LittleBigMan

Some say that just eating less won't help you lose weight. The argument says that eating less eventually causes your hunger to beat you, making you eat more.

The proponents of this argument against low calorie diets advocate two basic approaches to weight loss:

1) Exercise long and hard. Not only does this use calories, it adds muscle mass, which uses calories even at rest. Also, it raises metabolism.

2) Eat more "low-density" foods which are high in mass and low in calories, like fruits, vegetables and beans. These don't leave you feeling hungry.

john999

It seems to work in Africa.

Seriously, fat people really eat more. Not just more fat-inducing food, but more food (volume) overall.

I know some seriously obese people, who are always on diets.
They will have for dinner - salad (no dressing), and steak (fat trimmed, so it takes like a piece of wood), and brown bread (dry).
They will leave their dinner untouched, and then go and watch TV and nibble on candy, scorched peanuts, crisps, biscuits and Coke, that they have stashed in literally every single corner of their house.

Then they say 'I don't know why we are fat, we hardly eat any food.'

tallcliff

Little,

The way to lose weight...well it's really simple. You've gotta take in less calories that you burn!

Exercise is good because it tones and makes you look great when you lose the weight. But, exercise alone is a lousy way to lose weight...period!

A good weight-loss diet consists of lots of whole grains, fruits and vegetables. "Steer" clear of artery-clogging meat and animal food which will help the metabolism get moving again.

Combine a cleaner-leaner diet with your exercise program, which includes biking of coarse, and you'll be successful. Not overnight, mind you, but keep it up and you'll get where you wanna be!

Good Eating!

aerobat

Hi Pete,

The thing to remember, is everything in moderation, except cycling of course!

Eat a healthy diet including all the food groups, but not too much, and make sure you get enough complex carbohydrates for energy.

If you starve yourself, your body thinks there's no food coming, and slows the metabolism, negating the benefits of fewer calories.

Eat enough to give you the energy to exercise and burn off the fat.

The Rob

I'm 5' 11", and a year ago weighed 268 lbs.

I've always been festively plump, but one day I just got sick of it.

I weigh approximately 210 now, due to no diet other than a more sensible one.

I read labels, and if the product has more than 7 grams of fat I don't eat it.

I exercise regularly, weights and cardio, nothing outrageously exhausting.

I don't snack at work, I eat only what I've brought with me (this alone probably accounts for 200 or more calories per day!).

We quit eating out twice a week; now dining out is more of an occasion and as such more enjoyable.

I've come to appreciate apples a lot.

I still allow myself a whopping, calorie-laden, fat-riddled Sunday breakfast; my metabolism is now more forgiving of such excesses. And a bike saddle seems to be a little kinder these days as well.

And I'm still losing weight. Nothing works quite so well as discipline.

-Rob

LittleBigMan

One of the best ways to curb weight-gain is to avoid fast food.
One super-size meal from just about anyplace contains all the calories you need in a day, but with fewer pesky nutrients.

I still shudder when I think about eating stuff like that.

The Rob

Ain't it a shame? Unfortunately many parents treat their kids to this sort of eating as an expediency or as some sort of reward, thus setting them firmly on the path to malnutrition and obesity. As a kid I always had a can of Coke in my hand, or a candy bar. Not dissin' the folks, you understand; they were of the 'firm-yet-fair' variety in most respects. It's simply that the American fast-food culture (a mindset that manifests itself in other industries that target young people as well) is so prevalent, something that wouldn't survive if we were all more mindful of what we buy/wear/ingest.

Ooh...I sound like a 'Fred'!

As to this topic: I agree that one of the biggest favors one who wishes to lose weight can do for him/herself is to avoid any 'restaurant' that features a drive-through. I have a coworker friend whos mantra is 'Food Is Fuel'. I enjoy eating too much to simply see it as a simple survival mechanism as she does, but her discipline is admirable and so I try to take certain aspects of it to heart. 'Hunger' is really only habit for most well-fed Americans.

-Rob

Chris L

I don't think eating heaps is the problem. If it was, I'm sure I'd weigh a hell of a lot more than 61kg. It's just a matter of what people eat. I haven't been to a McDonalds in years and have no intention to go in the near future. Yet put me in front of a bowl of pasta or a bunch of grapes...

Well, my friends from university nicnamed me "The human garbage disposal".

eschelon

I think there are two main schools of thought on this topic.

1. there is the school where it is suggested people (as an example) who consume 2500 calories a day drop their caloric intake drastically...say...like 1250 calories per day and exercise like hell, and you will lose weight...or don't exercise at all...either way...consuming this less in calories per day (or more) over a period of time will accelerate the amount of weight lost.

2. This method I feel is the safer route. If this supposed person typically consumes 2500 calories per day with moderate exercise and then consumed 2000 calories per day, this person would lose weight...albeit much more slowly than person following path #1...but more importantly, this person is not stressing his body to the point of putting the body into health danger...either now or later into the future.

I would classify path #1 or others like it to crash dieting. To go from a steady supply of calories the body is used to to significantly less shocks the body...and when this shock hits the body, they body actually thinks it is going through a famine cycle and as a result the body's metabolic system starts to slow down and begins to consume itself to offset the loss in calories...then when you start eating "normal as usual", your body thinks you may end up facing the famine cycle again, so it only absorbs your caloric intake as fat....to be used when the famine cycle happens again...hence this is why crash dieters tend to gain more weight after their dieting escapade.

If you had to build up slowly over time to be able to ride 80 miles in one day, why would anyone try to ride 80 miles in one day on their very first day of doing any bike ride? The same logic applies to "dieting."

Too many people are too caught up in getting super fast results.