Fat Kids........

[Chojin]

And while we're at it, I really hate the concept that gaining or losing fat involves evil voodoo magic or mad science. Most people seem to have this perception, and it's stupid.

It is actually tremendously simple. Insultingly simple, even.

1 pound of fat = 3500 calories. To lose 1 pound of fat, burn 3500 calories.

Just sitting on your ass, your body burns approximately 2200 kcal/day if you're male and 1800 kcal/day if you're female. This is also assuming that you're only fat and not GOD DAMN fat. At the simplest explanation, if you eat 500 kcal under that every day, you will lose a pound of fat every week (500 x 7 = 3500).

So how do people get fat? THEY EAT OVER THAT AMOUNT. OHGOD

This happens for a variety of reasons, most of which involve people not understanding how many calories are in things that they eat. A big serving of lean chicken breast has a hilariously low amount of calories; like, 300. A big mac has about 600 calories (yes, if you're a male you could eat 3 big macs a day and lose weight, provided you ate nothing else). Side orders and sugared drinks (soda and juice, especially) are a very common source of extra calories.

As an aside, diet sodas are not only FUCKING FINE, they can actually help you burn fat a little bit faster. This is because most people drink soda very cold (colder than they drink their water, anyway), and your body expends energy to maintain its heat when drinking ice-cold beverages (about 120kcal/day if you drink a metric dickload of diet soda).

So, to relate this to the OP, America's obesity problem is mostly due to the American diet involving meals that have a lot of calories. Our meals are often larger than they need to be, and are bundled with sides and sugary drinks. Fries, chips, and cokes have a retarded amount of calories in them. Your average 20 oz. coke has 240 calories in it. If you were eating at maintenance and drinking 3 of those a day, you would lose 1.5 pounds of fat a week by doing nothing but switching to diet coke.