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How Fat May Hurt the Brain, and How Exercise May Help

well.blogs.nytimes.com

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Re: How Fat May Hurt the Brain, and How Exercise May Help

#41

Post by ramblerman »

leobelle wrote: post #25

Yeah well it's not like I love being fat. We all know fat is bad, and I wish I had less of it, but it's not like my adipose is going to go away by scaring it with more bad news about why it sucks to be fat. Once you're fat, not being fat anymore is a really hard problem, which is why fat people aren't really known for eventually being skinny some day again, but there's a high prevalence of skinny people who once were…

What a load of self pitying drivel. I hope no one takes your self justifications seriously as a reason to not attempt getting healthy.

Re: How Fat May Hurt the Brain, and How Exercise May Help

#42

Post by stefan_kendall3 »

leobelle wrote: post #40
nonchalance wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're already fat, you're pretty much fucked. That's not true, and that's a mentality that justifies self-destructive behavior. I used to be overweight but turned it around a few years ago, and in my case it boiled down to fixing some incredibly unhealthy habits 1) better sleeping habits. I used to go to sleep at 3-4 AM, now I force myself off of electronics by midnight and read a book or write until I doze off…

I get up at 4 am every day and eat breakfast. I still overeat. I've swung back and forth between 280lbs and 220lbs for the last 5 years. I'm currently around 250lbs. I've been under 260lbs for almost 2 years now and I still have to starve myself constantly to get back down to 220lbs even though I sleep well. Nothing works. It's all pain. I eat too much and I'm miserable or I eat just enough or too little and I'm mise…

Change your diet. I don't mean "diet", I mean change what you eat forever.

What you're eating, in addition to how much you eat, is extremely important. If you eat crap (sugar cereal), you're going to feel like you're starving two hours later when your blood glucose levels spike.

Re: How Fat May Hurt the Brain, and How Exercise May Help

#43

Post by AutoCorrect »

laichzeit0 wrote: post #28
leobelle wrote: post #25

Yeah well it's not like I love being fat. We all know fat is bad, and I wish I had less of it, but it's not like my adipose is going to go away by scaring it with more bad news about why it sucks to be fat. Once you're fat, not being fat anymore is a really hard problem, which is why fat people aren't really known for eventually being skinny some day again, but there's a high prevalence of skinny people who once were…

And for skinny people trying to gain weight it's the exact opposite. Trying to eat at a 500 calorie surplus feels like you're constantly full to the point of discomfort, you shit 3 times a day and you're spending about 2 hours a day just eating, such an awful waste of time.

I had to wait until my 40's to gain weight. In HS I weighed 125lbs (at 6'1"). Boot camp (PI) put on 17lbs in 3 months through a combination of a sadistic DI and good food. I stayed at 142 until... I don't know when. Now, in my late 40's, I weigh 220lbs. I'm lifting weights (StrongLifts) and trying to get rid of my spare tire.

Re: How Fat May Hurt the Brain, and How Exercise May Help

#44

Post by jrs235 »

leobelle wrote: post #40
nonchalance wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're already fat, you're pretty much fucked. That's not true, and that's a mentality that justifies self-destructive behavior. I used to be overweight but turned it around a few years ago, and in my case it boiled down to fixing some incredibly unhealthy habits 1) better sleeping habits. I used to go to sleep at 3-4 AM, now I force myself off of electronics by midnight and read a book or write until I doze off…

I get up at 4 am every day and eat breakfast. I still overeat. I've swung back and forth between 280lbs and 220lbs for the last 5 years. I'm currently around 250lbs. I've been under 260lbs for almost 2 years now and I still have to starve myself constantly to get back down to 220lbs even though I sleep well. Nothing works. It's all pain. I eat too much and I'm miserable or I eat just enough or too little and I'm mise…

Out of curiosity, do you eat diet foods low in fat? Do you eat a large percentage of packaged/processed meals or made from "scratch"? Margarine or butter?

Re: How Fat May Hurt the Brain, and How Exercise May Help

#45

Post by tekalon »

mettle2 wrote: post #39
leobelle wrote: post #25

Yeah well it's not like I love being fat. We all know fat is bad, and I wish I had less of it, but it's not like my adipose is going to go away by scaring it with more bad news about why it sucks to be fat. Once you're fat, not being fat anymore is a really hard problem, which is why fat people aren't really known for eventually being skinny some day again, but there's a high prevalence of skinny people who once were…

Please, for anyone worried about their health and weight, consider a ketogenic diet. It is restrictive: high fat, very low carb, adequate protein. However, it is comparatively easy to maintain since a high-fat diet leaves you feeling much fuller. After the adaptation phase (~3weeks) your metabolism shifts to becoming much more efficient at burning fat. As a result if you go on a slight calorie deficit, the rest of th…

My husband and I tried this for a while, but we couldn't come up with good food that we would both eat (we're both picky eaters).

Re: How Fat May Hurt the Brain, and How Exercise May Help

#47

Post by laichzeit0 »

AutoCorrect wrote: post #43
laichzeit0 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And for skinny people trying to gain weight it's the exact opposite. Trying to eat at a 500 calorie surplus feels like you're constantly full to the point of discomfort, you shit 3 times a day and you're spending about 2 hours a day just eating, such an awful waste of time.

I had to wait until my 40's to gain weight. In HS I weighed 125lbs (at 6'1"). Boot camp (PI) put on 17lbs in 3 months through a combination of a sadistic DI and good food. I stayed at 142 until... I don't know when. Now, in my late 40's, I weigh 220lbs. I'm lifting weights (StrongLifts) and trying to get rid of my spare tire.

