Posts by strikez

Breakfast is often mis-characterized as a metabolism booster. It is true that eating (anytime/everytime) boost metabolism, but this metabolic boost does not lead to weight loss.

Breakfast is a characteristic of people who lost weight and kept weight off.  So it can be concluded that breakfast helps control hunger throughout the day.   But eating breakfast is also a common characteristic amongst overweight people, so it can also be concluded that breakfast does not promote weight loss.

I just restarted with Sea-Thin.

After I stopped for a few months I put on some weight and started to get my gut back.

I am hoping to get back on track by mid-October.

Original Post by evil_lady_di:

The part about russian study sounds very suspicious. Why Russia, anyway, why not let's say Zimbabwe? Who's the unknown dr. Ramazanov, anyone seen his credentials?

PS. Anyone that has spent at least a few weeks in russia would share my doubts about the study.

If you googled Dr. Ramazanov - his credentials would impress you.

I have not stepped on the scale in weeks!  

I will later today and see how much I gained.  

No excuses, I just stopped doing the things I need to do.  

I got the tomorrow attitude going (it is OK that I do this because I will get back on track tomorrow) and I got to change that to today.

My goal is to see get below 180 pounds for the first time in a decade.

Wiiwigi - wow super achievement.  You are demonstrating that we can fight this obesity epidemic if we get off our asses and take charge.  

I am in with the new thread to continue to go forward.

That is a very good article.

My takes from the article:

Exercise is not the key to weight loss - but is the key to weight loss maintenance.

Liquid calories and high calorie snacks have the biggest impact on obesity.  

It does not matter how you reduce the calories - reducing calories will lead to weight loss.

Best line from the article:

It's a fallacy that all it takes is willpower to reshape your body. If you can't learn to speak French in a month, it doesn't mean you're weak-willed; it means you've set an impossible goal. Weight loss does take effort, but as with any project, it also takes a plan. You can set yourself up for success.

and

As you lose body fat, levels of certain hormones, including leptin, drop. The signaling pathway that tells you you're satisfied doesn't work when leptin levels are too low.

I just finished reading Dr. Blackburn's Break Through Your Set Point: How to Finally Lose the Weight You Want and Keep It Off.  It is very similar to this article.  Weight loss and maintenance are simple processes that work better with simple approaches.

I am reporting in early this week or late last week.

I am in the process of moving and things have been crazy.

I still am floundering in my program.  I am maintaining 186 pounds.  I know I am at a plateua/set point and I just have to be sure I don't go back over 190.  I keep making more and more excuses to eat bad, and that has me concerned.  I am starting a trend that led me to being overweight in the first place. 

Are we changing to a Labor Day challenge next..........

I am still slipping.

I tried to have a go for a few weeks without calorie counting.  It did not work.  Entering data into this system keeps me honest.  

So I am back to the routine of logging my food and activity.  I wonder how many cals I will burn painting today...

Very bad week for me.  I did not work out, I ate poorly and it is showing on the scale, and I feel sluggish from the after effects.  Just a reminder I do not have this completely under control.  No excuses. 

I am back up to 187 this AM.

Because of the way this product works, taking three a day is plenty.  Taking more will not give you a better result.  It will take anywhere from three to six weeks for the fucoxanthin to take effect. 

183.5 this AM

JAC total -1 

I am starting to get through this plateau.  

No shock or awe from me... 185.

I am holding steady.  I expect to be on this plateau for at least another month.  I tried running/sprinting some, I got my normal reaction, sore legs and sore back.  So back on the elliptical for me. 

My elbow now feels well enough to begin lifting again.  I will start with pushups and band work 1st.  If all goes well I should be throwing steel around again next week.  I was at 35 pushups when I injured my elbow.  I am hoping to pick up near that when I restart.

I got picked up by a softball team this week.  I haven't played in two years, so I am very rusty.  But after playing I decided to do some running/sprinting to get my stride back.  At least I am in good enough shape to run.

Original Post by amethystgirl:

mhaskell - you've hit on what I think was the main problem with the article. Just like reports that say diet soda makes you fat (because it leads you to want more sweet things) - just because something makes you want more does not mean that you actually eat more.

Before I was counting calories, I definitely ate more on days I exercised - I saw it as a necessary reward for my efforts. Now, I pretty much always aim for the same calorie target. Sometimes I'm famished after working out, but if I eat slowly, I still don't go over my limit. Other times (right now, for instance), I'm not that hungry, but by the time I get dinner ready, I'll be ready for it, and will eat an appropriate amount.

In my opinion, when stating that x causes y, you need to keep all other variables constant - and in this case, the explanation isn't that exercise doesn't work, it's that our actions after the excercise negate the weight loss benefits. So exercise isn't the culprit - our response to it is.

You see this a lot in the diet industry.  A lot of times you will hear that breakfast is is important because it is a common characteristic of successful dieters.  But it is not the breakfast that causes the weight loss, it is the way it helps people eat less.  But you will hear that breakfast revs metabolism and causes weight loss all the time.   

Just look how much starvation mode is expressed in these forums.  The article did a better job in pointing out the homeostatic response caused by exercise that promotes fat growth.  Exercise has an impact on the homeostatic response.

This statement is an important take from the article:  

"If it’s biology, and not a lack of willpower, that explains why exercise fails so many of us as a weight-loss tool, then we can still find reason for optimism. Since insulin is the primary hormone affecting the activity of LPL on our cells, it’s not surprising that insulin is the primary regulator of how fat we get. “Fat is mobilized [from fat tissue] when insulin secretion diminishes,” the American Medical Association Council on Foods and Nutrition explained back in 1974, before this fact, too, was deemed irrelevant to the question of why we gain weight or the means to lose it. Because insulin determines fat accumulation, it’s quite possible that we get fat not because we eat too much or exercise too little but because we secrete too much insulin or because our insulin levels remain elevated far longer than might be ideal."

The article did a good job arguing diet was the key factor in weight loss, not exercise.  

Here is an interesting article that convincingly makes the claim that activity plays a minor role in weight loss.  I particularly like the explanation on homeostasis, LPL and insulin on fat stores.  This is counter to my philosophy that weight is loss in the gym, not at the dinner table. 

http://nymag.com/news/sports/38001/