That's quite a leap. Some people enjoy gyms. Some people run at 3am. Some people have bigger houses. And yet, our area has much higher obesity rates than average.
It also doesn't address the larger point that _it doesn't have to be this hard_.
It also doesn't address the larger point that _it doesn't have to be this hard_.
For example, only drink water. It’s all the body needs for hydration anyways. No soda, diet soda, alcohol, slurpees, etc. Black coffee if you enjoy a cuppa in the morning, no sugar. (Good black coffee is such a joy)
Then set a rule about only eating 3 meals a day, however you define meal. No snacks in between.
Losing weight, even accounting for hormones, really is a diet thing. Exercise daily burns like… 100-300 calories, which is a small fraction of basal metabolic rate for a grown human.
My spouse and I work full time with 3 kids between ages 3-11. We are very busy, all the time. We have both lost a noticeable amount of weight in the past 6 months following these kinds of “rules” if you will.
People who says they’re too busy are sadly fooling themselves.
We don’t even exercise! Well, maybe at night sometimes…
Coming from a family of alcoholics, I'm also very familiar with the moral judgment issue with addiction. It _must_ be a lack of control that makes that man drink, etc. There's been quite a lot of success destigmatizing alcohol addiction in the last half century, so it's even more stark to see exactly the same thing play out with so many conversations about food and weight. It _must_ be that fat man's lack of control that makes him fat. Often it is. But there are so, so many other factors. I actually think that's part of OP's larger point.
I focused on the water thing because it is so, so easy to smash a 20oz coke without thinking about it, twice a day even. I’m sure I don’t need to inform you about the nutritional information of coke, but 40oz a day negates any kind of diet or exercise two-fold.
I also made the point about 3 meals completely because of metabolism and the bad effects of eating only once a day. There is however value in skipping breakfast and only eating lunch and dinner, but not if you just make up for breakfast with the other two meals.
The world isn’t black and white, absolutism is never a good thing unless you’re designing digital circuits or some other “there is no other choice but binary” but there already is an exception to your rule.
Keep an open mind. You sound like you’ve talked yourself out of lots of things and seem to have accepted defeat and blamed your circumstances. Coming from the same background as you I would encourage you to at least admit to yourself the things you already know and excuse away. When I finally had that moment it was a game changer.