Cure for Obesity editorial in Tme

[KD in CA]

Lionel Shriver is an ignorant jerk. You try getting raped daily and abused as a child and not pick up an eating disorder you stupid punk. Overeating is what humans do when they try to compensate for things that are missing in our lives. If you don't get enough sleep you will eat to stay up late. If you don't get exercise you won't have enough endorphines and you will overeat. If you go to restaurants who serve food in portions that are big enough to justify the prices they pay because they have to make rent your concept of portion size will be destroyed. and when you have parents who work 12 hours a day, have children and stressed about money, the quick and easy fix is to take a little solace in food. We have become a society of human doings, not human beings and we are all pressed beyond our limits with respect to our time, energy and emotional resources. There are a lot of good reasons why our nation is becoming obese but willpower has little to nothing to do with it! BOYCOTT TIME MAGAZINE FOR PROMOTING SUCH STUPIDITY!

That is probably the most ignorant, pathetic, self-pitying piece of crap I've ever read. I want to punch that person in the face just for writing that nonsense.

 

Overeating is what humans do to overcompensate?!? It's the restaurant's fault for serving you too much food?? What are you, a !@#$ing goldfish that doesn't have the brain power to understand when you are hungry or not??

[The Big Cat]

That is probably the most ignorant, pathetic, self-pitying piece of crap I've ever read. I want to punch that person in the face just for writing that nonsense.

 

Overeating is what humans do to overcompensate?!? It's the restaurant's fault for serving you too much food?? What are you, a !@#$ing goldfish that doesn't have the brain power to understand when you are hungry or not??

 

From the first sentence, the person is either a hopelessly hot mess, or an unmitigated troll. Either way...yikes.

[Jauronimo]

I wonder where shift work (even shift work disorder) fits into all of this? Sometimes it is hard to have "will power" when one is so darn tired. Very easy to make poor choices. One is basically eating the sleeping. A deadly combo!

Maybe one would be less tired with proper diet and exercise?

[Hazed and Amuzed]

Maybe one would be less tired with proper diet and exercise?

^^^This.

[Chef Jim]

Of course. If you don't buy ice cream at the store, it's not in your freezer. If you order a salad for lunch instead of a Big Mac and fries, you'll weigh less. It's not that complicated.

 

Willpower may be hard for some people, but I sure as !@#$ don't want your lack of willpower to be my problem.

 

I eat a salad pretty much every day for lunch. I get those prepackaged ones at the store seeing it so easy to mix them up in the office. I've found some real good ones but I've been looking at the calories/cholesterol/fat and it's a bit high due to the dressings they use. When I make salads at home I just use olive oil and balsamic vinegar or lemon juice. MUCH better but a pain to do that at work.

[Chef Jim]

Willpower is fine and all, but really should do something about all the sugar and salt that gets into our foods in the US. But I know that many people don't like regulations, so I doubt that would be popular. Oh, also if there was some sort of social encouragement for restaurants to serve smaller portions, and if we didn't feel the need to clean our plates even when full. There's a lot of things that can be done that can pick away at the obesity problem, there's no real magic pill, but it will take the work of not only the individual, but also the community.

 

Buy as little prepacked/prepared foods as possible.

[PromoTheRobot]

Will power is all well and good when you are quitting a bad habit like smoking or heroin. Unfortunately you can't go cold turkey on eating. Your metabolism can be a moving target. You drop some pounds and you hit a wall. It's a constant battle for some people.

 

PTR

[Gugny]

Will power is all well and good when you are quitting a bad habit like smoking or heroin. Unfortunately you can't go cold turkey on eating. Your metabolism can be a moving target. You drop some pounds and you hit a wall. It's a constant battle for some people.

 

PTR

As one who has been fighting that battle (losing weight) for about 13 months, I can confidently say that willpower has nearly everything to do with success. Every time I hit a wall, I simply increased my physical activity.

 

I lost 20 pounds with nearly no exercise. Maybe 1-2 miles/day walking the dog. Then I hit the wall. So I kept my diet steady and began walking 3 miles. Hit another wall after 5 or so pounds. So now I'm up to 4-5 miles/day, with at least 2.5 of them at a brisk pace (sans dog). I'm up to 33.5 pounds lost as of 2 hours ago.

 

Willpower, hard work, determination and smart choices. And I quit smoking a year ago in May, as well.

[Hazed and Amuzed]

Will power is all well and good when you are quitting a bad habit like smoking or heroin. Unfortunately you can't go cold turkey on eating. Your metabolism can be a moving target. You drop some pounds and you hit a wall. It's a constant battle for some people.

