The "Dieting" dilema; bad food, worse ideas.

bump

I used to hate being tall until I got to this site. Now, I read all these posts where people say they only get to eat 1200 calories and I am happy I'm tall. My calories goal is 1800/day. Why would someone WANT to eat LESS? I just don't get it.

Thanks for the info. Although, I also found the exercise part someone confusing so thanks for the clarification!:flowerforyou:

Great post! And I just wanted to mention that it's people like you on this site who have made me realize things I never had before. When I was in the 7th grade, I started skipping meals, when I reached 10th grade I started to eat even less...and throw it up. That cycle had messed me up soo much. I would start to eat regular again...and put all the weight back on plus some. Of course I loved losing the weight really quick...but I was always sooo tired and litterally JUMPED at any loud noise or unespected thing becuase I was so lethargic I sopose. I got married when I was 18 and started to eat even more and not care so much about my health (my hubby has a QUICK metabilism and I was eating the exact same things as him). I got preggo when I 19, and had a miscarriage which even put me into more stress. When I was growing up...my brother was really good at reminding me constantly how chubby I was while he was eating like a cow and had a 4 pack, working on a six pack :sad: Yes, the comment he's made to me in the past still hurt me today and he doesn't even know it. And I should blame no one but myself, but I beleive if he hadn't made so many hurtful comments, I wouldn't be this large today becuase he wouldn't have made me want to do so many hurtful things to my body. Most of my life i've just been so deppressed with my weight...I even use to cut my self. All those years of mistreating my body has put even a worse toll on my body. I'm ebarrassed to say, but I even have 3/4 sleave stretch marks down my arms from all the losing then gaining so quickly :blushing: Well....it took my hubby and I a whole year to get preggo again...and after having my precious boy...I put on even 50 more pounds that didn't want to leave. After having my son, it was the FIRST time in my life I wasn't going to lose weight the BAD way by starving and throwing up....but what I didn't know was that doing my strenuous excersing and keeping my food intake at under 1,000 calories a day was BAD. I finally came across this site last month, and that's when I realized that what I thought was good, was still sooo terrible for me. I bumped my calorie intake to 1,200 min. per day, and I still excersise...but not all crazily. I have lost 16 pounds :noway: AND I FEEL SO AWSOME AND HEALTHY!!!! I love this site more than words can explain and I have people like you to thank!!!! Thank you for opening eyes and letting people know it's okay to eat more, and that you'll benefit even more from it :happy:

this is from an article http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article folder/cortisol.html


Alternatively, when aerobic exercise is performed for durations short enough to not critically lower muscle or liver glycogen (e.g. < 45 min), then the exercise-induced cortisol release will most likely be irrelevant to muscle protein balance. Also, the theoretical metabolic effects of these increases in cortisol may be overcome by simultaneous increases in growth hormone, testosterone, and muscle specific somatomedins. The net result is the preservation of muscle mass.

I guess this is why trainers tell you to keep your workout under an hour.

I don't quite understand this part. Exercise causes you to store fat? The stress from exercise is equal to the stress of worrying about bills? Not to question your facts, but I've never heard anything like that before. If that's true, it seems like exercise is bad for your health, because all I ever hear is that chronic stress is terrible for your health, and actually reduces your lifespan.

I usually feel good when I exercise, however when I'm stressing over money issues I feel about as bad as I could possibly feel.

At the end of that paragraph you state that exercise is good for this and that, but overall, if it puts the body in a state equivalent to high stress situations which are bad for you and increases body fat, how could it be a good thing?

Forgive me for asking, but this is new information for me, so I need clarification.

I'll explain a little more.

during stressful times our body releases hormones, lots of hormones, most don't really affect our metabolism but a couple do in very very specific ways. Cortisol is released to block insulin from pulling energy from the blood sugar (insulin and cortisol have a FAR more complicated relationship then this, but for our purposes saying it "blocks" it is good enough), and insulin is what keeps our bloodsugar in check by helping glucose get to our cells.
Now, when the stress is brought on by exercise, other hormones are released as well, the higher the intensity of activity, the more of these other hormones are produced (specifically Human Growth Hormone and Testosterone). Now, HGH and Testosterone somewhat counteract the effects of cortisol because they trigger muscle growth and muscle stimulation, which requires more blood glucose (sugar) and thus the excess blood sugar that cortisol promotes is used up, but when we stress over things and aren't exercising, there's no counter to the cortisol, thus the extra glucose in our blood is eventually taken and converted to fat for storage by the body. This is a very simplistic description of stress and hormonal effects, but it's good enough for our topic.

