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The Weight I Carry

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Re: The Weight I Carry

#121

Post by JKCalhoun »

joeskyyy wrote: post #14
nxc18 wrote: post #4

Being significantly overweight is really tough. Body issues and shame make it so much harder. I wish people would understand that better. There’s a pretty nasty cycle of looking in the mirror, feeling like shit, eating to not feel like shit (the key problem step - note that it never actually works), looking and feeling like shit because you eat too much. I’ve lost 70 pounds in the last ~7 months. 50 pounds to go. I’m…

> Exercise to get healthy, treat the metabolism boost as a bonus. Exercise does not cancel out foods Thank you! Exercise should be completely supplemental to overall health, not to lose weight. The amount of times I've seen people eat an awful meal while trying to lose weight because they "worked out extra hard" is astonishing. Losing weight is almost completely related to what you put in your body. While you can cer…

Yep, it's the food. I took up running four years ago, but saw no real effect on my weight. (Def helped me from getting winded and made hiking fun, etc. — so exercise is cool, no doubt).

I had a medical emergency early last year that caused me to cut my food intake (I feared too large of a meal would cause another medical emergency). So I looked at the plate of food in front of me, measured out what I thought was a "reasonable amount", and ate only that. No seconds.

Within two or three months I dropped 20 pounds.

Had surgery at that point. After surgery I no longer worried about medical emergencies so I resumed my original eating habits.

And steadily put the 20 pounds back on.

Re: The Weight I Carry

#122

Post by woodandsteel »

Here's my understanding, based on a fair amount of reading and thought. First of all, condemning someone for being fat is rarely if ever useful.

In terms of what is useful the first thing is that people need to be eating a diet that is very low in processed carbohydrates, with lots of fiber and moderately low calorie foods, and they should eat until they are full, instead of counting calories.

Now people's bodies are different, so this won't work for everyone, but for most people it will.

If someone isn't eating this way, it is either because they don't know that is the way to go, or they do but they have other problems, like psychological issues, so they need to try to deal with them, if possible.

That's pretty much it.

Re: The Weight I Carry

#123

Post by RealityVoid »

woodandsteel wrote: post #122

Here's my understanding, based on a fair amount of reading and thought. First of all, condemning someone for being fat is rarely if ever useful. In terms of what is useful the first thing is that people need to be eating a diet that is very low in processed carbohydrates, with lots of fiber and moderately low calorie foods, and they should eat until they are full, instead of counting calories. Now people's bodies are…

> and they should eat until they are full, instead of counting calories.

I am curious why you say this. In my experience counting calories works great to put into perspective the caloric cost of everything you consume. You don't have to always do it, but do it for a while and you can eyeball pretty well if you can or cannot handle something in your diet.

Re: The Weight I Carry

#124

Post by graeme »

kd5bjo wrote: post #118
graeme wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually you're more of less agreeing with the conventional wisdom of those who do weight lifting. The vast majority of fat loss is simply diet. Walking, is helpful. And strength training is good to prevent muscle loss. Anyway, the above is actually the conventional wisdom of those who go to the gym and try to get lean. This is not the message you hear in pop nutrition however. Congrats on your progress! If you do ev…

When I got serious about this stuff, the best decision I made was to focus on performance measures instead of body composition ones. I’m still overweight (but not nearly as much as I once was), but people don’t generally treat me like it because I don’t act overweight— I’ve now got more strength, endurance, and agility than a great many normal-weight people. So, for most people, my advice is to first focus on how muc…

That's a great approach. I should add that having only one measure is discouraging: in fitness or anything else.

So your approach broadens beyond weight and gives a win, even in the event weight temporarily increased.

Also per my previous comment, I suspect that if you got stronger, then you probably lowered your weight circumference too. At least if your weight was stable. Muscle mass and bone density take the place of fat as strength increases, at equal weights. Hard to go wrong with functional measures.

The types of fat may change in a good way too as function increases. I looked into the health of sumo wrestlers. Turns out that at an equivalent fat percentage of a non-athlete, they will have much less visceral fat. This is fat around the organs, and is the type of fat most linked to bad health effects.

