And lean sirloin is perfectly healthy.
I've been thinking about the different weight loss plans out there, and their various levels of success. For the last twelve years, I've known that low carb is the healthiest way to go for me. Because of this, I've pretty much not bothered, ever, to count calories. It's been a bit of a shock, as I peruse diet boards, to read so much about calories.
The old mantra of "eat less, move more!" makes me want to tear my hair out. I, and my mother, and various other people I've known, are living proof of the fact that it is not always as simple as "calories in, calories out". That's not to say there're aren't people it works for -- and certainly there are fat people who eat impressive amounts of food, and when they stop, they lose weight. But I suspect that those people are genetically inclined to be thin in the first place!
If it's all as simple as the math of calories, to have maintained a weight of 275 I should have been eating at least 3000 calories a day -- and that's setting aside the face that I waitress, so I spend hours a day walking, walking, walking. Not intense exercise, but steady.
In reality, a very typical day for me was a peanut butter sandwich (two slices of whole grain/seed bread with maybe 3TBS of peanut butter) and maybe 2 cups of milk for breakfast before I went to work (815 calories). At work I'd often have an order of boneless wings -- those are 1160 calories. When I got home I might drink some more milk if I still felt hungry, but more likely I'd start drinking water and Diet Coke. That makes my caloric intake a little under 2000 calories.
If I didn't feel like eating before work, maybe I'd have the boneless wings (1160) and a dessert (840). Then maybe when I got home I'd have my favorite quick meal, macaroni and cheese. I'd usually get the Velveeta Shells and Cheese 2% because I don't like the really thick sauce (660). That's 2600 calories.
On a day when I didn't work, I'd probably have peanut butter sandwiches and milk twice if I didn't have anything else in the house. That's 1630 calories. If I did have something else in the house, like stuff to make beef and broccoli (usually without the rice), I might hit 2500 calories.
 |
| Hedonism Bot. How droll. |
It didn't happen, so obviously there's more going on with my biochemistry. And I think that same something goes on with a lot of fat people, because despite the stereotype, not all fat people spend their days like Hedonism Bot. Some? Yes. Have I had my share of binges? Hell yes. But I've known a lot of fat people who have been in the same situation as me.
But wait, it's simple math! So we must be lying! We're all filthy lying fat people who secretly keep a bag of chocolate coated bacon on hand at all times. Pfffft. Anyway, that's why I do low carb instead of counting calories. When I was a teenager my mother and I both did the calories thing, and the low-fat thing, and we both went and got fatter. So much for math. We don't have a history of diabetes in the family, but I think we must have insulin resistance because low carb works like a charm for us.
My mother is a large part of the reason I came to peace with myself as I am, actually. Not because she ever felt okay with being fat; she was constantly dieting. But since she was about a size 20 most of my life, and since I do not fucking eat that much, I figured there must be a genetic basis. The rest of my mother's family never go above mildly plump, but my paternal grandmother has been on Weight Watchers as long as I can remember, and my dad's sister as well.
How strong is that genetic basis toward being a fatass? I don't really know. My mom actually starved about a hundred pounds off a few years ago -- literally, as she couldn't afford food and wasn't telling anyone how desperate her situation was. Now that she can eat, she's at about a size 10 -- very slightly plump, which she hates and it always bemoaning. So, despite my very strong views that I don't have to change because I'm perfectly healthy and anyone who doesn't like me because of my weight can take a long fuck off a short pier .... I am curious. We'll see how long the curiosity lasts.
Someone at work was having boneless wings for dinner tonight, and the smell got to me. I had two of hers; and I admit I rolled the 60-carbs-per-order around in my head for a while, because I seriously love them. I could happily eat them every day. In the end, I had steak and vegetables. I didn't even have any of the English toffee my boss offered me, and then left on the counter for everyone to scarf. I can't really attribute that to willpower though -- I grind my teeth in my sleep and they were sore today, I knew a bite of that would cause intense molar pain.
So my food for today was an EAS low-carb shake because I didn't have time for breakfast, two boneless wings, a small lettuce/tomato/cucumber/ranch salad, a 7 ounce steak with asiago cheese, and a cup of steamed broccoli and carrots.
Need to remember to get some Vitamin E ... why in the fuck is it so difficult to find natural vitamin E with a tocopherol/tocotrienol mix?
40 comments:
Hi again,
In regards to our conversation on one of your other posts, I wanted to clarify and ask your opinion on one last thing. You and I seem to be talking around each other in regards to all the other points I brought up and we don’t seem to agree on the science of obesity so I’m afraid you and I aren’t getting very far in discussing those points.
