In the first experiment, customers visiting Walmart were asked to volunteer for a project—each was asked to state how far away a cone was that had been placed on a sidewalk outside—the actual distance was 25 meters away—but the researchers found that overweight people tended to think it was farther away than it really was—overshooting by up to five meters. Interestingly, those who were slimmer than average tended to underestimate, thinking it was up to 15 meters closer than it actually was.Okay, now this is a good experiment. I like it.
The researchers suggest these results show that as people gain weight, they begin to perceive the world differently—as an example, they note that a person hiking with a heavy backpack tends to start seeing hills as farther away, higher and more difficult to reach than a person without a pack.
Such experiments show, the researchers suggest, that perception changes are a fixed result of weight gain—people can't stop it from happening even if they want to do so. That means, they suggest, that weight loss programs need to take such perceptions into consideration if they are to work, such as having participants wear goggles that make things look closer, or avoiding walking where there are hills.
But the conclusion made here is a little lacking. They seem to believe that this is merely a matter of weight, that adding weight makes you judge distance differently.
That is not really what's going on.
We have much less energy production in our cells than other people. Everything about obesity- orexin deficiency and insulin resistance and leptin overload and mitochondrial dysfunction LOWERS your basal energy levels.
And when your brain does the math to go a distance, it calculates that task based on the amount of energy you will need to succeed.
So that seems like a lot more work to us.
Because it frakking IS.
(And don't forget the impaired cognition and lowered motivation due to dopamine deficiency.)
It is twice as much work for us to get half as much done.
That is the opposite of lazy.