 

PTR

 

I disagree, will power rarely comes into effect when quitting heroin, maybe smoking but definitely not heroin. Comparing changing your eating habits to quitting heroin doesn't work, they're not in the same ballpark. Also show me one heroin addict that's been clean for any considerable amount of time that doesn't have a constant or at least intermediate struggle. I've been clean off of heroin for 3 years, I've quit smoking and I've changed my eating habits considerably the last two years. Guess which was the hardest? The easiest? I can buy a pack of Oreo's today and they'll last me 2 weeks, if I bought a bag of heroin today it would last an hour.

[The Big Cat]

As one who has been fighting that battle (losing weight) for about 13 months, I can confidently say that willpower has nearly everything to do with success. Every time I hit a wall, I simply increased my physical activity.

 

I lost 20 pounds with nearly no exercise. Maybe 1-2 miles/day walking the dog. Then I hit the wall. So I kept my diet steady and began walking 3 miles. Hit another wall after 5 or so pounds. So now I'm up to 4-5 miles/day, with at least 2.5 of them at a brisk pace (sans dog). I'm up to 33.5 pounds lost as of 2 hours ago.

 

Willpower, hard work, determination and smart choices. And I quit smoking a year ago in May, as well.

 

Good for you. What a great feeling, huh?

 

Personally, I keep logs.

 

I log my weight, I log my calories (to the best of my ability), but most importantly, I set specific fitness goals and log my workouts.

 

I've lost 25 pounds since January. In that time, I've completed three fitness goals:

 

Ran 4 miles in 30 minutes, completed an 8K in under 40 minutes and ran 3 miles in 20 minutes.

 

Now I'm training to finish a half marathon in September at a sub-8 minute pace.

 

If I wasn't constantly upping my fitness, my weight loss would have plateaued like it does when I stop paying close attention to what I eat.

 

Bottom line: it's a lot of !@#$ing work. And that's something not a lot of people seem to be up for these days.

[Gugny]

Good for you. What a great feeling, huh?

 

Personally, I keep logs.

 

I log my weight, I log my calories (to the best of my ability), but most importantly, I set specific fitness goals and log my workouts.

 

I've lost 25 pounds since January. In that time, I've completed three fitness goals:

 

Ran 4 miles in 30 minutes, completed an 8K in under 40 minutes and ran 3 miles in 20 minutes.

 

Now I'm training to finish a half marathon in September at a sub-8 minute pace.

 

If I wasn't constantly upping my fitness, my weight loss would have plateaued like it does when I stop paying close attention to what I eat.

 

Bottom line: it's a lot of !@#$ing work. And that's something not a lot of people seem to be up for these days.

Congrats on all of your achievements, man. That's a lot!

 

And your bottom line nails it right on the head. I was just thinking how this is not a "diet," it's a lifestyle change.

 

I enjoy walking, so it's easy for me. I ran a little last week. !@#$ing hated it. So I'll continue to walk. I feel that If you pick something you like, it doesn't feel like work.

[birdog1960]

Will power is all well and good when you are quitting a bad habit like smoking or heroin. Unfortunately you can't go cold turkey on eating. Your metabolism can be a moving target. You drop some pounds and you hit a wall. It's a constant battle for some people.

 

PTR

this is absolutely correct. through evolution and a history during which much of the time, most people could obtain too few nutrients, humans adapted. the adaptation is that during times of relative starvation, our metabolism slows; precisely the opposite of what dieters desire. doesn't make weight loss impossible but it is much harder when one is working against the bodies innate compensatory mechanism.

[The Big Cat]

Congrats on all of your achievements, man. That's a lot!

 

And your bottom line nails it right on the head. I was just thinking how this is not a "diet," it's a lifestyle change.

 

I enjoy walking, so it's easy for me. I ran a little last week. !@#$ing hated it. So I'll continue to walk. I feel that If you pick something you like, it doesn't feel like work.

 

Thanks. It takes awhile to come to grips with the fact that these are forever habits--that I basically have 4-6 weekly workouts to look forward to for the rest of my days, but God willing, it's a lifestyle that will give me more days to look forward to!

 

this is absolutely correct. through evolution and a history during which much of the time, most people could obtain too few nutrients, humans adapted. the adaptation is that during times of relative starvation, our metabolism slows; precisely the opposite of what dieters desire. doesn't make weight loss impossible but it is much harder when one is working against the bodies innate compensatory mechanism.

 

Right, which is why just starving yourself is a ****ty and ineffective way to lose weight.

[Hazed and Amuzed]

this is absolutely correct. through evolution and a history during which much of the time, most people could obtain too few nutrients, humans adapted. the adaptation is that during times of relative starvation, our metabolism slows; precisely the opposite of what dieters desire. doesn't make weight loss impossible but it is much harder when one is working against the bodies innate compensatory mechanism.

I don't understand this, I'm sorry. I was 220lbs and 25%BF and am currently 191lbs at 10%BF and I never starved myself once. In fact I take in as many calories as I did before, I just don't eat garbage. I replaced ice cream with a protein shake, ground beef with ground turkey and white rice with brown. I don't eat fast food as often(although I do indulge from time to time). Putting your body into starvation mode is a horrible way to lose weight as are crash diets, no one is suggesting either.