However, like I said, I wanted to clarify something that I said that you didn’t seem to understand. I said, “You didn’t respond to the statistic that almost 30% of America’s youth were unfit to be in the military due to obesity rates. If 30% of America’s youth were barred from service because of a toxin found in water, don’t you think we would do something about it?” to which you replied, “As far as 30% of people not being eligible for military service because of weight, I really don't know how to respond to that. I don't understand why military eligibility is an important statistic. People get declined by the military for all kinds of things -- my cousin had to do an appeal to get her scholarship back because she had a mild grass allergy.”
You don’t understand how this is an extremely important statistic? How about the fact that a decade or two ago, this statistic was practically unheard of??? Why are people becoming obese at such alarmingly increasing rates? Why are Americans becoming so fat, so fast? This is extremely important to look at! You trying to compare it to the fact that people get barred from the military for all sorts of reasons is like comparing apples and oranges. People aren’t becoming allergic to grass at alarming rates but if so, yes, that would be something to look at. People are becoming obese at alarming rates so yes, that is something to look at. If genetics was the only issue, Americans would have been obese all along but no, this has only been a problem in the past few decades. How can you ignore this?
Sorry to comment again but I felt that I should boil down my military statistic to this: basically, Americans were essentially the same healthy sizes for hundreds of years (with a few fat people here and there) but then in the past 30 years, our obesity rates have skyrocketed. So this is what my military statistic boils down to. For years and years, obesity was not a major cause of barring youth from service but now all of a sudden, it is. Why?
I really suggest that you read, The End of Overeating, by Dr. David Kessler. If any man has credentials on obesity, it's this guy.
I think we're going to keep talking circles around each other, because we're on opposite sides of a hot button issue. You feel being fat is intrinsically unhealthy, I feel it isn't. It's a pretty big divide. :) It's also a complicated issue to try to boil down into short exchanges.
I took a quick look at the Army weight charts -- the weights listed match exactly with the "normal" BMI categories. The Navy is less restrictive, with the cutoff being the second BMI point into the overweight category. Most obesity statistics are based on the BMI. And when it comes to health, the BMI is a bunch of bullcrap. The man who came up with it never intended for it to be applied the way it is.
http://bit.ly/3leiqf - brief article on it being crap
http://slate.me/4r7rE6 - long article on the history of it and what it was devised for
http://bit.ly/tv8FR - the Illustrated BMI Project, a set of photos with the subjects' BMIs included. It's interesting; some are just what you'd expect, but most are not.
The BMI began being used as a measure of "healthy" weight in 1985 -- about when people started freaking the hell out about obesity and saying it was on the rise. Also, the BMI points were revised downward several years ago -- so people literally went from normal to overweight, overnight. (I think I went from morbidly obese to DEATHFAT. :) ) That's one explanation, though maybe not a complete one, of why suddenly weight is such a major cause of people not being allowed in the military. I also wonder what the military used to evaluate people before the BMI.
So are people really suddenly fatter than they ever were before, or are we using flawed systems to come up with those figures? My personal belief is a mix of both. People genetically predisposed to be overweight may have begun shifting over to the obese category over time due to the availability of more and unnatural foods, and so on down the line.
I think it's very simplified to say that Americans were the same sizes for hundreds of years and there's suddenly been a fatsplosion. That ignores issues of food scarcity (literally starving will override even genetics), general malnutrition, diseases (ex. parasites) and living conditions that would affect weight (think about people working in basically sweatshops in the industrial revolution who were literally given no time to eat). Not to mention the intense labor most jobs used to require. I'm not a scientist, but it seems like there's a certain amount of logic to the idea that as humans were evolving, those who could hang on to fat would survive best through times of scarcity, high intensity exercise, and disease. Does that mean that now we should all starve and try to simulate that workload to overcome the genes that helped us to live?
So are people truly getting fatter? Maybe. Or maybe the genetically predisposed in certain CLASSES are getting fatter because they have access to foods now that in previous times they didn't. There's a reason fat and rich used to be equated, rather than fat and poor.
I'm getting off the subject here, and I'm sorry. I just don't think there's one specific answer to the question of "skyrocketing" obesity rates and if they're "alarming" or not. I think there's a flawed system of measurement in use, an over-simplification of increase in standards of living and the effects of that, and also issues regarding the types of food we eat now (high-fructose corn syrup is the devil IMHO).
Low carb plan are also high fat plan. Fat in, get you fat. That science doesn't always work either. What works is working HARD at the calorie counting. You have to have a large enough deficit to see a loss and you have to maintain the deficit consitently. Cutting 500 calories off a 3000 calorie diet isn't going to get you there. Especially if you lead a sedentary lifestyle. Drastic calorie cuts are what is needed. I'm staying under 1100 calories and day. I'm not starving and I've lost over 170 pounds. Find the people who have lost weight and see what works for them. They just might know a little about what works.
