Why is it so gosh darn hard to lose body fat???!!!
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kevinmacpa wrote: »Do people who fail at quitting smoking lack of self control? Do people who fail at quitting drug use lack of self control? They fail because there is an addiction. You don't solve addiction problem without first realizing the problem and take appropriate measures to correct it.
<snip for brevity>
Do people who smoke cigarette have an addiction? Do people who do drugs have an addiction? Do they like the feeling of sticking a needle in their veins? No, they have addiction to cocaine or whatever drug it is that gives them the pleasurable stimulation. Why is it any different than sugar addiction.
If you over consume something which gives you pleasure but cause health problems, and when you try to quit, it gives you withdraw symptoms, then it is a toxin and it is addictive.
As a former smoker, I'll weigh-in on this. Smoking is an addiction, in that the body gets addicted to nicotine. However, the nicotine is out of your system in about three days. The behaviors associated with smoking takes longer to adjust to, and are often what people refer to when they are "craving" a cigarette - it's not the nicotine they want, it's the comfort of smoking in response to the situation (after eating/while driving/when stressed).
Wanting to engage in the behavior because you find that comforting is not the same as a substance addiction. And often, that's the hardest part to overcome because you have modified your entire life to accommodate these behaviors in the first place, and now have to make changes that will impact your entire life to really change them. If you don't have a plan in place of what you're going to do with yourself when a situation arises (stress at work, your normal break time now not being used to smoke), you're more likely to revert to the previous behavior.
Yes this. As a former smoker i would smoke after eating, with a coffee and when i was stressed, now i just go for a walk or a run when i'm feeling stressed or just generally bored. I am not addicted to running, i just enjoy it like i enjoyed smoking!!0 -
brianpperkins wrote: »If you use Lustig as your evidence, your position is fatally flawed.
I don't care who he is. I only care about what he said. I agree with him because what he said happens to agree with what I had found through my research over the years trying to get fit and get cut. And it explains with more scientific reasoning why it works.
If you don't want to believe it then it's fine by me. I just want to provide the chance for people who want to form their own objective opinions to know this could be their problem why they can't seem to lose their excess weight. I don't want to argue over technicalities.
If you have something that works and you have no problem losing weight when you need to, then more power to you. But for people who have trouble losing weight, or struggling trying to maintain a calorie deficit which out dying of hunger, knowing this could help a great deal. Whether they choose to try it, or admit they have a sugar addiction it's up to them. It's their health and life, why should anyone else tell them what to do?
I am overweight right now, because of work stress and over eating, lack of exercise didn't help either. But I have no sugar addiction, I have no trouble limiting my calorie intake, and because I know what kind of food to eat and when to eat them, I have no hunger issue. I am losing weight every week, 2.3 lbs per week seems to be the average at least for the first 2 month right now. At about 200 lbs body weight, 2.3 lbs per week should be considered very rapid weight loss. I am monitoring my protein fat and carb intake, so my lean body mass to fat loss ratio is about 1:4 to 1:5.
If you have no addiction of any sort, and know what you should be doing, losing body fat should be easy. It's just a matter of mental fortitude and conscious effort. However, when people don't know if they have a problems that prevents them from staying on track, or don't know what they could do to help them lose weight, then it's easier quit when you see no result after weeks or months of trying but nothing really changes.0 -
I don't blame sugar but why I stopped losing weight eating at a defecit that worked the previous 5 months before randomly stopping has yet to be explained logically to me. "It just takes a calorie deficit" is the most overused chant on the planet. So one week I was in a deficit and the next I wasn't? Really? That makes no sense.OP - I eat 100+ grams of sugar a day ..I have no issues bulking, cutting, or maintaining..
you can eat sugar and lose body fat..it just take calorie deficit, hard work, and dedication ...
how long did you stop losing for?
could be a number of factors...
did you readjust your calorie intake at the lower level?
were you using a food scale?
etc etc...
the calorie deficit "mantra" gets repeated because I have yet to meet a person that has lost weight while eating in a surplus...
