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How I have lost over 100 pounds and don’t know how

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Re: How I have lost over 100 pounds and don’t know how

#101

Post by readme »

jes wrote: post #76
readme wrote: post #55

>I am annoyed at myself for letting me get to be ~300 pounds in the first place (the main point about that is that I let myself get that unhealthy, to a point where I increased my risk of death, which was irresponsible given the fact that I have family and friends) Though I would feel worse about it if you did not have friends, either way becoming unhealthy is irresponsible because it causes a public burden. If you d…

I consider becoming unhealthy as irrational, because it leads to a diminished quality of life for me and the people I care about.

I agree. Also, I did not mean "you" specifically in my comment. I meant it generally.

The OP (your) story in general is great. I was just trying to pontificate on something unpopular.

Re: How I have lost over 100 pounds and don’t know how

#103

Post by voidlogic »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #72
TelmoMenezes wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1. You lose weight by eating less calories than your body uses. (As a corollary, you almost definitely consume more calories than you think you do. Get a calorie-counting app.) If this is true, why don't we become incredibly fat or skinny over time? It would require incredible precision to maintain weight. But a lot of people seem to be able to do it with no effort... The reason why this is not true is simple: our…

If this is true, why don't we become incredibly fat or skinny over time? It would require incredible precision to maintain weight. But a lot of people seem to be able to do it with no effort... Because the amount you require for maintenance is proportional to your bodyweight. If you eat more than you need, you become fatter. As you become fatter, the amount of calories you need for maintenance goes up as well. The ca…

Great link. I wish more people discussing health, exercise and diet took such a rigorous approach.

Re: How I have lost over 100 pounds and don’t know how

#104

Post by btilly »

adventured wrote: post #77
rjh29 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a lot of skinny people out there with rubbish diets, packed with carbs and low in protein.... while carbs undeniably cause hunger compared to fats and protein, there is definitely an individual variation in appetite that diet cannot completely make up for.

I was one of those hyper skinny people. There are only two reasons for it: 1) a temporarily very high metabolism that will fade with age 2) how many calories being consumed in relation to how fast your body burns I couldn't gain a pound of weight no matter how much crap I ate, right up to about the age of 25. So I ate anything at any time, all the time. I then proceeded to gradually gain 40 pounds over seven years, f…

You'll find that some of the formerly skinny types that keep up that rubbish diet, will end up remaining slightly thinner than most except for some out-of-place looking weight gain in the mid section. That's the lucky scenario.

The out of place weight gain in the mid section is actually a really good warning of future heart problem. So even that lucky scenario is not as lucky as it appears.

Re: How I have lost over 100 pounds and don’t know how

#105

Post by dirtyvagabond »

cliveowen wrote: post #7

That's an awful lot of words for saying that eating right leads to a healthier life. Way too many people tend to write a poem to express even the simplest idea. Concision is paramount in communicating.

I felt like he was sharing a lot more than that, especially his personal story. So I found it a very worthwhile read.

Also: "Make me re-think the “wisdom” of the food pyramid, “low fat” diets, and nutrition vs. exercise"

I thought that was a great one liner... I believe that critical, honest analysis of official dietary guidelines and conventional wisdom around our diet is something we need much more of.

Re: How I have lost over 100 pounds and don’t know how

#106

Post by voidlogic »

Someone wrote: post #79
mahyarm wrote: post #61

- Don't eat 600 calorie bombs from carls jr that fit inside the palm of your hand and don't fill you up still. Eat more satiating food for the calories, which is fibrous vegetables and proteins. Avoid liquid calories and other such things that are easy to overeat. - Eat like my skinny indian friend. He takes a bite, chews it for quite a while, and then take another bite about a few minutes later. He doesn't do this o…

Alternatively, and easier for some: put low calory food in front of you. It may be possible to grow fat from eating raw celery and tomatoes, but it certainly is harder than growing fat from eating burgers and chocolate.

>It may be possible to grow fat from eating raw celery and tomatoes

Doing this with celery will be more difficult as it takes more energy to digest than is gained from it.

I had a humorous image in my mind of someone trying to get fat via only veggies, imagine the volume of food they would have to eat every day!

Examples: The Kimchi I had with lunch was 15 calories, the half bag of russels sprout I had last night (excluding the oil oil cooked in) 130 calories.

Edit: Why the downvote?

Re: How I have lost over 100 pounds and don’t know how

#107

Post by encoderer »

crusso wrote: post #40
jmduke wrote: post #32

There's a massive signal-to-noise issue in the fitness world, particularly because there's so much value to be made just by making some noise. For anyone reading this post and inspired to lose weight, I recommend you keep the following basic tenets in mind when researching a plan/regimen: 1. You lose weight by eating less calories than your body uses. (As a corollary, you almost definitely consume more calories than…

You lose weight by eating less calories than your body uses Yeah, and if you want to reduce your chance of auto accidents, limit the amount of gasoline you put in your car. I'm a bit sorry to come across as rude, but this advice and then your later dismissal of ketogenic diets reflects the extraordinary ignorance that inflicted us with the food pyramid and war on fat 40 years ago. Understanding and controlling the in…

I think your post wins the "worst analogy in this discussion" award.

