I honestly don't understand how people get fat. It's really not difficult to stay the same size. I've upped the amount of exercise I do slightly and lo and behold my trousers fit properly again. It's really not rocket science.
End of last decade figures, but still - 60.8 per cent of adults and 31.1 per cent of children in UK are overweight. It is quite clearly difficult for majority of the nation to stay the same size, stop being such a Richard about it, you aren't clever, you are just ignorant individual who jumped from size 32 with belt to 33 and back and thinks it's the same as moving down from 46 to 32. People are just so ignorant about weight loss sometimes, it's crazy.
norm said:
Whichever way you look at it you're eating enough to maintain your current bodyweight, if you go on calorie deficit like 300 less a day you will gradually lose weight. You don't have to change your diet, simply eat less.
Allow me to demonstrate (we'll have to work primarily in metrics because it's virtually impossible to find correct calculations in nautical miles, feet, stones, pounds, schillings and farthings.
Meet your average man - 38 male with an office job, commuting by car, 175cm tall (5f9), 120kg (18.9 stone) in weight, size 44 in waist.
This man requires minimum of 2500 calories/day to maintain his weight. This isn't a given, because I am exactly that weight and height and age, and on strict MyFitnessPal calculators, I can barely maintain my weight with 2200 calories a day. But let's go with official figures:
- 2500 calories to maintain his 120kg weight
- 2000 calories/day to lose 0.5 kg (over 1 pound) per week
- 1500 calories/day to lose 1 kg (2.2 pounds) per week
This is all easy so far. Our Mr.Average won't do hardcore 1kg a week loss, because he would most likely collapse on 1500 calories a day. 1500 calories is 200g bag of peanuts. Not that our Mr.Average would be eating peanuts on his diet, but just try to imagine what 1500 calories is in fatty routine. Medium bag of peanuts. Single English breakfast. Small Domino's Pizza of meaty type. Tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. One of the above.
In step one we will take our 120kg man down half way - to 100kg (15.7 stone). Our Mr.Average therefore will do the 2000 calorie diet, to lose half a kg a week. That way he can have small pizza and a soup to get him through the day. Should be easy enough, if two light meals a day and enough calories for a latte and kitkat inbetween. He will need this kitkat and latte, because by the simplest of maths, first stage, shedding 20kg will take him 40 weeks.
Some of you will say he could stay on 2500 calorie diet and run for 3 miles at a good pace every day. Except he won't, because
a) 175cm man with 120kg of fat, not muscle would do incredible damage to his joints and maybe even bones trying to run for 3 miles. I get pain in my tibias if I try to run for more than few minutes for example. It is a funny sight though, so he might lose some weight loling if you give him a mirror on threadmill.
b) WTF has time to run for an hour every day in 21st century? Hipsters, adrenaline junkies and company directors. Not fatties with sitting jobs.
Now, one would imagine, 40 weeks later Mr Average will emerge 20kg (3.1 stone) lighter, much happier and ready for stage two and shedding next 20kg, except...
... there is an error in ad hoc maths. Because shedding weight is not linear. It's a curve.
If at weight of 120kg Mr Average needs 2500 calories a day to maintain weight and 2000 calories a day to lose 0.5 kg a week, then 20-24 weeks later give or take:
@ 110kg he needs to go down to 1900 calories a day to maintain weight loss of 0.5kg week
@ 100kg he needs to reach 1750 calories a day to keep shedding weight at the same rate
@ 90kg it's already 1650 calories a day to maintain weight loss
And finally - optimistically 2 years later, weighting in at healthy 80kg (12.6 stone) and with the last 6 months of it spent eating equivalent of a single Big Mac large meal as entire days worth he will have to live on 2000 calories a day, one meal less than his original diet plan FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE, just to maintain the target weight, his 36 inches waistline and not gain anything back.
The amount of exercise you would have to "up" daily routine of a man who's 44 in waist to get him back to 32 in the same time would be what - 10 mile marathon a day?
The reason why 90% of fat people, myself included don't succeed with dieting, is because the process is incredibly long, it involves giving up EVERYTHING you live for (I live for nuts and cheese, both of which cannot return into my life ever if I want to be 76kg again), it's brain frying tiresome, full of mucky, bad tasting foods with weird textures served in small portions at irritably rare intervals and at the end of it,
you just cannot go back to your life. But it's the only way to do it. Fat man cannot run, cannot truly exercise and shouldn't really gain weight in muscle as, although it's a good thing, it defeats the purpose of calorie per kg balanced weight loss plan. So diet, is the preferred way. And dieting for such lengths of time is the most unsustainable process ever.