Yes to the food scale (I've been losing weight for several years and have lost close to 135lbs though no all in one consecutive streak. This all is not new to me.)
I adjusted some but there's only so low you can go before it's impractical. I was losing at 2300 then stopped. So I tried 2200. Nothing. Stalled over a month. Nothing. Same two pounds. Up one day. Down the next. Up one day. Down the next. What should I do? Eat 1500 calories? Then "you're starving yourself! eat more eat more eat more!"
Again, the logical question. Why was 2300 calories a day good for just under a pound a week from the end of May until the end of October only to randomly stop? Wouldn't it taper off slowly into slowly diminishing returns if it was simply just "eat at a deficit? The deficit would logically get gradually smaller. Wouldn't it be .5 pounds at least. then .25lbs loss. Why from 1lb a week lost to nothing? And I'm not saying you can lose in a surplus. Or that sugar is bad. That's dumb. But to say "just eat at a deficit" seems a little like BS also. Really? That's it? So why did that stop working?
if you lost 135 pounds (congrats by the way, that is awesome) I am assuming that your new deficit level is going to be below 2200...
I am 5-10 183 pound male (bulking now) but when I was 175 my maintenance level was about 2600 and my cut level was about 2000 t0 2200...
my suggestion would be to go to 2000 and see what happens...
what are your stats? age/height/weight/gender
35/5'11"/231lbs/male, I stopped losing at around 225/6. I started eating more because people said to take a break from dieting. This was a little over a month ago. I'm between 230-232 most days. I gained most of this back almost immediately when my carbs started going higher (the only thing I changed to up calories) so most of the gain is probably water weight. Lift 5-6 days a week. Upper/lower full body split so I just alternate. The 2300 deficit is what it gave me when I started this round of losing. I want to say I was about 250 looking back at my chart. I'm going to try 2200 and then maybe 2100 if that doesn't work this next round.
Jeff: I use the TDEE method so I input my goal calories/macros manually.
Any idea what your bodyfat is doing? As the bodyfat % gets lower, it's going to be harder and harder to shed weight. Because there's going to be less fat available to lose. The muscle will try to stay on if you're lifting.0 -
Its not addictive, Yes people seem to eat and crave it more once they have a taste for it, Things like cookies, chocolate and so on, but sugar itself is not addictive. You don't hear people say they binged on banana's, grapes and other fruits/sugar!kevinmacpa wrote: »kevinmacpa wrote: »kevinmacpa wrote: »kevinmacpa wrote: »britishbroccoli wrote: »Sigh. This bull again? Okay... Dr. Lustig...
Meta-analysis studies have indicated that the clinical trials cited by Lustig, which were aimed at studying carbohydrate consumption, were of only short duration and variable quality, and that study subjects had only modest increases in body weight, thus precluding definitive conclusions. Sources: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22351714, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22617566
In athletes requiring sugar to meet their caloric needs, fructose may enhance exercise performance by stimulating nutrient absorption and energy metabolism. Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20622544
I am not watching an hour long video from a hack.
To answer your subject line, it is not hard to lose body fat. Some people overeat because they're eating to cope with their problem. Other people just don't understand portion sizes. It's not that hard to figure out which pool you fall into and how to work on yourself.
About the trial result not being conclusive, I think it depends on personal opinion. But if you disagree, I respect that. My train of thought is better safe than sorry.
Moderate consumption of fructose by athletes may enhance performance, this could be true, but I think this is more about energy from fructose help athletes recover better after intense training; or increased energy during their exercise. But even in the article you citied, they even said they are not sure if there could be any long term negative effects.
With the amount of training and diet control for athletes, I don't think any of them need to worry about becoming obese. But for normal people like us, do you perform physical activity or training even half as hard as professional athletes? If you do, you wouldn't be overweight or obese. I can guarantee you that.
"In athletes requiring sugar to meet caloric need" if this fits you, then go consume fructose if you want to. But in normal people who are struggling to keep their sugar intake, blood glucose level, or calorie consumption under control, i don't see why you should consume large amount of fructose when there are far better options.
