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Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie

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Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie

#251

Post by jdminhbg »

argv_empty wrote: post #210
ghshephard wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Numerous studies (See the first chapter of "Why we get Fat, by Taubes) have shown that Obesity is a disease of poverty. The food that keeps you lean (protein/fats) is expensive. Carbs are cheap. Poor people eat carbs. Rich people eat steak, chicken, fish. There is no significant research that shows adding exercise to an overweight person's lifestyle will significantly reduce their weight - typically just increases th…

Poor people eat carbs. Poor people eat fast food. Good food is cheaper than McDonald's, but you have to be able to cook.

Fast food and carbs are equivalent: Potatoes, white flour, and sugar. The meat/vegetable content is negligible.

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie

#252

Post by scotty79 »

xiaoma wrote: post #145
scotty79 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't feel fit if you can run 5k but you struggle to move a fridge or feel strain while lifting up you kid or your woman.

Speak for yourself. I'm a bit more evolved than that sort of attitude.

I think feeling fit is about effortlessly dealing with physical things you usually have to deal with in your life.

"My car broke. No problem. I'll just run 5 miles to work." situation does not occur very often.

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie

#253

Post by keeptrying »

tjogin wrote: post #235
keeptrying wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would do chinups/pullups/pushups/dumbell-presses instead of bench press. If you have long arms then bench press can lead to shoulder injuries as you approach 1xBW if you dont do it right. Lots of great info at t-nation.com .

Of those, only the dumbbell presses are even an alternative to the bench press. Dumbbell presses are fine. But bench presses are better, and if you do them, you don't need to do dumbbell presses (but do, if you like them, I do too, as a complimentary exercise). Injuries are nothing to scoff at of course, and you should always make sure to not put on more weight than you can safely manage. Regardless of exercise metho…

I was trying to suggest other very useful exercises instead of bench presses.

You need to do pullups if you do benchpresses else you'll have a big chest and weak back muscles. This will pull your shoulders in. And which will eventually lead to injuries. Yo

In fact I've increased my bench by just working my back.

Lots of people only work the "mirror muscles" (ie ones you can see when you check yourself out in the mirror) and this leads to shoulder injuries.

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie

#254

Post by yummyfajitas »

btilly wrote: post #245
yummyfajitas wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If obesity is a disease of poverty, then how come truly poor people (e.g., the poor in India or China) are skinny? Lack of money for food is not a cause of obesity. If your goal is to obtain 2500 calories (assuming that is what you need to maintain a healthy weight) for a little money as possible, you will consume 2500 calories of carbs. You will not become obese. If you instead consume 3500 calories and become obese…

What you say is perfectly logical, but subtly flawed when it comes to the USA. If you're poor, odds are that you're eating fast food. The primary cost of fast food is not the cost of the raw ingredients, it is the time and effort to make the fast food. Furthermore many of the customers there see large portions as a value. Therefore fast food places have found it worth their while to offer large portions at a low pric…

A Big Mac has 540 calories, fries are 380. The cost difference between 2500 calories and 3420 calories is the cost of a Big Mac and fries. McD's portions are big, but they aren't 3500 calories big. This isn't about finishing your portions. It's about not ordering and eating an extra meal.

You might be right if the only meals available had 1750 calories. In that case, your only choices are 1 meal (underfed) or 2 meals (overfed). But that simply isn't the case.

It is easy to become fat in the US, rich or poor. The poor are more likely to take advantage of this, it is true. But it doesn't save them money.

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie

#255

Post by Cushman »

ilovecomputers wrote: post #234
Cushman wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who went from being pretty overweight to really fit simply by following a policy of eating no sugar or grains and as much deliciously fatty meat, eggs and cheese as I want, I have strong skepticism towards the conventional wisdom about "healthy" foods.

You only made a case against the lipid hypothesis, which Michael Pollan also criticized in his book, so you have fallen into his trap of eating healthy and didn't even know it.

Meh? I buy store-brand bacon, eggs, cheap beef, and Vermont cheddar. When I treat myself, it's to a $12/lb steak (on sale at $6). I mostly don't eat vegetables aside from the odd mixed-green salad when I'm in the mood. I don't buy mechanically separated and prepackaged meat only because it either tastes worse, or costs more.

