Just try not to spread it around, ok?
–James
I’m not one who does or doesn’t want to hear it, but do you have any evidence for this (do you mean it literally for that matter)? Beer has about as many calories as soda, so I don’t know why it would make one fatter. It was believed for a long time that beer had a preventive effect on cardiovascular disease because beer drinkers have a lower incidence of it than the populous as a whole. The lower incidence of heart disease was known long before the red wine fad hit, and is still accepted. I suspect that if beer drinkers as a whole were heavier, they wouldn’t have a lower rate of heart disease. If you believe the epidemiologists, the likely explanation is that beer drinkers get more exercise than others, plus they tend to stress less. I dunno that you can really tease out which causes which, though.
Amen.
If most of the people out there who say “it’s simple math” had to live on the 1000 calories a day or fewer it takes for me to MAINTAIN my weight (and that’s with working out every day)…forget losing…they’d change their tunes soon enough, I think.
Redwolf
It’s the same argument that they use to justify punitive taxes on alcohol and cigarettes. Spelled out, I think it goes like this. People will use less of a product if it costs more. We are therefore discouraging unhealthy habits by forcing the price up on everything that is bad for you. Of course, they know perfectly well that smokers and beer drinkers are likely to do without other perhaps healthy things to get what they want. So it is really a good revenue spinner.
The same reasoning I suppose justifies putting speed cameras in relatively safe places and arbitrarily lowering the speed limit a bit earlier to catch the unwary. Also, around here, speed limit warning signs seem to be deliberately placed to blend in with a mosaic of road side advertisements and shop signs just to make it even less likely that you’ll notice. What is infuriating is that this actually makes driving less safe since drivers are distracted by the need to look out for arbitrary changes of speed limit where none would be expected by changed road conditions.
The people who do this to us are our elected representatives. Why do we put up with it?
As we age, we have to keep eating less and exercising more as our metabolisms slow down. But we have set patterns and our hunger has nothing much to do with our optimal calory intake. You don’t have to be a glutton to get into trouble here. It’s not hard to see why reasonable people find it hard to maintain a good weight as they age. Not all people with eight problems are cumpulsive eaters or ‘compensators’ or whatever. Some are just aging and many of them are restricted in the kind of exercise they can do and in the hours available to do it. (I’ve never heard anyone over forty come out with the ‘simple algebra’ line. )
That’s really true, Wombat. Ask anyone with extraordinarily bad knees about getting enough exercise. It’s enough to make you cry (and it has). My rheumatologist told me that a good percentage of his patients could ease at least some of the pain in their knees by losing some weight, but he doesn’t even mention it because it’s too frustrating to people who simply can’t exercise.
Susan
There’s also the argument that the public health costs associated with unhealthy behavior need to be funded somehow, so why not let the users of unhealthy products bear some of the cost of that in the form of taxes? With alcohol and tobacco there are pretty clear links to disease, though there seems to be good level of alcohol use, which there isn’t for tobacco.
Carol
People of certain so-called races are more prone to dying young, and some so-called races are naturally slimmer than others. Would it be right to penalize those so-called races? It most certainly would not.
what gets me are the seemingly arbitrary height to weight charts. Who decides those things anyway? I saw one awhile back that said I should weigh around 195 lbs. Yeah, right! If I got that thin I would have to stand twice in the same spot to throw a shadow.
How would you do that?
Exactly what I’ve always wondered. According to a standard weight chart, I’m extremely obese 
Your weight really doesn’t tell you much. A more accurate measure of how healthy you are is to find out your percent body fat, though it is more difficult to measure.
I guess he’d have to stand there twice as long.
Even my doctor doesn’t agree with the height/weight charts. I know what feels like a healthy weight for me, and though I’m overweight now and looking to lose a few pounds over the summer, I know I’d be very underweight if I was “on the line” on the chart. I dropped to 158 pounds a couple of years ago, and my ribs were protruding - and according to the chart I was still overweight.
Peeplj and others are right that it’s not a simple formula, and metabolic rates vary, but Telegram Sam did mention that. I find when I’m feeling fitter, I burn up more calories even if not exercising, and can eat more and still lose weight.
One problem in today’s society is the sedentary lifestyle that is forced on so many of us. In an office job it’s hard not to be sitting still for at least 6-7 hours a day.
I couldn’t agree more. I had a problem with this with my youngest daughter when she was a baby. She ate like a horse but didn’t gain weight the way the charts said she should and the pedipods basically accused us of starving her. I still say hanging was too good for 'em.
The current height / weight charts are based on studies done by insurance companies in the 1950’s.
By the way, those same studies did show something interesting: when the original data was looked at, it was found that the highest levels of mortality weren’t found at either end of the spectrum, among the very fat or the very thin: the highest levels of mortality were found among those whose weight changed suddenly in either direction.
Somehow this fact, which seems to me to be an extremely important thing to know, always gets omitted when you discuss these weight charts with physicians, although they are aware of it and will admit to it when pressed.
–James
I don’t know either Cran - but I want to be around him when he does!!!
To be honest, I was just going on personal experience. Back when I was a big beer drinker I had a much harder time keeping weight off (I avoided soda like the plague back then for athletic reasons, the carbonation, and whatnot, as I was playing ice hockey in college) than after (when I consequently became less uptight about soda).
::shrug::
I just thought there must be a reason they call it a “beer gut” instead of a “cola gut.” (however if you read the wikipedia page on beer bellies it says there is no certifiable link between been consumption and beer bellies. It also says
Even heavier beers carry less energy per glass than sugared cola drinks
boy have I been hoodwinked! 
I gotta switch back to more beer!!! 
He could quite easily if he’s related to Triplicate Girl, or if he knows Michael Keaton!
These things are total bunkum.
When I was in the Navy, I had 3% body fat (dangerously thin) and a 26 inch waist. I also worked out every day, and had a lot of mass in my legs from kung fu (I typically leg-pressed 370 lbs daily with each leg). I weighed 190 lbs, which pegged me at overweight on these stupid charts.
Once I got strep in the Navy, and went to the doc. The lt. there measured my height, took my blood pressure, and weighed me in. When he saw that I was close to 200 lbs, he eyeballed me up and down and just said “Where??”
I won’t tell you what I told him
That’s quite right. I overlooked that.
Setting aside Walden’s concerns, I wonder just how far we can tell where our taxes are going. That argument could only justify punitive taxes if they were clearly going into health care, and only health care, over and above what we would need if nobody smoked or consumed soft drinks or alcohol. Of course we can’t really say where any particular dollar is going any more than we can introduce someone to the family with 2.5 kids.
I’m well aware of course that you are just drawing attention to the argument and not endorsing it. I certainly share Walden’s concerns.