Eat Less, Move more!! - why is it so difficult for people? (vitamin, carbohydrate)

[tigerlillydownunder]

Originally Posted by AnonChick

I know this is really hoakey sounding, and totally unscientific. But I caught a few episodes of Ruby last year, and she said something that's very appropriate to this topic. She was at a party, and people were trying to get her to have "just a taste" of this or that or the other thing. They weren't "enablers" so much as they really didn't understand what she was going through. And she said that she has a -deadly- allergy to cheesecake, and pecan pie, and fried chicken, and all the other things she has to completely eliminate from her diet because of her overeating addiction problem.

She said if she thought of her problem as a deadly allergy that will kill her, she can handle not eating the things better. She missed eating these foods terribly and wanted SO much to have "just a taste." But she knew if she had "just a taste" it wouldn't stop there. She'd have just a taste, and since she already did that, she might as well have "just another nibble." And then "just a smidge." And just like an alcoholic, she'd be off the wagon, eating two whole fried chickens, half a pecan pie, a plate of chocolate cupcakes, etc. etc. like she used to do.

And just like many addicts have to accept, is that "just a little will never be enough." You can have none, or you can have enough to kill you. Those are the options when you are an overeater, or a drug addict, or an alcoholic.

I completely agree with all of that, especially that last bit! I'm a recovering food and eating addict. The only thing I think is different between food/eating addiction and drug or alcohol addiction is that you have to eat, and there are so many things that can trigger a binge, not just sugar or whatever you're particular food drug happens to be. It's an increibly difficult thing. Not saying that quitting heroin or whatever is a walk in the park--not by any means! But somehow I just think it's a little harder to manage your addiction when you're forced out of biological need to participate in the activity that is actually the vehicle of an "episode". I surmise it to handing a loaded syringe to a recovery heroin junkie, and saying "Look, I know you're not on this stuff, but could you just hold this for a second while I prep to shoot up.........surely you remember how great this stuff is!" Well, that is me and soooooooo many different foods. I am oh so slowly learning to be able to be around them and not have them. I don't dare try to have them as just treats, because that treat will turn into an almighty binge-nami, and I'm afraid that I'll relapse. I am scared to death that I will lose my collective mind and that's all she wrote folks!

Well, that's me when people pressure to have 'just a taste', 'just a tiny bit' "oh a bit won't hurt you'. Ironically, the people who are the worst of the pushers are the ones who harped on you the hardest about your weight to start with.!!! I personally think it's a sub-conscious way to sabotage someone, but that is just a hypothesis. Can't work out a better theory.

So now, people in my life who are known pushers (mostly family and close family friends) know that the price of "doing business with me" is that they are not allowed to pressure, pester, suggest, comment on, talk about, discuss, debate, criticise, praise or otherwise interfere with what I am or am not eating, how much, how often, when, where, how, why, how fast, how slow etc.......
I come from a long line of feeders; food = love but is also a punishment or a torture device, depending on the situation. I have told them that under no circumstances will I tolerate it anymore, and that the first thing they say or do that I interpret as getting too vested in my dietary habits (because I'm no longer interested in what anyone else thinks)will have dire consequences; that if I even think they're merely eyeballing my plate, it will lead to my quick exit from their company and they shall have it no more after that. We're done, finished, end of story.

Harsh much? YES. I have had some knock down drag out fights over this in recent months, but ultimately they know I mean business. It's entirely necessary for me to stay the course and maintain my recovering status, because I have a problem, a real true problem, and just because I'm no longer enormous, or don't have track marks or I'm not in liver or kidney failure doesn't make it any less a dangerous and potentially deadly problem. Losing weight doesn't mean I'm "cured" of overweight/obesity. It just means I'm managing it, and to manage it I need to stick to a management plan. As long as no one f**ks with my management plan, I'm good, but one small spanner in the works, and it would unravel all the hard work I've put in. I know that. I know what my limits are, what my triggers are, what I'm capable of and what I can and can't handle. And people need to trust and respect that about me. If they truly value me, they will leave it alone and find something else to focus on. I'm fortunate, that as yet, I've only cut one family member and 2 long time friends completely out of my life. They had their chance, they blew it. I'm not letting them blow mine.

Well that's my point of view anyway.

[goodlife36]

Originally Posted by Pierce2011

I'm glad you brought this up OP. A couple weeks ago I ran into a good friend of mine that I haven't seen in about 2 yrs. She just got the Lap band surgery because she was 300 lbs! She was so excited about it and had to explain how it all worked. When she got to the part about being so depressed that she couldn't have her 32 oz coke anymore....that's when my eyes glazed over. She could've pushed me over with a feather. She went on and on about food she couldn't have TEMPORARILY!

