Learning how to lose weight and avoid being judgemental
lcamtuf.blogspot.com
lcamtuf.blogspot.com
Some people suggest taking a picture of everything you eat, too. Forces you to stop and take the picture _before_ --- one can procrastinate on recording calorie entries in a journal, but you can't procrastinate on the picture.
I'm not sure if there is any validity to it really so much as just giving yourself a stopping point for the day, but I have not done any research in this regard.
Determine your current weight, w_0
Define a target weight, w_t
Pick a reasonable target weight function w(d) of the number of days elapsed since the start of the diet:
w(d) := max (w_t, w_0 - 100g * d)
(Ie aim for losing 100 grams a day, until you reached your target weight. Important, we are aiming for a specific level for each day, so any lost ground has to be made up; but getting ahead of the game will give you a breather.)
Get yourself a spreadsheet. Google Sheets works well. Draw that function's graph.
Every day, record your weight. If it's below the line, follow whatever other primary diet you want.
Important: if your weight is above the line, fast that day.
If you hate fasting, make sure your primary diet loses you weight at the right pace. If you don't mind fasting days, feel free to stuff your face with cake.
I guarantee, if you follow the graph, you will lose weight. (But I can't guarantee that you will have the discipline to follow the graph.)
In any case, whatever gets you to restrict your calories works for losing weight. Some approaches are just harder on willpower than others. (I suggest NOT moving to Singapore for weight control---it's delicious there. Though a friend of mine likes their smaller portions.)
Fasting every second day is quite doable; and actually the subject of quite a bit of research. (I guess it's easy to write papers about it.) On the Internet limiting your eating hours every day to an 8h or even 4h window seems to be more popular. Eg from 13.00 to 17.00. People report it's doable to get used to those meal timings after a few days. And the limited time window make it easier to restrict calories; the only way any weight-loss diet scheme works in the end.
Just to give you something to Google: The former is often called alternate day fasting; the latter intermittent fasting.
The BBC ran an interesting documentary: "Eat, Fast and Live Longer" https://vimeo.com/103656060
See also https://www.reddit.com/r/intermittentfasting/
https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/
And for a view of how the other half lives: https://www.reddit.com/r/gainit/
At first keeping such records can seem difficult. If you are like most people, though, most of the things you eat are things you've had before, in quantities you've had before. It doesn't take long to reach a point where your data entry becomes mostly copy/paste from previous entries instead of entering new information.
I suggest initially tracking calories and carbs, and for the carbs have both total carbs, and for how many of those are from added sugar.
The reason I suggest tracking carbs is that for many people a modest shift in carbs to where they make up a smaller percentage of your calories can make it so your meals satisfy you longer, which in turn makes it easier to cut some calories.
Personally, I aimed for 40% of calories from carbs (and ended up at around 32% once I managed to acquire a taste for Diet Dr. Pepper and stopped drinking non-diet soda). That level of carbs is feasible without having to eliminate bread. There are a lot of offices in locations where if you take sandwiches and burgers off the menu finding lunch becomes a major pain in the ass, so being able to keep bread in your diet is very helpful.
I also was very tall and skinny as a kid and it is very normal(and healthy) to become a man and get some weight. I personally met Michael long ago and don't remember thinking he was fat at all.
The last photo worries me, it does not look healthy, quite the contrary.
I would recommend him to practice an sport(or going to the mountain, whatever) he likes, not just something that he does to lose weight, something that makes him stronger, not just skinny, and something he enjoys . I had made sport all my life and it is part of my routine.
And also eating real food, instead of fast food, both burritos or hamburgers are fast food. Anglo world has lots of amazing things and a few terrible things, food is one of those.
Calories counting is a very simplistic model. For example you have to take into account the oils used in your food, and in America those tend too be the lowest quality(cheapest). Olive oils have nothing to do with palm oil, but most fast food use palm for being the cheapest.
When you eat fast food you will deprive your body of essential supplies. For example feed-fed animals generate too much Omega6 and too few Omega3. Your body requires omega 3 and will demand eating more until it gets it, but as much as you eat you don't get satisfied.
The same happens with lots of other things like enzymes, vitamins, fiber and so on that gets destroyed by refrigeration.
If I were as rational as Michael I would probably write "The guerrilla guide to good eating" in order to learn proper nutrition and document the process.
All this says is that you're prejudiced against skinny people. Probably because that's how you grew up.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/cover_story...
Also, to back this: http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/12/12/beware-the-man-of-one-s...
suggesting you actually need to see the normal curve of study outcomes to see which outcome it converges to...
I'm a little suspicious of any paper "debunking" something I experience on a regular basis.
