people aren't different?

EvgeniZyntx

Again, I never disagreed with anyone about the speed of weight loss. I simply chimed in to agree with those who were stating that at a basic level, it's all about calories in vs. out.

People are reading into the special snowflake thing far too much. Like I said earlier that term is tossed around for people who are "normal" (i.e.; no conditions that affect their metabolism, etc) who turn around and claim cals in vs. out isn't working for them. I've never seen someone post a thread which specifically outlines medical issues that they have, only to be called a "special snowflake".

fair, and no I wasn't referring to your post as harassment, though I did quote it - my bad there.

my whole thing in all of this is why does the OP have to get harassed to such an extent for asking a simple question that could've been answered without everyone piling on and throwing their favorite .gifs and memes on board?

we're all the same and we're all different. it's both - that's the reality. no memes necessary.

why do you feel the need to police people?

and harassed? i think that is a stretch.

and i LIKE memes, who made you the boss of memes and whether they are necessary or not?

The thing is that memes are MEMES. They carry cultural significance and have captured a deep meaning that our words often fail to express. The imagery used to create a meme is referenced, no, steeped, in another experience or culture or sense that makes it rich and connective.

The "snowflake" has a deeper reference.



You are the same organic decaying matter as everything else.

CoderGal

In for harassing memes

kyleekay10

@Coder- :laugh: I love it!

walleymama

Any treatment or prescription someone receives exists because it was tested across the board on large groups of people and was shown to be successful for its intended purposes.

Playing devil's advocate here...

The above is true, yes, but based on population statistics estimated from a sample. Biovariability is a huge factor in drug research, not to mention other areas of the biological sciences. Give the exact same dose of anaesthetic to two rats, from the same genetic strain, same weight and age....one will be out like a light in no time, the other will receive extra doses and still be trying to hop off the table. It's real and explains a lot of variability in reactions to drugs, foods, medical therapies, etc.

Populations statistics are useful, but they aren't all that helpful on an individual level other than providing a ballpark estimate.

vjw221

um.... who's defying science? people who take complex science and break it down to a 2 factor equation and call it the end all be all of "knowledge" are defying science.
and being condescending about it to people in threads generally is just silly and again not helpful.

i asked a question/ranted about my observations. people read that as me feeling hurt as if i was called that.... which i haven't been and really wouldn't care if someone did. i'm just not the type of person to make ignorant comments and assume that people are clueless or delusional.

we are all made up of the same things but that does not mean we respond to all the same factors in the same way. if that were the case we would all have the same allergies, same diseases, same body composition. if you can't understand my point then oh well to all of you.

bajoyba

Any treatment or prescription someone receives exists because it was tested across the board on large groups of people and was shown to be successful for its intended purposes.

Playing devil's advocate here...

The above is true, yes, but based on population statistics estimated from a sample. Biovariability is a huge factor in drug research, not to mention other areas of the biological sciences. Give the exact same dose of anaesthetic to two rats, from the same genetic strain, same weight and age....one will be out like a light in no time, the other will receive extra doses and still be trying to hop off the table. It's real and explains a lot of variability in reactions to drugs, foods, medical therapies, etc.

Populations statistics are useful, but they aren't all that helpful on an individual level other than providing a ballpark estimate.

Yeah.... I gave a very broad example to make a point. The point wasn't at all about prescription drugs. My point was that if our bodies were all significantly different, medical science wouldn't be applicable.

prattiger65

When it comes to weight lose, there are no special snowflakes. You will not lose weight in a surplus, you will not gain in a deficit. all the other peripheral talk is just that, talk.

Mr_Knight

last I check we were all created differently otherwise we'd have to walk around with our full names tattooed on our foreheads so that we could tell one another apart.

Biologically, we are all 99.999% the same.

HelenTheZ

vjw221, I get what you are saying and I agree that there's no reason to belittle people who come to a forum for help and support. And I agree that everyone loses weight "differently." If that were not true, we would not see so much contradictory advice, "scientific" or otherwise, about How To Lose Weight This One Exact Right Way That Is Completely Different From Last Month's One Exact Right Way.

My approach is to be gentle with myself, approach my journey with humor and kindness, and figure out what makes me feel good emotionally and physically, and what makes me emotionally and physically healthy. Of course that would be different from anyone else! Why on earth wouldn't it be?

ninerbuff

basic science may be the same energy in vs energy out. i get that however all of the many differing variables that go into energy number is what makes us different

so to make my point simpler.... our journeys are different and unique to our individual selves. what works for some doesn't work for all.

attempting to make people feel little and put everyone into a box isn't helpful.

So you're saying consuming 10 calories for one person isn't 10 calories for another person if the source is the same? How does that work?

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

joshdann

So you're saying consuming 10 calories for one person isn't 10 calories for another person if the source is the same? How does that work?