She didn't learn a damn thing about nutrition, portion control, exercise, NOTHING! She got a quick fix to lose weight, but the minute that ends she's going to gain it all back and then some more on top of that. Her kids and her husband are all obese as well. After we said our goodbyes I just felt so sorry for her. Yeah, sure she dropped 30 lbs almost instantly, but so what? It won't last unless she learns how to eat less and exercise more and makes her family change their ways as well. Plain and simple.

I know two people who have had that surgery and gained all of the weight back. I think many of them look terrible. Isn't muscle tone important?

[Pierce2011]

Originally Posted by goodlife36

I know two people who have had that surgery and gained all of the weight back. I think many of them look terrible. Isn't muscle tone important?

I agree, they do look terrible. I also worked with a really big lady who was on that diet "Thin for Life". We worked in a huge building, so I didn't see her often. I walked right past her and didn't even recognize her. She lost a whole person!

However, she didn't look right. Remember "Fat Bastard" in the Austin Powers movies? She looked like that after "FB" lost the weight. She never worked out, so she had flabby, loose skin hanging from her body.

Oh, BTW, she gained all the weight back after she quit the diet. And even though she got fat again, she looked better.

[tigerlillydownunder]

Originally Posted by Pierce2011

I agree, they do look terrible. I also worked with a really big lady who was on that diet "Thin for Life". We worked in a huge building, so I didn't see her often. I walked right past her and didn't even recognize her. She lost a whole person!

However, she didn't look right. Remember "Fat Bastard" in the Austin Powers movies? She looked like that after "FB" lost the weight. She never worked out, so she had flabby, loose skin hanging from her body.

Oh, BTW, she gained all the weight back after she quit the diet. And even though she got fat again, she looked better.

I dont' look as bad as "Fat Bastard" (my neck doesn't "look like a vagina"! hahaha) but I do have a lot of loose skin (my arms and my abdomin are really yuck). It doesnt' quite hang, but I am very flabby. I told my huband the other day that when I hold my arms out I feel like a flying squirrel, and when I do The Plank at the gym, I look down the neck of my tee and it looks like I have mother dog teats. But I did and do work out. I have seen my doctor about getting a referral to a cosmetic surgeon to get some of it removed, but as I'm trying to relocate back to Victoria, there's no point in seeing a CS in Western Australia and then have to find another one in Vic. **sigh** I will just have to put up with the Sharpei suit for a while longer!

In clothes I look fine, but naked **shudder** I think I look a mess, like a train wreck. It's very............deflating to the ego. Actually deflated is what I look like! lol My GP has said she doesn't believe I stand much chance of it bouncing back. My skin was just too stretched for too long, plus I'm fair skinned, I have a lot of stretch marks (which are just scars of broken skin 'elastic' really), poor skin elasticity is in my genes, and I'm pushing 4o. I'm never going to wear a bikini......and I'm really fine with that. I just would like to be able to wear other things that are more revealing than I'm comfortable wearing at the moment (caps sleeves, shorter shorts, a bathing suit without a tee over it......). The scalpel is probably my only chance of looking "normal". Of course, then I will have the whole surgical scar issues (I scar pretty badly, takes ages to lighten but never disappears fully), so I'm just really trading one thing for another. So yeah........I lost the weight, but "gained" heaps of flab, and am going to be covered in purple marks.

Oh well. Better thin and flabby, than fat and firm......I guess??? At least my health markers are all good now.

[Ohiogirl81]

Tigerlily, have you tried Vitamin E oil at all? It's not a magic bullet, but it will improve your skin elasticity some.

[SamIamtooB]

None of you are right and I'll bet most of you are fit. The old "eat less, exercise more" is simply nonsence for all of us who are genetically inclined to be fat. We can't lose it the same way you do but we CAN lose it if we go low carb way of eating. Sugar and fat isn't the problem for us... it's carbs. Even the carbs in so-called "healthy" foods such as whole grain and orange juice. Our bodies turn ALL carbs into stores of fat that the body will never get around to burning because we keep feeding it carbs. So quit putting us down and instead, when someone fails as simple "eating less and exercising more" suggest they try a low carb diet.

[Joseph Marnix]

Originally Posted by SamIamtooB

None of you are right and I'll bet most of you are fit. The old "eat less, exercise more" is simply nonsence for all of us who are genetically inclined to be fat. We can't lose it the same way you do but we CAN lose it if we go low carb way of eating. Sugar and fat isn't the problem for us... it's carbs. Even the carbs in so-called "healthy" foods such as whole grain and orange juice. Our bodies turn ALL carbs into stores of fat that the body will never get around to burning because we keep feeding it carbs. So quit putting us down and instead, when someone fails as simple "eating less and exercising more" suggest they try a low carb diet.

Very true, some people are have insulin spikes / issues when carbs are introduced in their system.

But facts are: calories in means weight gain, calories burned means weight loss.