So, you seriously think eating huge plates of "thinly sliced" beef and Alfredo sauce will get you where you want to be? Wow! That would be great if it worked in my life. If you truly are happy and okay with being fat, I say continue with what you're doing and good luck with your "plan".
Karen, there are plenty of people who have lost weight on low carb diets as well. And "fat in, get you fat" is not correct; your body cannot store fat without insulin, which is why type I diabetics lose weight so rapidly. Fat does not stimulate insulin. Oh, and by the calorie math "cutting 500 calories off a 3000 calorie diet", if the number of calories to maintain a certain weight was 3000, would be a pound loss a week, would it not? It's great you've lost 170 pounds. You also had gastric bypass, and isn't the post-surgery diet low-carbohydrate?
Caron, there's no reason to be nasty. I don't know what "thinly sliced" has to do with anything. It was merely a descriptor of the meal. And yes, it will get me where I want to be -- it was under 20 grams of carbohydrate, which is the important part.
I'm going to say.. to each their own. But I've NEVER known anyone to lose weight on chicken wings (boneless or otherwise).
You say your calories were low enough you should have lost weight, and I do agree that some people have to have a larger deficit to lose weight. I get that. I think that's where some of the genetics comes to play.
However, with the diet of junk.. your body was missing out on tons of nutrients.. pretty much all of them. Without the nutrients, your body isn't going to function optimally anyway. So eating junk makes for no weight loss, even if the calories are below your needed intake.
Low carb does work. But I think you really need to factor in a lot of things to make it successful and healthy for you. You have to watch the calories and fat, as well as the carbs. In the beginning of low carb craze, they didn't watch calories. Eat butter, eat steak, have full fat cream in your coffee. It worked for some people. And some just got fatter.
You need to find what works for you. I am of the mind that no diet fits every person... find what works for you.. and stick with it. But I do believe what goes into our mouths should be nutritionally worth it.
Just my two cents.
My plan is low carb and it is low fat. But even on Atkins where fat is allowed, there is a limit to how much fat is allowed before you will retain it. As for the calorie deficit, some people, because of their metabolism, need more of a deficit than others. Before my surgery, I lost 30 pounds in 6 months on 1400 calories. After bypass, I lost 100 pounds in 6 months because my calories where between 600-800. I didn't starve then, either. My point is that some people require a greater deficit of calories to lose weight. I am one of those people. It depends on a lot of things, like metabolism, insulin resistance. I didn't have gastric bypass just to lose weight, I wanted a chance at a cure for my diabetes. Thankfully. I got it.
Thank you, Jacqui, for a great comment. My point with the calories was merely that if it were all as simple as the "times 11" rule and all the math Allan talks about, then I should have been losing weight because calories are calories are calories. I know what I was eating a month ago wasn't healthy!
As you say, different things work for different people. From past experience, I know that low carb works for me. I just didn't stick to it long, and then stopped trying, for a myriad of reasons (depression, feeling like I was approaching bulemia, times when all I could afford were ramen noodles, fat acceptance, etc.). It's working now, and we'll see how far I take it. :)
Karen, thank you for your comment. I'm glad your surgery/loss had the desired effect, I know diabetes is hellish.
Hello again and thanks for responding to my comment but I felt the need to clarify again as I have been in the military and know more about their weight requirements than an average person looking up their requirements online. The military doesn't bar people based on BMI. True, their weight requirements do match up with BMI standards but the military also goes by body fat percentage.
For example, if a girl doesn't fall into the weight requirements (or BMI standards), then she can have her body fat calculated and if that falls into a normal range (even if her weight doesn't), then she can be allowed in since some people just weigh more, based on body type, but are still healthy per body fat percentages. Girls up to 180+ have been allowed to go in, as long as her body fat percentage was 30 or so below. The body fat percentage allowed goes up with age so some women can get in with higher than 30% body fat percentage. So the statistic isn't saying that 30% of America's youth aren't just in the normal weight range, they are beyond a healthy body fat percentage range as well. Surely, you can't think that walking around with your body being 40% fat or 50% fat is healthy for the long term? It’s like I said before, if 30% of America’s youth were being poisoned by something in the water, we would investigate it and do something about it. The same needs to be done for obesity.
I agree that we are going to have to agree to disagree about the science of it all but all you really need to do is look around. As recently as the 1950’s, fat people were not the norm and there was plenty of food to go around. Just look at pics from that time. Now when you look around, it’s like fat people is all you see. Have you seen the movie “Wall-E”? If you haven’t, this comment won’t make any sense but essentially, it’s set in the future and everyone is morbidly obese, basically everyone is a caricature of themselves because they are so swollen with fat and it’s shocking to see. I think that’s how people from the 1950’s would probably look at us today.
