I purposefully refrained from saying you did not know you were stating an hypothesis. I said, "You have posted your hypotheses. You have not posted conclusions supported by evidence. Lots of people don't understand the difference."
I'm not sure I'm following you... you said: "Do you have any hypotheses as to why so few people are able to just eat right and exercise?"
But in reviewing your post, the words, "I imagine" are not in it.
Maybe you missed it in this
post
While a number of declarations are. Here is the full post
emphasis mine) I recognize you noted there is biology involved. I'm not condemning everything you've said. I'm trying to call attention to all the declarations in this thread telling people all they need to do is [xyz] while those declarations are not supported by any scientific evidence.
I did not know that exercise and healthy eating were not supported by the evidence nor did I know that willpower was a complete illusion.
How do you think the few that are able to stay exceptionally fit do it?
We tend to recognize one needs science to draw conclusions about astronomy or geology. But when it comes to the things more common in our daily lives people are more likely to draw conclusions based on "common sense". The problem arises when that common sense is wrong. It isn't always wrong, but when it comes to matters of health, there are a lot of common sense conclusions floating around and people are often very quick to make declarations of fact when the evidence doesn't actually support the facts.
Yep. I'm not offering anything more than common sense and experience. In fact, if you would have prefaced your question "Do you have any hypotheses as to why so few people are able to just eat right and exercise?" and included "please cite research" I would have answered "no".
I think we are talking past each other a bit. I recognize that we have both the biological drive(s) and the willpower to override them with limited success. I did say: factors are different for different people.
I'm trying to get people to make a paradigm shift in how they view willpower when it comes to the biological drive to maintain one's weight. This is what the evidence supports in weight loss science. The evidence supports that when your body senses weight loss it craves calories just as you crave oxygen when you hold your breath. This biological drive to increase your calorie intake and decrease your metabolic rate (also not totally under conscious control) is much more than just want, desire, will power, or however you want to describe it.
I can see that. I agree with you to a great extent, but I hope you don't think that willpower or desire is not a factor at all. Ideally, people hit their target body weight/composition and then they change their approach to maintaining rather than losing weight (maybe even gaining weight in lean muscle mass).
If they can get to that point, is the biological drive still operating with the same intensity? Does it ever stop or do you just keep wanting more and more?
Nevertheless, after reading Badly Shaved Monkey pointing out what Steve001 wrote, I re-read the OP question. I certainly assumed there was a desire to "lose weight" or "lose fat" or "get in shape" or what have you.
It was my mistake.
I've not objected to your advice. I just point out that there were a couple unsupported declarations in it that would be best if you could cite some data these methods were effective.
It turns out with weight loss diets, be it more fat, less carbs, balanced, small meals, water before meals... you name it, none of these diets have been shown to be consistently better than one another. You can find some research to support each, but that is likely the placebo effect of being in the study, not the diet itself. And none of the diets result in many people obtaining sustained weight loss. In fact, lots of people who do lose weight gain more back when that biological drive to consume calories kicks in. It is not a myth that one risks gaining more weight than one loses with dieting.
If it were the diet which resulted in effective weight loss, one would expect to see one working better than the others. Now health wise, smaller portions and a balanced diet are supportable suggestions. As is increasing one's exercise in most cases. But whether these actions result in sustained weight loss is another matter.
I see what you are saying and I agree. My only real suggestion on how to achieve better looking, healthier body was what you wrote above (in bold).
I go through spells where I change eating and exercise habits. I like to drink wine and eat good food. Recently, I got caught up in something that took a lot of my time and that was very frustrating and for 6 months I slipped back into doing what I knew was going backwards for me health wise (that is if you really count the loss of a visible 6pack and the small amount of liver and brain damage that resulted)
Point is, I know I am just as susceptible to what you are describing. In my case -- the biological drive for fats, sugars, alcohol combined with laziness on the exercise front.
