Why Dieting is the Worst Way to Lose Weight

Siansonea

Ah, more gymrat/"nutrition" evangelism. Fail. :huh:

I lost weight through a calorie deficit, eating "dirty" food, with ZERO exercise, and I look amazing. So this author can take a flying leap. :smokin:

looks amazing but no profile pic posted...hmmmmm

Yeah, I don't need validation from strangers on the Internet. Or anyone, for that matter. I do get plenty in real life though, but don't take my word for it, just assume I'm lying. It actually makes zero difference to me. :drinker:

oh, and if you do not need validation then why even bring it up in the first place?

Exempli gratia. To illustrate a point. Do I have to draw you a picture? :huh:

well I doubt your claims...actually I am calling BS...so feel free to prove me wrong..

Okay, Muscles McGee, "prove" that the abs in your profile pic are YOURS. :huh:

ndj1979

Ah, more gymrat/"nutrition" evangelism. Fail. :huh:

I lost weight through a calorie deficit, eating "dirty" food, with ZERO exercise, and I look amazing. So this author can take a flying leap. :smokin:

looks amazing but no profile pic posted...hmmmmm

Yeah, I don't need validation from strangers on the Internet. Or anyone, for that matter. I do get plenty in real life though, but don't take my word for it, just assume I'm lying. It actually makes zero difference to me. :drinker:

oh, and if you do not need validation then why even bring it up in the first place?

Exempli gratia. To illustrate a point. Do I have to draw you a picture? :huh:

well I doubt your claims...actually I am calling BS...so feel free to prove me wrong..

Okay, Muscles McGee, "prove" that the abs in your profile pic are YOURS. :huh:

I am not the one claiming to eat crap with zero exercise and look "amazing" and then have some weird a** doll picture up ...

Hornsby

perhaps?

RGv2

Ultimately, some people are too large to weight train. Cutting calories has to be done by everyone who's goal is to cut before they build muscle. While the article makes some strong points, there are people who are taking years off their life by eating too much food.

:huh:

Some people who are 400-500+ pounds struggle to just move themselves, let alone bench press and do squats with weights. Their health problem stems from the food they eat. Once they get their eating under control, then they can start weight training.

Weight training doesn't necessarily need to include "weights". Weight training isn't just squats and bench presses. Also, weight training doesn't build muscle. You could take one of these morbidly obese individuals, put them into a severe caloric deficit, and get them weight training and they will put on some muscle mass, but not much. Saying they need to get their "weight" down before they "build muscle" is fairly asinine (but of course you are talking about the extreme outliers, not the majority)

DamePiglet

I feel the same way about the word "training" that the author feels about "diet"

"YOU CAN ONLY ACHIEVE FITNESS THROUGH TRAINING" is a guy marketing himself. You can be fit without an elaborate "training" program.

Where in the statement "YOU CAN ONLY ACHIEVE FITNESS THROUGH TRAINING" does it say it has to be elaborate?

Yeah, "elaborate" is the wrong word.
What I really mean, I think, is "formal."

And "training" puts me to mind of a structured course of actions that you do to reach a specific goal; like training for a marathon, potty training, obedience training, etc.
I just don't feel like "training" is the right word to use in many instances. Someone can lose weight in a healthy way without the formal nature of "training".

Siansonea

I'm sure you do look amazing but did you ever wonder if and how much LBM you sacrificed in the process if you didn't track it?

Well, since there's less of me to cart around, I don't really need as much "LBM" to do that carting around, now do I? And you're acting like it's a foregone conclusion that I'm "skinny fat"—whatever that's supposed to mean. I am able to walk, talk, and do everything else just as well as I could before I lost weight, so if I lost a bit of muscle mass in the process, I don't miss it. :drinker:

what about things further down the line?

osteoporosis?

I'm already pretty far down the line, I'm old as f__. So far so good, I think genetics plays a much larger role than anything else in that regard. Plus, I eat plenty or protein and fat 'n such in all the junk food I throw down my gullet, so I don't think I need to worry. :bigsmile:

I um. ok then. it honestly scares me that you give out as much advice as you do. I have no problem with your diet and exercise habits (or lack thereof), but the fact that you encourage others to follow the same practices is alarming. best of luck to you though.

Oh, alarming, is it? Well, not as alarming as telling someone who is not losing weight to just eat more calories until they start losing (hint: if you're not losing weight, the problem isn't that you're eating too few calories, it's that you're not counting input and output properly, but whatever, details, right?).

