Random stuff that stops me getting fat... and makes you fat

neverstray

I disagree with much of what the OP has said. So, now what?

mfpcopine

I agree with everything you said, with the following exceptions:

1) Eating too little is almost never a problem for normal people (I exclude people with EDs);

2) Women don't become "hulks" overnight with weight training, but a woman with a certain type of body fat distribution who is concerned about getting bigger does have to take more care in the kind of exercise she chooses.

athminbri

I agree with some of your points and disagree with others. It actually is more expensive to eat healthy. I am not at the grocery store right now. So, I can't give exact prices. However, compare these two meals:

Unhealthy - 20% fat ground beef, mac and cheese (box stuff), canned green beans, refrigerated bisquits

Healthy - boneless skinless chicken breast, spaghetti squash, fresh broccoli, brown rice

You could also do an item by item comparison.

vegetable oil vs olive oil
20% fat ground beef vs 5% fat ground beef
regular pasta vs whole wheat pasta

Instead of saying that it is not expensive to eat healthy, you should be encouraging others to make priorities about what is more important. I spend quite a bit more on food now than I did before. It is even harder since my family refuses to eat healthy with me. I made the decision to become healthy and will do what it takes to achieve that goal, even if it means spending more money on groceries.

I became overweight not from eating too much but from eating very little. Before starting this a month ago, I usually only ate one meal a day. No, it wasn't a huge plate of food either. I have been forcing myself to eat breakfast and lunch. I just don't usually get hungry during the day. Or maybe I just get too busy to realize I am hungry. Regardless, I eat about 4 times the food now that I used to.

Instead of avoiding fat people, why not show them how to be healthy. Fat people only encourage you to be fat if you let them. Maybe once they see you succeeding and eating so much tasty food, they will try it too.

Cardio is important for a healthy lifestyle. Health should be about balance. Balance means eating right, cardio, and strength training. It's great that you can bench press 300 lbs, but could you outrun zombies if you needed too?

Ok, I am done.

Connie

starla5881

Eating bad one day? Not gonna derail everything you did the other six. I promise.

Fast food? Nothing in it makes you crave more. There is no secret chemical to make us addicted. We want more sometimes because it tastes good. And it is ok to eat food we like to eat. Really really.

The only unhealthy food is one eaten in excess. Like something? Love something? Eat it. Just not as much as you used to.

Do I need to eat chocolate or chips? Nope. But I do. And I can.

Cardio? Yeah. Getting your heart and lungs and circulatory system healthy sucks. Good call.

Metabolism? Yup. They are all different. Sorry.

And you're right. Hanging around overweight people? Lame.

Healthy people don't eat much? Well, I'd say the healthiest people often eat more - it's a result of having to refuel after all that stupid cardio they do.

Sugar? Long as you don't have a medical reason to stay away or limit ... it isn't the devil. I don't even track it. I promise, sugar is fine. (So is sodium, by the way.)

Fie on your common sense! Only condescending attitudes and pseudoscience are welcome here!

neverstray

Bro-Science is awesome. You don't need no collage or nothin'.

briebear77

Sex is awesome when you aint fat.


Favorite quote ever.

brigid0113

Ok, I've read through it ALL, including all comments. I don't think I have to point out the absurd superior arrogance of this topic, because that has been well addressed. I'm not going into the FACTS because I don't actually have that knowledge. I am new to this whole healthy lifestyle change and still learning.

What I want to add is that life is for living and enjoying. In my opinion that is all that matters. Maintaining a healthy, productive lifestyle will enhance your life but if it's going to take over your entire life I don't see the enjoyment. The fact that you refuse yourself something you love (the fish and chips comment) seems ridiculous to me. There is WAY more to life than just being fit and tracking your food intake.

That being said I realize I am posting this on a fitness and calorie tracking site. I just think it's important not to lose sight of the reason we all want to get healthy. We all want to enjoy our life more. Cutting out everything we enjoy just to be healthy is going to make you an unhappy person with a nice body and a longer life span to continue to live unhappily.

That is my generalization, and my take on this topic, but I'm new to MFP so really... what do I know?

jjscholar

What you said about fast food is very true...

EnchantedEvening

It must be utterly exhausting being an absolutely perfect specimen of manhood.

