Being obese causes cancer but...

[Energize]

I'm overweight, dieting does nothing as I don't eat a great deal anyway but it just won't come off via monitoring food.

I'm sorry but this is pure nonsense, we are talking about the laws of thermodynamics here, dieting is by far the best way to lose weight compared to exercising.

For example a 90kg borderline obese person eating 1,400 calories a day would have a calorie deficit of around 800 calories and would therefore lose 104g per day with no exercise.

 

[dowie]

Until healthy living is cheaper and more convenient than a non-healthy lifestyle you're always going to have issues.

I think the "more convenient" bit is the key here, healthy eating doesn't have to be pricy, also obesity isn't just from eating unhealthy food it is from eating too much of it... no one is forced to eat more than they need through poverty! You could have a McDonald's every day and not be fat so long as you maintained about the same calorie intake. Your arteries might suffer in the long term though and you'd perhaps want to take some multivitamins too.

My weight has been at a set number now for several years, I'm overweight, dieting does nothing as I don't eat a great deal anyway but it just won't come off via monitoring food. When I can exercise, which I enjoy doing my weight does drop off. Then, I get a flare up and spend a week in bed in agony sometimes so bad I actually wish I could fall asleep and not wake up.

This is nonsense, a calorie deficit will cause anyone to lose weight. Exercise is of course useful to lead a healthy lifestyle however it is diet that is most important when weight loss is concerned. Essentially if you're only losing weight through burning off extra calories when exercising then you could probably cut down a bit when not exercising.

 

[AHarvey]

I'm sorry but this is pure nonsense, we are talking about the laws of thermodynamics here, dieting is by far the best way to lose weight compared to exercising.

For example a 90kg borderline obese person eating 1,400 calories a day would have a calorie deficit of around 800 calories and would therefore lose 104g per day with no exercise.

I eat 2-3 meals a day, average meals and my weight barely fluctuates day in day out. if I cut down I see very little change in weight. Some days I'm active, others I struggle to move around at all. Unless I was to go extreme and start fasting would I notice any difference, and yes, if I drop it to 800 calories a day or less it would start to drop however, that's not doable for the long term as it has a detrimental effect on illness. You can say it's nonsense but like most people on here, think they know everything but have no idea on an individual's circumstances

 

[glenimp617]

Education regarding healthy living is absolutely shocking in this country. The mrs wants to lose weight, so she made herself a giant bowl of pasta

My workmate, who is also on a diet, decided it was a good idea to buy a cheese and mayo sandwich....he honestly thought it was healthy.

 

[dowie]

I eat 2-3 meals a day, average meals and my weight barely fluctuates day in day out. if I cut down I see very little change in weight.

You're probably just not sticking to the diet or you're just not really estimating what you're consuming very well... you're not some special case the universe works differently for!

If you're inactive at times then you perhaps don't actually need very much, you might well be taking onboard an excess during those periods. The fact is you've not become overweight by magic, you've eaten more than you need!

 

[glenimp617]

Nutritional information is on pretty much every damn food product we buy, yet to 99.9% of people it's gobbledegook.

That, and even if they did understand it, they probably don't know how many calories they consume throughout the day, so are unable to calculate if they are eating too much or not.

It's so simple, they should really teach it in school.

All you need to understand is:

%bodyfat
Calories burnt in a typical day
Calories consumed a day
How many calories you need to burn off in order to lose a set amount of weight (either through diet, exercise or both)

IIRC, 1 pound of fat is 3,500 calories, so if you need to lose say 10 pounds, that's 35,000 calories. Burn off 500 calories a day and in 70 days you will be 10 pounds lighter. The body is just a biological machine.

I liken it to a bank account. You earn £2,000 a day. If you spend £1,500, you have £500 in the bank. If you spend £2,500 you are in debt £500. Fat people need to be in debt.

 

[Dis86]

You can say it's nonsense but like most people on here, think they know everything but have no idea on an individual's circumstances

It is nonsense. You can't break the rules of physics, chemistry and biology. Which is what you're claiming.

 

[AndyCr15]

yes, if I drop it to 800 calories a day or less it would start to drop however, that's not doable for the long term as it has a detrimental effect on illness.

Not 800, but even 1,800 would be low enough to lose a few lbs a week.

 

[Puzzled]

Nutritional information is on pretty much every damn food product we buy, yet to 99.9% of people it's gobbledegook.

That, and even if they did understand it, they probably don't know how many calories they consume throughout the day, so are unable to calculate if they are eating too much or not.

It's so simple, they should really teach it in school.

All you need to understand is:

%bodyfat
Calories burnt in a typical day
Calories consumed a day
How many extra calories you need to burn in order to lose a set amount of weight (either through diet, exercise or both)

IIRC, 1 pound of fat is 3,500 calories, so if you need to lose say 10 pounds, that's 35,000 calories. Burn off 500 calories a day and in 70 days you will be 10 pounds lighter.

Unless you are vigilant about it you can easily underestimate how much you have eaten. Plus lots of people get confused about the portion size figures as manufacturers use often tiny sized portions to make a product look healthier than it is.

Don't know if there are any rules about how accurate a portion size has to be but I've seen things like a small packet of pasta showing as 2 portions, that would be a very small meal as the whole packet barely fills half a standard sized cereal bowl.

 

[glenimp617]

Thing is unless you are vigilant about it you can easily underestimate how much you have eaten. Plus lots of people get confused about the portion size figures as manufacturers use often tiny sized portions to make a product look healthier than it is.

