The myth I will power & eat less move more...

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  • Qskim
    Qskim Posts: 1,145 Member
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    In Australia, we had this great advertising campaign called "Swap it". It was a series of simple ideas aimed at health and weight loss. Instead of sitting on the couch - go ride with the kids. Instead of taking the lift - take the stairs. Etc. I can't think of the food ones. This ad made me think at morbidly obese. Such simple ideas. So I started. Lost 16kg just by using their ideas. I didn't have a complete understanding of cals in cals out like I do now but of course I knew I was eating less and moving more. I had a general understanding of it but my biggest problem was setting myself up for a long term haul. I knew shakes/diets weren't the answer. They just stressed me. I've had to continually find more meaning to cals in cals out than just a simple equation. If I exercise, I have to love it or it has to have function. If I eat I have to love it and not feel like a matyre.
  • ashleyisgreat
    ashleyisgreat Posts: 586 Member
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    In Australia, we had this great advertising campaign called "Swap it". It was a series of simple ideas aimed at health and weight loss. Instead of sitting on the couch - go ride with the kids. Instead of taking the lift - take the stairs. Etc. I can't think of the food ones. This ad made me think at morbidly obese. Such simple ideas. So I started. Lost 16kg just by using their ideas. I didn't have a complete understanding of cals in cals out like I do now but of course I knew I was eating less and moving more. I had a general understanding of it but my biggest problem was setting myself up for a long term haul. I knew shakes/diets weren't the answer. They just stressed me. I've had to continually find more meaning to cals in cals out than just a simple equation. If I exercise, I have to love it or it has to have function. If I eat I have to love it and not feel like a matyre.

    That's a great campaign. It reminds us that it doesn't have to be the most complicated thing in the world. Simple changes add up! I hate to see my friends who want to get healthy, get in shape, lose weight, whatever, and they go like 200% for a couple weeks and then just burn out. It's not about going crazy with this stuff, it's just about making changes that we can live with. Forever.
  • TyFit08
    TyFit08 Posts: 799 Member
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    The basic point is that there is not enough willpower in the world to make me eat 1200 calories a day and to run 2 miles in the morning (which would be way more than I could do at this point), but that I don't need to do extreme things like that in the first place. Make it easier on yourself, create sustainable lifestyle habits, and you're golden. No need to rely on willpower if you just don't force yourself to do (or not do) things. Don't expect Biggest Loser-style weight loss because it's just not sustainable.

    Boy did this guy make some great points. I totally agree. Willpower can help, but if you rely to heavily on it, you feel like a big loser when you give in. All of the other times when you walked passed the cookie jar or ran every morning won't matter, because your willpower failed you. The moment I realized that I'm not going to follow a diet or fitness regimen perfectly 100% of the time is when I finally started having success. I hate salad and I would force myself to eat it. Now I have it on occasion and just steam my veggies which I prefer. Realizing that it is about eating less and moving more was liberating. I eat foods I love, just less of it and I do activities I enjoy and feel that I can stick with. Weight comes off slower than extreme plans, but as long as it comes off right
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
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    Compassion, self understanding, positive feedback? Sure. Without actual lifestyle change ....

    body-buddha-fat-funny-lol-Favim.com-253797.jpg
  • crunchybubblez
    crunchybubblez Posts: 387 Member
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    Hmm, eat less move more seems to work in countries other than the US.

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

    Unfortunately the majority of the world is catching up to the US.

    They are?

    EAT FASTER 'MURICANS!

    LMAO!
  • pcastagner
    pcastagner Posts: 1,606 Member
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    Willpower is not only finite, it is powered by food.


    On the other hand, just as willpower can be depleted, it can grow. It is like a muscle. When it's tired, it is weak, but that's part of building it.


    I consider willpower management to be the number one concern, followed by food management, followed by exercise. So I advise any friends starting out not to start eating at a deficit until they find an exercise regimen that is therapeutic rather than traumatic, so that the only drain in willpower is the calorie deficit, and exercise contributes to enhancing the will rather than weakening it. I also feel one needs to be careful when life gets crazy, because life changes tend to deplete willpower and it is better to stall a bit and save the whole program than it is to power through and kill the whole project.


    I also believe in positive reinforcement. I think one reason I've made such great progress is that after losing about 30 lbs, I had a romantic affair that blew my mind, and it somehow altered my brain in a permanent way to see exercise and calorie control as a sort of exciting game, not a chore. I've also adjusted my thinking so that when I do eat at a surplus for whatever reason, I notice the subsequent gains in athletic ability, not the "failure" to stay on target.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    I don't agree with some of the points in the article but taking things collectively I thought this was a great article and the underlying messages are good.

    I don't believe anywhere in the article is he trying to claim that energy deficits don't cause weight loss, this is more about battling the notion that willpower is the difference between success and failure.

    This is one of the reasons that it's important to set up multiple metrics. It allows different pathways to achieve positive feedback.

    Lastly, while I'm also a big fan of eating as much as you can to still see reasonable success, in some contexts, initial rapid weight loss can be very positive feedback.
  • missability
    missability Posts: 223
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    All I know is that "EATING MORE" got me here....and the LESS I eat, The MORE I want to move!
  • bronnyd
    bronnyd Posts: 278 Member
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    But I don't agree that "eat less move more" is a myth or a dogma. "Eat less move more" is the basic science behind weight loss. It's not "hardcore" at all. It's a simple concept, and that's what I find so motivating about it. Of course you still have to put in the time and the effort, and the positive feedback still needs to be there, but ultimately, eating less and moving more is how it works. "Eat less move more" doesn't say you have to starve yourself, give up foods that you love, or kill yourself at the gym. It just says that if you eat at a small to moderate caloric deficit and become a little more active in your daily life, you'll be taking steps in the right direction and seeing progress toward your ultimate goal. :smile:

    I completely agree! When I started this, and realized that the weight really DOES come off when you just eat less (not even a whole lot less) and move more, it felt exciting, motivating and empowering. I felt as though I had some kind of control over my own body for the first time in a long time...for years, what I thought was impossible really just turned out to be simple math. I love it!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    He's got tons of great points that I agree with 100%.
    Willpower will not bring you success.

