I 100% assumed this was from the onion instance

There’s actually a phenomenon where Americans move abroad, and suddenly start losing a ton of weight. Not because they consciously changed their eating habits, but simply because the food that is available in the foreign stores and restaurants is healthier.

American grocery stores tend to prioritize convenience and unhealthy foods. You have to really search to find anything that is worthwhile, even when the store is packed full of food. There’s a ton of variety in American grocery stores, (Europeans are always baffled by the entire aisle dedicated to breakfast cereals), but basically none of it is healthy. So Americans naturally end up buying lots of unhealthy shit, simply because it’s all they realistically have access to.

But then that gets flipped on its head when those Americans move abroad. Suddenly, the stores they’re shopping at aren’t full of junk. And so they naturally start losing lots of weight. Many Europeans assume that Americans are simply complacent with their weight, but the reality is that the entire infrastructure surrounding them is singularly focused on keeping them fat.

Everything you mentioned, PLUS:

• Increase in stress, leading to "grazing" eating
• increase in corn subsidizes that make HFCS cheaper to add than honey or even sugar
• the campaign against Fat as a flavor enhancer, which pushes companies towards sugar in the first place. Fat, for the most part, passes through you whereas sugar is metabolized
• decrease in walkable cities, or even walking trails. Combined with people having less time to use them.
• unfettered algorithm that prioritizes engagement to keep people in front of their screens, this less physically active

The list goes on.

The single most important thing everyone can do is take a walk. I make sure I do this rain or shine, even if it's down the block and back.

GLP-1 and other "weight lost methods" gain popularity in the US due to our population's proclivity of saying "I want x, but I don't want to change anything about me." In other words, "I want to lose weight but don't want to change my lifestyle."

Study after study has shown that slow, gradual, and intentional weight loss is healthier and will last longer than any fad, drug, or food plan.

Not only will your body naturally learn what it means to eat and be healthy, you'll actually feel better too.

I've noticed first hand the impact of environmental factors.

I moved from a place where I needed the car for EVERYTHING. This include taking off the garbage. Even going for a walk wasn't possible without taking the car first.

Most of the food I was eating was imported (mainly from the US). I was able to find few local fruits and vegetable but choices are quite limited and the supply erratic.

Then I moved back to France, I now live in a small village where everything is available at a walking or biking distance. School, work, small grocery shop, bakery, doctor, pharmacy, coworking space, kids activity. I'm might be using the car once a week now.

There is plenty of farmers in the area with local produces and even supermarkets have a wide selection of decent fruits and vegetables but I prefer the local producers as I can.

I stopped working out, I have not purposely changed my eating habits but without any surprise I am in a much, much better physical shape now.

Just eat less? Golly, why didn't I think of that? So simple!

I've always been baffled by how people keep their weight off so easily. I live in a walkable city, love walking, walk everywhere as my primary means of transport, and frequently take 3-5km leisure walks multiple times a week. Yet I only ever seem to gain weight, it's beyond maddening. My meals are nothing outrageous either

Of course, my weight is the first thing my doctor points out every time like I'm not keenly aware of how much my body hates me...

"pEOple WeRe jUsT mORe ActiVe iN thE PasT"

I call bullshit. Like sure, in the early 1900's and before, people were more active. But in the 60's, 70's, and 80's? We had cars. People still used them a lot instead of walking. People still chose to sit and watch TV, or read, or listen to music. People still worked in offices and spent the majority of their day sitting. The average number of steps between a person back then and today is really not that different. Maybe a bit higher, but no where even fucking close to explaining the obesity epidemic.

Claims that the extreme increase in obesity is simply due to increased sedentary lifestyle just fucking reeks of lobbied attempts to shift the blame from the real problem.

It's the food, stupid. High-volume processed bullshit with low-cost additives and filler ingredients SWARMED the shelves and replaced nearly every good product with unhealthy convenience with a longer shelf-life. Our portion sizes didn't even change that much, it's just the quality of what we're eating has dropped tremendously.

You can't even fully escape it by trying to only buy fresh food. Modern fruits and vegetables have been bred to be full of sugars and starches. Raw chicken is pumped full of salt and preservatives, sometimes making up more than 30% of its weight.

They are poisoning people and then blaming them for the consequences.