| Forum | Topic | Date | Replies |
| Weight Loss | "Post-workout milk boosts fat burn" - news article | Aug 09 2007 16:01 (UTC) |
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I wonder what, for the purposes of fat burning, a 'workout' consists of? IE, is my 1/2 hour powerwalk in the morning enough of a 'workout' or should I wait until after an hour long bike ride? (Not that it matter that much I'm sure)
I just always wonder when articles don't more strictly define terms like 'workout' etc. For some people walking to the fridge is considered a workout LOL |
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| Weight Loss | I am confused | Aug 09 2007 15:48 (UTC) |
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People might throw things at me but I don't necessarily think that weighing every day is a bad thing. Yes, it is if you obsess over every pound or pound and a half fluctuation (I try not to but I'm not always successful) and let it get you down.
Duke University says that they have found that when their people quit weighing every day that's when they stop losing or gain back if they're maintaining. Daily weighing keeps a handle on things. In my opinion, the *trick* is, to not pay too much attention to the scale until you have several weeks (2 months or more) worth of daily numbers, so that you can track what's normal fluctuations, what are normal #s for TTOM, and how your body reacts to different things you eat (#s of calories, amount of sodium, etc). I've spent 44 years ignoring my body so I am trying to overcome that. Weighing every day is one of the tools I use. |
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| Weight Loss | I skip breakfast...so what? | Aug 08 2007 19:23 (UTC) |
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We are still bio-chemical-physical beings, and, no matter whether we are morning people or night owls, our metabolisms are still tied to our circadian rhythms.
Everything I've read tells me that our bodies react differently to food eaten earlier in the day than later (this goes along with my natural inclination to believe things that correspond to how our hunter-gatherer ancestors lived). From everything I'v read, even if you're a night owl, food eaten later in the day is more likely to be stored as fat. Studies have linked obesity to % of calories eaten later in the day. There's also something called "night eating syndrome" that's an eating disorder. It's a bit more extreme than a lot of what we've been talking about...involving even waking up and eating during the night (I, apparently, have night peeing syndrome ;o) ). This syndrome is linked to stress and depression. Just because we have artificial lights and TVs, does not mean it's healthy or normal to stay up as late as we do, and eat as much as we do after dark. |
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| Weight Loss | Co-worker on scary diet | Aug 07 2007 21:16 (UTC) |
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Noelle,
In terms of your actual dilemma (which my earlier posts didn't address!)...I'd probably approach it (if I was going to) by saying something like: I admire you for being determined to lose weight. I'm trying to do that myself and at first all the conflicting information out there about weight loss, health and nutrition was just overwhelming. It's hard to know what is the right thing to do. Without directly asking about why she chose what she did, that opens the door for her to share more if she feels comfortable. Telling about yourself and your experience is a good way to do that if you don't want to pounce and ask questions. |
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| Weight Loss | Co-worker on scary diet | Aug 07 2007 20:27 (UTC) |
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"Oh...and 1,000 calorie diet isn't exactly brutal. "
Well, since you never met my grandmother and didn't live through the process with her, I don't know why you feel that you're more qualified to describe the process than I am. I chose my terms very carefully and "brutal" was exactly what I meant to say and a fair description of the process. Most people thought dieting was supposed to be brutal back then...the punishment the fat person deserved for not having enough willpower to be a 'normal' weight or just what you had to accept if your body gained weight on for what everybody else was a normal amount of food. This was 35 years ago, and we have made quantum leaps forward in terms of understanding about diet and nutrition. I suggest looking at diet recommendations and food plans from 30-40 years ago if you are not aware of what dieting was like back then. We have hundreds if not thousands of low calorie options today that were not available 35 years ago. We know a great deal more about cooking in ways that don't add calories but are good tasting. One thousand calories goes a *lot* farther with low fat or no fat and low calorie foods. An exercise program was not part of the process that the Dr. put grandma on. She was a hard-working woman, on her feet all day from 4:30 in the morning. I remember her being in tears because she was so hungry and felt so sick and weak, but hiding it from the rest of the family. She'd often go to bed at 7 in the evening because she was so hungry but wasn't allowed to eat anything. I'm in awe of the fact that she was able to lose the weight and keep it off. But, make no mistake, it was a *brutal* process and she only kept it up because she was told her life was at stake. This is where I learned that, in order to lose weight, there was so much suffering involved to make any progress at all that it was only worth it if your life was in immediate danger. It's taken me decades to overcome that. |
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| Weight Loss | Co-worker on scary diet | Aug 07 2007 17:50 (UTC) |
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Don't assume every doctor is going to know anything about healthy weight loss. Some will, if they've gone to the trouble to learn. A whole lot won't.