Spanaval

I don't even know where to begin. Thank goodness plenty of people have pointed out the flaws, from the smug superiority to being incorrect on the facts.

JenSuperGirl

Ok - where to start. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpoAtwVyzZI This video will cover the 'diet' issue. Anything artificial is BAD for the body, it confuses the brain. It can also alter your bodies calorie burning function. Artificial chemicals have a disastrous effect on how our body's run, they cause medical issues and are generally are just a dire way to eat. Havent you ever wondered why we are getting sicker as a population? Its because these are pumped into everything.

The weight loss thing being ultimately down to hormones - of course a deficit plays a part, but when you start to get to that plateau or several plateaus it is not just simply a case of cutting your calories. For example - Surely, if I’m consuming 2000 calories a day less than the calorie charts tell me I’m allowed to eat then I should be able to lose well over 200lbs in a single year, shouldn’t I? And what if I were only 185lbs to begin with, would I actually disappear by the end of 12 months? See my point? The body is too clever for that, hormones are the main game players. Keep your body fuelled with clean food, all natural and it will start to shift. I am speaking from experience. I am trying to drop my body fat percentage lower - I eat only natural foods. Recently I've lost 8 pounds all of which were fat mass - my muscle mass has increased.

Do you still think I am not serious?

Your support is a youtube video? Um...no thanks.

And 8lb of all fat mass, eating at a deficit and gaining muscle mass......mmm - ok.

ETA: I would be very happy to learn from any scientific sourcesyou care to provide that indicates that artificial sweeteners and processed foods do all the thngs I raised in my earlier question (slowing metabolism etc) - learning is a good thing.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=artificial-sweeteners-confound-the-brain

http://tc.engr.wisc.edu/uer/uer98/author2/index.html

neverstray

Ok, I've read through it ALL, including all comments. I don't think I have to point out the absurd superior arrogance of this topic, because that has been well addressed. I'm not going into the FACTS because I don't actually have that knowledge. I am new to this whole healthy lifestyle change and still learning.

What I want to add is that life is for living and enjoying. In my opinion that is all that matters. Maintaining a healthy, productive lifestyle will enhance your life but if it's going to take over your entire life I don't see the enjoyment. The fact that you refuse yourself something you love (the fish and chips comment) seems ridiculous to me. There is WAY more to life than just being fit and tracking your food intake.

That being said I realize I am posting this on a fitness and calorie tracking site. I just think it's important not to lose sight of the reason we all want to get healthy. We all want to enjoy our life more. Cutting out everything we enjoy just to be healthy is going to make you an unhappy person with a nice body and a longer life span to continue to live unhappily.

That is my generalization, and my take on this topic, but I'm new to MFP so really... what do I know?

I think I love you.

plbrown81

All I can add is I may not NEED chocolate...But I can guarantee at least one week a month you want me to have it

debussyschild

However, muscle doesn't burn that many calories at rest, and cardio burns far more calories than strength training or a muscled person resting.

Sorry but... I call BS on this one!

Moderate intensity cardio DOES burn calories, but only while you're doing it. Once your session is over, the burn stops. Weight training on the other hand, you burn probably twice as many calories post-workout as your 30 minute cardio session, and even more depending on the intensity of your workout. Sprint and high intensity interval training are the best cardio for fat loss, although, running is certainly fine for keeping you in shape, not to mention healthy cardiovascularly. Look at it this way (and I only have love for runners!!!): marathon runners are SKINNY. Sprinters are RIPPED. There's a reason why. Your body can't adapt to high intensity training no matter how hard you try, lol. You'll always burn more that way in the long run (no pun intended).

Love the original post!

It always drives me nuts when people say it's expensive to eat healthy. I have one word for them: gardening. Want fruit and veggies in abundance at virtually zero cost? Grow them! It's really not hard. Humans have been doing it for a while, so even the dimmest bulb can figure it out.

Also, learn how to cook. You don't need to become a gourmet chef, but understanding how to boil water, cook an egg, broil a chicken breast, or steam some veggies can go a long way. The greatest Christmas present I've ever gotten (seriously, no joke) was a Better Homes & Gardens Cook Book, $20 at Walmart. Took me from loathing have to prepare a meal to absolutely LOVING it.