What you can not see is that there is a world of support available to you. If you don't want any, then don't post comments at all, disable them, and write for yourself. Your plan, if you have one, based strictly on what you have posted for a week is eventually going to kill you. That is why people are concerned. I ridicule the blog in order to wake you up. If I didn't care about your health, and only wanted to ridicule you, trust me an almost 300 pound, short woman that has Mommy issues and embraces death from obesity is an easy mark. That is not the point, and the people that are commenting above me that have success need to be respected. Try that, listen to them, and learn something.
You are right about high fructose corn syrup.. it is the devil and it is in EVERYTHING. You have to read your labels and avoid this crap at all costs. If you want to understand why people are so fat now compared to the early 70's and before that take a look at a documentary called Corn King.. King of Corn.. something like that. They pump that HFCS into everything! It also seriously screws with your metabolisim. I'm not going to say our government want's us all to be fat, stupid sheep.. but yes, they want us all to be fat, stupid sheep.
All your math and talk of low carb made my head hurt lol. There is one simple truth to weight loss. It works for everyone. Every. Single. Time. Quit eating crap and move your ass till you sweat at least a little. Every. Single. Day. Crap = anything with refined sugar or white flour, anything high in fat, most things dairy, anything from a fast food resturant (yes even the "healthy" options!!), eating out in general, and all the many things we try and convince ourselves that just one wouldn't hurt. And yes, it really is that simple.. doing it however, is a completely different thing.
I honestly can't tell from your blog if you are wanting to lose weight or not, as it seems you are ok with being a "lardass" lol.. according to your bio snip up at the top. And I don't think there is anything wrong with being heavy, as long as you are ok with it also. But it looks like from your writing that you are also wanting to lose weight.. so I'm a little confused. Maybe you are too? Be happy how you are, or decide you aren't and change things. If you keep on doing what you've done to get where you are, nothing will change. I read a blog the other day where over THREE years she has only lost 18 lbs. That tells me she's still doing the same ole same ole thing. You can't keep doing the same things and expect different results. But then we all already know that don't we.
You are only 29. I was 38 before I decided to change anything but I spent every year of my life hating my body up until that point. When I was 38 I felt like complete shit, I was over 240 lbs and very concerned about what I would feel like when I was 50. I'm very fortunate to have not had any complications due to my wieght and also to be healthy enough to lose it when I was ready. Some people wait too long. No food is worth dying for.
I hope you have a great day :o)
You are fat for a reason. There is a reason. But I do not believe your genetics are the reason. Genetics actually plays only a very, very small part in obesity. It has a lot more to do with psychological conditioning.
In order to stay at your current weight you must consume the calories necessry to maintain that weight. People consistantly underestimate the number of calories they consume by about 20%; obese people tend to underestimate by closer to 40%. Think about that. There is also the very real fact that a calorie is NOT just a calorie.
History of diabetes or not, most obese people ARE insulin resistant.
And @Karen- it is NOT fat that makes you fat. It is impossible for dietary fat alone to make you fat. It is excessive levels of the hormone insulin that make you fat and keeps you fat. The more carbs you eat the more insulin you produce. And the more insulin you produce, the fatter you become.
Fat slows down the entry rate of carbs into the bloodstream thereby decreasing the production of insulin. Since it is insulin that makes you fat, having more fat in your diet is important for reducing insulin, especially since fat does not stimulate an insulin release. Fat is also the most satiating nutrient. So, butter your bread.
And @ everyone....THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS HEALTH AT EVERY SIZE!
Anyone who tells you losing weight wont change your life is FULL OF SHIT.
Hey hon, Now I did come over from allan's blog...but not to attack. I do think to lose weight you need to count calories. A calorie is simply a unit of measure, not your mortal enemy. Like a mile or an inch.
To really measure, you would need a food scale.
You need to know how many units of measure (or calories) it takes to sustain your weight and how much to lose.
Now simply because there is a bmi and there is standards for weight does not imply that you must get there. You could pick a higher weight that you feel is good for you..like 180 lbs or so.
Now, that being said...just because a menu says something has 1100 calories it doesn't make it so.
consumer reports did a study of restaurant food and found that restaurants underestimate the number of calories in their food by as much as 30 % on a regular basis.
To lose weight, you have to know your intake...keep it consistent and then see if there are results. I wouldn't say any of this If you didn't write up top that you were trying to lose weight. I did low carb, I did susan powter. I thought there would be some magical alchemy that would cause my weight to drop off. I thought I had a low metabolism, that I didn't eat that many calories.