Incidentally, I found that losing ~10kg (22lbs) is the easy part. The really hard part is losing those last 2-3kg or burning the remaining fat.
And all of that becomes more difficult as you age.
I'm a little bit underweight and my weight naturally fluctuates by +/- ~2 kg from one week to the next. If I lost 2 kg, I wouldn't notice.
Why not lose weight until you feel good, instead of setting some arbitrary exact number as your goal.
I've found regular weighing and having a certain target weight useful, together with food intake logging. It helps me stay objective, and helps me with my self-control, especially with avoiding bingeing on unhealthy foods.
It's not about the specific number, it's about not getting way off track. The numbers are just a tool.
I would ask though, if it is all so easy, how you ended up 15kg over/underweight in the first place?
> It's not about the specific number
If you're saying "I need to lose 2 kg", it's about the specific number. If you're saying "I need to lose more weight to reach my goal", then it's not about the number.
But 2-3kg is enough to make a difference as to whether or not you're considered overweight (BMI is, of course, a horrible indicator of health, but it still gets used that way), and if you're on the edge, it can also make a difference in the size of your pants.
It'll depend on where you carry weight too.
Actually, nicotine patches might make the whole endeavour quite easier (if your body can take them)? Stimulants tend to depress your appetite.
Caffeine also works; something extra in tea and coffee (perhaps the bitterness?) seems to work beyond that.
Of course, easier doesn't mean easy.
Back on topic: The hardest thing for me is giving up Coke. I love that stuff. I think I would have to lose 20kg to get to a healthy range.
I'm glad I didn't have a kid last year though. Would've made getting that house a whole lot harder, and I've still got plenty of living and travel and women to do!
As for not exactly working for Google... I have a useless IT degree so I know what you mean. Nothing exciting is going on here. There's no real tech industry. CTRL-F the 'who's hiring' thread from earlier - two results for Melbourne, 167 for San Francisco. I'm trying to start my own business because screw working for some accounting firm.
As for the Coke... I'm gonna assume you mean the drink, since if it was the drug you'd probably have no trouble with losing weight (and not capitalize it).
A few years ago I switched to sugar free softdrink to lose weight. It worked wonders, although I did also count food calories and exercise. But it was a valuable part of losing 30Kg. Going to Coke Zero was the easiest change I made.
However, sugar-free soft drink still has acid that rots your teeth, so I've given even that up as of about two weeks ago. And you know what? It was surprisingly easy. I thought it'd be impossible, but after I got the bad news from my dentist I just started drinking water, and it's just... not that hard. I just drink when I'm thirsty and then I don't crave a sweet drink anymore. The caffeine addiction though? Well, I have still had a little coffee... but you can have caffeine pills or tea or plain coffee for that, and not all the sugar. Even sugar WITH coffee is nothing compared to how much is in Coke.
I'm a tradesmen who spent too long renting in inner city Adelaide.
I believe there are occasionally software development jobs available here, and generally lots of SMEs.
Coke destroys my digestive system, that stuff is so weird but boy is it tasty.
I've recently gone sugar and grain free again and feel well again. I actually feel a sense of wellbeing that is entirely absent when I eat sugar and grains.
I suspect I have blood glucose disregulation (probably Type II diabetic) but fully controlled by diet alone. I also suspect I have bad intestinal candida when I don't restrict my carb intake.
I bought a cheap teapot and I keep it on my desk. Worked well.
(That said, my weight remains a problem. I'm 25 and I need to lose 37kg. I'm firmly in the obese BMI.)
Australia. 31. No assets. Partner finishing her studies. Couldn't afford a house. No kid. Needs to lose 20kg. Can't give up Coke (Zero anyway, I don't touch the real stuff because of the calories but increasingly Aspartame is shown to inhibit weight loss too).
Spoiler: She finished study and having the extra security from another income stream meant we could buy a house last year. We had to save a deposit though which took a long time and a few steps up in my career and lots and lots of overtime and development on my part - a year or two of 60-80 hour weeks and a few job changes too. Also the job market is always iffy for both of us but we simply couldn't rent a dog box any longer. The place we have now is a bit on the edges of the city so takes 30-45 minutes each way to work but at least we can breathe!
We won't be able to have kids, at least not now. Ive projected we will pay off the loan in about 10 years so maybe then. Because we pay double the minimum.
As for weight I lost 3kg this year so far. It had really hit the limit and when I went to the Doctor end of last year and after a blood test he said the diabetes word. Since then all I've done is 20 minutes a day on the treadmill while watching Voltron on Netflix, cutting out most of the Coke and junk food, but most importantly cutting down on dinner.