Thanks for posting!! Very funny and very true! :drinker:

ETA: It's too expensive NOT to eat healthy. Can you say medical bills? Unnecessary trips to the ER? Medications? etc... Not to beat a dead horse, but this saying truly does apply here: an ounce of prevention is worth *at LEAST* a pound of cure. Think about it when you're hankering for Mickey D's... (YUCK!)

emmajohns1983

Love it! I just printed out the 'you are not happy fat' and stuck it up in my kitchen, just in case I ever forget!

tsh0ck

What you said about fast food is very true...

No, it isn't.

debussyschild

The thing is, who is perfect, who controls every last drop that goes in there mouth 365 days a year, yes we all want to be fit and healthy but wheres the fun in eating veg and meat every day of your lives/

I don't think the man was preaching perfectionism at all. Simply stating some cold hard truths that most of us write off with excuses. I think the point of his post is to tell folks to dig deep and be honest with yourself. Sure, everyone screws up or makes a choice they wish they hadn't that slows them down or leads to another problem. The point here is to not make excuses for your failures, but to be honest and learn from them. After all, if you're not being honest about what you eat, what you do, how you think about food, etc, you're not doing yourself ANY favors.

EnchantedEvening

I don't think the man was preaching perfectionism at all. Simply stating some cold hard truths that most of us write off with excuses. I think the point of his post is to tell folks to dig deep and be honest with yourself. Sure, everyone screws up or makes a choice they wish they hadn't that slows them down or leads to another problem. The point here is to not make excuses for your failures, but to be honest and learn from them. After all, if you're not being honest about what you eat, what you do, how you think about food, etc, you're not doing yourself ANY favors.

It started off that way, but then the post went waaaayyyy south. Having fat friends doesn't keep/make you fat. He spent an entire post talking about owning your choices and then threw in that bomb that was so fat-phobic it was unreal. My fat friends have absolutely ZERO influence on my food choices. Sometimes, it's my "healthy" friends who want to order pizza or eat a bag of chips. It isn't just the eeeevil fatties who make poor choices.

Also, fat people CAN be happy. I don't wallow in depression because I'm fat. I'm losing weight because I want to be more healthy, not because I hate myself. I have a billion other things that comprise who I am. My weight is only a percentage of what makes me ME. Yet another thing that shows how much he loathes and detests fat people.

The OP makes me sick. I hope to god he never ends up with some disease, stuck in a wheelchair, because then he might become the thing he detests most.

EnchantedEvening

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=artificial-sweeteners-confound-the-brain

Did you actually read the article? It says that it doesn't satisfy the craving for sugar, which means those people on diets need to be careful when using artificial sweetener, because they may eat more to satisfy the craving. The weight gain comes because people are trying to fill that need with more food, not because they drank something with Splenda. That's like saying guns are the reason people are dying. No, it's the person who pulled the trigger.

Those of us who are disciplined can enjoy the occasional Diet Coke without worrying about snarfing down an entire cake to make up for it.

Correlation =/= causation.

Also, any article worth its salt should provide links to the actual studies. I didn't see any sources or links, other than links to other "Scientific American" articles.

fteale

I do agree with the OP about junk food though. We don't need it. Ever. I have managed 35 years without ever eating at McDonalds and am THRILLED about it. It's not food any more than cardboard is food. Why people persist in paying money for that rubbish baffles me.

Very occasionally I get stranded somewhere where literally the only vegetarian option is chips (like today for example, at a landrover convention, I had to eat them or faint (I was there for 8 hours walking around in a muddy field, I was starving - I had half a portion), but unpredictable one offs like that aside (happens to me maybe 3 times a year), it would never even cross my mind to eat fast food, as it doesn't register on my radar as food. That goes for Subway as well. There are very very few situations where you have no healthy choice.


BUT




While I am on the subject, why at an outdoor event, miles from anywhere, would the only food options be ice cream, bacon rolls, hamburgers, doughnuts and fries? Does it not cross the people who organise these things minds that some of might like ACTUAL FOOD? Even the drink options were Fanta, beer or coffee. And I am allergic to oranges. Oh, and was driving. I was SO HUNGRY by the time we got home.