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After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

nytimes.com

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Re: After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

#161

Post by antisthenes »

cableshaft wrote: post #126

I really need to lose weight, my heaviness has started to lead to other health problems, but I find that whenever I try to eat significantly less, I have difficulty concentrating on heavy mental tasks (i.e. programming, my job). The constant feeling of hunger distracts me, or my mind just drifts, until I get some food in me again. I never see any of these articles even acknowledge this as an issue, either as if no on…

You should try eating smaller portions.

You will usually find that eating slower will satiate you with less food and over time you'll start eating less.

That being said, I have not experienced the same symptoms as a result of hunger - I find the feeling a minor annoyance at best, certainly much lower than other environmental factors that usually impede concentration (temperature, noise, lighting).

Certainly the individual responses to feeling of hunger vary from person to person.

Re: After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

#162

Post by Raphmedia »

IndianAstronaut wrote: post #34
varelse wrote: post #15

Extreme diligence seems to be the only way to fight this. If I stop exercising, the pounds pack on within weeks. If I insure I burn at least 3000 calories a day (usually much more), I can maintain my weight indefinitely. But I walk to work and I exercise for 1-2 hours daily. Most people cannot or will not do this. Add in the extreme carbohydrate and fat-laden diets most readily available to America and it's a perfect…

How do you manage the 1 to 2 hours of daily exercise with a programmer lifestyle(assuming you are a programmer)?

When I am done working at the office, I drive home and then walk to the nearest gym. That's about 30 minutes of walking. I then spend 30 minutes doing cardio and 1h00 doing weight lifting. I then walk back home. If it's a nice day out, I skip the initial 30 minutes of cardio and run to the gym instead. Listen to tech podcast while doing your workout.

Buy a crock-pot and precook your meals. They will be ready when you get back home.

Re: After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

#163

Post by monknomo »

VLM wrote: post #42
amelius wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intake of refined sugars. The amount of time spent sitting at a desk.

If you believe the internet memes, the desk was not invented until 1980. Ditto the car, the burbs, the commute... Pictures of my great grandpa's accounting firm open office compared to a typical 2016 open office from 1920 (yes I'm old, a sterotypical HN reader's G-Grampa would be in the 50s) are pretty enlightening WRT just how little of an effect the magical post-1980 desk has on obesity. Now what happened in the 80…

Could it be we all quit smoking in the 80's?

Re: After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

#164

Post by xlm1717 »

sageabilly wrote: post #106
wobbleblob wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe there's something different about the metabolism of people who manage to reach a weight of 450lbs in the first place. Without exercise and watching what you eat, almost everyone will gain weight, but most people never get anywhere close to the 300lbs+ range.

Maybe! I was 305 at my heaviest, but I was also a serious powerlifter and was at the gym 10-15 hours a week lifting, plus training for competitions. I often wonder if having that strength base made it easier, in some ways, to drop the weight than if I had been totally sedentary and had to start from zero with regards to exercising.

Having a lot of muscle will increase your base metabolic rate. Being a serious powerlifter, I imagine the increase due to muscle was significant (speaking just as someone who reads into this, not as a qualified professional!). Also, being a powerlifter, if you don't maintain the muscles, they would atrophy, taking a lot of weight with them.

Re: After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

#165

Post by zyxley »

varelse wrote: post #15

Extreme diligence seems to be the only way to fight this. If I stop exercising, the pounds pack on within weeks. If I insure I burn at least 3000 calories a day (usually much more), I can maintain my weight indefinitely. But I walk to work and I exercise for 1-2 hours daily. Most people cannot or will not do this. Add in the extreme carbohydrate and fat-laden diets most readily available to America and it's a perfect…

> If I insure I burn at least 3000 calories a day (usually much more), I can maintain my weight indefinitely.

If you're having to burn 3000 calories a day, you're eating too much. That energy has to come from somewhere. Have you tried calorie tracking?

