Can Excess Pounds Be Contagious?

re: Can Excess Pounds Be Contagious?

D_muir13 — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:26:17 GMT

I noticed how family members tend to weight around the same weight, or the previous weight of the elder family members. (example: I weigh the same as my mom did back when she was my age.) This is usually blamed to genetics. As a teenager, I don't pay very much attention to my friends weight as I do to the girls who are NOT my friends. I tend to feel larger or less attractive compared to someone I DON'T like as to who I am comfortable with.

re: Can Excess Pounds Be Contagious?

Katie B — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:58:12 GMT

...which is why so many cute, skinny girls have a fat friend. Girls don't so much want to look good, just better than all the other girls.

re: Can Excess Pounds Be Contagious?

Arizona — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:09:26 GMT

I know I have relaxed my eating habits being around my husband. He is overweight and he has gotten me to relax. Mmmmm guess I should take heed.

re: Can Excess Pounds Be Contagious?

FunRun — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:16:31 GMT

Last year we spent a month in Cambodia, a country where many people do not have enough to eat.

After about a week in the country we found ourselves unusually focused on food. We would buy kilo bags full of peanuts and carry several baguettes in our pack every day. When eating in a restaurant we would devour the meals in a matter of minutes then ask for more. We turned into gluttons and subsequently gained a few pounds.

The experience was very much out of character for both of us and we could not help but wonder if there was some sort of chemical or biological signal among the population causing us to enter a primitive starvation mode.

The moment we crossed back into Thailand we went back to normal eating habits.

Perhaps this is a social phenomenon as the article suggests, or a biological one.

re: Excess Pounds Are Contagious

samurai — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:58:52 GMT

The other day, I was in line at the grocery store, and there was this young woman about 25 years of age. She had one of the most perfect figures I have ever seen. I had to compliment her. When she responded, I heard a strong accent; she was from Africa. As she was holding a 2 liter Coke in her hands, I said to her, "Girl, please don't pick up on our eating habits. Stop learning how we eat, and keep your beautiful physique."
I see this a lot. Foreigners start getting our eating habits, and voila! Their health goes in the john.