Dr. Jason Fung on Why Diets Fail in the long run

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Replies

  • Cindyinpg
    Cindyinpg Posts: 3,902 Member
    Oh, noze, I'm doomed!!!!! :sad:
    me too. Also, I think my scale is lying to me. Last year it told me I lost 50 lbs eating at a deficit, then I stopped and the stupid thing said I gained 20 lbs! NOW it's really going crazy, saying I've lost 37 since I went back to eating at a daily deficit, back in July. I gotta get that thing fixed.
    Me too! My scale was saying for an entire year that I lost 2lbs a week eating at a deficit of 1,000 cals a day. Now I'm eating at a deficit of 500 cals a day and it's telling me I'm losing abut 1 lb a week. How can this be? Maybe everyone's scale is broken. Perhaps we can start a class action suit against the company for making such shoddy products... misleading us and getting our hopes up and all. :sad:
  • TheRealParisLove
    TheRealParisLove Posts: 1,907 Member
    This is very interesting information, and yet people still manage to gain or lose significant amounts of weight without a return to their previous weight. We're still not seeing the whole picture here.

    I believe that environmental factors need to be considered as well as one's own microbiome before we can say with any certainty why X works but Z doesn't work.
  • Cindyinpg
    Cindyinpg Posts: 3,902 Member
    This is very interesting information, and yet people still manage to gain or lose significant amounts of weight without a return to their previous weight. We're still not seeing the whole picture here.

    I believe that environmental factors need to be considered as well as one's own microbiome before we can say with any certainty why X works but Z doesn't work.
    In all seriousness, we all know that calorie deficit works. So doesn't it really just come down to each individual tailoring their own healthy, sustainable program of calorie reduction? Topics like this might be interesting, but I think they are muddying the water unnecessarily and confusing people who are just starting out.
  • joshdann
    joshdann Posts: 618 Member
    In all seriousness, we all know that calorie deficit works. So doesn't it really just come down to each individual tailoring their own healthy, sustainable program of calorie reduction? Topics like this might be interesting, but I think they are muddying the water unnecessarily and confusing people who are just starting out.
    Truth.

    There is the biology half of the equation, which can be simple or complicated depending on your personal health, background, condition, etc. One part is always constant though - a caloric deficit *requires* that the body lose weight. That's the definition of deficit. You need more fuel than you eat. When you create that condition, your body simply must pull from its stores. Fat and/or LBM depending on a lot of factors, but the extra fuel has to come from somewhere. Ensure that your nutritional needs are met - based on macros and vitamin/mineral intake - and your diet will be healthy.

    Then there is the psychological half of the equation, which can also be simple or complicated. This is where you need to figure out in what way you can apply the biological facts to your individual abilities and desires. Pick a method that you will be able to stick to and you will lose weight.
  • NonnyMary
    NonnyMary Posts: 982 Member
    lifestyle change calories in calories out in the long run does not work cuz the body does not work that way, the body is not about scales calories in calories out, it is a thermostat, you reduce the calories the body reacts, it slows the whole process down so to inhibit weight loss, that is why people come on this forum complaining they are cold, the body stops producing as much heat moreso he produces a number of studies with the control group and the particpants and follow them for several years.

    What does work is intermittent fasting it doesn't cause the body to change its rate.
    Worthwhile educational video in six parts my buddy and I have watched all six.
    This guy knows his stuff.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpllomiDMX0

    so you are saying I can eat 5000 calories a day and I will not gain??/

    troll alert....

    No way will i do intermitent fasting.. thats the diet mentality. and it wont work for me. no thank you i will stick to my current 2 pounds a week weight loss thing im doing now.

    Please tell me i do not have to do intermittent fasting down the road.
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  • watfordjc
    watfordjc Posts: 304 Member
    OK, let's tackle the "will always fail" part. The body maintains a temperature of 36.8 degrees Celsius, adaptive thermogenesis lowers that target temperature, by going on a diet for a long time the human body will maintain the same temperature as the outside world purely by heat transfer (i.e. the body uses the skin like the thermal compound on a CPU), therefore dieting can reduce the human body temperature to 0 degrees (dieting + snowy day = death). No matter how long you have been on a diet, you won't excrete frozen urine.

    Either you are twisting the dermatologist's words, he doesn't know what he is talking about, or he is deliberately spreading misinformation.

    Diets don't fail because of anything to do with biological functions. If they fail, it is invariably due to psychology. Personally, intermittent fasting causes me to be in an overall calorie surplus due to extreme hunger, so it is erroneous to suggest that it works any more than diets works. Calorie balance is the only thing that matters, followed by macros and exercise, followed by size of deficit. Since no-one has the exact same brain (including those devoid of critical thinking who prefer pluralistic ignorance) losing weight, I believe, boils down to this: "how can I maintain a calorie deficit that works with my mind?" Most people who successfully keep weight off not only modify the food that goes in and the energy expended through non-exercise activity and exercise activity to reach equilibrium, but they also make modifications to their thought patterns.
  • Irenaekl
    Irenaekl Posts: 116 Member
    'Doctor' Jung?? The new 'diet' messiah!! Another load of crap like Atkins and Dukan.

    So a calorie deficit doesn't work? That'll be why I am only imagining that I have lost 45lbs using calorie deficit.

    Just another 'DON'T EAT THESE HORRIBLE CARBS' guru who spouts a few miniscule truths encased in a load of total rubbish.

    OF COURSE people regain weight when they stop one of these 'diets' if they go right back to eating the way they did before.

    Losing weight and keeping it off is about completely changing your mindset .

    Eat less but eat sensibly - move more ...this is what WORKS no matter how many gurus tell you otherwise.
  • sloth3toes
    sloth3toes Posts: 2,212 Member
    I miss buddy.

    71390_340.jpg
  • Jestinia
    Jestinia Posts: 1,153 Member
    I would LOVE it if a form of IF worked for me. Sadly it doesn't. Low carb does work (for me, not saying it's for everyone). The only reason I ever fail at dieting is that I always forget how crappy, bloated, itchy-rashy and starving I feel when I pig out on carbs. I think I might be gluten intolerant. It runs in my family. Regardless, I have no problems on low carb and lots of problems when I go off it. But if intermittent fasting works for you, fantastic, do it! Same with just counting calories, or certain forms of exercise, or hanging upside down like a bat once a week in a small cave. Whatever works, do it. But not everything works for everyone, ever.
  • twixlepennie
    twixlepennie Posts: 1,074 Member
    lifestyle change calories in calories out in the long run does not work cuz the body does not work that way, the body is not about scales calories in calories out, it is a thermostat, you reduce the calories the body reacts, it slows the whole process down so to inhibit weight loss, that is why people come on this forum complaining they are cold, the body stops producing as much heat moreso he produces a number of studies with the control group and the particpants and follow them for several years.

    What does work is intermittent fasting it doesn't cause the body to change its rate.
    Worthwhile educational video in six parts my buddy and I have watched all six.
    This guy knows his stuff.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpllomiDMX0

    I did a form of IF for weight loss and I experimented with another version of IF when I first transitioned into maintenance. I was ALWAYS cold while doing IF.