There is so much pseudo-science on every side of this debate that I'm against just about anybody who takes an absolutist position in the way you have.

Personally, from my own research and experimentation in my own diet, I firmly believe that weight is an I/O issue though good health is more complex than that.

While Atkins never specifically advocated for calorie restriction, it strikes me as common sense that some portion of new Atkins dieters experience positive results due to calorie restriction. It can be difficult to replace the number of calories in pastas, pizza, etc, in part just based on caloric density.

It's also confused by the fact that Atkins and other (if not "fad" then "theme" might be a better word?) diets have to change both physical, calorie I/O issues, and mental issues to truly be effective long term. While I truly believe that for weight loss, 2000 calories of fast food is the same as 2000 calories of lean protein, fruits and veg, after the period of strict control (the "diet") the person eating 2000 calories of fast food has not done much to truly change their habits and mindset.

I, personally, have accomplished a lot by intermittent fasting (didn't know it had a name until later, to me it was just about not eating as much during the day in favor of a bigger dinner) and learning that it's OK to feel not-full. And to learn the difference between hunger and feeling not-full. I went from 210 to 170 and lost 55 pounds!! of fat during the process. I have a big dinner (usually 50% of my daily caloric intake) and dessert every night (another 20%). That's complimented by a lunch of around 25% of my daily intake. Very infrequent snacking. No breakfast, even on Gym days, and no soft drinks only water, aside from alcoholic beverages.

Re: How I have lost over 100 pounds and don’t know how

#108

Post by ef4 »

marcosdumay wrote: post #99
ef4 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For those who find it a pain to use [a calorie-counting app], I recommend sticking with it for a few months at least initially. After a while, your mind gets attuned to the idea of how much food is enough for you to be satiated. But satiation is a built-in feature of your body. A healthy human body counts calories automatically, and governs appetite and metabolism appropriately to keep body weight in a narrow targe…

Yes, it's prostetic. The problem is exactly that satiation doesn't work well enough, thus some people need a cybernetic add-on, just like some people need glasses. Satiation seems to always lag when people age and their metabolism gets slower. It can also be trained for allowing more or less eating before it fires a signal. And a consequence is that you can train it to make it correct again, but it requires a conscie…

> The problem is exactly that satiation doesn't work well enough, thus some people need a cybernetic add-on, just like some people need glasses.

Yes, but the important question is why. Why do an increasing fraction of people have broken metabolic feedback systems, and what can they do to fix them?

If we had cybernetic calorie counters that worked as reliably as glasses, it wouldn't be a big deal. But in practice, only a minority of people manage to stick to a calorie counting regime over the long term. And even the ones who succeed have to fight the battle their whole lives. It never becomes automatic.

That is why I think it's a mistake to pin people's hopes on calorie counting, when there is a lot of fascinating science about how to fix the built-in automatic system instead (see for example http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/, written by a biochemist who researches obesity and metabolism).

Re: How I have lost over 100 pounds and don’t know how

#109

Post by crusso »

encoderer wrote: post #107
crusso wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You lose weight by eating less calories than your body uses Yeah, and if you want to reduce your chance of auto accidents, limit the amount of gasoline you put in your car. I'm a bit sorry to come across as rude, but this advice and then your later dismissal of ketogenic diets reflects the extraordinary ignorance that inflicted us with the food pyramid and war on fat 40 years ago. Understanding and controlling the in…

I think your post wins the "worst analogy in this discussion" award. There is so much pseudo-science on every side of this debate that I'm against just about anybody who takes an absolutist position in the way you have. Personally, from my own research and experimentation in my own diet, I firmly believe that weight is an I/O issue though good health is more complex than that. While Atkins never specifically advocate…

You stand behind the I/O issue and then later admit to benefitting from fasting techniques which are most likely affecting your insulin cycle, which is the purpose of a low carb diet.

Atkins dieters experience positive results due to calorie restriction

When you're on a low carb diet, your carb cravings are reduced or go away. You tend to eat less.

It seems like you wanted to be snarky about the analogy I made but you didn't really understand it.

Re: How I have lost over 100 pounds and don’t know how

#110

Post by calanya »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #72
TelmoMenezes wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1. You lose weight by eating less calories than your body uses. (As a corollary, you almost definitely consume more calories than you think you do. Get a calorie-counting app.) If this is true, why don't we become incredibly fat or skinny over time? It would require incredible precision to maintain weight. But a lot of people seem to be able to do it with no effort... The reason why this is not true is simple: our…

If this is true, why don't we become incredibly fat or skinny over time? It would require incredible precision to maintain weight. But a lot of people seem to be able to do it with no effort... Because the amount you require for maintenance is proportional to your bodyweight. If you eat more than you need, you become fatter. As you become fatter, the amount of calories you need for maintenance goes up as well. The ca…

The Harris-Benedict study is from 1919 on a population of 239 subjects . I'm just wondering - Do you know if it has been re-evaluated in more recent years, and was found valid?
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