Why Am I Fat? Find Out The Reality...
If you ask yourself "Why am I fat?", it means that you don't have any control over your body. So you need some factual information to finally understand what's going on.
It's very convenient for fitness experts to blame poor results entirely on a frail willpower, but this explanation is simplistic and not completely true.
Unfortunately, losing weight (permanently, I may say) is not always an easy process for three reasons: 1) your daily environment fight against it; 2) your brain fights against it; 3) your body fights against it.
It's well known that throughout all human history except maybe the last fifty years, the ready availability of food was the exception rather than the rule for most ethnic groups.
Therefore, fat storage is the sign of good health, as it signals that metabolic resources are abundant, and the organism is thriving.
For this reason, your body doesn't mind being fat, but it fights fiercely (to keep you alive) against any perceived food shortage. In other words, in case you are still wondering “why am I fat?”, let's say that it's much easier to get a big belly than six pack abs.
Furthermore, partially for the same reason, we are all designed to crave calorie dense foods, which are usually found in fatty-sugary-salty combinations.
You want them because they fire your dopamine neurons, causing a hedonic behavior that has little do to with physical hunger. (Dopamine is released in the brain in response to an expectation of pleasurable sensations.)
On top of being accessible, these foods are neuromarketed very effectively by targeting emotions and cognitive brain functions, so it's impossible to ignore them. It should be noted that for reason, most dieters who limit their food choices will fail miserably.
This will inevitably cause an increased intake of energy dense foods that will not only add a substantial amount of calories to your gut, but will also distort neural functions of brain systems involved in nutrient sensing as well as in hedonic, motivational and cognitive processing.
Recent research shows that ghrelin (besides other hormones such as leptin or insulin), which is a gut-derived orexigenic hormone, plays a prominent role in stimulating the expression of dopamine.
It's interesting to note that ghrelin is also activated by visual or olfactory cues, which, once again, are impossible to ignore unless you live by yourself on a remote island.
Most folks can't lose weight because, unknowingly but consistently, consume more calories than their homeostatic requirements. Duh!
Gradually, leptin levels increase chronically, and this condition leads to a progressive resistance to this hormone (similar to insulin), which will cause further fat storage.
As you may know, leptin is the key hormone responsible for tracking energy levels and maintaining a minimal threshold for your fat stores. In other words, your brain has a preconceived idea about how fat it wants you to be, and leptin resistance may push this set point upwards.
Consequently, your appetite will increase, and your metabolic rate will slow down - which means that you'll soon get in a vicious circle. And you'll keep asking on help forums “why am I fat?” until somebody will convince you to buy some crappy supplement.
Moreover, your eating behavior and food preferences may be transmitted to your offspring.
During early childhood, parents serve as important role models for their children, and "modeling of eating behaviors and food selections has been shown to play an important role in the establishment of food acceptance patterns in children". (Kral et al., 2010)
In other words, chances are that your son will have the same protruding belly and the same dissatisfaction related to his physical appearance. He will probably ask himself as well “why am I fat”, and wouldn't even know that it's all your damn fault.
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