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You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

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261–270 of 501 posts

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regardless of health, being overweight doesn't make someone a bad person.

I'm not sure about that. Being overweight is selfish and wasteful in a world where many people don't have enough food to eat.

Eating less candy isn't going to feed anyone in impoverished countries.

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#262

While correct and useful advice for some people, this advice is useless for many (I suspect most) overweight and obese people. I'm on the border of overweight/obese. I can lose weight if I focus on losing weight. I've dropped from 100kg to 74kg and back. I've gone back down to 91kg and back. How? Eating less, of course. By counting calories. But here is the problem. Anything below 95kg and my body and mind is hyper a…

Try to take a period of reprograming, where you just stick with it. Also consider a detox. Get all the garbage you don't want to eat out of the house, and insist on not buying it. Whenever you get a craving, just go drink water instead. Lastly, consider carnivore or alternate day fasting. You can get there, if you want to.

> Try to take a period of reprograming, where you just stick with it.

While I'm sure you mean well, but "just try harder for longer" isn't new advice and certainly not good advice. All evidence we have is that you are entirely unlikely to stick it through. Dopamine is the most powerful mechanism in our existence.

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#263
post #73

I weigh 350 pounds. I'm very obese. I know this. When I was a teenager, I looked at people who weighed 300+ pounds and though, how do you get that way. Don't you realize that you are gaining weight? Don't you know that you just have to eat less to lose weight? Anyway, now I realize that I am hungry. It never goes away unless I eat a significant amount of food. My body told me to eat, so I ate. It doesn't even take th…

This. It is the annoying, aggravating, all consuming hunger that is the cause, not a misunderstanding about how many calories are in what foods. I would have thought by now science would have a drug to modulate abnormal levels of hunger, but we still don't have one. And we don't know what causes them.

Amphetamines are that drug, but the side effects are awful.

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#265
post #225
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my roommates tried everything, including good hard exercise and all sorts of diets. Nothing seemed to be working. It was kind of perplexing me, actually. Then we started working the same schedule, breakfast together. The whole thing unravelled with a casual comment he made. "Wow, you're really stingy with the sugar in your coffee." Except I wasn't. I was actually indulging myself, like two tablespoons. Show me…

Story time! I used to drink my coffee with sugar. Next to the coffee machine at my office there was this big box of sugar sticks, I took one with every cup. One day, we ran out of sugar sticks, the box was empty. I asked around in the office if anyone knew where we keep the boxes of sugar, everybody answered that they didn't know, because they didn't take sugar in their coffee. If found I was the only one in the enti…

Similar story, but with tea. I used to dump sugar into it but eventually I just stopped. Now I have plain black tea every morning. I really can’t stand drinking it with sugar now.

I also ditched soda (except for an occasional mixed drink) and when I want something cold and fizzy I pour a can of seltzer water with lime, orange, cherry, etc. It’s a game changer if you can kick the sugar habits.

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#266
post #189
post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lost several pounds by replacing high fructose based creamer with a little honey.

No you didn't, unless the quantities were very different. Honey is basically nature's high-fructose syrup.

Interesting. Well, more importantly to me the crash is almost nonexistant compared to the creamer. There might be a quantity difference, too.

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#267
post #73

I weigh 350 pounds. I'm very obese. I know this. When I was a teenager, I looked at people who weighed 300+ pounds and though, how do you get that way. Don't you realize that you are gaining weight? Don't you know that you just have to eat less to lose weight? Anyway, now I realize that I am hungry. It never goes away unless I eat a significant amount of food. My body told me to eat, so I ate. It doesn't even take th…

I know that weight loss happens differently for different people, so read this or ignore this. Hopefully you haven't heard this exact take before, but with the number of people who dump advice on you when they think you're unhappy with your weight, you probably have at some point.

Keto has consistently been the most effective way for me to lose weight. More important than the actual diet though, was that it became clear to me that there was a difference between, "Hey, you were supposed to eat by now." hungry and "OK, I'm a bit dizzy and forgetful and need to get something in my stomach." Just knowing that there were two completely different hunger signals made losing weight a lot easier. I ignore the one that generally occurs at set times or after a certain period of time since the last meal and make sure I have something on hand to straighten things out if my blood sugar needs some support.

For me, cutting out carbs and maintaining a reasonable calorie deficit works wonders. My mom can't sustain a keto diet very long and does super well counting calories. I've had friends in the past who maintained a healthy weight eating small, carby meals frequently in addition to exercise.

The actual combo of diet and exercise is very dependent on the individual, but I feel that knowing the difference between "hungry" and "need to get calories in to function" is a big advantage, however you get to that point.

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#268
post #73

I weigh 350 pounds. I'm very obese. I know this. When I was a teenager, I looked at people who weighed 300+ pounds and though, how do you get that way. Don't you realize that you are gaining weight? Don't you know that you just have to eat less to lose weight? Anyway, now I realize that I am hungry. It never goes away unless I eat a significant amount of food. My body told me to eat, so I ate. It doesn't even take th…

Next time you are hungry: take a hot bath with epson salts, while you read aloud. After your body is warmed up, do 30 minutes yoga. Followed by 10 minute guided meditation. Boho Beutiful has a Youtube channel where you can find Yoga/meditation vides. This routine will improve focus and mental clarity and help with the cravings while also being great for stretch. Can do it in the morning or at night, or even repeat it through the day instead of sitting at the computer.

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#269

While correct and useful advice for some people, this advice is useless for many (I suspect most) overweight and obese people. I'm on the border of overweight/obese. I can lose weight if I focus on losing weight. I've dropped from 100kg to 74kg and back. I've gone back down to 91kg and back. How? Eating less, of course. By counting calories. But here is the problem. Anything below 95kg and my body and mind is hyper a…

Try to take a period of reprograming, where you just stick with it. Also consider a detox. Get all the garbage you don't want to eat out of the house, and insist on not buying it. Whenever you get a craving, just go drink water instead. Lastly, consider carnivore or alternate day fasting. You can get there, if you want to.

They said they lost 25kg and your response is "it would have worked if you had kept at it for longer"?

Your view is contradicted by the scientific evidence.

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#270
post #73

I weigh 350 pounds. I'm very obese. I know this. When I was a teenager, I looked at people who weighed 300+ pounds and though, how do you get that way. Don't you realize that you are gaining weight? Don't you know that you just have to eat less to lose weight? Anyway, now I realize that I am hungry. It never goes away unless I eat a significant amount of food. My body told me to eat, so I ate. It doesn't even take th…

Your body craves carbohydrates, it's like an addiction. Overcoming that addition is all about training your willpower and delayed gratification. It's the same as smoking. Strong willed people can stop smoking in a heartbeat. Weak minded people cannot, their minds are simply too weak to resist smoking and they need it every 2 hours. Same with eating. Next time you feel that hunger feeling, out of spite just don't eat…

I don't think this willpower explanation quite fits the facts.

I can delay gratification. I can quit coffee cold turkey no problem. I skip breakfast to increase my fasting period. I don't need TV or Internet, I'd rather work on my lifestyle property. I almost never take pain pills, I see myself as stoic, I can do long duration exercise.

I can count calories and force my weight down from 100kg to 74kg by sheer willpower and focus on the issue.

And yet I can't effectively keep the weight off. Because the hunger is 24x7, and my ability to focus on the issue isn't 24x7... I have other things to do in life.

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