I used to work at a med school and our students got *1 week* of training in diet, nutrition and "alternative medicine" in 4 years of med school. (why diet and nutrition are lumped with alternative medicine is a whole nuther topic). It's been a while but if I recall correctly, the diet and nutrition part was only a day or 2 of the week. As far as I know about the medifast, it's a 'crash diet' method that doctors use for people who have to have extreme weight loss before surgery or something. They put people on it for weeks before gastric bypass surgery (if they're going to do that I don't really see the need for gastric bypass but what do I know?). Back in the early 70's our family doctor...who was the family doctor to the whole little town we lived in...put my obese grandma on a 1000 calorie diet. She lost the weight and kept it off the rest of her life but it was brutal. Wonder why I didn't think I'd ever be able to lose weight??? That's what weight loss was to the medical profession back then and for a big percentage of the profession that's where it has stayed. My guess is, unless she's got something else going on that she doesn't want to share with co-workers, her doctor has the same attitude that a lot of people have about losing weight..."let's get the weight off as fast as possible and *then* worry about how to live a healthy lifestyle". We all know how successful that's been. A lot of people here know a lot more about *healthy* weightloss than far too many doctors. The doctors may know the mechanics of how the human body works and how to fix some of the things that go wrong with it, but that doesn't mean they are experts in *health*. Our students used to say, "What do they call the person who graduates last in their class at med school??? Doctor!!" =/ |
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| Weight Loss | I skip breakfast...so what? | Aug 06 2007 16:56 (UTC) |
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Even in kindergarden I would tell my mom I wasn't hungry and that eating anything made me feel sick. My kindergarden teacher, who made us all tell what we ate for breakfast every day, always had a fit.
She was right. "Not eating until I was hungry" was exactly how I got up to 252 pounds. "Eating first thing in the morning" has been the key to my weightloss. The problem was *what* I (my grandma, and my mom) thought I *should* be eating for breakfast. Grandma was a fan of the 'big farm' breakfast, and when I stayed with her, we got up so early that I *was* hungry by 'breakfast time.' At home, we were all night owls (literally since I was born) and tried to sleep til the last possible minute so cramming 'breakfast food' down my throat wasn't going to happen. So all through school I had a glass of chocolate 'instant breakfast' made with whole milk. Til I hit the Pepsi and cold pizza stage. Then I quit eating breakfast at all and waited til I got 'hungry' at which point I'd be starving for heavy stuff. I still can't eat breakfast like other people, but I don't want to. I have a small serving of fruit when I wake up in the morning. Then later when I'm hungry I have something else small but a bit more substantial. Eating this way, along with my half hour exercise walk first thing in the morning is what has enabled me to start getting up at 5:30 in the morning (until this week, when I got sick) ready to go for the first time in my life. |
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| Weight Loss | obsessive behaviour... | Aug 03 2007 00:46 (UTC) |
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I SO know EXACTLY what you're talking about.
