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I was always real tiny. I started to gain weight when me and my DH started dating. We always are out and I didn’t exercise as much. Then I had 2 kids in 2 years. A few years later I went into early menopause which makes losing weight EXTREMELY difficult! It’s s struggle. I’m not obese, but overweight. I’m currently working on eating better and taking time for myself to exert. In the last month I have lost 7lbs, which is fantastic, but I would like to lose at least 15 more!
Yeah, if someone were to consume just 1,000 calories a day and walk 3 miles, in addition to their normal everyday activity, I can almost guarantee they will lose a few pounds every week.
For the more adventurous types that have 6 months of free time and want to do "Extreme Makeover" trail hiking edition, just thru hike the entire Appalachian Trail (2,200 miles) or Pacific Crest Trail (2,659 miles) or the Continental Divide Trail (3,100 miles) and I can guarantee that you will weigh less at the end than you did at the beginning of the hike and that's even with consuming 3k-4k calories a day!
My 50+yo brother did the entire Appalachian Trail two years ago! He lost 50 lbs! Never looked that overweight, tall and carried it well but overweight nonetheless! Just WOW on the difference it made!
This. I always ate healthy, mostly, and exercised regularly. Started using loseit.com app and realized that the oatmeal, brown rice, grilled chicken and broccoli add up when you don't count how much of it you're eating, especially when you add the occasional slice of pizza. Used the app faithfully and down 63 lbs in 2 years.
It is some of the smallest things that are the diet killers.....particularly condiments. Tracking everything I ate for a few weeks was a real eye-opener. A pound of raw broccoli is only 153 calories. Add just ONE tablespoon of butter (or Earth Balance, which I would use as a vegan) and you have added 100 calories. It helps to work on appreciating the natural flavor of food instead of piling on butter, sauces and dressings.
Food industry's too powerful. We've managed to put regs on the tobacco industry, but they keep throwing their money around to maintain their own interests. If folks still think its ridiculous to put regulations on sugar, just keep in mind that big tobacco spent decades trying to convince us that smoking was perfectly fine, and that women should appreciate giving birth to underweight babies
That said, American's need further education and reminders. That alone wasn't enough, as people still smoke despite knowing the risks. However, at the number of smokers has gone down, and at least American society overall is making more informed choices. They did teach us about the 4 food groups in school, but it's tough to compete with junk food when they have marketing budgets and the many multi-Billions, while advocacy groups for fresh fruits and veggies only mere millions
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Originally Posted by TamaraSavannah
Fork? As in the instrument used to eat food?
I was at the Chinese Buffet the other night and unlike many people eating with forks, I was eating with chop sticks. I always do at the Chinese Buffet. Eating with chop sticks does slow down one's consumption.
I'm more proficient with chopsticks I suspect if the same people have at it long enough, they too will end up eating more!
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Originally Posted by joee5
Our food in America is pretty bad. Go figure that you can get a burger for a dollar yet a salad will cost 5 bucks. Too many nowadays in a rush they opt for the cheaper burger. Also so many lazy people nowadays as well. Take for instance mowing your lawn. How many do it themselves versus hiring a landscaping service?
I prep my own food, it takes time but I know what my body is ingesting.
We've gotten more than 1 threats of the apocalyptic $12 big mac if MW were to be raised. Seriously, why do we still care about this? They ramble on and on like how McDonalds is some staple of the American diet. A $12 big mac is just what this country needs to get a kick in their caboose. Unless you're a poor college student strapped for time, homeless, or in some remote area where you have no other options for hot food, you really should never be eating at FF anyways. If you have a kitchen and a supermarket nearby, even an amateur chef can cook meals that are a lot better for you (mind you, not that FF was a high bar to begin with).
Don't make it any more complicated than it really is:
Nixon (early '70s) tried to buy farm state votes with tax money: he started the direct payment programs that benefitted farmers for years + the coincidental "Green Revolution" of Borlaug greatly increased farm production. That kept food process low.
At the same time the USDA started promoting The Food Pyramid: more grains & less meat. American meat consumption has been on the decline ever since, while junk foods (carbs) have been plentiful & inexpensive.
The real physiological function of insulin is to turn carbs in the diet into fat and to prevent burning fat for energy production. More carbs = more obesity.
While exercise enters into it, it's not an important part in obesity-- b*lls out activity for one hour only burns 450 cals; one Big Mac is 600 cals. You can't exercise yourself into skinny-- you gotta eat less carbs.
So even though she is happily and effectively losing weight...after trying just exercise, that's JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH?
Losing weight is good but the problem might be that she is getting unneeded sugar or other unnatural food additives that might've been added by the food companies. So maybe she is losing weight now but will get diabetes or other disease later. or an addiction to these smoothies... That is why everyone has to check ingredients and understand what is in the processed food they are eating.
But if she checks ingredients and everything is fine, than of course I don't a see a problem.
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Originally Posted by reneeh63
That's the problem - people don't get credit even when they are successful...because it isn't homemade enough...or natural enough...or organic...or GMO. Get off it -it is very hard to lose weight and she has found something that works for her - don't take it away! It's not speed or diet pills...it's a gd protein shake.
