Dieting and Exercise Aren't Effective Fat Loss Tools

reply to post by Spirit Warrior 11:11


Well, at least you admitted to reacting to the title.

Dieting literally means restricting calories. And exercise, to most people, is to achieve a negative caloric balance. Neither of these things work in the long term.

Thanks for the comments, though.

reply to post by DevolutionEvolvd


Agree with everything said.

I just finished my exercise routine and thought I'd come back here.

A lot of overweight people keep saying stuff like "I hardly eat anything".

Well, would it surprise you if that's EXACTLY why you're metabolism might be slow and you're gaining weight?

You guys always talk about your "skinny friends eating so much".

Well maybe compared to you they do. And just maybe, you eat next to nothing all day, further slowing your metabolism down to almost a grinding halt.

So many people have been trained to believe so many myths.

You wanna know why Americans are a fat culture? I've come to the conclusion that it's because we're STUPID.

We have thousands of different theories and the ones that really WORK take too much effort for lazy people who think they can eat anything under the sun and be fine. Or they just blame it on 'heredity' or "big bones" or whatever reason under the Sun.

Your weight loss is YOUR responsibility. Your metabolism is generally the same as 99.9% of all other humans which have survived evolution for tens of thousands of years. Our bodies mostly all operate the same way, it''s a SCIENTIFIC fact.

A few people might have certain weaknesses, a tendency to eat certain foods more, to gain weight in certain areas more....but overall we all possess the same BIOLOGICAL mechanics. If you think you don't, then you might want to check if you have ALIEN blood.

If you want to make excuses for yourself, fine.

Or you can take a blood test to see if you have an imbalance and if so, work to regulate it.

If not, YOU have the responsibility to do what you can to educate yourself about EVERYTHING you put into your body. Down to every ingredient and calorie.

It's your call

Originally posted by DevolutionEvolvd

Originally posted by jpkmets
That's a really well-done job OP. Had to read it twice just to make sure I got my head around it, and when I did it seemed really intuitive.

But my question then is -- what is the practical solution? Insulin rises and falls as a response to blood sugar, right? I mean at least that is how I understand it to work. To lose weight then, a person should try to keep the blood sugar stable I would think - does one do that by eating less sugary and carb-intensive foods? Or do I have that wrong
? Any practical tools for applying the theory would be very interesting.

Thanks!

And yes, the idea is to avoid foods that either spike insulin and/or sustain high insulin levels. Breads, sugars and pastas.....stuff like that.

Of course, there are other foods that have a negative effect on insulin sensitivity, which will cause hyperinsulinemia. Trans fats being the worst of them.

edit on 22-9-2010 by DevolutionEvolvd because: (no reason given)

I can hopefully back up this up - I have been over weight by about 2 stone for 9 years (15 stone on the money) so I finally decided to change my lifestyle to lose weight and get healthy, I rather unwisely cut out all carbs eating mainly chicken and fish with salad. I lost a stone in about 4 weeks, but I noticed my energy levels drop quite a bit and I got easily annoyed/angry which is very out of character for me.. so went to the docs and she told me to eat smaller portions about 4 times a day with a proper balance across the food groups, with the added advice of eating as much fruit and salad as I fancied. So I regulated my diet out and now have more energy to go jogging or out on my bike etc and have lost an additional half a stone. I dropped the booze (red wine) not completely but a lot less than I might have had before and also dropped coffee - as a consequence my sleep pattern has flip flopped - I used to be a night owl crawling to bed at 1 - 2 am now I'm bushed by 10:30 -11 latest but wide awake by 5am.

I've even started drinking green tea which actually isn't that bad and makes a change from 'normal' tea - so overall I do feel better but the down side is you suddenly become aware what everyone else eats and how tired and stressed they look/act so you can become a bit of self righteous dick at times - so I have to remind myself to shut up but hey ho

So in summary - I cut out the starchy sugary part of my diet I lost weight but lost my energy and mind (to an extent) I also got very shaky if I left it too long between meals - I balanced my diet out so I got the benefit of better quality food and more energy to actually get off my bum and exercise now and then.. and overall feel better


Thanks OP for an interesting thread!

Originally posted by DevolutionEvolvd
reply to post by Spirit Warrior 11:11

 

Well, at least you admitted to reacting to the title.

Dieting literally means restricting calories. And exercise, to most people, is to achieve a negative caloric balance. Neither of these things work in the long term.

Thanks for the comments, though.