[Fezmid]

In fact I take in as many calories as I did before

That seems to run contrary to what everyone is saying. I thought it was a simple "calories in/calories out" equation?

[Jauronimo]

Right, which is why just starving yourself is a ****ty and ineffective way to lose weight.

I've found the most effective diet (at least for me) involves a constant mix up of light eating punctuated with a few blow out, calorie bomb days. This is basically just how it ends up for me, but upon further reading I see its an actual dietary plan used to keep your metabolism high while strategically reducing caloric intake. Either that or I like to rationalize my behavior.

[Hazed and Amuzed]

That seems to run contrary to what everyone is saying. I thought it was a simple "calories in/calories out" equation?

 

Absolutely, it is a calories in/calories out equation. However if the calories in are healthy muscle building calories like protein and healthy carbs, then you will see results provided you're adding in exercise.

 

I'll tell you what I did. When I was 220lbs and 25% BF, I was eating garbage and barely exercising. I was repping 135x5 on the bench the few times I went to the gym, this was at the age of 33. I would complain that I never had time for the gym or to prepare meals, I was full of $%^#. I started waking up at 430am, eat some oatmeal with nothing on it and drink a protein shake, then hit the gym. I rotated chicken, beef, fish and turkey with whole wheat pasta or brown rice throughout the day, getting about 3500 cals with a 40/40/20 split of protein/carbs/fat. It sucked at first and it took some getting used to but after a few weeks I lost my appetite for the junk. I'm 35 now, I weigh 191lbs, I'm 10% BF and I rep 225x15 on the bench. I didn't do any magic pills or steroids, I didn't buy into TV products and I stayed focused.

 

I've found the most effective diet (at least for me) involves a constant mix up of light eating punctuated with a few blow out, calorie bomb days. This is basically just how it ends up for me, but upon further reading I see its an actual dietary plan used to keep your metabolism high while strategically reducing caloric intake. Either that or I like to rationalize my behavior.

Having a day or two of "pigging out" is actually good for you're metabolism. No rationalization needed.

[The Big Cat]

Absolutely, it is a calories in/calories out equation. However if the calories in are healthy muscle building calories like protein and healthy carbs, then you will see results provided you're adding in exercise.

 

I'll tell you what I did. When I was 220lbs and 25% BF, I was eating garbage and barely exercising. I was repping 135x5 on the bench the few times I went to the gym, this was at the age of 33. I would complain that I never had time for the gym or to prepare meals, I was full of $%^#. I started waking up at 430am, eat some oatmeal with nothing on it and drink a protein shake, then hit the gym. I rotated chicken, beef, fish and turkey with whole wheat pasta or brown rice throughout the day, getting about 3500 cals with a 40/40/20 split of protein/carbs/fat. It sucked at first and it took some getting used to but after a few weeks I lost my appetite for the junk. I'm 35 now, I weigh 191lbs, I'm 10% BF and I rep 225x15 on the bench. I didn't do any magic pills or steroids, I didn't buy into TV products and I stayed focused.

 

 

Having a day or two of "pigging out" is actually good for you're metabolism. No rationalization needed.

 

...and stopped doing heroin.

 

Good on you, bro. For the life of me, I just cannot get my bench up. I can make strength and speed gains in just about every other fitness category...but bench? Forget it. Just can't break that ceiling...

[PromoTheRobot]

Exercising is complicated by two bad knees making walking hard and running impossible. I still skate and play hockey which bothers my knees some but not as bad as running. Food-wise I have reduced my intake to two modest meals and a snack. No crap. Lots of veggies, beans, nuts and fruits. Less carbs. Salmon, tuna and chicken for protein. Small serving of red meat once a week. Dropped 25 lbs pretty quick but now I'm stuck.

 

PTR

[Fezmid]

Absolutely, it is a calories in/calories out equation. However if the calories in are healthy muscle building calories like protein and healthy carbs, then you will see results provided you're adding in exercise.

So it's NOT a simple calories in/calories out equation if you're saying you won't see results without exercise. If it was a basic equation, then if I consume 1500 calories and burn 1700 calories in a day, I'll lose weight regardless of anything else.

 

I started waking up at 430am

What time do you go to bed? Studies show that lack of sleep increases weight as well. Are you going to bed at 8:30pm? To me this also shows that it's more than just "calories in/calories out."

http://science.howst...eep-obesity.htm

 

I'm not saying that caloric intake has no impact -- obviously it does. (and I don't mean to sound like I'm attacking you - re-read my message, and it was a bit blunt, so I want to make that part clear! ). But science shows that it's not as simple as some here are making it either, especially not in the long term.