Carb is not the devil, but any food that contains high concentration of fructose without dietary fiber is, at least for regular people who don't have their own personal dietitian.
LOL so if you eat sugar you can only lose weight with a personal dietician?? Is that what you are saying?
I lost 50 pounds ten years ago, and have kept it off all the while eating sugar and NOT having a personal dietician..
fat loss is not hard..
people just want to blame "evil sugar" for their lack of self control and dedication to do what it takes..
#thiscrapisgettingold
Well, good for you to lose that much fat and kept it off. It's a lot of work.
People can certainly lose weight while consuming sugar. How much do you consume and what kind of sugar do you consume is the real question. If you know what you are doing, for example, you know how much you can eat and maybe counting some calories, then there is no doubt if you keep your calorie intake below your daily requirement you will lose weight.
But the general population are overweight or obese, for most people, if they don't track caloric intake, the easiest way to keep their calorie consumption in check is to cut food with large amount of added sugar. Even for some people who just started tracking caloric intake, they might have trouble cutting enough calories to maintain a daily calorie deficit. Because food with large concentration of added sugar most of the time are dense in calorie, but have next to nothing of nutrients, they should be the first thing out of your daily food list.
Occasional indulgence is no problem, even if you eat it everyday for a solid reason then why not, but if you HAVE to eat it everyday just because, then you probably have a problem and it could lead to chronic diseases.
so now you are saying that everyone does not need a personal dietician?
If obese people just reduced their overall intake by 15% and kept eating sugar they would lose weight.
Sugar is not the culprit, overindulgence is.
Not everyone needs a dietitian to lose weight while consuming sugar, but sugar is still the devil.
If obese people cut their overall intake by 15% and kept eating sugar, they can lose weight, but if obese people just cut their sugary food especially soft drinks, which doesn't contribute to satiety, and keep all their other food consumption, they will easily cut no less than 15% of calorie intake.
Sugar is addictive if you over consume it, sugar craving is what's causing the overindulgence.
no, sugar is not addictive.
Tell that to countless people starting threads asking for help to solve their sugar craving problems. They are a few on the first page right now actually.
Exactly. You also don't see anyone binging on sugar cubes.0 -
JeffseekingV wrote: »
I don't blame sugar but why I stopped losing weight eating at a defecit that worked the previous 5 months before randomly stopping has yet to be explained logically to me. "It just takes a calorie deficit" is the most overused chant on the planet. So one week I was in a deficit and the next I wasn't? Really? That makes no sense.OP - I eat 100+ grams of sugar a day ..I have no issues bulking, cutting, or maintaining..
you can eat sugar and lose body fat..it just take calorie deficit, hard work, and dedication ...
how long did you stop losing for?
could be a number of factors...
did you readjust your calorie intake at the lower level?
were you using a food scale?
etc etc...
the calorie deficit "mantra" gets repeated because I have yet to meet a person that has lost weight while eating in a surplus...
Yes to the food scale (I've been losing weight for several years and have lost close to 135lbs though no all in one consecutive streak. This all is not new to me.)
I adjusted some but there's only so low you can go before it's impractical. I was losing at 2300 then stopped. So I tried 2200. Nothing. Stalled over a month. Nothing. Same two pounds. Up one day. Down the next. Up one day. Down the next. What should I do? Eat 1500 calories? Then "you're starving yourself! eat more eat more eat more!"
Again, the logical question. Why was 2300 calories a day good for just under a pound a week from the end of May until the end of October only to randomly stop? Wouldn't it taper off slowly into slowly diminishing returns if it was simply just "eat at a deficit? The deficit would logically get gradually smaller. Wouldn't it be .5 pounds at least. then .25lbs loss. Why from 1lb a week lost to nothing? And I'm not saying you can lose in a surplus. Or that sugar is bad. That's dumb. But to say "just eat at a deficit" seems a little like BS also. Really? That's it? So why did that stop working?
if you lost 135 pounds (congrats by the way, that is awesome) I am assuming that your new deficit level is going to be below 2200...