Here's the thing. Not everyone who sets out to lose weight is a chipper, perky little dynamo with willpower to spare, who is eager to make a suite of drastic lifestyle changes all at once. Some of us have really demanding jobs and social lives that don't really make a lot of room for a complete diet overhaul, a stringent workout regimen, and oh, by the way, if you can spare a few moments to track your calories and eat at a deficit it might help. The calorie deficit is pooh-poohed, downplayed, marginalized and dismissed around here, but it is literally the ONLY thing you HAVE to do in order to LOSE WEIGHT. I know this, because it's the ONLY thing I did. And I'm a half pound away from my goal weight.

Yeah, exercise is fine for health or whatever. Fitness, strength, all that jazz. But that's really not about losing weight. I mean, I seem to have lost weight as rapidly as any gymrat around here, and I feel perfectly fine. If I wanted to, now that I'm close to maintenance, I could start to introduce a little exercise into my life, and I might try yoga or something. But that's a separate goal from losing weight, and I figured that it would be better to accomplish one feat before tackling another. And honestly, I don't think I need a whole heck of a lot of toning, I'm pretty fortunate that my everyday activity keeps me at least somewhat toned.

So yeah, judge us lazy calorie counters all you want. We're laughing all the way to the scale. :drinker:

I am not judging here, but would like to speak as one with experience (I have been here for 4 years now!)

I will always be a calorie counter. And I believe that "eat more to lose" is a relative concept, and does not mean that everyone can eat a lot, just more than very lo cals. For me personally eating more to lose means eating 1400 calories a day instead of 1000. But I am petite and small boned and dont weigh a lot. Many of you out there probably have more lean mass than I have total mass!

Not judging here, but Sonea might want to listen to the "sadder wiser girl" that I am now! I peeked at your profile, and although I have no idea about your size and weight, we are of a similar age, and I would expect that you will be experiencing some of the same things I have, in a few years if not now!

Anyway, I am a ""deficit girl". I truly believe that calories in-calories out is the bottom line. I lost over 40 lbs here several years ago simply eating at a deficit. I DID exercise. Mostly medium cardio, although I added running after I dropped the weight. I logged my exercise and ate my calories back just as MFP suggests. It worked like a charm! I added a haphazard strength plan (mostly just on days I could not run because of weather or schedule). So the deficit does work, and in fact we have to have a deficit to lose.

Here is where I wish I had considered a few other things. After maintaining my 40+ lbs loss for about a year, the weight started creeping back (about 12 lbs in all). Now I am having to bust my butt doing all kinds of exercise, both strength and cardio, and eating at a deficit, and instead of the weight coming off as before, I have plateaued. Recently (after almost 2 years of gain/plateau) I have started losing very very very slowly again. about 0.25 a week. Even though I show a decent deficit. I am thrilled to be losing again at all, and plan to continue after the holidays (maintenance only over the holidays).

I really believe that if I had paid more attention to lean body mass and retaining and building muscle I would not be having nearly as much trouble maintaining my loss.

So, just a word of warning to consider from someone who has been there.

I'm 5'8" and weigh 135.5 pounds as of this morning. Or maybe I'm lying. I've never actually struggled with obesity, I've only ever been "overweight" from a BMI standpoint once in my adult life, around '93 or so, when I had a desk job and I drank sugary sodas all day long (and ate vending machine pretzels and chips out of boredom all day long). I had gotten into the mid 170s, much to my great consternation. Well, in my 20s, just cutting out the sodas and snacks was enough to make me drop back down to a size 7, and I maintained pretty well until I got into a relationship, and suddenly I was eating meals regularly and having larger portions, so by 2002 I was up to 163-ish. Hated it. So I dumped the guy and the weight, by "watching carbs" (I mean, I didn't dump the guy by watching carbs—you know what I mean). And after that my weight actually went down dramatically, I mean REALLY dramatically, without my even doing anything, because I just didn't feel like eating that much and I was under a lot of stress. My all-time low weight as an adult was 118, in 2003-2004, which is really too small for someone my height with my hipbones. From '04 to September of this year, I gradually gained weight, staying mostly in the 130s and 140s for most of it, until I reached 152.5 and decided enough was enough. This time, I didn't leave it to chance or carbs or just "watching it", I just decided to count calories, and stay within a certain range, based on my TDEE. Since September I've lost 17 pounds and I'm a half pound away from my goal.

Or maybe I'm lying. I mean, without an anonymous JPEG of a taut, toned bod, how can anyone possibly be sure I'm not full of it? :noway:

QuietBloom

Ah, more gymrat/"nutrition" evangelism. Fail. :huh:

I lost weight through a calorie deficit, eating "dirty" food, with ZERO exercise, and I look amazing. So this author can take a flying leap. :smokin:

looks amazing but no profile pic posted...hmmmmm

Also claims to be old but argues like a 20 year old.

Nah. Most 20-year-olds are much more deferential than I would ever be. :drinker:

By the way, 44 isn't old enough to say it's too late in the game to get in shape!