I'm glad you're not leaving completely! |
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| Weight Loss | stop drinking that diet pop | Aug 03 2007 00:44 (UTC) |
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Somebody help me out here...I know I remember reading (I'm the queen of "I read somewhere") that merely tasting something sweet gets your brain's/body's biochemistry ready to deal with sweet stuff...which I think involved producing insulin. The gist of it was, that it had nothing to do with calories or anything, but wasn't a good idea in terms of the body's biochemical response causing some people (at least) to have a harder time losing weight.
I'd also think it would cause continued cravings for the taste just like regular pop does. My basic attitude is "cravings bad, water good" ;o) |
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| Weight Loss | Is it possible to be underweight and still be fat? | Aug 02 2007 22:39 (UTC) |
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Jaina
Females (I'm assuming you're a girl 'cause otherwise it would be jasonsolo LOL) naturally have proportionally more lower body strength than upper body strength. A male of the same fitness/strength level would have more upper body strength. Women also have more endurance. Back when we were all hunter-gatherers, women needed more lower body strength and endurance than men, because of the needs of child bearing, child rearing, and gathering. It's all relative. It's not about "being X level"...it's about getting to be the best you're able with what you've got. We each have to try to improve our weak areas as much as possible (within reason without getting burned out or discouraged) and take advantage of our particular strengths. |
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| Weight Loss | Honey we're killing the kids.... | Aug 02 2007 22:32 (UTC) |
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Also, exercise is free. No gym required, just the desire to get a sweat on - and there are hundreds of ways of doing it if desired. Especially for kids. Whatever happened to "kick-the-can"?
2 things that I can think of right away. First, the advertising industry has taken several quantum leaps forward in, say the last 50 years (take a look at commercials from 50, 40, 30, 20 and 10 years ago if you don't believe they've gotten phenominally more sophisticated...and that's not even counting the fact that many cartoons, other tv shows, and movies are 'bundling' consumer goods in a variety of media along with the show), convincing kids and parents the kids "absolutely have to have" whatever 'stuff' they're selling. Computer games, which about guarantee sedentarism and stuffing yourself with crap while you're playing, are not only expensive to buy the game itself, but you have an endless number of 'new and improved' games to buy...until the 'new and improved' system that you have to buy comes out! Still, what I think has had one of the strongest impacts on the number of hours kids do NOT go outside and play, is the fact that parents have been convinced by the media that there are predators around every corner and it's not safe for kids to go out unless mom or dad are right there. Parents don't feel safe even letting their children play in their own yards!! I'll admit I grew up in Mayberry RFD but most parents then were of the 'get out of the house and don't come back until the street lights come on' variety (mine wasn't, my mom and grandma were paranoid and didn't want me 'out running around' which contributed to my getting no exercise except reading). Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying predators don't exist. Even with my mom's paranoia, I had a couple of unpleasant encounters as a girl. I'm sure they have existed and kids have been victimized throughout history, which is awful and the b@st@rds should be strung up. But we didn't hear about it *constantly*. If something happened in Some City, Nevada, it generally didn't actually make the national news, which it does now, which contributes to raised anxiety levels. And don't tell me that *some* of that, even a bit, isn't basically inflated by the media so you'll watch their news program. I live in Phoenix and literally not a day or 2 goes by that you don't hear about the latest 'danger' to the area's children. Cause danger to kids is a *huge* seller in the news media. Now, before everybody yells at me, I'm not saying the media shouldn't report *actual cases*...what I'm talking about are news stories (both here and in the city we used to live) that my husband and I have come to call "something might have happened" news. Forget the actual murder or drive-by that happened in the poor, rough part of town, tonight's lead story is that something scary might have happened, or almost happened in the 'safe' white neighborhood, but didn't actually end up happening. But now we can all start worrying that it might actually happen. OK, that was kind of a long rant, but the short answer is most parents don't feel safe letting their kids run and play outside, and definitely don't have *time* to stand outside and watch them while they get all the outdoor running, screaming and bike riding they need. |
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| Weight Loss | After a recent trip to the states... | Aug 02 2007 22:05 (UTC) |
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Ah, yes, welcome to the U.S. where the crap food industry (fast food, sweets, processed food, unhealthy stuff promoting itself as healthy, etc) spends gazillions of dollars figuring out how to make us spend more and more on their products (advertising, looking for additives etc that make us crave their products...like adding a bit of salt to sweet foods and a bit of sugar to salty foods); the media beats us over the heads with warnings about how awful it is we're all fat; the diet & fitness industry dances that fine line between getting us to give them our money and trying to make sure we constantly relapse and need to come back and give them more...and we feel guilty because we have so much food when others are starving and even worse because we're so overweight.