I eat whatever's cheap and tasty, as much as I want, mostly meat— the literal antithesis of Pollan's catchphrase. If I've fallen into his trap, it's a very cunningly hidden one.

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie

#256

Post by yummyfajitas »

jdminhbg wrote: post #250
yummyfajitas wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If obesity is a disease of poverty, then how come truly poor people (e.g., the poor in India or China) are skinny? Lack of money for food is not a cause of obesity. If your goal is to obtain 2500 calories (assuming that is what you need to maintain a healthy weight) for a little money as possible, you will consume 2500 calories of carbs. You will not become obese. If you instead consume 3500 calories and become obese…

">>There is no significant research that shows adding exercise to an overweight person's lifestyle will significantly reduce their weight - typically just increases their appetite. >Increasing exercise and holding consumption constant will reduce body fat." I'm not sure you read the sentence you're responding to: "typically just increases their appetite." Yes, if you lock a person in a room with the exact same meals…

I'm not sure you read the sentence you're responding to: "typically just increases their appetite."

If you add exercise to a person's lifestyle without adding calories, they will lose weight. It's that simple. There is research to show this. I cited some of it.

your discovery of his 'incredible dishonesty' doesn't pass the smell test -- surely someone eating 7.5 extra strips of bacon per day would notice?

Go read Gary Taube's blog post. He spends thousands of words discussing that, according to the traditional calorie counting theory (which he is attempting to refute), the difference between a fat person and a thin person is "only" 20 calories above their respective maintenance levels. He then argues this must be absurd and incorrect, because how can "only a cube of sugar in your coffee" make you fat. This is an attempt at reducto ad absurdum.

He never, in his entire blog post, mentions the fact that the fat person is also eating 7 extra strips of bacon each day. If you read his article without being extremely careful, you will come away with the impression that the only thing the fat person eats that the thin person doesn't is an extra morsel of food each day.

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie

#257

Post by barista »

Dylanlacey wrote: post #29
barista wrote: post #3

That's right because us hackers really care about fitness

Because I can't downvote you, I'll comment. We do. A lot. Because we're not sitting in our parent's basements eating pizza and chugging mountain dew, we're not hacking the gibson and we're not sweaty, unbathed, pimply losers. We're motivated, we're not planning to die anytime soon, we're concerned with being able to do things, we're social, we're active and we're sick of the stereotypes. I'm going to make a massive a…

Thanks for bashing me for making assumptions and making a lot of assumtions about me.

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie

#259

Post by billswift »

oostevo wrote: post #241
jerf wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every time there's an article on exercise or diet, there's a pileon of people promoting their own beliefs, with no apparent sign that they read the original link. How do you address the fact that your point is actively contradicted by the article? Did you even know your point is actively contradicted by the article? I'm not even saying that proves you're wrong; what bothers me is that you just ran off to post your ow…

I don't think the two are _necessarily_ contradictory. The article says, essentially, that a basic strength and conditioning program is the way to go. The GP says that picking a sport that makes you fit is the way. To add another opinion, that ties the two together, to the mix: think of the fittest people you know. To a person, they're probably obsessed with their chosen sport (which may be soccer, or bodybuilding, o…

Counting on your regular activities and sports to keep you fit is likely to result in eventual injury. It does not provide any reserve strength to ward off various strains and stresses. No matter what else you do, a weight training program is very helpful. especially as you get older and need more consistent exercise to keep your strength and endurance from deteriorating. Note that preventing injuries when you are younger will also be a great help as you get older.

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie

#260

Post by jquery »

georgieporgie wrote: post #28

I have one bit of specialized weight training advice. We all spend entirely too much time in front of our computers, typically hunched or slouched back, deep in thought. Ten years of doing this professionally led to shoulder/neck problems, culminating in a pinched nerve between my C6 and C7 vertebrae. It improved with physical therapy, but was never truly fixed, and has bothered me off and on for two years now, despi…

Get a stand up desk, or failing that create a makeshift one with cardboard boxes. I started doing that 9 months ago. Now all my back problems are gone. 10% of my company,or roughly 20 people, have since happily switched.
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