But let's look at your milk for just one second. You said you had two cups. Is that two 8 ounce cups? or two 'cups' full of milk? An 8 ounce cup of 2 percent milk has 130 calories...A large cup could have three servings (390 calories vs. 130...huge difference). If you aren't measuring, then you might be getting more than you think. I think it's better to eat healthy, but you could concievably eat 1200 calories worth of twinkies and drop weight. You are getting a lot of flack right now, and I an NOT here to give you flack. But have you thought of simply capping your calories at 1800 and walking 2 miles a day for a month and seeing what happens?
It may work. That's what I did when I started (at 262 and 5'3 inches) That would give you a real contrast and compare with your current plan and then you could move from there and see what works for you. In any case, best wishes to you.
I also got a "cure" for my insulin dependent type 2 diabetes...and I never had surgery or consumed only 600-800 calories a day. I lost 100 pounds in 6 months, too. Imagine that. I am just like all of you, too. I was overweight/obese my entire life.
Oh, and I dont believe there is any such thing as Type 2 diabetes....it is a Western "disease" brought about by the Western diet and the obesity epidemic. Get a clue people. Wake up.
Oh,a low carb diet WILL work for anyone. It does so for physiological reasons that would take too long and be to arduous to type out on this silly iPad but if you want me to explain it to you I would be glad to from my laptop a little later.
Low carb diets are NOT sustainable for most of the population. And once you go "off" of them you will regain at an incredibly fast pace. Again, because of the physiology.
You should actually NEVER diet. I hate that word. In order to be successful, you need to make changes you can live with for life.
Hi there, I want ti weigh in (pun intended) on genetics. I never knew my bio-father's family growing up. I met them in my late 40's and saw that 90% of them were at least chubby, if not obese. I've battled weight since I was a small child and my mother put me on diets from the time I was about 8. I was the only chub in the house growing up.
I have two adult kids, one has battled weight all his life, the other is naturally thin. I gave them the same food and the thin one always ate more. Go figure.
I've been on every diet known to man and the only one that works for me consistently is low carb. Ive been trying the low calorie diet the past three months (consistently less than 800/day usually less than 600 because I can't put weight on my foot per doctors orders until it's healed) I've lost < 5 lbs this entire time even though I'm not eating and not cheating.
I think that dude who makes fun of people oh his blog is a huge @$$. I don't normally call names, but people have to put other people down to make themselves feel good are the lowest of low.
It's not like you're preaching to everyone that your way is the only way. You're just saying what works for you. I think he feels like his way is the only way. Maybe he'd also like to try starting a new religion. Same principle.
I agree with Faith about the dude who is a huge ass.
And @Faith - 600-800 cals a day isnt smart. There is physiology to consider. Its more than just calories. Be careful.
It never ceases to amaze me how self-righteous people can be in their beliefs about politics, religion and morals. Oh wait - this is WEIGHT LOSS people. Why get so bent out of shape and angry about it? There is no one cure-all for obesity not matter what you might like to think. Take your superiority complexes elsewhere and let the lady do as s he pleases on her weight loss journey. Find a way to build yourselves up that doesn't involve tearing others down. (that's right - I'm judging the judges again)
My husband and I were just talking about the whole math concept today. I get it, but I don't think that is all there is to the equation. At least for me. The math just does not work. And I am not obese, must a bit overweight (yo-yo-dieter). I also don't think all calories are created equal in terms of how we process them or react to them. I think we each need to find what works for us and for some, that may be simple math of calories in vs. out. For others, not.
Yes, there is one cure-all for obesity. It is simple, really...eat less - move more. It works. I guarantee it.
But people are ignorant and they make excuses.
The equation *is* more complicated than just simple math. And all calories arent created equal.
But weight loss - and the cure-all for obesity IS calories in, calories out.
When you are TRULY ready there are no excuses.
Damn, that's a lot of comments. Have to take them one at a time.
Joy, I don't think it's healthy for everyone to have 40-50% body fat. I think there are some people who have 40-whatever% body fat and are healthy by every other standard. I think there are people with 'normal' body fat percentages who are terribly unhealthy, suffering from all the diseases associated with obesity. You cannot tell someone's health simply by looking at them.
You keep referencing the military; it's great they give people more leeway that their website would indicate. If it's done on a case-by-case basis, however, then the statistic about 30% of people being too fat to fight makes even less sense. Obviously not everyone's been evaluated that way, so what are those statistics based on? I'd guess it's arrived at by comparing ethnographic statistics to the military's posted, official weight limit charts .... which match up to the BMI. Unless the actual statistic is that 30% of military applicants are turned down because of weight, in which case you get in to what percentage of the population tries to enlist in the first place.
There's plenty of research that's been done and is being done in to obesity, so I'm not sure what your comment about investigating it references.