In the meantime we're exhausted, stressed and worrying about all this along with everything else we've got to worry about - like whether we have health insurance because we're all so unhealthy and what it won't cover if we do. Gee, I wonder why we're the way we are? |
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| Weight Loss | My Husband is a Sugar Addict | Aug 02 2007 01:45 (UTC) |
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I used to joke that the first hit of (regular) Pepsi, was, for me, like the first drink of alcohol for my alcoholic relatives. Then it became pretty obvious when I started really paying attention that it wasn't a joke.
I cut out all soft drinks, and switched to peppermint tea with sugar...then when I was ready I cut the sugar out of that. And I quit buying candy. There really are withdrawal cravings, but they really go away after a couple of days. I would try to talk him out of doing too many things too drastically, but cutting out refined sugar completely is probably a good idea for him. |
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| Weight Loss | "The Four Day Win" by Martha Beck, bingeing, long term weightloss, etc | Aug 02 2007 01:32 (UTC) |
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Well, I'm sure that there are many different reasons why different people are overweight, but her thesis is that for many people, overeating is basically related to the same type of thing that many obsessive-compulsive disorders are...that it's self-calming/self-rewarding behaviors with food. And that it's possible to really learn to 'check in with yourself' and re-train your brain to resolve this. (she has BA/MA/PhD from Harvard in sociology and has lots of hard science backing for a lot of the brain biology/chemistry stuff).
For *me*, this is true. As a kid I was overweight, didn't have friends, and we didn't have much money. As an adult, we have had many hard financial times. The turning point for me, before I even read the book, was telling my nutritionist..."I've felt like I was denied so much because we couldn't afford this or that or the other thing, but dammit I could have that $1 pop, or candy bar, or fast food sandwich." In fact, I didn't realize how true this was until it came out of my mouth!! Food has always been an accessible "treat" of one type or another, in a life where I've felt so often I was told, "No, you can't have..." and dieting had no appeal when basically it was adding a whole section to the things in life that I couldn't have. And, for me and for whoever else this is true for, really strict "you can't have that" types of dieting approaches are COMPLETELY counterproductive. |
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| Weight Loss | Obese girls are less likely to go on to college? | Aug 01 2007 22:58 (UTC) |
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Maybe I should try to get a job with SixSigma LOL.
It's also a phrase that gets drilled into you in graduate programs of the social sciences. ;o) |
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| Weight Loss | Obese girls are less likely to go on to college? | Aug 01 2007 22:09 (UTC) |
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Correlation is not causation. (ie-just because obese girls are less likely to enter college this is not necessarily because they're obese...there could be another factor that's contributing to both obesity and not entering college).
