Weight loss & your environment...

I've been thinking a little bit about the whole "obesity epidemic" and how it affects dieting across the country. Where I live (Bay Area, CA) it's really, really easy to eat healthy. Not only are there tons of organic supermarkets, farmers markets, and those kind of things, but there are restaurants that specialize in making raw and vegan food absolutely delicious for everyone. And it's really popular. People in general are way more likely to go out for salads than to Outback or something. And, for the most part, there are hardly any obese people where I live. I see maybe one obese person a week. I travelled around the East Coast and Midwest a bit this summer, and was shocked to find the percentage of overweight people.

Do you find that your community is beneficial or detrimental to your weight loss?

that's a great observation. i live in a suburb that has a mall with about a billion unhealthy restaurants- ruby tuesday's, outback, chili's, friendly's- you name it. there's plenty of healthy foodaround too, but the bad stuff is cheap and convenient, and many people don't know any better. and we have plenty of obese people- especially teenagers at my high school! i live on the east coast, so it's interesting that you mentioned that. but my community is taking steps to be healthier- they recently completely overhauled the cafeteria food to prevent kids from having a very typical lunch of fries and cookies. everyone hated it, but i was thrilled! :-) i love taking steps to be healthy

Yeah... I too am in high school. Most kids bring bagged lunches from home because it's the general consensus that the cafeteria food is "gross and unhealthy." The bagged lunches typically look like some sort of small sandwich, a fruit or two, and crackers / pretzles. It's almost instinct for everyone around here to just eat well. 

I totally agree that your environment can make it more difficult to make good decisions. I live in Western North Carolina a.k.a. southern, comfort, massive amounts, fairs and festivles galore, everything tastes better fried, momma's homecooking, real butter in everything, mayo goes with everything, diet what?, overweight and proud country. I am alwasy shocked at the amount of overweight people in my area. It is no wonder though with how everyone eats. There seems to be a fair or festivle every weekend or a get-together or gathering that involved massive amounts of unhealthy food. That is how they were raised and that is what they continue to do. I went to a birthday party for one of my daughters friends over lunch time and this was her menu - chicken salad w/tons of mayo, buttered croissants, pita bread soaked in olive oil, pasta salad w/tons of mayo, broccoli slaw w/ mayo, grape salad w/sour cream and cream cheese, potato salad (yep, mayo) and potato chips. There was only ice cream punch to drink  and then cookies, candy and cake with 3 inch thick buttercream frosting. Period. Nothing even remotely healthy or even passible and this was a 5 year olds party. I can't tell you how many restaurants around here have no healthy choices and fries come with everything - no other choice. All the mom and pop restaurants look at you like you have 3 heads when trying to order something without butter or oil and the lack of any light salad dressings makes me so very mad. Sweet tea is the norm not the exception and there is a general lack of concern for health around here. It drives me crazy. Of course I compensate by eating at home, bringing my own food and looking out for my health. Environment can be a major factor!

I live in Northwestern Ohio, and I see all sorts of varieties.  I used to travel a lot as well, and still saw the same varieties wherever I went.

While my city does have plenty of fresh markets, health food stores, and vegan/vegetarian restaurants, I still see people my size, if not bigger, chowin' down.

I go to a gothic night club weekly, and one thing I always did notice about it was either people are twigs, or they're blobs.  There's no "average body" in there, whereas at the indy club I go to, there's no fatties.  Everyone seems to have the "average body" we all thrive for.

I guess people notice things differently.

I've always wondered about this subject, I'm originally from Philadelphia but moved to San Diego because of the Navy and people are a lot skinnier out here, but I think people out here are more concerned about appearance here then some other places. My boyfriend is from Texas and he feels the same way. I think though if you want to eat fatty foods you'll find them, for some reason whenever I go home where we have cheesesteaks, hoagies and many other fatty foods, I lose weight, I guess my body prefers a cheesesteak over a carne asada burrito.

i recently moved to texas, i don't know if the whole state is like this or not but we have one health food store that is insanely overpriced, and about a hundred or more fast food places. Most of the people here are quite overweight or just plain obese, doesn't seem to be much of a middle ground- there are people that are either very thin (usually teens) or very big.

The place i lived in before was a small town with a high overweight population but seemed to have more healthy resources. One thing i've noticed with both is that whole suburban sprawl thing. It would be hard to walk anywhere daily b/c everything is so spread out, and in tx it's just waayyyy tooo hot this time of year.

I think everyone relying on their cars for transportation and being surrounded primarily by junk food = overweight/obese people

There's also a lack of sidewalk in these areas, so even if you do walk places you're at high risk of being hit by a car. When i was younger we lived in a medium-sized city. I rode my bike or walked everywhere. There were plenty of health food stores to choose from. I was a thin, healthy kid, without really having to try. Now to get and keep the weight off is a constant battle, something i have to be conscious of 24/7. Needless to say, i can't wait to get out of TX, or at least this part of it

I think the environment can definately play a role (though I try not to use it as an excuse!)  I'm living in Alabama... home of sweet tea and fried chicken and an endless number of casseroles.  I went to visit my extended family this weekend...  and definately blew my diet.  It's easy when I'm at home, and I can chose my food (although there is a lack of reasonably priced health food stores).  But when I was with my family, we had 5 different deserts on the table, coolers full of coke products, and more fried chicken than you could ever imagine.  It's sad though, the majority of my adult family members are overweight, and diabetes is a big problem in my family.   

And is it just me or does most every social event seem to revolve around food?  I love to get together with friends and family, but it gets hard when the get-togethers always have lots of good unhealthy food!  I need more willpower!

I live in London, UK where we are starting to get a big influx of healthier food outlets like whole foods market, fresh & wild etc. 

I used to live in a place called Hereford which is a small country town where there seemed to be lots and lots of 'average people' -not too fat, not really skinny.

Now I am in London though it seems as though there are fewer average people and lots of really obese or really skinny one's. I was average and then started sliding towards obese.. but going back in the right direction now.

 I think being around people who are at one extreme or the other definitely influences me. If I see someone who has an item of clothing the same as me..and it looks better on me it's definitely motivation to keep going! 

Yes i agree the enviroment does have an effect on our weight. The thing is the cost also has a big effect. Over the past couple of years the world seems to ahve become very health concious so a lot more of the healthy foods are being sold, the prices are also going up too.

Last year i remember buying a lettuce for 89p now to buy the same kind of lettuce from the same shop i pay £1.25. Prices for healthy foods are rising making it harder for people on low incomes to buy them. In some cases its a lot chaeper to buy junk food than it is to buy healthy food.

see, for me its not my town environment as it is my family environment. my highschool offers healthy food, which i gladly eat, and my town has a few diet friendly places, but its when i'm with my family that's the worst. i come from a real heavy italian family. you know, the kind that love mass amounts of pasta and oil and creamy sauces, and theres always room for bread and butter, not to mention desert. a lot has to do with how you're raised, and if most of your family is heavily overweight, and their lifestyle isn't exactly diet friendly, then i think that's even worse than maybe just living in an unhealthy town.