Are you suggesting that all humans burn 10 calories at the same rate? The food is the same for all people, but how they process it it not. The concepts apply to all people, but must be personalized based on BMR. I don't get why this is even a discussion...

robabob3

If everyone is special then no-one is

neandermagnon

So you're saying consuming 10 calories for one person isn't 10 calories for another person if the source is the same? How does that work?

Are you suggesting that all humans burn 10 calories at the same rate? The food is the same for all people, but how they process it it not. The concepts apply to all people, but must be personalized based on BMR. I don't get why this is even a discussion...

you're both saying the same thing, just with different emphasis.

there are some ways in which all humans are the same, and if anyone was conceived whose cells/body didn't work like this, they'd die in utero in the first trimester, in some cases early enough that their mother wouldn't ever know they existed.

there are other ways in which all humans are different, and in these there's a huge amount of variation, because variation is necessary for evolution to happen.

It's important for success at losing fat/gaining muscle/etc that you understand which factors are the same for everyone and which differ between people. No-one's body breaks the laws of physics, i.e. everyone will lose weight if they eat less than they burn off, however variation affects how many calories someone needs to be eating to be eating less than they burn off. And in the case of metabolic problems which screw up the calories out part of the equation, it's better to fix the metabolic problem and get the calories out to where they should be before trying to create a deficit......... but everyone's body follows the laws of physics. People who think they're not losing in spite of eating at a deficit, are not actually eating at a deficit. There could be several reasons for this, but their bodies are not breaking the laws of physics and they are not a special snowflake.

Hildy_J

Belittling/judging people.

Reason 1. Hunger makes people bad-tempered.
Reason 2. Success makes people pious and superior.

Good luck OP!

Don't worry it's the same 10-15 users out of the tens of hundreds of people that use the site.

Once you've ignored them all, it's more pleasant on here. :-) xxx

vjw221

oh i'm good. more amused than anything. oh and amased by all of the professional scientists on the boards here.

but i guess the human body that has biological and chemical processes isnt allowed to defy physics (because the human body is a car engine and is only effected by mechanical processes).

over simplifications just bug me

bcattoes

ALL of my weight loss and fitness success came after I accepted that I wasn't a special snowflake. Almost everything I learned about weight loss and fitness, I learned from people who emphasized that point.

Just curious, what did you think was special about you before?

I used a lot of the standard lines, especially in my own mind. Like: "I'm not fat, I'm just big boned", "I have a genetic predisposition to be this size", and "I probably can't lose weight because I think I have a slow metabolism". Turns out none of that actually applied to me, and the whole "eat less, move more" thing actually did work just fine.

That's not to say that there aren't people out there who have real medical issues that make it much more difficult to lose weight or require a very different approach to succeed. If someone has put a real effort into calorie tracking and eating at a realistic deficit and is having trouble losing weight, I encourage them to see their doctor and figure out what the issue is.

Yeah, exactly. Excuses are excuses, but the playing field is not level. Genetics can make weight loss harder. Science is proving that more every day.

PCOS, metabolic or hormonal disorders, and other diseases change the rules. Medications can change the rules. It's not just eat less, move more OR eat more to lose more for everyone. And the laws of thermodynamics are not the only thing that regulates weight.

The human body is more complicated than that.

bcattoes

last I check we were all created differently otherwise we'd have to walk around with our full names tattooed on our foreheads so that we could tell one another apart.

Biologically, we are all 99.999% the same.

Source?

bcattoes

When it comes to weight lose, there are no special snowflakes. You will not lose weight in a surplus, you will not gain in a deficit. all the other peripheral talk is just that, talk.

Absolutely false. I believe you mean lose/gain fat. That is not the same as lose/gain weight (or inches). And there are many things that can affect what constitutes a surplus/deficit besides what food you swallow. And THAT is the big one.

CoachReddy

ALL of my weight loss and fitness success came after I accepted that I wasn't a special snowflake. Almost everything I learned about weight loss and fitness, I learned from people who emphasized that point.

Just curious, what did you think was special about you before?

I used a lot of the standard lines, especially in my own mind. Like: "I'm not fat, I'm just big boned", "I have a genetic predisposition to be this size", and "I probably can't lose weight because I think I have a slow metabolism". Turns out none of that actually applied to me, and the whole "eat less, move more" thing actually did work just fine.

That's not to say that there aren't people out there who have real medical issues that make it much more difficult to lose weight or require a very different approach to succeed. If someone has put a real effort into calorie tracking and eating at a realistic deficit and is having trouble losing weight, I encourage them to see their doctor and figure out what the issue is.

Yeah, exactly. Excuses are excuses, but the playing field is not level. Genetics can make weight loss harder. Science is proving that more every day.

PCOS, metabolic or hormonal disorders, and other diseases change the rules. Medications can change the rules. It's not just eat less, move more OR eat more to lose more for everyone. And the laws of thermodynamics are not the only thing that regulates weight.

The human body is more complicated than that.

^ :drinker:

bajoyba

Honestly, I think we're all arguing different sides of the same coin.