I am 5-10 183 pound male (bulking now) but when I was 175 my maintenance level was about 2600 and my cut level was about 2000 t0 2200...
my suggestion would be to go to 2000 and see what happens...
what are your stats? age/height/weight/gender
35/5'11"/231lbs/male, I stopped losing at around 225/6. I started eating more because people said to take a break from dieting. This was a little over a month ago. I'm between 230-232 most days. I gained most of this back almost immediately when my carbs started going higher (the only thing I changed to up calories) so most of the gain is probably water weight. Lift 5-6 days a week. Upper/lower full body split so I just alternate. The 2300 deficit is what it gave me when I started this round of losing. I want to say I was about 250 looking back at my chart. I'm going to try 2200 and then maybe 2100 if that doesn't work this next round.
Jeff: I use the TDEE method so I input my goal calories/macros manually.
Any idea what your bodyfat is doing? As the bodyfat % gets lower, it's going to be harder and harder to shed weight. Because there's going to be less fat available to lose. The muscle will try to stay on if you're lifting.
I would add, do you also measure yourself - chest, arms, waist, etc...?
could be your are losing body fat and are doing a slow recomp...0 -
Yeah. There's no pics to tell how lean you are. I mean, if you are lean as you want, the scale weight isn't going to matter unless there's another reason to lose weight0
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Weight is a factor in pullups but mainly it's a strength issue. I've seen some heavier dudes (muscular though) rip off 10-12 pulls ups. And some skinny guys struggle with 50
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I don't want to argue for the sake of argument. If people can learn something that can help them successfully lose their unwanted excess body fat, that's all that matters.
If you don't think sugar is addictive, or anything at all for that matter, then when you want to eat something, pick some food you equally enjoy but without the sugar and with more nutrient content. Say when you want to drink something, drink water, or eat a fruit instead of a can of soda. When you want to snack on a piece of cake, try a slice of bread with less sugar and eat some sweet fruit. After all, if you have no craving or addiction for processed food with high amount of added sugar, why not have something more nutritious but with less calorie? You are trying to lose weight after all right?
If you say I don't want to switch because cake or soda tastes better, then you have an addiction in my humble opinion. If you refuse to see that, nothing I say will mean anything to you.
Hope people who wants to get healthy and lose excess body fat can all reach their goal.0 -
The scale says 25-26% so who knows what that really means. I wear size 38 jeans and an L/XL shirt. I could definitely be more lean.JeffseekingV wrote: »Yeah. There's no pics to tell how lean you are. I mean, if you are lean as you want, the scale weight isn't going to matter unless there's another reason to lose weight
As could I man. I'm with you too. I'm sitting at around 18-19% from what I can tell and want to get down to 10-15% just to see how I look, feel and perform. ie.. see if it's worth it.0 -
kevinmacpa wrote: »I don't want to argue for the sake of argument. If people can learn something that can help them successfully lose their unwanted excess body fat, that's all that matters.
If you don't think sugar is addictive, or anything at all for that matter, then when you want to eat something, pick some food you equally enjoy but without the sugar and with more nutrient content. Say when you want to drink something, drink water, or eat a fruit instead of a can of soda. When you want to snack on a piece of cake, try a slice of bread with less sugar and eat some sweet fruit. After all, if you have no craving or addiction for processed food with high amount of added sugar, why not have something more nutritious but with less calorie? You are trying to lose weight after all right?
If you say I don't want to switch because cake or soda tastes better, then you have an addiction in my humble opinion. If you refuse to see that, nothing I say will mean anything to you.
Hope people who wants to get healthy and lose excess body fat can all reach their goal.
wait, so if I like ice cream and don't wan to stop eating it you are saying I am addicted to sugar? I can eat ice cream and fit it into my macro/micro/calorie goals...
I also drink some alcohol on weekends, am I an alcoholic too ..
your posts are getting more absurd by the minute...and stop with the straw man arguments...
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OP: If sugar was truly addicting people would be eating granulated sugar out of the bag with spoon.