So if I wake up tomorrow and start eating donuts for breakfast... everything I have done before that is "restricting calories" in comparison.

And if I eat 4 donuts a day....and then cut my consumption to 2 a day.....I am literally 'dieting' (restricting calories).

Are you saying that doesn't work in the long term? What else do you suggest?

I just realized, after page six of this thread every other page is people repeating previous posts, just different people posting the exact same things. Just my simple observation.
I think this thread is about done.

Originally posted by Spirit Warrior 11:11


2) Eat multiple small meals per day. Large meals with large blocks of time in between will cause your metabolism to slow down, store more fat, make you more tired and lethargic. It is also much better for your body because it does not absorb all nutrients during digestion only a percentage. Eating smaller more frequent meals is not only better for digestive health, but you gain more nutrients via increased absorption.

Well, that's not how we evolved. Large meals followed by long fasts were quite typical. And, as it turns out, intermittent fasting is great.

Why do you think vegetarians are healthy.

I'm not even going there. The topic at hand here is caloric balance and hormonal influences on fat loss/gain.

6) Your body MUST have exercise.

For cardiovascular health, sure. For fat loss or weight management? Absolutely not.

reply to post by Prove_It_NOW


So you're agreeing with me now? I've been repeating throughout this thread what you've just said.

Originally posted by DevolutionEvolvd

Originally posted by Spirit Warrior 11:11


2) Eat multiple small meals per day. Large meals with large blocks of time in between will cause your metabolism to slow down, store more fat, make you more tired and lethargic. It is also much better for your body because it does not absorb all nutrients during digestion only a percentage. Eating smaller more frequent meals is not only better for digestive health, but you gain more nutrients via increased absorption.

Well, that's not how we evolved. Large meals followed by long fasts were quite typical. And, as it turns out, intermittent fasting is great.

Why do you think vegetarians are healthy.

I'm not even going there. The topic at hand here is caloric balance and hormonal influences on fat loss/gain.

6) Your body MUST have exercise.

For cardiovascular health, sure. For fat loss or weight management? Absolutely not.

You are kind of wrong. If you want to lose weight healthily you must exercise to burn calories and stored carbs. If you want to lose weight without exercise, you put your body into a catabolic state. That is very unhealthy and can lead to many health problems but, if that's what works for you... I guess the only way to find out is the hard way. Good luck.

What are your credentials, since you seem so knowledgeable, surely you must have some ?

haha a reason why people are fat conspiracy eh? People are overweight because they either have a medical condition which causes them to gain weight (from the medicatiton or the condition itself), or people simply don't burn more calories than they consume. It really is that simple.

I'm a college football player, my days consist of 6:30 morning weightlifting, 11:00 walking class (easy A) and then practice from 3-6. Throughout that day I consume 8 seperate meals (large meals!) and yet still cannot maintain weight.

This stems from, my metabolism being boosted by consistent eating, in to addition to the large majority of my meals containing protein. Also, from my morning weightlifting, my metabolism has been greatly boosted. The amount of calories you burn throughout the day is directly related to the amount of muscle in your body. Muscle burns about 30 calories an hour at rest, while fat burns nothing. So the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn daily even sitting at your desk.

From there I move into my walking class, which actually isn't a "cake walk", like many would assume. It is a class my football coach teaches, so I actually have to push myself (as much as one can push themselves from walking ). The reason why walking has helped me to lose weight is because walking is great for fat burning. Moderate exercise such as brisk walking burns more fat as fuel vs. high intensity exercise. The key is that you need to walk in the right heart rate zone and you need to walk at least for 45 minutes.

Then finally, football practice. 3 hours of trying to prove why you deserve a national championship, where a bunch of guy's whose job consist of coming to work in t-shirt and shorts scream at you over and over. Football for 3 hours burns around 1500 calories.

What has all of this lead to? Dramatic muscle increase, consistent fat loss, shedding pounds and bruises.
Now I understand that most people don't have 6 hours to committ to fitness, however I do believe that we all set aside time to eat so here's a couple tips from me to you. Eat more frequently throughout the day (at least a snack such as a granola bear in between meals). If you enjoy spicy foods, include them in your diet, this too will help you to boost your metabolism! Then, YOU NEED TO EXERCISE. I repeat YOU NEED TO EXERCISE. An hour of walking will truly make all the difference in the world, however you must push yourself. Gaining muscle will also result in increased metablosim.