Who says it is? :huh:

Someone who claims that 44 is 'older than dirt' maybe? smh Lady, I'm 5 years older than you, never refer to myself as ancient, and am a LOT less grumpy than you. :frown:

Siansonea

perhaps?

That's an OLD picture. You sneaky sleuth! :bigsmile:

Siansonea

Ah, more gymrat/"nutrition" evangelism. Fail. :huh:

I lost weight through a calorie deficit, eating "dirty" food, with ZERO exercise, and I look amazing. So this author can take a flying leap. :smokin:

looks amazing but no profile pic posted...hmmmmm

Yeah, I don't need validation from strangers on the Internet. Or anyone, for that matter. I do get plenty in real life though, but don't take my word for it, just assume I'm lying. It actually makes zero difference to me. :drinker:

oh, and if you do not need validation then why even bring it up in the first place?

Exempli gratia. To illustrate a point. Do I have to draw you a picture? :huh:

well I doubt your claims...actually I am calling BS...so feel free to prove me wrong..

Okay, Muscles McGee, "prove" that the abs in your profile pic are YOURS. :huh:

I am not the one claiming to eat crap with zero exercise and look "amazing" and then have some weird a** doll picture up ...

Quid pro quo, pal. :huh:

Hornsby

perhaps?

That's an OLD picture. You sneaky sleuth! :bigsmile:

:P



How about that one?

Siansonea

Ah, more gymrat/"nutrition" evangelism. Fail. :huh:

I lost weight through a calorie deficit, eating "dirty" food, with ZERO exercise, and I look amazing. So this author can take a flying leap. :smokin:

looks amazing but no profile pic posted...hmmmmm

Also claims to be old but argues like a 20 year old.

Nah. Most 20-year-olds are much more deferential than I would ever be. :drinker:

By the way, 44 isn't old enough to say it's too late in the game to get in shape!

Who says it is? :huh:

Someone who claims that 44 is 'older than dirt' maybe? smh Lady, I'm 5 years older than you, never refer to myself as ancient, and am a LOT less grumpy than you. :frown:

Being grumpy is loads of fun, you should really try it. :drinker: And compared to the young whippersnappers around here, we are "old". Might as well embrace it. :bigsmile:

Siansonea

perhaps?

That's an OLD picture. You sneaky sleuth! :bigsmile:

:P



How about that one?

A little more recent. But I have bangs now. And I weigh a bit less now than I did in that picture, I think.

Hornsby

perhaps?

That's an OLD picture. You sneaky sleuth! :bigsmile:

:P



How about that one?

A little more recent. But I have bangs now. And I weigh a bit less now than I did in that picture, I think.

Just picking on you. I did see that you are a recognized artist in some Wizard Magazines. That's very cool

Siansonea

perhaps?

That's an OLD picture. You sneaky sleuth! :bigsmile:

:P



How about that one?

A little more recent. But I have bangs now. And I weigh a bit less now than I did in that picture, I think.

Just picking on you. I did see that you are a recognized artist in some Wizard Magazines. That's very cool

Thanks! :bigsmile: And don't worry, I can take a fair amount of ribbing. :drinker:

WalkingAlong

You do look amazing.

Not that anyone's avatar pic or personal story or anecdotes mean squat on the internet.

QuietBloom

Uh oh, you've got a stalker!

Very pretty lady. :drinker:

Siansonea

This was me in '05. I weigh about the same now, maybe a bit less. Other than that, I don't look too different.

Hornsby

perhaps?

That's an OLD picture. You sneaky sleuth! :bigsmile:

:P



How about that one?

A little more recent. But I have bangs now. And I weigh a bit less now than I did in that picture, I think.

Just picking on you. I did see that you are a recognized artist in some Wizard Magazines. That's very cool

Thanks! :bigsmile: And don't worry, I can take a fair amount of ribbing. :drinker:

I've noticed I was going to try and contact your family members with an elaborate story to get a better picture, but I figured that might be going to far...lol.

Siansonea

perhaps?

That's an OLD picture. You sneaky sleuth! :bigsmile:

:P



How about that one?

A little more recent. But I have bangs now. And I weigh a bit less now than I did in that picture, I think.

Just picking on you. I did see that you are a recognized artist in some Wizard Magazines. That's very cool

Thanks! :bigsmile: And don't worry, I can take a fair amount of ribbing. :drinker:

I've noticed I was going to try and contact your family members with an elaborate story to get a better picture, but I figured that might be going to far...lol.

:laugh:

Hornsby

You do look amazing.

Not that anyone's avatar pic or personal story or anecdotes mean squat on the internet.

Hey now. Not a stalker. Just a few clicks of the mouse. All in fun....lol. :P

Something has to get me through this long work day...