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Fat Logic

theprestige said:
Okay. So this year I lost sixty pounds. I did it by by eating less and exercising more.
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What was your strategy for eating less if I may ask? Most people don't know how much they eat, so yes, I would say that's a bit of an oversimplification to simply say you ate less.
 
Cain said:
Do not keep junk food in your house.
Soda counts as junk food.
Stop watching television commercials. No, stop watching commercial television.
Ideally, get rid of your television.
Spend some of the new found time you're not watching the idiot box to exercise.
Incorporate resistance training to build muscle.
It's OK to eat like crap on occasion, but don't become a person who believes s/he is allowed to have a sugary treat every single damn day. You're not. Indulge when you're out with family or friends, but you shouldn't be shoveling ice cream on a regular Monday afternoon.
Nobody said it would be easy, but for a lot of people it only takes a few days to break the salt/sugar cravings.
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What if I'm employed as an ice cream shoveler?
 
I'm astounded with this thread. Why is controversial that dietary habits affect weight, and that the individual controls these habits?
 
Cain said:
Do not keep junk food in your house.
Soda counts as junk food.
Stop watching television commercials. No, stop watching commercial television.
Ideally, get rid of your television.
Spend some of the new found time you're not watching the idiot box to exercise.
Incorporate resistance training to build muscle.
It's OK to eat like crap on occasion, but don't become a person who believes s/he is allowed to have a sugary treat every single damn day. You're not. Indulge when you're out with family or friends, but you shouldn't be shoveling ice cream on a regular Monday afternoon.
Nobody said it would be easy, but for a lot of people it only takes a few days to break the salt/sugar cravings.
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This seems very simple to me. It's also very much in line with what I've done to achieve my own weight loss goals. Except for the TV part. I still watch a lot of TV--I just make a point of trying to take a break from TV every day to exercise for 30-40 minutes instead.

I haven't read the next page of the thread yet, but I imagine you'll get a lot of replies saying your prescription isn't that simple. Well, it was that simple for me. So maybe either I'm the special snowflake complicated outlier, or everybody else is.
 
cornsail said:
What was your strategy for eating less if I may ask? Most people don't know how much they eat, so yes, I would say that's a bit of an oversimplification to simply say you ate less.
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My strategy was to use Weight Watchers' point tracking system. They've compiled a vast catalog of foods, and abstracted their overall nutritional value into point scores. They've combined this with a point calculator, and made the whole thing available as a web/mobile app. You can plug in foods at will, create favorites and recipes, etc. Instead of weighing all your food, and counting all your calories directly, you can focus on foods with low point scores.

The WW system allocates 49 points per week, plus a number of points based on your weight. The more you weigh, the more 'bonus' points you get each day. You also can earn more 'bonus' points by logging your exercise (the WW tracker integrates with my fitbit, making that part really easy).

The more weight you lose, the less points you have to eat each day. I'm reached a stage now where, to keep eating the same amount, I need to be really diligent about getting my exercise every day.

The way it's worked for me is by helping me to make informed choices about what I eat, and by helping maintain a consistent record of what food I've really eaten and what exercise I've really done.

I figured out right away that the only way to eat my fill each day, while staying within my points, was to cut out bread and potatoes almost completely. Meat is a pretty good value for its point cost, and all fruits and vegetables are free.

What this works out to for me is, lunch and dinner is lots of greens, some meat, and a little fat. Lunch is almost always chicken salad with dressing. Dinner is a variety of dishes that all vary on the theme of vegetables stirred in soy sauce and mustard, and some kind of meat. Depending on my mood and what's available, I get my oil at dinner time from a slice of cheese or from cooking with oil.

I've stuck with this same basic menu for several months now, and I'm comfortable making minor substitutions without bothering to rescore or recalculate my consumption.

Breakfast is a little bit different. I eat 2-3 eggs (really good point score!), some oatmeal, and some peanut butter. I also try to have a couple snacks during the day--a quarter cup of yogurt and a handful of almonds. This manages my hunger and keeps my metabolism revved between main meals.

So that's my eating strategy in a nutshell: Lots of veggies, some protein, a little oil. Hardly ever any bread or starch. One side effect is that it's helped me to cut down on my drinking, since alchohol really cuts into my point budget. I can either eat a healthy and fulfilling dinner, or have another beer. Or I can do both, and then exercise that much more to burn it off.

I do still eat luxuriously on occasion. Especially now that my body and mind are in a place of better habits. I can go to a party on the weekend, eat lasagna, eat cake, drink heavily, etc, because I know that my body will burn those calories instead of storing them. I know that the next day I'll get right back into my regular eating program. I know that I'm doing enough exercise to burn the surplus over time.
 
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Haggis. If that's all you have to eat, you will lose weight by eating less.

Thought Lutefisk might work as well for some.
 
theprestige said:
I haven't read the next page of the thread yet, but I imagine you'll get a lot of replies saying your prescription isn't that simple.
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What makes you think people will say his suggestions aren't simple? They are, other than the TV one (simple for me, but wouldn't be for everyone). They aren't suggestions that would result in weight loss for everyone who follows them, but they probably would for some.

Well, it was that simple for me.
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What you described sounded different (and less simple) than what Cain described.

So maybe either I'm the special snowflake complicated outlier, or everybody else is.
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That is an odd dichotomy. Is anyone ITT saying that no one (or almost no one) is capable of losing weight?
 
casebro said:
Question for Buddha: How much has your weight varied? You have a strong opinion, give us your back story.
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The biggest point of the OP is that anecdotes and self reporting are not valid sources of data.

But since you ask nicely, I tested things (for myself, not as universal) earlier this year. First came knowledge that these fat logic myths were myths. Then behavior change based on CICO and TDEE calculations. As a materialist, it is a challenging situation.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
That's not true. My male dog didn't overeat until he was neutered. I used to leave dry food out all the time, now I can't. The female remains the same weight regardless of the food supply.
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Good point, and I will add more to it: I have 3 cats, all the same age, all raised in our household for the same amount of time. They get the same play times and the same access to food. Two of my cats are fit. The third is a fatty-fatty-boomba-latty. Clearly, two of my cats can manage to not overeat... but clearly, there's also more to it than only calories in vs calories out.
 
Emily's Cat said:
Good point, and I will add more to it: I have 3 cats, all the same age, all raised in our household for the same amount of time. They get the same play times and the same access to food. Two of my cats are fit. The third is a fatty-fatty-boomba-latty. Clearly, two of my cats can manage to not overeat... but clearly, there's also more to it than only calories in vs calories out.
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Do they all eat the same amount of food?
 
rustypouch said:
Have you read this thread, or the Nicole Arbours one?

There are several posters who seem to believe that a person's weight is outside of their control, and that willpower isn't enough.
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I have read this thread. I don't recall anyone claiming that dietary habits don't affect weight or that individuals don't control dietary habits, but it's possible I missed it (or forgot).
 
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