to do that twice to cancel out a single can of soda.
Yes maybe ‘notice’ 100lbs gain is a strong word, but you don’t fully realize it until you actually start wheezing doing something you used to consider normal. If your only exercise is walking from the car to your desk job and back you may just chalk it down to being a little out of shape.
Definitely, that is the main issue. I’m just saying the benefts (even just the weigh-control benefits) of walking are more than the calories spent.
Walking is a very low intensity exercise that will not burn a lot of calories, but is it’s the only exercise you get it’s a whole lot better than nothing.
How fast do you think weight is gained or how long do you think people spend in cars that gaining an excessive amount of weight is a surprise? No arguments about walking being healthier, but for most people, time in the car isn’t that significant.
If, in your whole day, you never walk more than 100 meters at a time (likely, if you go by car everywhere) you may not notice the weight gain for years.
If you live in a place with an elevator or on the ground floor, get your food delivered or get it at a drive-in, do most of your shopping online, go to places with parking lots, where you just walk maybe 20-30 meters before you sit down, you’ll not notice your health is going to shit.
As someone that lives in the world you’re describing and drives everywhere, you’re wrong. Weight doesn’t just all of the sudden exist. Walking 40ft instead of 300ft twice a day is not going to make a noticeable difference. Again walking is healthier, but nobody has ever driven, gotten really fat, and then wondered what happened.
No but walking 1 km from/to the station or going by bike certainly is. As is walking during holidays or whatnot.
Most people who gain weight do realize it by feeling it rather than by looking at the mirror, especially since it is a very slow process. If you feel the struggle walking 300 feet and you don’t have other issues, you’ve probably gained a lot of weight already.