Re: The Weight I Carry

#125

Post by bonestamp2 »

jdminhbg wrote: post #119
bonestamp2 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't know why I haven't seen more studies where extremely obese individuals just stop eating. It's probably not common because you'd be trying to study the one thing they have the most trouble doing. To understand what I mean, you have to understand that asking an extremely obese person to stop eating is like asking an Alcoholic to stop drinking. All of them know that's what they have to do but that's literally…

> You don't tell an alcoholic it's simple not to be an alcoholic, "Just stop drinking!" or to a drug addict, "Just stop taking drugs!". It's simple for you, but it's not simple for them. That's what makes them an alcoholic and not you. I think this is the point though. You don't tell an alcoholic "just have a couple drinks not the whole bottle," you help them stop drinking completely because they can't handle moderat…

I agree, I was just stating why it would be very challenging (and therefore possibly why it's so underexplored).

Re: The Weight I Carry

#126

Post by maerF0x0 »

I think we need to start treating extreme obesity as an addiction. No one in their right mind tells an alcoholic to "just moderate yourself". I think the decisions of food need to be taken out of the hands of the obese. Eat what you're allotted, we promise its enough, and nothing else.

I recommend people lose weight via fasting until they're "normal" weight. Best done with doctor's supervision, but it basically boils down to eat nothing, drink only 0 calorie drinks and take a daily dose of multivitamins and get some sodium + potassium.

  Barbieri took vitamins on various occasions throughout the 
  fast, including potassium and sodium supplements.

  He was allowed to drink coffee, tea, and sparkling water, 
  all of which are naturally calorie-free. He said there was 
  the occasional time that he'd have a touch of sugar or milk 
  in tea, especially in his final few weeks of fasting.

  At the end of his ordeal, Barbieri tipped the scales at 180 
  pounds. Five years later, he'd still kept almost all the 
  weight he'd lost off, weighing in at 196 (89 kg).
https://www.sciencealert.com/the-true-story-of-a-man-who-sur...

Re: The Weight I Carry

#127

Post by willsun »

TheDauthi wrote: post #96

Naltrexone and Bupropion. It doesn't make the other parts of losing weight unnecessary, but it does make it easier to handle cravings. I don't care that I'm getting some willpower in a bottle - I'd simply like to weigh less. Two years ago, I was ~300. I had been constantly gaining weight since I started taking Seroquel. I also had ankle surgery (unrelated to my weight), and was completely bedridden for 6 months, then…

Out of curiosity - when you stopped taking the meds, do you feel like there was some residual craving-preventive effect that remained? I'm surprised medications like this aren't prescribed more frequently, and my assumption is that payers / doctors aren't keen on having their patients use it indefinitely (which I'm not sure is necessarily a bad thing, if there are no side effects)

Re: The Weight I Carry

#128

Post by leetbulb »

brandnewlow wrote: post #41
zachruss92 wrote: post #21

I feel for the author. I have also struggled with my weight my entire life. At my heaviest, I was 265lbs. I definitely struggled, and continue to struggle with body issues. I was definitely addicted to food and was an emotional eater. I literally had a term called "stress cheeseburgers" as when I was stressed that's what I'd do. I finally decided to make a significant change last year. It started with me doing meal p…

Amen. I dropped from 235 to 182 a few years ago doing keto and it definitely was like a fog being lifted. Unfortunately I’m back up to 225 but my life’s in a different place with new demands and stresses to figure out how to work healthy eating around. It’s a constant struggle!

I feel you. ~260 to 164, back to 215, but on it again! Stay strong!

Re: The Weight I Carry

#129

Post by jriot »

johnkpaul wrote: post #2

I've been 400 pounds most of my life. I empathize with every single sentence in this article and cannot imagine making myself write something like this. The vulnerability is incredible. I'm really glad that exercise is being called out as useless to treat obesity more and more. I hope that trend continues and things like Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaigns never happen again. Carbohydrate addiction is no joke, ev…

Exercise, also known as moving your body beyond walking, is the most basic instinct every animal has, yet humans have deprived themselves of this basic principle.

Re: The Weight I Carry

#130

Post by guitarbill »

misiti3780 wrote: post #59
guitarbill wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, with keto, I have much less of a hunger feeling, making things more manageable (As I've said in another thread). Agree with the mental clarity also. How did you stick with it though? I can do the diet, but find it hard to do with social stuff. For me, doing keto was quite a lonely thing.

how long did it take you to go into ketosis - im on day 10 and still havnt not gone in (im not really overweight)

it doesn't take me long at all if i'm very strict on the carb limit, especially if i fast for a day before. maybe 2 or 3 days? but i don't get keto flu at all, so ymmv
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