Re: After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

#166

Post by vannevar »

hourislate wrote: post #121
varelse wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"As you age there is no amount of exercise that will allow you to maintain the amount you weigh in you 20's or 30's." This seems overly general and anecdotally total BS. I still eat what I like just like I did in my 20s/30s. It's just that what I like is generally lots of vegetables and sufficient protein, with occasional vices slipped in because YOLO(tm). That said, without the exercise, I gain about a pound per wee…

As you naturally age you will burn less calories. So as you continue to eat the same way and the same amount you will have to up your exercise to impossible limits. What needs to change is your diet. No sugars and lots of healthy fats. Here is an excerpt from the book I mentioned. Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It by Gary Taubes http://amzn.com/0307474259 >The authors were Paul Williams, a statistics expert at…

The math seems fishy here. Let's assume your young woman's base metabolism (without any extra exercise) is ~1500 calories a day. Running 5 miles a day burns 500 calories putting her at 2000 total. For her to maintain 2000/day while running 15 miles a day, her base metabolism would've had to drop 66% down to 500 calories a day. I simply don't believe that. Your metabolism might drop a few percentage points per year, but the drops will eventually tail off as your metabolism reaches its lower limits. You can't just linearly extrapolate the drop down to zero, as your examples imply.

Re: After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

#167

Post by xlm1717 »

alva wrote: post #139
xlm1717 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buying a blood glucose meter is not an expensive investment (provided you don't really need it, ie. don't have diabetes) and it will pay dividends in terms of health. With a meter and about 200 strips and lancets, you can determine a big list of foods that raise your blood glucose and foods that don't. I've been customizing my meals based on what my glucose meter tells me raises my blood glucose the least and I am lo…

This is the first time I have heard glucose meters being used specifically for weight loss, very interesting. If this is a safe and effective way to encourage weight loss, this could be a huge business opportunity.

I had actually read about it last year. In the study, they used continuous glucose monitoring rather than glucose meter to track the blood sugar response to different foods precisely. They found that different people had different blood glucose response to different foods. The study only tracked participants for 1-2 weeks, but they do speculate on using personalized interventions devised from glucose measurements to treat and prevent such conditions as obesity and prediabetes. I decided to try it for myself.

Link: http://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674%2815%2901481-6

Re: After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

#168

Post by ghshephard »

zyxley wrote: post #165
varelse wrote: post #15

Extreme diligence seems to be the only way to fight this. If I stop exercising, the pounds pack on within weeks. If I insure I burn at least 3000 calories a day (usually much more), I can maintain my weight indefinitely. But I walk to work and I exercise for 1-2 hours daily. Most people cannot or will not do this. Add in the extreme carbohydrate and fat-laden diets most readily available to America and it's a perfect…

> If I insure I burn at least 3000 calories a day (usually much more), I can maintain my weight indefinitely. If you're having to burn 3000 calories a day, you're eating too much. That energy has to come from somewhere . Have you tried calorie tracking?

All of my serious (recreational) bike rider friends eat a lot more than 3000 calories/day prepping for their weekend bike rides.

Re: After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

#169

Post by ghshephard »

hourislate wrote: post #70
varelse wrote: post #15

Extreme diligence seems to be the only way to fight this. If I stop exercising, the pounds pack on within weeks. If I insure I burn at least 3000 calories a day (usually much more), I can maintain my weight indefinitely. But I walk to work and I exercise for 1-2 hours daily. Most people cannot or will not do this. Add in the extreme carbohydrate and fat-laden diets most readily available to America and it's a perfect…

Exercise has nothing to do with weight loss. Caloric restriction also doesn't work without consuming the correct fats to satiate your appetite. As you age there is no amount of exercise that will allow you to maintain the amount you weigh in you 20's or 30's. It will all depend on your diet of the correct foods. I would suggest probably the best book ever written about why people get fat. Why We Get Fat: And What to…

For another perspective on this, see: http://anthonycolpo.com/stephan-guyenet-debunks-gary-taubes/

Re: After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

#170

Post by pessimizer »

VLM wrote: post #42
amelius wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intake of refined sugars. The amount of time spent sitting at a desk.

If you believe the internet memes, the desk was not invented until 1980. Ditto the car, the burbs, the commute... Pictures of my great grandpa's accounting firm open office compared to a typical 2016 open office from 1920 (yes I'm old, a sterotypical HN reader's G-Grampa would be in the 50s) are pretty enlightening WRT just how little of an effect the magical post-1980 desk has on obesity. Now what happened in the 80…

People didn't just start getting fat in the 80s. Where is that coming from?
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