Almost/Allan: I never said I didn't want comments, I just told Caron there was no need to be nasty. I've posted all comments made, a courtesy you haven't extended me I might add.
Saying there's "a world of support" is laughable, since you and certain other people have made it clear that said support is only available if I believe and follow the same ideas you do. Oh, you've said in your posts several times that you respect people to stick to whatever plan they choose -- but then, because my chosen plan is not the same as yours, you decide it's going to kill me. You've yet to explain that.
On this plan, which I admit I've only been following for a couple of weeks after several years of not giving a damn, I eat nuts, fruits, vegetables, dairy, and lean meats (sirloin, chicken, turkey). Every few days I might have some bacon or ham. I occasionally eat a brand of pasta specifically manufactured to be low carb. I'm still waiting to hear what's wrong with that.
Oh, and yes, I had two chunks of breaded chicken at about one ounce each. I know your philosophy on "cheats" and such; that's your philosophy and not mine. It didn't exceed my daily carb limit or send me into a binge or tailspin, so I don't see a difference between that and you setting aside calories for a hollowed-out bagel.
I do not have "Mommy issues", for the record; I said my mother was fat, so I thought I have a genetic bias toward being overweight/obese. Then I said she lost weight and so I don't know how applicable that is. I said we dieted together. I can't imagine how that became "Mommy issues".
I'll continue to read your blog because a lot of what you say is interesting; you can continue to mock mine if you'd like. I have studied the science of what I'm doing; I know how it affects my body; and the fact that it differs from your plan doesn't phase me. I never sought your approval, nor any contact at all with you, in the first place.
Lisa: I can understand you being confused. I *am* perfectly happy; because my happiness isn't influenced by my weight. I'm trying to lose weight for a simple reason .... essentially vanity, I admit. I want to wear my cute clothes again. And maybe I don't have as much of a genetic tendency to fatness as I thought. We'll see how I feel when I get to the point where I utilize my wardrobe again, maybe I'll keep going. I don't know.
As far as low-carb and the drastically simplified "eat less move more" idea, I think I've pretty well covered that in other comments and posts.
I've seen that "King Corn" documentary -- the processes involved in turning corn into HFCS are pretty shocking. It's a horrible substance, and like you said it's in everything. It's frightening how wide-spread it is.
Christine, thank you for your caring comment. You're right, I'm getting a lot of flack, but I don't really care. The people jumping on me seem to be willfully misunderstand some of what I say.
Regarding measurements -- when I say two cups, I mean two eight-ounce cups. I use measuring cups for my milk, as I do tend to under-estimate it if I don't. I have two food scales and a full set of measuring tools.
You suggest eating 1800 calories and walking two miles. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that; clearly it's working for you. But what I'm already doing is working, so why change it? I know from current and past experience that low carb works for me, when I actually do it. That's no different than any other diet, really. Also if I take up an exercise it bloody well won't be walking. :) I'm a waitress--I spent five hours walking today. :)
Thank you for your kind suggestions and lack of flack. :)
Faith -- Thanks for sharing your story with us! Your story is a great example of how genetics influence weight. I'm curious why you're currently doing the low calorie thing when you said low-carb works for you?
Faith, PrettyWoman, Lainie; I think Allan has some interesting things to say, and he obviously cares about people or wouldn't be running the challenges he does. I was willing to see him as not as ass, but maybe just a hardass, until he started outright calling me names (shit for brains). He can keep doing so, it doesn't bother me. :)
Lainie, I think that weight has become so moralized that when people feel they've found THE answer, THE way to be "good" and "right" ... well, it's just human nature to proselytize.
btw, the baby platypuses (platypusi?) on your profile are so freaking cute!
WaistingTime, you've hit the nail on the head. :)
PrettyWoman, you've said a whole lot. :) I think we have some similar ideas regarding the role of insulin and carbohydrates in weight, the importance of different types of calories, etc. But we also disagree about HAES -- I don't think that everyone can be healthy at any size, but I do think any size can be healthy for someone. After all, health is about more than weight.
Yes, it is. But your body cant truly be healthy if it is obese. I was morbidly obese; an insulin dependent, type 2 diabetic, shooting 3 different types of insulin, multiple times a day, taking a drug called metformin in high doses twice a day; that drug upset my stomach violently and aggrevated an ulcer; i was a severe asthmatic required to carry two different inhalers just to make it up a flight of stairs. But, I was considered "healthy" in all other respects. That is not health. None of it.
I left all of that behind three years ago. I am no longer plagued with anything. Without my medical records, a doctor would never know I had been diabetic or asthmatic.
And if you were obese without the diabetes, then what's unhealthy?
