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Weight Loss Is Harder Than Rocket Science

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Re: Weight Loss Is Harder Than Rocket Science

#21

Post by AmericanChopper »

alfonsodev wrote: post #5
falcolas wrote: post #2

A preview of coming attractions in this thread: - Weight loss isn't hard, just eat fewer calories than you burn. - Keto will obviously make you lose weight! - I lost N lbs by meditation and intermittent fasting! - Being hungry sucks. - Anybody can do it, this one trainer put on 100 lbs, and then took it all off again! - Being fat is just another sign that you're lazy. - It's sugar's fault! (Alternatively: It's artifi…

I’ll contribute with another classic remark ”muscle weights more than fat, you should burn fat not lose weight”

Is this supposed to be controversial? It’s very easy for people to trick themselves by not accounting for that if all they’re tracking is weight. Either through losing muscle mass and thinking they’re losing fat, or more commonly through gaining muscle mass and thinking their exercise effort isn’t working.

Re: Weight Loss Is Harder Than Rocket Science

#22

Post by taeric »

patrickaljord wrote: post #13
falcolas wrote: post #2

A preview of coming attractions in this thread: - Weight loss isn't hard, just eat fewer calories than you burn. - Keto will obviously make you lose weight! - I lost N lbs by meditation and intermittent fasting! - Being hungry sucks. - Anybody can do it, this one trainer put on 100 lbs, and then took it all off again! - Being fat is just another sign that you're lazy. - It's sugar's fault! (Alternatively: It's artifi…

Ok, I'll start too. I've lost 10kg recently and it's true that the most important factor is calorie deficit. I've been doing keto for the most part, but even on my cheat days when I ate more carbs than I should I was still losing weight as long as I had a calorie deficit. I find keto easier for me because fat helps with satiety but if you get satiety with just low fat high carb more power to you. And yes, no matter t…

I also managed to lose about that much.

Wasn't as hard as I imagined it would be. Hardest part, by far, war not going somewhere I could see the other foods I used to eat. Basically, marketing works. Really well. So find ways to avoid it.

No, that isn't easy. Just I am at a weight I never thought I would be again. It is doable.

Re: Weight Loss Is Harder Than Rocket Science

#23

Post by k__ »

It's simple in theory: Eat less than you need.

But the problems that can arise are manifold.

I don't know if there really is a maximum of calories your body can use per day, but I read the number of 65000 kcal once.

This means, a "cheat day" or simply loosing control one day a week, can destroy all your progress.

A calorie delta that is too high can easily lead to such losses of control, especially if you are easily stressed.h

So you try to get a delta of around 500kcal a day, maybe 1000kcal if you can handle this. But how do you know what you're using a day? There are many methods to find out and they can be off more than 500kcal, so it could very well be that your actual delta is much higher or lower than you think. So you're either making really slow progress or can't keep it up for the months you'd need to.

Re: Weight Loss Is Harder Than Rocket Science

#24

Post by rorykoehler »

falcolas wrote: post #14
xxs wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not reddit, though...

I honestly wish that these kinds of remarks were limited to reddit. They’re not. Folks even here can get in ridiculous religious wars about weight management and dieting. My own post is a bit cheeky to make fun of it, but if I can deter the flames a bit early on, I’ll take the potential hit. EDIT: The real question is why is it such a religious war? I believe, perhaps incorrectly, that people put a lot of value on th…

Your post reads like "these are all the things recommended that I haven't tried but I'm going to shit on them anyways because I think I'll be hungry all the time". As your conclusion is way off the mark which invalidates the rest of your post. Even if you cut sugar and sweeteners and didn't lose weight you'd still notice a marked health improvement. Processed food western diet is absolutely terrible for your health.

Re: Weight Loss Is Harder Than Rocket Science

#25

Post by falcolas »

eska wrote: post #19
falcolas wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly wish that these kinds of remarks were limited to reddit. They’re not. Folks even here can get in ridiculous religious wars about weight management and dieting. My own post is a bit cheeky to make fun of it, but if I can deter the flames a bit early on, I’ll take the potential hit. EDIT: The real question is why is it such a religious war? I believe, perhaps incorrectly, that people put a lot of value on th…

You're not really contributing to a better discussion environment with your attitude. How about you post rebuttals instead of a snide remark?

Because rebuttals will do nothing. From my past experience here offering rebuttals and considerate arguments, this definitely falls in the category of “rejecting that which doesn’t fit their world view”.