I hope you realize that it is unspoken that sugar is being equated to calorie dense foods.
If you eat any kind of food whether it has sugar or not, and you have a TDEE surplus of calories, then you are going to gain weight no matter what... whether the foods you eat have sugar or not.
Its not the sugar, its the surplus that's causing weight gain... unfortunately sugar gets lumped in there as the villain.
Poor sugar.
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JeffseekingV wrote: »
I don't blame sugar but why I stopped losing weight eating at a defecit that worked the previous 5 months before randomly stopping has yet to be explained logically to me. "It just takes a calorie deficit" is the most overused chant on the planet. So one week I was in a deficit and the next I wasn't? Really? That makes no sense.OP - I eat 100+ grams of sugar a day ..I have no issues bulking, cutting, or maintaining..
you can eat sugar and lose body fat..it just take calorie deficit, hard work, and dedication ...
how long did you stop losing for?
could be a number of factors...
did you readjust your calorie intake at the lower level?
were you using a food scale?
etc etc...
the calorie deficit "mantra" gets repeated because I have yet to meet a person that has lost weight while eating in a surplus...
Yes to the food scale (I've been losing weight for several years and have lost close to 135lbs though no all in one consecutive streak. This all is not new to me.)
I adjusted some but there's only so low you can go before it's impractical. I was losing at 2300 then stopped. So I tried 2200. Nothing. Stalled over a month. Nothing. Same two pounds. Up one day. Down the next. Up one day. Down the next. What should I do? Eat 1500 calories? Then "you're starving yourself! eat more eat more eat more!"
Again, the logical question. Why was 2300 calories a day good for just under a pound a week from the end of May until the end of October only to randomly stop? Wouldn't it taper off slowly into slowly diminishing returns if it was simply just "eat at a deficit? The deficit would logically get gradually smaller. Wouldn't it be .5 pounds at least. then .25lbs loss. Why from 1lb a week lost to nothing? And I'm not saying you can lose in a surplus. Or that sugar is bad. That's dumb. But to say "just eat at a deficit" seems a little like BS also. Really? That's it? So why did that stop working?
if you lost 135 pounds (congrats by the way, that is awesome) I am assuming that your new deficit level is going to be below 2200...
I am 5-10 183 pound male (bulking now) but when I was 175 my maintenance level was about 2600 and my cut level was about 2000 t0 2200...
my suggestion would be to go to 2000 and see what happens...
what are your stats? age/height/weight/gender
35/5'11"/231lbs/male, I stopped losing at around 225/6. I started eating more because people said to take a break from dieting. This was a little over a month ago. I'm between 230-232 most days. I gained most of this back almost immediately when my carbs started going higher (the only thing I changed to up calories) so most of the gain is probably water weight. Lift 5-6 days a week. Upper/lower full body split so I just alternate. The 2300 deficit is what it gave me when I started this round of losing. I want to say I was about 250 looking back at my chart. I'm going to try 2200 and then maybe 2100 if that doesn't work this next round.
Jeff: I use the TDEE method so I input my goal calories/macros manually.
Any idea what your bodyfat is doing? As the bodyfat % gets lower, it's going to be harder and harder to shed weight. Because there's going to be less fat available to lose. The muscle will try to stay on if you're lifting.
I would add, do you also measure yourself - chest, arms, waist, etc...?
could be your are losing body fat and are doing a slow recomp...Just being semi on topic I've lost considerable amounts of weight eating low carb and eating IIFYM style. There is value in eating lower carb/less sugar/whatever if you've had problems with binging on sweets or junk food in the past. I think it gave me some perspective on what I needed to eat most of the time (meat and vegetables). It also helped me break my fast food habit. I'd recommend it to people looking to "reset" their eating habits and as a gateway into practicing IIFYM. Just my own experience. I'd say begin counting calories at some point even while eating low carb to get the hang of it.
Keep it up, the less processed food you eat, especially the one with a boat load of sugar, the less you want to eat them.