I'm also curious what kind of plan you followed to lose weight?
Part 1:
I am going to have to respond to your comment bit by bit because to be quite honest, I am having trouble absorbing your response as a whole.
You said, “Joy, I don't think it's healthy for everyone to have 40-50% body fat. I think there are some people who have 40-whatever% body fat and are healthy by every other standard. I think there are people with 'normal' body fat percentages who are terribly unhealthy, suffering from all the diseases associated with obesity. You cannot tell someone's health simply by looking at them.”
See, now you seem to be contradicting yourself. In one blog post, you are saying how being obese isn’t unhealthy but in another blog post, you say that in some cases, it is? That’s like saying cancer in some people is bad but that cancer isn’t always bad. No, cancer is cancer. Sure, some people survive it but it’s still an incredibly horrible, life-threatening illness, as I consider obesity to be. If you really thought obesity was fine, for one, you wouldn’t be trying to lose weight (which I do applaud, BTW) and two, you wouldn’t admit that on some people, it’s unhealthy. Of course some people have higher body fat percentages aren’t currently plagued by diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea, or any of the other myriad problems associated with obesity but that doesn’t mean it won’t catch up with you eventually. Not to mention, there are a whole lot of problems associated with obesity that aren’t necessarily health problems. How about people who are so fat, they can’t even wipe their ass properly? You think that’s a good way to go through life? Or how about people who can’t even walk around a grocery store because they become so out of breathe that they have to use the motorized carts…you think that’s a healthy, self-esteem building way of life? Also, while yes, ‘normal weight’ people get diabetes and heart disease, etc. obese people more often get those illnesses. You can’t really think that just because a skinny person is sometimes born with diabetes, that it somehow negates the thousands of obese people who incur diabetes because of their size? That’s just not a valid argument or thought-process.
You said, “You keep referencing the military; it's great they give people more leeway that their website would indicate. If it's done on a case-by-case basis, however, then the statistic about 30% of people being too fat to fight makes even less sense. Obviously not everyone's been evaluated that way, so what are those statistics based on? I'd guess it's arrived at by comparing ethnographic statistics to the military's posted, official weight limit charts .... which match up to the BMI. Unless the actual statistic is that 30% of military applicants are turned down because of weight, in which case you get in to what percentage of the population tries to enlist in the first place.”
The military reference is just one of an endless amount of statistics that show how much obesity is increasing in America. I could have used any number of them. I was merely trying to get your opinion on why America is so much fatter than we were in the past or why we are so much fatter than a lot of countries. For example, I could have asked you why the U.S and Canada have such a disparate amount of obese people. Canada is not some third-world country, they have plenty of food yet their obesity percentages are much, much lower than ours. It doesn’t make sense…
Part 2:
You said, “There's plenty of research that's been done and is being done in to obesity, so I'm not sure what your comment about investigating it references.”
Exactly! Thank you. I was trying to make sure that you aren’t actually advocating that doctors and scientists take the “stick your head in the sand” approach to obesity that those in the fat acceptance movement seem to take. If you ignore it, it’s not going to go away. This is only set to get worse if so much false information continues to be spread by those in the FA movement.
Oh, and just for the record, I don’t normally troll other people’s blogs that I don’t agree with the ideology on. Normally, I just stay away so I would hate for you to think that having these sorts of debates is something I usually do. I can guarantee to you, it’s not. I find it exhausting and quite frankly, enough to make me want to pull my hair out. In fact, yours is the first blog that I have ever commented on that wasn’t a totally supportive comment (lucky you, huh?). If I see something egregious, I just can’t walk away and every time you respond, I find quite a bit of deflection so I, unfortunately, keep feeling that I have to respond. Honestly, and I hope you don’t take offense to this, but talking to those in the FA movement usually leaves me feeling like I do when I debate with those who don’t believe global warming exists. I feel like banging my head against the wall and wailing, how can you not see what’s right in front of you?
Honestly though, as I said earlier in my comment, if you are trying to lose the weight, which tells me you do understand that there is a problem with obesity, then more power to you and I truthfully hope you succeed. I have never once bashed your methods in my comments, as that is about the last place I, personally, have any room to judge people on. So, I do wish you success in your journey. Again, I whole-heartedly recommend you read, The End of Overeating, by Dr. David Kessler. I think it would be quite an eye-opening experience for you.
I think my long ass comments went to the spam filter. Let me know if they didn't though and I will repost.
You asked why I'm not doing low carb instead of the counting calories. Actually I'm doing both. I broke my jaw a few months ago, so I keep chewing to a minimum (it hurts!) My typical day until I can exercise is:
2 protein shakes made with whey protein and almond milk
2 golfball sized whey protein balls mixed with peanut butter.