As to how we feel when we work out, yeah, we generally feel good after we work out, but not because our body is happy, it's because our body release other hormones to make us feel good, to counteract all those aches and pains, and fatigue. Why? Because way back when, you didn't want to be running from a Cave bear and suddenly feel fatigued and tired, you wanted a feeling of euphoria for 2 reasons, 1) to be able to run through the pain of any injuries you might have acquired while being chased, and 2) to eliminate the fear response in animals which is to freeze and become indecisive. The main chemicals for this are adrenaline and dopamine. And THAT'S why you feel good after you work out, not because your muscles are pleased with you.

Exercise doesn't cause you to store fat, rather exercise is more of a contributor to fat burning, my main point of this section was that while exercise is a good booster for the fat metabolism, it's healthy eating that will be the driving force for reducing body fat, not exercise (unless you have the time and energy to work out 3 to 4 hours a day at a high level of effort, and even then, it WILL eventually catch up with you as you age).

Hope this helps.

Thank you, that was very helpful.

I am a bit upset though. LOL................I have been saying the same things in posts and people argue with me about it. Telling me they will eat what they want and it is still healthy to them..........

Sometimes it is the manner in which the message is presented. Steve started with a disclaimer right at the beginning.

Speaking of cortisol, I've had to take courses of Prednisone off and on throughout the last 35 years. I don't know if I'll ever get rid of the belly fat but I'm trying. Problem is, I don't know if and when I'll have to take it again - never, I hope!

Speaking of cortisol, I've had to take courses of Prednisone off and on throughout the last 35 years. I don't know if I'll ever get rid of the belly fat but I'm trying. Problem is, I don't know if and when I'll have to take it again - never, I hope!

I had to take several courses of Prednisone for a period of 2-3 years and thats where I gained a large portion of the weight that I have now. My doctor insisted that it would come off after I stopped taking them because I had such a fantasticly healthy diet and a decent workout routine......

Its just over 1 year later and I finally lost 15 of those pounds. I will never take that stuff again!:grumble:

Another great post Banks! Bump

Bump for the new ones. Food is good as long as you pick the right kinds of foods.

Oh yeah, 136 lbs (today is official weigh-in day for me) ... my driver's license says 135 so I'm getting there! :drinker:

Yeah Ghanie!!:flowerforyou:

Oh and bump:glasses:

Bumping for more followup reading later - and BAnks, thank you for clarifying that bit about exercise increasing stress and causing fat preservation - I almost had a heart attack!!:laugh:

literally with all the exercise we do NOW!! :laugh:

Yo Boss. I finally got around to reading your novel. I couldn't agree more. I'm gonna do my best to bump this thread, because I think about 75% of the people on here need to read this and get a grip.
Sometimes you need some tough love, and I think you hit the nail right on the head. Keep up the good fight.

BUMPITY BUMP!!

Thanks for the great info.... if it were not for the bumps i might never had found this thread! It has been very rewarding too read that I have been doing things correctly! Thank goodness! Slow and steady with as much of a whole food eating plan as possible!
Thank You so much....

Now my brain and body are ready for the light exercise to help tone the muscles I see that were in hiding under the fat layer. Yoga, and mild strength traing sound like they would be a good combo... Toss in walking my dog twice a day for cardio...Any thoughts on that?

Again thanks:bigsmile:

I can't believe I missed this!!

I Banks. You'll always be Banks to some of us :laugh:

Great post - thanks for taking the time to do all that typing.

Just a thought - I've lost 100 lbs now. Took me 10 years, but I never starved myself. I've changed my eating habits drastically and worked on the issues that led to my addiction to food. The human body needs good nutrition to function properly - starving yourself is not the answer and will do much more harm than good. Eat, people, eat!! Eat good food and move your body. :drinker: It works! Edited to add: I lost about 40 of that in the last 2 years with MFP. Yay MFP!!

Thanks again Steve