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What's the ultimate way to defy depression, disease and early death? Exercise

theguardian.com

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Re: What's the ultimate way to defy depression, disease and early death? Exercise

#61

Post by Boothroid »

throwaway0255 wrote: post #38
jcousins wrote: post #16

I reversed diabetes with diet alone by doing my own research[1], taking charge of my health. I lost 180lbs in the process. No exercise (disabled). Very much a work in progress. I'm not rejecting the importance of exercise for health - I follow the general principal of eating to get healthy, exercising to get fit - but I think we skip over the absolute tragedy that is the Standard American Diet at our peril. Recoverin…

I'm on the same track as you, I've lost about 80lbs so far and I've done zero exercise. I've found that when I tell people this, they worry about my health even more than they did when I was 80lbs heavier. It's bizarre. Never mind the fact that my blood pressure is now a pristine 110 over 70, all my pre-diabetic symptoms have disappeared, my sleep apnea is cured, my gastroesophageal reflux disease is completely gone,…

Lifting weights is different - the muscle consumes calories just being there. Also call me a masochist, but I love lifting weights - its a physical rush, a challenge, allows me to work off frustrations, and like Arnie I enjoy feeling pumped. I can get in and out of the gym within an hour having hammered my muscles plenty. Do that 3 or 4 times a week and you'll keep yourself strong and young into old age. You should only get aches and pains if you are doing something wrong or have an underlying health issue - and even if you do, doctors still almost always recommend weight bearing exercise.

Re: What's the ultimate way to defy depression, disease and early death? Exercise

#62

Post by uoaei »

jcousins wrote: post #16

I reversed diabetes with diet alone by doing my own research[1], taking charge of my health. I lost 180lbs in the process. No exercise (disabled). Very much a work in progress. I'm not rejecting the importance of exercise for health - I follow the general principal of eating to get healthy, exercising to get fit - but I think we skip over the absolute tragedy that is the Standard American Diet at our peril. Recoverin…

The typical refrain that I hear for weight loss/getting back to a healthy balance is "80% diet, 20% exercise" and that the exercise is more to raise your basal metabolic rate up a little so maintenance requires more calories, and thus eating at a deficit has a greater effect. I think the same thing is achieved with even mild physical activity and a solid, well-rounded diet.

Re: What's the ultimate way to defy depression, disease and early death? Exercise

#63

Post by szemet »

throwaway0255 wrote: post #59
sonthonax wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An hour of intense exercise will burn roughly a thousand calories.

> People have a tendency to dramatically overestimate the calories they're burning

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=male+80+kg+1+hour+runn... = 1050 calories

Re: What's the ultimate way to defy depression, disease and early death? Exercise

#64

Post by pjc50 »

Just to avoid confusion, not all clinical depression is fully treatable by exercise; I've known several people who were severely depressed while also being non-car-owning regular cyclists.

Sometimes antidepressants are required. Sometimes therapy is required. Please avoid turning this into "why don't you just exercise".

Re: What's the ultimate way to defy depression, disease and early death? Exercise

#65

Post by throwaway0255 »

dyarosla wrote: post #43
throwaway0255 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm on the same track as you, I've lost about 80lbs so far and I've done zero exercise. I've found that when I tell people this, they worry about my health even more than they did when I was 80lbs heavier. It's bizarre. Never mind the fact that my blood pressure is now a pristine 110 over 70, all my pre-diabetic symptoms have disappeared, my sleep apnea is cured, my gastroesophageal reflux disease is completely gone,…

Just wanted to point out- 350 cal/hour is inaccurately low for even light exercise, and exceptionally low if you are overweight. Properly doing exercise and keeping at it won't result in joint pains or aches, and may also uplift your mood due to endorphins+more. IMO your reasoning for avoiding exercise should be revisited.

It's not inaccurately low at all. You're basing your estimate on perfect/ideal scenarios, I'm basing it on the kind of thing the average overweight person trying to lose weight does when they spend an hour in a gym. They walk on a treadmill or they do more intense things with a lot of breaks in between.

Also, there is no proper form of exercise for an obese person that won't cause pains or aches, it doesn't exist. We might just be coming from different backgrounds and talking about different body types here.

Re: What's the ultimate way to defy depression, disease and early death? Exercise

#66

Post by lisper »

jcousins wrote: post #16

I reversed diabetes with diet alone by doing my own research[1], taking charge of my health. I lost 180lbs in the process. No exercise (disabled). Very much a work in progress. I'm not rejecting the importance of exercise for health - I follow the general principal of eating to get healthy, exercising to get fit - but I think we skip over the absolute tragedy that is the Standard American Diet at our peril. Recoverin…

So what exactly are you eating now vs before?

Re: What's the ultimate way to defy depression, disease and early death? Exercise

#67

Post by throwaway0255 »

szemet wrote: post #63
throwaway0255 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People have a tendency to dramatically overestimate the calories they're burning

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=male+80+kg+1+hour+runn... = 1050 calories

15 years of being very overweight and trying to lose weight through exercise = 1050 calories/hour only if I exercise at a level of intensity that risks injury and causes me to be practically bedridden for a week even without injury.

Your calculation is for a person who weighs 80kg, which is someone who doesn't need to lose any weight. People who have a lot of weight to lose aren't capable of running for an hour.

Re: What's the ultimate way to defy depression, disease and early death? Exercise

#68

Post by zaptheimpaler »

throwaway0255 wrote: post #38
jcousins wrote: post #16

I reversed diabetes with diet alone by doing my own research[1], taking charge of my health. I lost 180lbs in the process. No exercise (disabled). Very much a work in progress. I'm not rejecting the importance of exercise for health - I follow the general principal of eating to get healthy, exercising to get fit - but I think we skip over the absolute tragedy that is the Standard American Diet at our peril. Recoverin…

I'm on the same track as you, I've lost about 80lbs so far and I've done zero exercise. I've found that when I tell people this, they worry about my health even more than they did when I was 80lbs heavier. It's bizarre. Never mind the fact that my blood pressure is now a pristine 110 over 70, all my pre-diabetic symptoms have disappeared, my sleep apnea is cured, my gastroesophageal reflux disease is completely gone,…

Exercise increases your metabolic rate so you burn much more calories throughout the day, its not just the number on your treadmill.

I still agree with your main point though, that weight loss is mostly about diet. Just saying questions about fitness and nutrition are incredibly nuanced because the body is a complex system.

Re: What's the ultimate way to defy depression, disease and early death? Exercise

#69

Post by xj9 »

pjc50 wrote: post #64

Just to avoid confusion, not all clinical depression is fully treatable by exercise; I've known several people who were severely depressed while also being non-car-owning regular cyclists. Sometimes antidepressants are required. Sometimes therapy is required. Please avoid turning this into "why don't you just exercise".

"why don't you exercise?" is always a valid question tho; unless you are physically incapable of doing so, you should, and you're unquestionably damaging your health if you don't.

Re: What's the ultimate way to defy depression, disease and early death? Exercise

#70

Post by prestonbriggs »

randallsquared wrote: post #49
jasonwelk wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> An hour spent being extremely bored and uncomfortable In the beginning, this is often true. But exercise is addictive! When your body gets used to it, you really want it and it is not uncomfortable. That "runners high" is also not a myth.

I'm willing to grant that this must be true for some people. However, I don't think it's true for everyone, or maybe even most people. In the early 90s I was in the US Army for a couple years, and exercise never got better: it was always a struggle: boring, painful, and stressful. I suppose one good thing about it was that it was very rare that anything worse happened to me later in the day... :) Looking around at th…

Yeah, well, the Army can make anything boring, painful, and stressful.
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