It is an individual thing as far as how one's body burn calories. If I have understand correctly, the body's process of burning calories is in this order:
1. Eaten carbs
2. Eaten fat
3. Eaten protein
4. Stored carbs and fat from body fat.
5. Lean body muscle.

There is "little to no easy and fast way to lose weight fast" in a healthy manner because individual body has their own metabolic rate in using up calories--so it is an individual trial and error process.

The first easy step is to eat less calories than one's daily calorie needs. So the weight loss is at the rate of 3500 calories deficit for a 1 pound loss. In theory, if you eat 500 calories less per day, you should lose 1 lbs every 7 days.

But that is just pure weight. There is also the LBM (Lean Body Mass (muscle/bone) and Body Fat Percent.

Suppose person A and B are both 200 lbs.
Person A is 30% body fat.
Person B is 15% body fat.

Person B will have different calories per day to maintain that 15% body fat than person A.

The good news for person A, it is easier to lose 10% body fat going from 30% down to 20%, than going from 15% to 5% body fat.

[ladybug07]

Originally Posted by SamIamtooB

None of you are right and I'll bet most of you are fit. The old "eat less, exercise more" is simply nonsence for all of us who are genetically inclined to be fat. We can't lose it the same way you do but we CAN lose it if we go low carb way of eating. Sugar and fat isn't the problem for us... it's carbs. Even the carbs in so-called "healthy" foods such as whole grain and orange juice. Our bodies turn ALL carbs into stores of fat that the body will never get around to burning because we keep feeding it carbs. So quit putting us down and instead, when someone fails as simple "eating less and exercising more" suggest they try a low carb diet.

You can go low carb and I can guarantee you will gain it back. I personally know people who have done this (including family). Our bodies need equal amounts of healthy fats, carbs and protiens. Complex carbs fuel our body.

[suzy_q2010]

Originally Posted by Joseph Marnix

Very true, some people are have insulin spikes / issues when carbs are introduced in their system.

But facts are: calories in means weight gain, calories burned means weight loss.

It is an individual thing as far as how one's body burn calories. If I have understand correctly, the body's process of burning calories is in this order:
1. Eaten carbs
2. Eaten fat
3. Eaten protein
4. Stored carbs and fat from body fat.
5. Lean body muscle.

There is "little to no easy and fast way to lose weight fast" in a healthy manner because individual body has their own metabolic rate in using up calories--so it is an individual trial and error process.

The first easy step is to eat less calories than one's daily calorie needs. So the weight loss is at the rate of 3500 calories deficit for a 1 pound loss. In theory, if you eat 500 calories less per day, you should lose 1 lbs every 7 days.

But that is just pure weight. There is also the LBM (Lean Body Mass (muscle/bone) and Body Fat Percent.

Suppose person A and B are both 200 lbs.
Person A is 30% body fat.
Person B is 15% body fat.

Person B will have different calories per day to maintain that 15% body fat than person A.

The good news for person A, it is easier to lose 10% body fat going from 30% down to 20%, than going from 15% to 5% body fat.

You have it mostly right.

As far as calories to maintain basal metabolism are concerned, you want enough calories from fat and carbs to prevent burning your own muscle protein for energy. Most of the time, your body will be burning carbs (from diet and from glycogen stores in the liver) first. Then dietary fat (and protein, if necessary) and then stored fat will be converted to glycogen. If you take in enough protein, then you will not burn your own muscle protein.

If you consume no less than about 1200 calories per day for a woman or 1700 per day for a man, you protect muscle.

The basal metabolic rate will be higher for someone who is more muscular. Muscle burns calories. Fat just sits there.

Thats the reason that weight training can help you lose weight. It's not so much the calories you burn while you are exercising as it is the increased number of calories you burn even while you are at rest if you increase muscle mass.

[suzy_q2010]

Originally Posted by SamIamtooB

None of you are right and I'll bet most of you are fit. The old "eat less, exercise more" is simply nonsence for all of us who are genetically inclined to be fat. We can't lose it the same way you do but we CAN lose it if we go low carb way of eating. Sugar and fat isn't the problem for us... it's carbs. Even the carbs in so-called "healthy" foods such as whole grain and orange juice. Our bodies turn ALL carbs into stores of fat that the body will never get around to burning because we keep feeding it carbs. So quit putting us down and instead, when someone fails as simple "eating less and exercising more" suggest they try a low carb diet.

Sugar is carbohydrate.

It is not true that all carbs turn into fat. They only do so if you exceed the amount you need to maintain your weight. Carbs are burned directly from glucose in the blood and from glycogen stored in the liver. If you max out your glycogen stores, then the excess becomes fat, as does excess fat and even excess protein (though most of us do not eat massive amounts of protein).

You can decrease total calorie intake by decreasing any single macronutrient or by decreasing them all.

If you decrease total calories below what you use for activity and resting metabolism, you will lose weight.