I should have mentioned that it's eating at a surplus + lifting weights trying to gain muscle weight :) I think it takes as much discipline as trying to lose fat. I lost 10kgs in 2 months by just not eating enough after having my appendix removed in November 2013. A natural skinny person has as much difficulty maintaining weight as someone trying to keep fat off. It's a full time job.

Re: How Fat May Hurt the Brain, and How Exercise May Help

#48

Post by lbruder »

leobelle wrote: post #40
nonchalance wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're already fat, you're pretty much fucked. That's not true, and that's a mentality that justifies self-destructive behavior. I used to be overweight but turned it around a few years ago, and in my case it boiled down to fixing some incredibly unhealthy habits 1) better sleeping habits. I used to go to sleep at 3-4 AM, now I force myself off of electronics by midnight and read a book or write until I doze off…

I get up at 4 am every day and eat breakfast. I still overeat. I've swung back and forth between 280lbs and 220lbs for the last 5 years. I'm currently around 250lbs. I've been under 260lbs for almost 2 years now and I still have to starve myself constantly to get back down to 220lbs even though I sleep well. Nothing works. It's all pain. I eat too much and I'm miserable or I eat just enough or too little and I'm mise…

Risking to be the 52768th guy to propose a fad diet: Have you tried going ketogenic (/r/keto)? I've lost 50 lbs within about six months without really trying. No hunger pains at all (the first week is hell on earth though).

Just avoiding carbs and vegetable oils and eating lots of (mostly saturated) fat made my weight drop. Don't count calories. Just start eating when you feel physically hungry (cravings don't count), stop eating when you aren't hungry anymore (not when you're completely stuffed).

Re: How Fat May Hurt the Brain, and How Exercise May Help

#49

Post by dragonwriter »

leobelle wrote: post #40
nonchalance wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're already fat, you're pretty much fucked. That's not true, and that's a mentality that justifies self-destructive behavior. I used to be overweight but turned it around a few years ago, and in my case it boiled down to fixing some incredibly unhealthy habits 1) better sleeping habits. I used to go to sleep at 3-4 AM, now I force myself off of electronics by midnight and read a book or write until I doze off…

I get up at 4 am every day and eat breakfast. I still overeat. I've swung back and forth between 280lbs and 220lbs for the last 5 years. I'm currently around 250lbs. I've been under 260lbs for almost 2 years now and I still have to starve myself constantly to get back down to 220lbs even though I sleep well. Nothing works. It's all pain. I eat too much and I'm miserable or I eat just enough or too little and I'm mise…

> I've been under 260lbs for almost 2 years now and I still have to starve myself constantly to get back down to 220lbs even though I sleep well.

I weigh more than you but I've been successfully (if slowly, for most of the time) losing weight for several years, after having lots of the same kind of problems you describe before that. What seems to be working for me is:

1) Eat lots of non-starchy vegetables, especially toward the beginning of trying to establish a lower-calorie pattern. These can satisfy the need for stomach-fullness that develops over a history of overeating (over time, your stomach stretches, and it takes more volume of food to feel full), without the miserable feeling you get from eating too much caloric foods (I used to get different forms of misery from "too much carbs", "too much fat", and "too much protein" when I overate, but they were all misery.)

2) Eat more snacks between meals -- this helps level out your metabolism helps avoid the "starving -- must eat lots at next opportunity" feeling that leads to overeating misery.

3) Find one or more physical activities that you can enjoy for their own sake and do regularly. For me, it's been ballroom/latin/swing dancing, but the particular activity isn't all that important.

4) If you haven't already, try to get your doctor to check for metabolic conditions or vitamin deficiencies that might be making it hard for you to lose weight (I had a pretty significant Vitamin D deficiency and supplementing for that seems to have helped some, lots of other people I know have had bigger impacts when previously undiagnosed metabolic conditions were addressed.)

EDIT to add:

5) There's lots of approaches that are popular as to exact approaches to diet mix, and I've seen lots of people successful on different ones, but all of them -- including mine -- have included really sharply limiting sugar (often pretty much to whole fruit as the only sugar-heavy food, if even that.)

6) Drink plenty of water. For lots of people, hunger and thirst signals easily get crossed

Re: How Fat May Hurt the Brain, and How Exercise May Help

#50

Post by mettle2 »

tekalon wrote: post #45
mettle2 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please, for anyone worried about their health and weight, consider a ketogenic diet. It is restrictive: high fat, very low carb, adequate protein. However, it is comparatively easy to maintain since a high-fat diet leaves you feeling much fuller. After the adaptation phase (~3weeks) your metabolism shifts to becoming much more efficient at burning fat. As a result if you go on a slight calorie deficit, the rest of th…

My husband and I tried this for a while, but we couldn't come up with good food that we would both eat (we're both picky eaters).

The hardest part is finding a routine and meal plan that works for you I think. I failed in attempts to enter ketosis a couple times simply because I wouldn't find enough keto food to eat, get hungry, and start eating normal or sugary food.

Lettuce wrap burgers (with cheese and advocado!) are great when you need food on the go. In-and-out is my savior when I travel now. I also ended up hacking together my own ketogenic Soylent(fat-protein shake with nutrients) to supplement for about 1/2 a days worth of calories. This suddenly made being in ketosis completely sustainable for me.

I suspect its slightly easier for those loosing weight rather then maintaining, simply because it can be difficult to eat enough fat and calories through normal food. If your loosing weight you can lower your fat intake a bit and go on a slight calorie deficit once your used to ketosis.

Its a fairly big life-style commitment, and I wish it wasn't so absolutist, but its what works and its helped me with energy levels and mood quite a bit. I feel better overall and don't crave food all the time.

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