My guess is it has a lot to do with money. Poor people are more likely to be overweight because (as we're discussing on another thread) fruits, vegetables and lean meats are more expensive than the dollar menu at BK and McDs, spaghetti, and boxed mac and cheese. Poor people are also less likely to have $$ to spend on gym memberships and exercise equipment and to be too tired after a day of their low-paying jobs and caring for their families to contemplate exercise. From my own observation, especially if you're female, the more money you have (I'm talking about truly upper middle class and upper class people, because everyone in the US considers themselves middle class whether they really are or not ;o) ), the much less likely you are to be seriously overweight. Women with money will spend lots of resources to be thinner. Poor people are less likely to go to college. Really poor people are less likely to have friends or parents that attended college, and live in an environment that assumes you'll attend college and encourages you to do so. The latter is a *HUGE* determining factor on whether you attend college - we've known this for decades. And, before anybody trots out about government assistance, free schooling, and loans...I just finished my Master's degree...you have to be truly destitute to qualify for the *interest free* loans and scholarships that are available. We're pretty poor and both of us were students and we were not able to qualify for most of them. Remember, I'm talking about generalities for a *group*...not individuals...there are of course wealthy women who are overweight and thin poor people who are attending college. |
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| Weight Loss | husband- the anti weight loss. | Aug 01 2007 21:03 (UTC) |
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Wait til you've all been married 25 years and you don't really *care* if he doesn't like what you feed him LOLOLOL My response is, "If you don't like what I fix, get off your @$$, quit watching tv, and fix it yourself!" ;o) My problem with my husband is, he is *cheap, cheap, cheap*. I should say, also, that I'm currently unemployed which is not helping the situation (I feel like I couldn't get hired as dogcatcher, at this point). Anyway, he looks at the grocery bill now that we're eating healthier, and r-e-a-l-l-y complains. He tracks our expenses on the computer so I know we really are spending more than we used to, even though we're doing it as cheaply as possible. When we met, he had a 28 waist, now he has a 34 (he won't admit it, he claims it's still a 32). And since he has always been able to pretty much eat 'whatever', he thinks it's still OK to hit Burger King for 99cent Whoppers, and buy the absolute cheapest hot dogs, and live on that kind of stuff. To "save money". Since I'm losing weight and being really stubborn about buying fruits, veggies and better food in general, he's complaining less, but he's still complaining. |
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| Foods | Anyone else think eating Healthy is Expensive? | Aug 01 2007 20:47 (UTC) |
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People who say they're saving money from not eating out must not have been hitting the dollar menu at the fast food places like I was or something. =)
For me, it's also wayyy more expensive to lose weight/eat healthy. Every fat, poor person (and I know a lot) has said the same thing. And I'm also at the grocery store about twice a week instead of once every 2 weeks! Plus soft drinks are cheap and (for me) were an appetite suppressant. Spaghetti, boxes of mac and cheese, and the cheapest hot dogs are way, way cheaper than the stuff I buy now. I'm lucky I live in an urban area and there are *lots* of different grocery stores. Here, Wal-Mart is *not* the cheapest, by a long shot, for produce. Wally world does sell some things way cheaper (I get my lean sliced deli meat there), but I find that if I watch sales for stuff like other meats (especially beef) and produce at regular grocery stores, I pay about _half_ (at least) what I do at Wally world. This is not necessarily true in rural areas. The cheapest I've found is Food City. I don't know if that's a local chain but here in Phoenix they cater to the Hispanic population and their produce is the cheapest I can find. You have to pick thru stuff like tomatoes to find the good ones, but for a minute or two of extra effort, it's well worth the savings. I also watch the flyers for all the grocery chains and do hit multiple stores if it's worth it (they're all fairly close). I do all this, and I know I *still* spend more money overall, than hitting the dollar menu every day. Plus I'm currently unemployed and looking for work. Because of this, my husband is still lobbying for the cheapest hot dogs etc!! But when I ask him if he wants me to lose weight, he grudginly agrees to the more expensive stuff. |
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| Weight Loss | Please help me figure out how many cals I can have | Jul 30 2007 02:34 (UTC) |
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Gypsyfan,
I wonder if the #s in that article are right for people who are *way* overweight?? Their suggestion of an 'easy' way to determine maintenance for a sedentary person was weight times 14. That puts me at 3164...which is over a thousand calories above most other measures! http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calc ulator.htm This site is more in line with most recommendations and I like it because it takes age and height into consideration. |
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