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

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

#331

Post by DoreenMichele »

retrac wrote: post #60
lr4444lr wrote: post #8

Someone finally wrote this article. So refreshing. It's obvious when you live with a fat person why they have trouble losing weight, even when they're on a diet: they're usually not actually following it. Whether they don't understand portion sizes for calorie math, or look at calories at all, or eat things that they say "do not count", there is almost always a failure to understand what and how much they are eating.

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…

Similarly, I've heard of people giving up sugary colas that they used to drink multiple times per day at work and losing scads of weight while making no other changes.

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

#332

Post by siliconc0w »

I've lost a lot of weight before and obese -> overweight was relatively straightforward but I find getting from overweight to 'normal' weight a challenge. I've done it before with pretty austere fasting (many multi-day water fasts) but to loose some pandemic pounds I'm trying a more conventional wegightlifting+cardio+deficit to try and preserve more muscle. Even with a fitbit reporting I'm burning 3200+ calories a day and running a supposed 1-2lb/week deficit and I'm still pretty much plateauing. I'm at like 40%p/35%c/25f% macro split - higher protein is at least good for satiety.

This article tries to dismiss metabolism but I think it's actually a hugely important factor. Your body is a magical machine that has a huge capability to adjust energy spend so you need to extract the most fat-burn out of each % deficit as possible. So optimally have to start at a 'bulking' surplus for a few weeks and then slowly nudge the nose down until you plateau and only then nudge further. If you just immediately go to -2lb a week or whatever you lose initially but after a few weeks invariably adapt and then you're kinda screwed, going further starts to get pretty bleak.

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

#333

Post by Beltalowda »

samsa wrote: post #146
thepasswordis wrote: post #72

Keto diets are both safe and effective. I have yet to meet somebody following one who didn't lose weight. I feel like this topic is basically resolved. Stop eating carbs.

So are vegan diets. (By which I mean: whole food, plant based.) But you don't need to pick a team with all the tribalism that's involved. It really is as simple as eating less, like the article lays out. And eating less is much easier if the foods you are eating are fiber rich (more filling).

> But you don't need to pick a team with all the tribalism that's involved.

Sometimes labels are just easier than a "wishy-washy" "yeah I'll do something in that general direction". That doesn't need to involve tribalism; pretty much all vegan and keto people I know are fairly pragmatic about it.

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

#334

Post by stevebmark »

louhike wrote: post #314
stevebmark wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counting calories may not be correct and useful advice for most people. It ignores what the calories do in your body. As an absurd example, sand is very calorically dense, and you'll lose a lot of weight and then die if it's all you eat. Telling people they "eat too much" is usually ineffective, it just makes people feel bad that they can't tolerate hunger. Ketosis will work (it's very low carb, not zero carb). You (…

Ketosis can really mess your health though. My dad had serious problems after trying it, so be really wary if you want to try it.

I've done ketosis for 5 years, and now on and off for 2 years later. I had a full blood lipid panel done and it went well.

Volek and Phinney have good literature for learning more. What problems did your dad encounter?

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

#335

Post by lovich »

daenz wrote: post #158
csours wrote: 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…

Thanks for sharing. Here's my perspective as a lean person who has no problems literally starving themselves to do other things. It does indeed sound like your hunger is more intense than my hunger. I think I benefit from a ton of experience in transitioning past "I'm very hungry" to "I'm fine" when I choose not to eat. There's a clear point (for me) when the body just says "oh we're not going to eat now? ok, I'll st…

I have the exact same experience with hunger. I’m only “hungry” for 10-15ish minutes max before the feeling disappears and the next time I eat is also to stave off the physical weakness.

I put “hungry” in quotes because what my overweight friends describe as feeling hungry I have only felt under the influence of marijuana, and what I describe as hungry is what they feel like all day other than right after a meal.

I haven’t found any literature on what drives human appetite that seemed non quackery science, but I’d be very intrigued whenever someone figures out what causes these different experiences

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

#336

Post by commandlinefan »

csours wrote: 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…

> One extra piece of cake a week

So… I was never predisposed to put on weight, but as I got older I got less and less fit than I used to be. My doctor told me my cholesterol and triglycerides were up and suggested that I just stop eating desserts and candy entirely. It seemed impossible when he suggested it, but I’ve been able to stick to it for almost two decades now. When I made the decision that I just wasn’t going to have any more desserts, ever, it was much easier than it seemed it was going to be.

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

#337

Post by projectazorian »

scarface74 wrote: post #198
sharken wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An overlooked benefit of exercising, is that if you are eating unhealthy or eating too much, then you will instantly know it when exercising. Running is quite good for this, it will tell you how things are going, far better than any scale.

This was definitely not true for me. When I was an active runner, I ate like crap and still did pretty well.

Yeah for this reason a mix of cardio and weight training is essential. Or at least time your runs. When I eat poorly I can still do my usual 5K with no trouble, and I often don’t even feel any slower, but the timer doesn’t lie…

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

#338

Post by wheels »

winrid wrote: post #266
wheels wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's almost certainly psychosomatic. The sugars in the two are basically identical, and the creamer presumably has some fat in it, which would actually make it have a lower glycemic index (meaning the crash would be slower with the creamer).

This is mostly what the article calls the "halo effect". People assume that "natural" things are lower calorie or healthier, which is sometimes the case, but fructose is fructose. It doesn't really matter if it's from corn or honey. Honey arguably has another couple marginal benefits, but it's absolutely not useful in losing weight. It's something like 90% sugar by weight.

What I'd actually suspect is something closer to: all diets work. Almost every fad diet works, even when they're completely counter to nutritional science because the simple act of paying attention to what you eat has positive effects.

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

#339

Post by jimmydoreornot »

keybored wrote: post #312
jimmydoreornot wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have done fasting, I have done alternate day fasting. I have done fast-5. Yes, I can get there if I want to. My point is that "there" is a miserable place, and so I don't stay "there".

Since you haven’t tried low-carb: low-carb is supposed to go well with intermittent fasting and fasting because of the effect it has on your insulin.

Yes I need to seriously try low-carb.

BTW, I have (controlled) hypertension, (controlled) high cholesterol, high triglycerides, low HDLs, and a large beer belly gut (just like my dad, but unlike my brother)... but I have hba1c on the low end and high insulin sensitivity. Doctors used to insist I was on the path to diabetes (25 years ago), but now they are mystified. I chalk it up in part to fasting and drinking a lot of coffee, and my revulsion towards sweet tasting food (I love fat, starch and salt... but not sweet).

So I have a lot of doubt about insulin-related explanations given my well controlled blood sugar. But I still think hyper low-carb might work.

As an aside, long-distance running works to a limited extent. I drop weight without trying and my hunger does not increase. Other forms of burning calories, however (e.g. bicycling), have not had the same effect.

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

#340

Post by Aaargh20318 »

huntertwo wrote: post #76
scarface74 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can just do the math and see how much exercise you have to do to make any difference in your weight loss. You definitely can’t “walk” your way to weight loss

Walking 5 miles a day can be done in an hour and a half and can burn ~250-500 calories. That’s half a pound to a pound of fat per week, which is pretty significant.

250 calories is 1 cookie and I can eat that in 10 seconds
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