    That’s because willpower is a finite resource. No amount of willpower alone will make you get up every morning to run if you hate running.

    Definitely. Willpower can only get you far. This is why I encourage people to find an activity that they ENJOY. So many threads on here are "what's the best machine for weight loss/cardio/toning/blah blah blah". It doesn't matter. Even if there WERE a "best" exercise (and there isn't, it all depends on your goals), it wouldn't matter because if you hate it, you won't do it for very long. Willpower will get you to try it a few times (at most) and then give up.
    Hate running? Then don’t run. Don’t like giving up pizza? Then figure out a way to fit it into your diet. Don’t like salads? Then don’t eat them.

    Definitely. I don't like salads, so I don't eat them. Running doesn't interest me in the least bit, so I don't even bother with it. I eat pizza, cheeseburgers, fried chicken, whatever. None of this has hindered my fitness goals or my fat loss goals. You just have to find a way to make it work.
    You see, The Biggest Loser gives people the perception that exercising until you vomit, starving yourself, and being hardcore are all necessary means to fitness success.

    Yup, that show does more to harm the general population's perceptions about fitness/weight loss than anything. Extreme diets, extreme workout plans, extreme dehydration for weigh-ins, etc. None of this stuff is a requirement or even admirable. It makes weight loss look extremely difficult/painful AND is also gives people the false impression that they can shed ridiculous amounts of weight every week (10lbs+ a week? Riiight). It's a reality show, that's all. Not even a good one.

    So yes, losing weight and getting into better shape really is as simple as "eat less, move more" but SUSTAINING the weight loss and the fitness improvements will require the individual to find a meal/fitness plan that works for them and that they can live with. That's the hard part. Simply restricting diet and dragging yourself to the gym won't work long term unless you're enjoying yourself or at least enjoying the results. That's why so many people fail.

    I like this whole post....
  • JohnMessmer
    JohnMessmer Posts: 536
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    I read the article, and every response up to this point, and I don't agree with the author on a few points.

    "Oh yeah, cardio alone is also ineffective at weight loss. Tack on a diet of only low-sodium foods (which doesn’t really do anything by the way) and you have a whole lot of pain and not much reward."

    Well, Cardio is all I do at this point. I decided, thanks to a scary doctor consultation, that it was now time to do something about my weight back in Sept of 2012. I read and decided that I needed to "eat less, move more" so I started walking, no marathons, just 1/4 mile...sometimes less. I gradually walked more and more, and I logged everything that went into my mouth (knowing that being honest with myself was the only way I could accurately track anything). Well, now it is July 2013 and simply by walking (I now walk between 4 and 5 miles a day...I really like Fitbit) I have lost over 120 pounds and no longer consider it a "choir" to go for a walk, in fact I consider it relaxing. I realize it has only been 9 months, so I am certainly not in any position to claim these results will last...but I know they will, and they will continue to improve.

    "Willpower will not bring you success. "

    Wow, I could not disagree more with this statement. I quit smoking after 26 years of a pack a day habit, using willpower. I enjoy smoking, I like the feeling, I like the flavor, yet I simply decided one day, many years ago, it was time to kick that bad habit and that was the end of that...no drugs, pills, vapor smoke, patch, nothing but willpower. I simply decided that "it is not an option". Fast forward to Sept 2012 when I decided that continuing the direction I was heading regarding my general health and weight "is not an option" and so I began to make the changes I needed to make to reduce my weight and become healthier.

    I am certainly no fitness guru, nor do I claim to know everything about weight loss and fitness, but I do know common sense and common sense tells me it is just as simple as, and as hard as, “eating less and moving more.”
  • aakaakaak
    aakaakaak Posts: 1,240 Member
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    John, yes. Everything, yes.

    I'm not pushing it on you, but if you end up with loose skin then anaerobic exercise, I.E. weightlifting, bodyweight, kettlebell, etc. has a tendency to help bring the skin back to where it's supposed to be. Since you've lost over 100 lbs that might be something you're dealing with now. Just thought I'd toss that your way as something to consider.
  • teagirlmedium
    teagirlmedium Posts: 679 Member
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    I agree with some things the author wrote, but disagree with some things too. I eat what I like. If I do not see the point in eating something just because it is supposed to be healthy for me. I will also not give things up that I like. The part he wrote about eating salads and giving up pizza make sense to me, because I have already tried doing that to lose weight in the past and while I lost weight for a while I did not keep it off because I was not happy eating things I did not like and giving up what I did like just to be thin so I did not keep up the habit. However, I think you can lose weight by just adding cardio to your weekly routine. So I do not agree with the part he wrote about cardio. I do agree with the part about what works for you does not work for everyone.
  • STrooper
    STrooper Posts: 659 Member
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    We generally seem to have gone to an eat more, move less culture with specific and measurable results.
  • shed50kg
    shed50kg Posts: 69 Member
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    I got bored reading it half way through, it is the same old story, someone else's theory about losing weight.

    If I quit every time I did not see positive results in something I tried to achieve then I would be sad poor man. If one way does not work, then you simply get off your backside and try another. WILL POWER and DETERMINATION will make you succeed.

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