Please notice that I did not say organic. But the problem is that the people blindly trust the complex processed foods manufactured by US Food Industry, despite plenty of evidence otherwise. This dependence contributes to the obesity epidemics.
It is better to make as many foods as possible at home or watch them being made somewhere in a deli. Then you know precisely what is in them and there are less doubts about the quality...
Portion sizes are huge these days. King size candy bars. Big Gulp drinks. Giant restaurant servings.
Unlimited drink refills. Lots of unnecessary empty calories.
High carb diet. Nutrient deficient. Lots of times it is flavorless. blah.
High processed food diet that is void of nutrients. You eat more because your body is craving vitamins and minerals and you are not supplying it by eating processed foods. Your body keeps trying to get what it needs.
Lack of exercise. I walked/biked/swam a lot as a child. My parents did not drive me any where. I had to have burned at least 300 extra calories per day and I bet it was well over 500.
Microwaves. Food preparation is quick and easy. A pot pie in 5 minutes vs 45 minutes in the oven. I know I will sometimes skip eating something because I don't want to wait for it.
Acceptability. Society does not care any more.
Expectation. We expect dieting to fail so we do not bother.
As an adult, I have worked very hard to maintain a healthy weight. It has never been easy. I exercise every day (don't love it) and I eat a low carb diet consisting of whole foods (meh, but I am never hungry). I do not eat sugar very often (crying), but it is what I need to do to maintain a healthy weight. Peri-menopause is hard on my body weight. LOL.
I know if I ate whatever I wanted to or did not restrict my diet, I would be fat. I love food.
Losing weight is good but the problem might be that she is getting unneeded sugar or other unnatural food additives that might've been added by the food companies. So maybe she is losing weight now but will get diabetes or other disease later. or an addiction to these smoothies... That is why everyone has to check ingredients and understand what is in the processed food they are eating.
But if she checks ingredients and everything is fine, than of course I don't a see a problem.
Please notice that I did not say organic. But the problem is that the people blindly trust the complex processed foods manufactured by US Food Industry, despite plenty of evidence otherwise. This dependence contributes to the obesity epidemics.
It is better to make as many foods as possible at home or watch them being made somewhere in a deli. Then you know precisely what is in them and there are less doubts about the quality...
There is no direct connection between sugar and diabetes. There is a direct connection between obesity and diabetes. The argument against sugar is that it largely contributes empty calories (except for fruit), which in excess can lead to obesity, and therefore increase one's risk of getting diabetes.
Losing weight is a very big step in lowering the risk for diabetes and other disease. If the weight loss involves drinking a shake that may be high in sugar, so be it.
I am not advocating eating tons of sugar, for the reason above. It's empty calories. But the war on sugar is no different than the war on fat. Instead of assigning bogeymen designations, we should try and eat such things as fats and sugar in moderation, and not crowd out more nutritious food with processed/refined sugars. Many people love sweets. It is what it is. Eat less of the refined kind and try and eat more of the natural kind (in fruit).
I think people started becoming obese when high fructose corn syrup was added to everything. Sugar itself isn't all that harmful, as long as it's eaten in moderation. I've even used corn syrup and molasses in making cookies once in a while. But having HFCS in everything is a little much. Even if you cook your own meals at home, some of the stuff you buy to make a homemade meal has tons of crap in it. If I wanted to make my own mac and cheese, look at what's in the noodles.
Meantime, there's a lot of unhappiness around these days and carbohydrates are a natural tranquilizers. It's why depressed people eat so many carbs and fats.
Then there's me. I'm an emotional eater. I eat when I'm happy, I eat when I'm sad, I eat through horror movies, I eat when I'm sick and tossing up, and I eat when I'm not hungry. It really sucks.
There is no direct connection between sugar and diabetes. There is a direct connection between obesity and diabetes. The argument against sugar is that it largely contributes empty calories (except for fruit), which in excess can lead to obesity, and therefore increase one's risk of getting diabetes.
Losing weight is a very big step in lowering the risk for diabetes and other disease. If the weight loss involves drinking a shake that may be high in sugar, so be it.
I am not advocating eating tons of sugar, for the reason above. It's empty calories. But the war on sugar is no different than the war on fat. Instead of assigning bogeymen designations, we should try and eat such things as fats and sugar in moderation, and not crowd out more nutritious food with processed/refined sugars. Many people love sweets. It is what it is. Eat less of the refined kind and try and eat more of the natural kind (in fruit).
Asking people to adhere to a no sugar diet when they enjoy eating sweet things is a recipe for failure. Modifying how one gets to satiate a sweet tooth craving by offering something that still has a bit of sugar is much more effective than making the person give up sweets completely.
We all know that low carb eating is an effective way to lose weight. But some people simply cannot follow that way of eating for long periods of time. Those people would do better by watching calories and focusing on healthy foods and exercise.
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I suspect if the same people have at it long enough, they too will end up eating more!