Don't know if there are any rules about how accurate a portion size has to be but I've seen things like a small packet of pasta showing as 2 portions, that would be a very small meal as the whole packet barely fills half a standard sized cereal bowl.

Yeah, they are sneaky buggers. I got caught out once when reading it as it was per 1/2 pack and I thought it was for the full pack.

Basically, if someone really wants to lose weight, they will. Excuses are just that, excuses. I have no time for excuses.
anyone can lose weight, they just need the right information.

I know, I have been overweight. One day I had enough and didn't know what to do. Read up online and just got caught up in a never ending loop of information overload.
Spent £28 on 4x1hr 1-1 sessions with a professional on full body composition and diet. Best £28 I ever spent.

18% bodyfat now and still going. Never been in better shape.

 

[Energize]

I don't understand how companies get away with saying a 500ml coke bottle is 2 servings, I mean wtf, so many loopholes, I see calories for cakes listed based on having a slice 1 atom thick.

Weigh everything!

 

[glenimp617]

I don't understand how companies get away with saying a 500ml coke bottle is 2 servings, I mean wtf, so many loopholes, I see calories for cakes listed based on having a slice 1 atom thick.

Weight everything!

It's as easy or as complicated as you make it. I don't have time to keep looking at calories on bottles or packets, so I drink water and green tea.
OK, it may sound awful to some people, but you soon get used to it (really quickly actually) and seeing a noticeable difference in the mirror makes it sooooo worth it.

I only wish I'd done it sooner....like 20 years ago!

 

[Angilion]

I don't understand how companies get away with saying a 500ml coke bottle is 2 servings, I mean wtf, so many loopholes, I see calories for cakes listed based on having a slice 1 atom thick.

Weigh everything!

The labels also have to give values as a percentage. Not eating stuff with more than x% sugar and saturated fats will be of some use. I got rid of 24 Kg (106 Kg to 82 Kg) doing little more than that and some moderate regular exercise. It's not the most efficient way, but it is very convenient and that's also important. I routinely walk several km per day, but not quickly. It's not much exercise and all I added was 50 (2x25) pushups per day and some light weights as and when I bothered to do so. A minute or two here and there, that's all.

Then I was ill, stopped and now (over a year later) I've put 5 Kg back on. So it's time to get back into better habits. The exercise matters. Probably not much directly, but it improves my health and shape and seems to make the better diet easier. This time I'll work up to 100 pushups per day, as I intended to last time.

 

[Stephanie Peterson]

As someone who has twice in the past lost considerable amounts of weight when i wanted to, i do have to admit that almost all the excuses you hear from tubbys about not able to loose weight are just that excuses.
Once you start you can push the weight of pretty rapidly - i was doing 3 pounds a week at some points when i dropped 20kilos about 9 years back during an uncharacteristic gym rush (took 6 months to do 20 kilo)

 

[XeNoN89]

It's pretty easy to lose weight with a bit of effort. Cut out the crap and snacks, eat 3 or 4 healthy lowish calorie meals a day and drink lots of water. The weight will go very quickly

 

[AndyCr15]

i was doing 3 pounds a week at some points

Agreed. I just dropped 5 stone in 5 months. All it really takes is will power. Watching what I eat and cycling 4/5 times a week, gym 2/3 times a week too.

 

[bigmike20vt]

I guess what they say about ex smokers being more critical of smokers is true of ex "fatties" too!.

I too have lost large amounts of weight on 2 separate occasions. Losing it is the (relatively) easy part, keeping it off the hard bit. The way I did it was through running and gym combined obviously with healthy eating.

This was far easier however when I didnt have a 3 year old and doing a full time job hrs wise crammed into 4 days and then full time parent the others....... Now the few spare hrs time I get are very precious and the thought of going for a run for an hr is a lot harder to motivate oneself to do when it is also your only chance to actually do something enjoyable.

Not an excuse, just a fact of life.
People who dont have weight issues saying how easy it is to eat less is quite amusing.... Obviously it isnt magic, you take less calories in than you use and you lose weight... simples ! however some people do have a higher resting metabolism than others, and some people just do have a naturally higher appetite than others.. again not an excuse just a fact of life.

I wonder what the reaction to a non drinker would be in an AA meeting would be if they said "guys come on, it really is quite simple.... just dont drink. It is dead easy just look at me"

 

[cheesyboy]

I'm sorry but this is pure nonsense, we are talking about the laws of thermodynamics here, dieting is by far the best way to lose weight compared to exercising.

For example a 90kg borderline obese person eating 1,400 calories a day would have a calorie deficit of around 800 calories and would therefore lose 104g per day with no exercise.

Thing is, (IIRC - worth checking, but I recall hearing this explained somewhere) food calorie values aren't based on their actual energy content, but on a revised figure that takes into account the efficiency of the human gut.

Now, I'm no scientist, but I'm willing to bet that not all guts are made equal. Maybe for some, food rated at 2,000 calories will actually provide, say, 2,500 calories of energy, but for others only 1,500?

All that said, it's speculation on my part, and not something I've ever seen mentioned elsewhere - I might be talking ****

 

[wolfie138]

I'm sorry but this is pure nonsense, we are talking about the laws of thermodynamics here, dieting is by far the best way to lose weight compared to exercising.

For example a 90kg borderline obese person eating 1,400 calories a day would have a calorie deficit of around 800 calories and would therefore lose 104g per day with no exercise.

might be a thyroid issue?

 

[Tuppy_Glossop]

A calorie is a fixed value but you are right about people having different uptakes of their consumed nutrition. It depends on lots of things. However, this would only allow fewer calories to be available, not more than are ingested. Obvs.