Occasionally when I have to eat some with family members or friends, I eat it. Sugar will always taste good, it's in our DNA, but without habitual eating, you don't crave it and can always find better alternatives with more nutrients in them.0 -
kevinmacpa wrote: »JeffseekingV wrote: »
I don't blame sugar but why I stopped losing weight eating at a defecit that worked the previous 5 months before randomly stopping has yet to be explained logically to me. "It just takes a calorie deficit" is the most overused chant on the planet. So one week I was in a deficit and the next I wasn't? Really? That makes no sense.OP - I eat 100+ grams of sugar a day ..I have no issues bulking, cutting, or maintaining..
you can eat sugar and lose body fat..it just take calorie deficit, hard work, and dedication ...
how long did you stop losing for?
could be a number of factors...
did you readjust your calorie intake at the lower level?
were you using a food scale?
etc etc...
the calorie deficit "mantra" gets repeated because I have yet to meet a person that has lost weight while eating in a surplus...
Yes to the food scale (I've been losing weight for several years and have lost close to 135lbs though no all in one consecutive streak. This all is not new to me.)
I adjusted some but there's only so low you can go before it's impractical. I was losing at 2300 then stopped. So I tried 2200. Nothing. Stalled over a month. Nothing. Same two pounds. Up one day. Down the next. Up one day. Down the next. What should I do? Eat 1500 calories? Then "you're starving yourself! eat more eat more eat more!"
Again, the logical question. Why was 2300 calories a day good for just under a pound a week from the end of May until the end of October only to randomly stop? Wouldn't it taper off slowly into slowly diminishing returns if it was simply just "eat at a deficit? The deficit would logically get gradually smaller. Wouldn't it be .5 pounds at least. then .25lbs loss. Why from 1lb a week lost to nothing? And I'm not saying you can lose in a surplus. Or that sugar is bad. That's dumb. But to say "just eat at a deficit" seems a little like BS also. Really? That's it? So why did that stop working?
if you lost 135 pounds (congrats by the way, that is awesome) I am assuming that your new deficit level is going to be below 2200...
I am 5-10 183 pound male (bulking now) but when I was 175 my maintenance level was about 2600 and my cut level was about 2000 t0 2200...
my suggestion would be to go to 2000 and see what happens...
what are your stats? age/height/weight/gender
35/5'11"/231lbs/male, I stopped losing at around 225/6. I started eating more because people said to take a break from dieting. This was a little over a month ago. I'm between 230-232 most days. I gained most of this back almost immediately when my carbs started going higher (the only thing I changed to up calories) so most of the gain is probably water weight. Lift 5-6 days a week. Upper/lower full body split so I just alternate. The 2300 deficit is what it gave me when I started this round of losing. I want to say I was about 250 looking back at my chart. I'm going to try 2200 and then maybe 2100 if that doesn't work this next round.
Jeff: I use the TDEE method so I input my goal calories/macros manually.
Any idea what your bodyfat is doing? As the bodyfat % gets lower, it's going to be harder and harder to shed weight. Because there's going to be less fat available to lose. The muscle will try to stay on if you're lifting.
I would add, do you also measure yourself - chest, arms, waist, etc...?
could be your are losing body fat and are doing a slow recomp...Just being semi on topic I've lost considerable amounts of weight eating low carb and eating IIFYM style. There is value in eating lower carb/less sugar/whatever if you've had problems with binging on sweets or junk food in the past. I think it gave me some perspective on what I needed to eat most of the time (meat and vegetables). It also helped me break my fast food habit. I'd recommend it to people looking to "reset" their eating habits and as a gateway into practicing IIFYM. Just my own experience. I'd say begin counting calories at some point even while eating low carb to get the hang of it.
Keep it up, the less processed food you eat, especially the one with a boat load of sugar, the less you want to eat them.
Occasionally when I have to eat some with family members or friends, I eat it. Sugar will always taste good, it's in our DNA, but without habitual eating, you don't crave it and can always find better alternatives with more nutrients in them.
You aren't really helping. He's already beyond the sugar scare.0
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