Lastly, exercise benefits can be felt not only in weight loss, but in your overall perceptions of reality as well. Exercise releases endorphins in the brain, which gives you the sense of well-being through a natural-high"/

reply to post by DevolutionEvolvd

6) Your body MUST have exercise.

For cardiovascular health, sure. For fat loss or weight management? Absolutely not.

You must exercise! Why are you saying its unnecessary? If you do not use your muscle then you lose it, that is a fact! If you have no muscle you have no metabolism, that is a fact! if you have no metabolism you get fat, that is a fact!

Originally posted by DevolutionEvolvd
reply to post by Prove_It_NOW

 

So you're agreeing with me now? I've been repeating throughout this thread what you've just said.

Your thread is titled "Dieting and Exercise Aren't Effective Fat Loss Tools"...

If a person goes to Burger King 3 times a day and orders combo meals for a month they'll gain weight from excess caloric intake...

If they STOP for a month...according to your wording above...they are 'dieting'(restricting calories)...

I'm asking if it's your position that THAT doesn't work.

reply to post by Prove_It_NOW


I'm really not going to use this thread to advise people on what to eat.

Yes, I'm saying that dieting originally meant "caloric restriction" and, no, it doesn't work in the long term.

Interestingly, the first term ever used for altering one's diet to lose fat was called Banting. It was based on the anecdotes of William Banting and his letter of corpulence.

William Banting (1797 – 16 March 1878),[1][2] was a formerly obese English undertaker who was the first to popularise a weight loss diet based on limiting intake of refined and easily-digestible carbohydrates.[3] He undertook his dietary changes at the suggestion of Dr. William Harvey, who in turn had learnt of this type of diet, but in the context of diabetes management, from attending lectures in Paris by a Mons. Bernard.[3][4]

In 1863, Banting wrote a booklet called Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public which contained the particular plan for the diet he followed. It was written in the form of an open letter in the form of a personal testimonial. Banting accounted all of his unsuccessful fasts, diets, spa and exercise regimes in his past, then described the dietary change which finally had worked for him, following the advice of a physician. His own diet was four meals per day, consisting of meat, greens, fruits, and dry wine. The emphasis was on avoiding sugar, saccharine matter, starch, beer, milk and butter. Banting’s pamphlet was popular for years to come, and would be used as a model for modern diets.[4][5] Initially, he published the booklet at his personal expense. The self-published edition was so popular that he determined to sell it to the general public. The third and later editions were published by Harrison, London. The pamphlet's popularity was such that the question "do you bant?" referred to his method, and eventually to dieting in general.[3] Banting's booklet remains in print as of 2007

The history of dietary science is very interesting if you take the time to review it.

reply to post by nickendres



Holy CRAP someone gets it.

Originally posted by nickendres
haha a reason why people are fat conspiracy eh? People are overweight because they either have a medical condition which causes them to gain weight (from the medicatiton or the condition itself), or people simply don't burn more calories than they consume. It really is that simple.

You pretty much nailed it on the head there. THANK YOU! The problem is is to help these people find a way to burn the calories. Everones body is different so one thing may work better for one person than another. Exceptions to the rule, of course, are people with medical conditions but even a proper nutritional diet and supplementation may help, not cure, these people.

edit on 23-9-2010 by kimish because: edit

reply to post by DevolutionEvolvd



Wait, I think we are having a misunderstanding on the semantics.

Are we talking about "starvation" vs. decreasing your caloric intake versus it's expenditure?

Because one doesn't work while the other is PROVEN.

Originally posted by Prove_It_NOW
reply to post by nickendres

 

Holy CRAP someone gets it.

All this has been discussed at the beginning of the post. But, yes, he pretty much nailed it on the head. Not much more room for debate here in my opinion.

Originally posted by tommyb0y

You must exercise! Why are you saying its unnecessary? If you do not use your muscle then you lose it, that is a fact! If you have no muscle you have no metabolism, that is a fact! if you have no metabolism you get fat, that is a fact!

You're really perverting biochemistry there. If you have no muscle...you're dead. Aside from daily bodily movements to get around, actively running/jogging/lifting weights is not necessary for fat loss. The lab science confirms the observations that support this hypothesis.

reply to post by DevolutionEvolvd


I don't think he meant lose ALL the muscle. Everyone knows you can't do that. Stay level headed my friend.

reply to post by nickendres


Congratulations. You're an athlete, unlike the majority of individuals. Once again, another post that completely ignores the points I've made regarding energy balance and hormonal influences.