Someone convinced of Keto’s efficacy will not believe you when you say “I tried that, I gained weight”. Instead, you’re just not doing it right.

Someone convinced of the effacy of fasting won’t believe a claim of “I stayed the same weight”. Instead, you “must be lying”.

Someone convinced you’re just lazy will call it all excuses.

It’s just not worth the effort. Even here.

Re: Weight Loss Is Harder Than Rocket Science

#26

Post by fian »

If you are interested in a simple primer on the chemistry and biochemistry of weight loss, check out this episode of ABC (Australia) Catalyst:

https://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/where-does-fat-go/11015048

The overall balanced equation is quite simple, showing fat molecules convert to CO2 and H2O. It shows quite clearly that you have to breathe oxygen in and carbon dioxide out in order to lose weight. I guess this is why high intensity exercise or endurance exercise aid in weight loss - in both cases you are elevating your breathing while at the same time exhausting your muscle glycogen stores.

Re: Weight Loss Is Harder Than Rocket Science

#27

Post by andrwm »

I didn't find that this article stated much that was worthy of discussion, but here are some random thoughts on the general topic:

A large number of our decisions are based on maximizing convenience while moderating cost. Foods, especially convenient foods, are engineered to sell and addict. It’s hard to maintain a healthy weight and body composition in a modern world without some effort. I also think that the body is particularly good at resisting change. It appears that if you’ve been overweight for a while, the difficultly of losing extra weight increases dramatically. And the toll on your health over time in terms of probability of disease is real.

I have never been particularly overweight, but I am aware of what I eat, and I do weigh myself on a regular basis to ensure I stay within a somewhat arbitrary range. The exercise part of the equation is easy for me to fulfill because I naturally enjoy exercise, though some injuries have tested my ability to stay active at times.

Preventing excessive weight gain is very important to long-term health.

Re: Weight Loss Is Harder Than Rocket Science

#28

Post by [deleted] »

rorykoehler wrote: post #24
falcolas wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly wish that these kinds of remarks were limited to reddit. They’re not. Folks even here can get in ridiculous religious wars about weight management and dieting. My own post is a bit cheeky to make fun of it, but if I can deter the flames a bit early on, I’ll take the potential hit. EDIT: The real question is why is it such a religious war? I believe, perhaps incorrectly, that people put a lot of value on th…

Your post reads like "these are all the things recommended that I haven't tried but I'm going to shit on them anyways because I think I'll be hungry all the time". As your conclusion is way off the mark which invalidates the rest of your post. Even if you cut sugar and sweeteners and didn't lose weight you'd still notice a marked health improvement. Processed food western diet is absolutely terrible for your health.

[deleted]

Re: Weight Loss Is Harder Than Rocket Science

#29

Post by AmericanChopper »

falcolas wrote: post #2

A preview of coming attractions in this thread: - Weight loss isn't hard, just eat fewer calories than you burn. - Keto will obviously make you lose weight! - I lost N lbs by meditation and intermittent fasting! - Being hungry sucks. - Anybody can do it, this one trainer put on 100 lbs, and then took it all off again! - Being fat is just another sign that you're lazy. - It's sugar's fault! (Alternatively: It's artifi…

Weight loss might be hard, but it absolutely is not complicated. Perhaps the metabolic processes are, but it does really boil down to calories in/calories out, and absolutely no amount of contrivance can change that.

Life is also typically full of adversity and hardship, and managing weight is a hardship that all people share, regardless of their status. Perhaps “lazy” is a bit reductive, and everybody’s circumstance are different, but if somebody is overweight, the solution is simply to put in the effort that somebody who is not overweight puts in every day.

Re: Weight Loss Is Harder Than Rocket Science

#30

Post by alfonsodev »

AmericanChopper wrote: post #21
alfonsodev wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ll contribute with another classic remark ”muscle weights more than fat, you should burn fat not lose weight”

Is this supposed to be controversial? It’s very easy for people to trick themselves by not accounting for that if all they’re tracking is weight. Either through losing muscle mass and thinking they’re losing fat, or more commonly through gaining muscle mass and thinking their exercise effort isn’t working.

It wasn’t meant to be controversial, It’s one of the few things that are very easy to prove right, I mentioned it as a frequent comment so that it would be predictable that someone would pick up on the title saying “weight loss is harder than” should be “burning fat is harder than...” assuming we are playing to predict picky comments.
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