2 multi vitamins (one in morn, one at night)
No sugar, and practically no carbs.
This is not sustainable, but I was gaining weight like crazy due to no exercise (broken ankle) even though I was low carb (no sugar, no white stuff, no fruit), so am taking temporary drastic measures by also cutting calories.
No plan, my friend, no plans, programs, pills, powders, surgery...nothing.
I restricted calories to 1200, after the first month or two I develped a love affair with Whole Foods Market and began eating whole, real foods, and I literally exercised my ass off. I was in constant motion Biggest Loser style. First 100 was off in less than 6 mos the rest about three months later.
I have maintained the loss for about two years now.
In regards again to health at every size - IMO it is just not possible. Your body doesnt want to be fat, just like it doesnt want to be sick.
Joy, I don't think you're trolling at all, and I'm not offended. But I also think we're not really getting anywhere -- we're clearly not going to convince each other of anything. If you still want me to go through your comments and respond, I will; but I don't feel like there's anything new I can say beyond the basic points of: fat is correlated with disease but that's different than a cause, and you can't tell if someone is healthy or not strictly by looking at them. The individual cases of someone who can't walk without huffing etc. are just that -- individual cases, of which there are millions, and trying to come up with an answer to all of them is ridiculous.
FYI, I'm trying to lose weight largely for vanity -- I want to wear my cute clothes again instead of spending money on new ones. I did get a few pounds over where I personally felt comfortable physically, but I've already lost enough to feel just peachy again.
That said, I might continue losing weight even once my clothes fit, because it IS difficult to be fat in our society. I DO get irritated with people staring at me when I eat, etc. It's psychologically tiring. And as I said in my post, I don't really know anymore if I'm genetically disposed to the fatz anyway. So I might keep losing weight -- but if, once I stop being so restrictive, I gain the weight back again, I'm not going to beat myself up or hate myself.
Again, if you want me to go through your comments I will. I'm not trying to be stifling, I just honestly don't see what it will accomplish. :)
Faith, that sounds like a rotten situation, I hope your jaw heals up soon!
Wooooow. Lots of comments, I need new glasses apparently so I can't really sit here and read them all but I read the few at the top.
As far as healthy at any weight, I dont think "any weight" but I think that it is definitely possible to be healthy at far larger weights than the bmi suggests. Although people who are so fat that they are immobile are probably not healthy. people who are so thin they are weak and can't move, as well.
As far as what plans work for what people, auuuugh. It's such a pain. If there were one way that definitely worked, then I imagine everyone would have done it by now and there would be no fat people.
I count calories. I had done low carb in the past and when I've tried it since, it didn't work anymore. In atkins, they call this 'the one golden shot.' I had lost 70 lbs in 4 months on atkins before. I did eat boneless wings about every single day for 4 months. My skin was kind of grey, I felt like I had the flu all the time. Although I was thinner, I was not healthy by any stretch. They are not one and the same.
I think there can be a genetic predisposition to be overweight, but honestly before just the last 40 years or so we did not have the obesity we have now, regardless of the the BMI or the BMI standards changing, etc. It's not merely a matter of people being 10 lbs north or south of overweight. The country is increasingly morbidly obese, but there isn't one thing to blame. It's not just fast food or genetics or evolutionary (or lack there of) issues regarding food scarcity, it's a combination I think.
Like I said, I count calories, which worked off and on for me over the years depending on how well I stuck to it. Switching to a 99% whole foods vegan (gluten free as well, for health reasons) diet has truly helped me. I've lost 50 lbs, and 37 of that in the last 4 months. I feel it's a steady downward trend, not a lot of bumps as long as I stick to a 13-1500 cal diet.
A lot of people say a calorie is a calorie too, though that is not true. studies show that high fructose corn syrup, if rats ate the same amount of that as they did regular sugar water, they got fatter on the same amount of calories. So, I think the fact that I'm eating food that I can pronounce and doens't come from a box, can or deep fryer most of the time, is what has made the difference.
I'm fat and unhealthy. I can't be very active due to chronic pain (trying to improve this) my cholesterol and sugar were high, my good cholesterol was low. So I'm not one to say oh I'm fat and healthy, but some people are. I was for a long time. Now I'm 31 and it has caught up with me. My real dad died of complications from diabetes. (lost both legs, went blind and then his kidneys failed)
Anyhow, I tend to fall on the side of "no one really knows jack" on most theories about obesity and we can only do what works best for us as individuals and we are the only ones who will be held responsible for what we do to our bodies really. So, have at it.
Have you seen killer at large? It's so hard to think I'd ever go back to where I was just thinking about that documentary, cuz it's just full of stuff that you can't unsee. :(
Post a Comment