Really I don't miss the Coke much. We have other stuff like making a milkshake (mostly ice, a bit of milk, and a banana or coffee shot and a scoop of chocolate powder). It's pretty filling. Sometimes we skip dinner and just have a banana shake.
Did you know you're only meant to have ~100g of meat a day??? We were eating 250-500 and now we are down to about 150g per day (with some allowances up or down). That right sizes everything once you notice the difference and your plates are half as big as they used to be.
There's still a long way to go on both fronts. But man. Go lift a 3kg weight. That's a bloody lot! Now imagine 20kg! We are right to feel guilty and need to do something about it.
Good luck.
Regarding the post, I'm not a nutritional expert, but cooking yourself is a great method to keep better track of what enters your body.
Eat as much protein (meat, fish, etc.), vegetables & beans as you want. No whites (carbs or dairy), no fruit, junk food, etc. 1 cheat day a week to go nuts and eat whatever you want.
More info here http://tim.blog/2012/07/12/how-to-lose-100-pounds/
Lots of issues with counting calories, mainly it is a pain in the ass. Not all calories are equal, we all absorb & burn calories differently, portion sizes aren't always correct, etc.
So, at 36 years old I'm flabby around the middle and cripplingly weak with sticks for arms and legs. I also discovered a varicose vein in my right leg, which freaked me out.
I discovered Scooby's Workshop (http://scoobysworkshop.com/) through a recommendation from my uncle, started watching his videos, picked up his beginner workout (http://scoobysworkshop.com/beginning-workout-plan/) and have been plugging away with different workout plans ever since. Took me about 5 months to start with before I could do a single pull-up.
I've now been doing something based on Starting Strength (by Mark Rippetoe - https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Mark-Rippetoe-ebook...) for about 18 months. (If you're a bit older I don't recommend you follow his dietary advice too strongly in terms of Gallon Of Milk A Day, but you may need to up your food intake to lose weight in a controlled way - do NOT try to lose more than 1kg/2lb per week or you may start to lose muscle mass as well as fat.) It's been a bit of a struggle with the new client I'm working with, so it's a case of exercise when I can. I've had a couple of injuries that have slowed me down as well, but progress is still occurring. I've gone from being as weak as a kitten (struggled to deadlift 25kg) to the point where on a good day I can deadlift 150kg for 5 reps. My aim is to get to 200kg.
Bottom line is the only real way to lose weight and keep it off is to increase your metabolic rate, and that means strength training to increase your muscle mass. The problem with a diet and cardio only approach is that you can end up atrophying your muscles, which drops your metabolism, and thereby makes it easier to pile weight back on again.
(Being strong also has the benefit that it just makes life in general a lot easier, and will increase your confidence.)
HTH.
* Building muscle mass while you're young helps you stay mobile instead of becoming frail when you're old
* It feels nice to be able to lift heavy stuff.
The strength feels good, gives confidence, and keeps you healthy. (Especially back injuries will be less likely. And for women fighting osteoporosis is always an additional concern.)
As for looks: you won't magically get a six pack and bulging muscles. I deadlifted 160kg and squatted 170kg (yeah, my grip sucks..) at a bodyweight of 70kg, and I'm no hulk.
But, the extra muscles will help you carry whatever fat you have better.
Also, as you get older, having denser bones from lifting while younger helps offset osteoporosis.
This can be as prosaic as doing DIY work around the house, working in the garden, going shopping, helping my parents move house, pushing my motorcycle around, etc. It also makes holidays involving sports or physical activities (skiing for example) much more enjoyable - you can do more, and push yourself harder, and you have more confidence in doing it.
The routine I'm doing does not make you look like a bodybuilder - as others have pointed out, it makes you strong. This does involve some increase in muscle mass, but I don't think I look particularly big even though I'm much stronger than I used to be.
The last reason is very personal: it's frank curiosity. I grew up as the weakest kid in the class, one of the weakest in the school. I didn't think I could be strong, so when I realised I was wrong, I wondered how strong I could become. It's obviously a harder journey because I'm older, but still I don't feel like I'm near the limits yet.
Look on the strength training as grinding out some tasks in an MMORPG to level up an ability. +1 strength every 2-3 months.
Not sure if you're being sarcastic, but all canned fruit/vegetables are insanely packed with sugar and salt.
So yes. They're bad for you. Granola is also bad for you. Nuts contain a lot of fat. Kale is bad for your thyroids. And so on.
Of course, make sure you drink enough non-sugary, non-alcoholic liquids with your salt. But people automatically get thirsty on salt anyway---so no need for advice.