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Diet, not lack of exercise, drives obesity, a new study finds

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Re: Diet, not lack of exercise, drives obesity, a new study finds

#271

Unsurprisingly, the title is sensationalist and not representative of the study. The study compares energy expenditure across different economic groups i.e. western people sitting in offices versus hunter-gatherers in Africa, and found that difference in energy expenditure does not account for differences in obesity, so points to consumption as the likely reason. The sample dataset explicitly excluded 'athletes', so…

Counterpoint: that the kind of exercise most people engage in with a goal of weight loss isn't going to work, but the kind of dieting would do might work, is perfectly reasonably expressed with the phrase "You can't outrun a bad diet". I'm aware a more pedantic and literal reading gives lie to the phrase, but that is true of almost every single English true statement ever written.

This is precisely it.

Consuming a bunch of calories is super easy and quick. That tiny snack bag of chips that you can scarf down in three bites in less than a minute? Yep, 200 calories.

Burning that 200 calories off? Basically a 30-60 minute workout.

Not eating those chips is WAY easier than trying to burn them off after the fact.

Re: Diet, not lack of exercise, drives obesity, a new study finds

#272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is such a myth and I have no idea where it's coming from. For people that are merely trying to lose weight, it's effectively true. When you're out of shape, you won't have the strength or endurance to exercise long and hard enough to actually burn significant calories. For athletes that are running marathons or doing powerlifting, yes, it's certainly false. Massive bodybuilders that are already deadlifting hun…

My anecdata: - a year of busting my ass on the bike almost daily: -15kg - a year of restricting calories to ~1200/day and not doing much else: -40kg - 2 years of sitting in my apartment being afraid of COVID and drinking too much: +50kg Conclusion: booze is a really great way to put on a lot of weight quickly

Another thing you can do is one day of regular calories, and one day of zero. You still average to 1200 a day, but I think it's better for you for several reasons you can look into if interested.

Re: Diet, not lack of exercise, drives obesity, a new study finds

#274
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A good diet only helps so much. Of course with enough self control, a caloric deficit will make you lose weight, but you need to make yourself perpetually hungry. Eating clean without measuring and limiting portions is not enough for people whose appetite is naturally higher. Ozempic was the only thing that actually solved my hunger. I would eat healthy, do exercise, but without ozempic my appetite was unstoppable an…

Aren't you worried at all about side effects from ozempic and what happens when you stop taking it?

What side effects? Stomach discomfort when you start on the med and titrate up?

Current recommendations on the GLP-1s is to keep using them even after goal weight.

Re: Diet, not lack of exercise, drives obesity, a new study finds

#275

For most people, a 1 hour moderate run is only about 1-2 cookies worth (and only half a Crumbl cookie). Even a marathon run might only burn 2000 calories . a chipotle burrito is 1600 . In other words, for 95% of people doing activity, they shouldn't eat any surplus if their goal is to maintain or lose weight. It's actually best to do most of your activity undernourished, as it helps develop true intuitive nutrition f…

+1 for undernourishment.

Discovered that as a broken uni student, and has become my goto fix to lose weight. Lost 10-11kgs over the last year by means of that. The occasional “cheat” (mostly social events really) slows the process down but don’t really stop it. It’s not really a fast process though… but it strongly depends on how under nourished you are and how active you are. For me keeping myself between 8000 and 10’000 steps a day was sufficient.

Re: Diet, not lack of exercise, drives obesity, a new study finds

#276

I know this can be a touchy subject, but honestly, it shouldn’t be surprising. It’s just basic thermodynamics. The energy (calories) you take in has to go somewhere. Some of it gets used for daily activity, but if you take in more than you burn, your body has to store the extra—it doesn’t have any other way to deal with it. At the end of the day, it really is just a matter of calories in vs. calories out. Exercise ju…

Maybe it shouldn't be surprising, but without the knowledge, the opposite of the thing can be explained the same as the thing itself. For example, "The energy you take in has to go somewhere", but I also poop everyday, so maybe I just poop out the unnecessary calories? I know it works for water soluble vitamins for example.

Hindsight is 20/20 in this case. It's nice that the explanation is not complicated ("calories in, calories out"), but many other simple things have been thought of as true, only to be put on their head by science. I welcome the scientific confirmation, and I hold that the path to knowledge it's not straightforward at all.

Re: Diet, not lack of exercise, drives obesity, a new study finds

#277

The title is disappointing: it implies a causal relationship. The study was an observational study. Indeed, you can outrun a bad diet: we all know that. The study just shows that the lack of activity isn't the main reason for obesity. Both things can be true simultaneously.

I agree. A good title could be "You can outrun a bad diet. You just won't".

Re: Diet, not lack of exercise, drives obesity, a new study finds

#278

In twin studies the only things that have been associated with obesity are past calorie restrictive diets and soda consumption. All these other studies are usually picking up on either socio-economic or environmental factors, rather than actual behaviors we can control. The reason to exercise isn't to avoid obesity: it is because the health benefits of exercise have nothing to do with weight. Careful, moderate exerci…

Yes, exercise is good for you regardless of weight. We should all do it.

But the idea that there is little evidence that obesity causes health issues is absurd. There's absolutely mountains of evidence, and we have very firm understandings of the mechanisms underlying many of these issues, too. Hell, just being bigger, even if it's all muscle mass, is bad for your heart.

The all-cause mortality curve is J shaped because many more of the people at 10% bf are there because of disease and not because they're shredded from a strict diet and a consistent exercise.

I've lost roughly 100lb of fat over the past 9 months. I have gotten back to lifting 5 days a week, but even before that with just losing weight my health markers improved significantly, I've felt better, aches and pains and discomforts have all but disappeared, etc. My stress, alienation, environmental contamination, etc. conditions are all the same, and I'm working just as much, if not more.

Re: Diet, not lack of exercise, drives obesity, a new study finds

#279
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can we all please acknowledge that intermittent fasting is just a form of calories restriction? If you ate a pizza after jogging, but that was all you ate all day, your results would probably be different as well.

Does it matter? Intermittent fasting is a form of calorie restriction I can be successful at, eating 3 tiny meals a day is one I fail at.

Yes, it does. Because for somebody else, the three tiny meals might work, and intermittent fasting doesn't, and it would equally be good at the result.

Re: Diet, not lack of exercise, drives obesity, a new study finds

#280
post #254

Abs are made in the kitchen, as they say.

That advice is usually more for people who are already fit but don't have abs. You can maintain a healthy level of fitness by adding some exercise into your life and being mindful of what you eat. But maintaining abs is a whole other project you practically have to center your life around. And indeed, it's mostly a matter of very strict dieting.

Okay then, how about "you can't outrun a bad diet"? Pick your favorite conventional wisdom fitness aphorism as it applies to you, but it's the same underlying principle.
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