pretty much this. All the counting calories talk in here is seems unnecessary. People just need to get off their asses, start walking more, and stop relying on fast food each day.
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Although the fitness craze is hot, Americans are getting fatter.
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Are you a bodybuilder or bulking (your avatar)? If you are then yeah, I'm assuming you're eating perhaps 2300-2600 calories a day? The average John is sederitary though. You are definitely not the average John!
I'm losing weight so I'm at 1500 calories a day. I'm 190 pounds down from 236. Want to be 160-170. Might start running if I can get off my ass.
For losing weight? Not for health though. Its more important than losing weight.
Yeah the fast-food prices in the U.S. were eyeopening when I moved from Europe. Plus they get free refills on all their soda wherever they go.
America's dreadful infrastructure, income inequality, food deserts, food swamps, work-life balance, etc. all play into this, and they're all extremely complex problems to solve. It's not just a matter of personal responsibility; America has largely structured society to be sedentary, exhausted, and overfed with the wrong kinds of food.
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No it's not. It's effective but not sustainable for most people. Do you think most slim East Asians calorie count?
Look at the Blue Zones, areas with the highest number of healthy octogenarians. They never calorie count. Calorie counting was devised as an offset to our broken food environment. Many need to calorie count because are common foods are calorie dense and addictive.
The are many studies that show long term, most people can't sustain calorie counting.
I did not say that's calorie counting does not work. It does. However, it is sustainable and actionable for most people. Clearly not given the obesity epidemic.
Unbeknownst to them, they're eating right. Food portion control. They're still eating enough calories, not more, not less, just enough to maintain their weight.
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Yes, but they're not practicing food portion control. They food they eat is naturally satisfying their hunger drive. Because they're not eating the high reward (high fat, high sugar, high salt) foods that dominate the western diet. They eat until they are satisfied.
This is a super long podcast, but explains the problem.
Well, yes I can agree with most of what you're saying. I ask you though, if calorie counting doesn't work, then what does?
For most people diet is the more important factor from what I've seen.
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Even if you tell a person to calorie count, where do they start? Just eat less? If you're overweight or obese that's gonna require a lot of willpower. People need more guidance that is actionable.
Personally, I'd up protein, especially at breakfast. Up fiber and fruits and vegetables. Reduce fast food and sweets, allowing for cheat meals. And daily walking and resistance training 2 to 3x per week.
Do that consistently for a year you will drastic results.
I think you're both agreeing with each other? The main issue is the west's normalisation of large portion sizes and foods with high sugar and fat content.
Many places of the world don't have this culture, so people there don't have to be particularly aware of their caloric intake. But if you're living in the States or much of Europe, the reality is that being aware of your food's energy content is necessary because there is either loads of it, or it's energy dense (or both). More foods fall under this category, ergo calorie counting.
That is me in my avy, I am currently at 3 to 4k whilst cutting depending on the day at ~180 pounds. Of course at my job, I sit on a recumbent bike for most of my shift and I lift for 1.5 hours a day so definitely not average. I think you're going too low, to be honest. 1,500 is super low. I think bodybuilders may go that low once they are in the last weeks of contest prep. I follow a mostly sedentary female(5' and 119 pounds) who is maintaining and even losing a bit on an average of 2k.
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I've done periods of weight loss where I didn't exercise at all (after injuries, for example) where I still easily lost weight through nothing but diet. In fact I'd say it was actually easier, or at least more consistent, since I found myself drinking less water and didn't have the raised appetite from exercising.
I mean, exercise is absolutely important for overall health, but the popular idea is "I need to lose weight, I'm going to start hitting the gym/going for a run/exercising whatever", like that's just what you do, when in reality it's the hardest way of doing it. Yeah, Michael Phelps can out-exercise a bad diet, but that's not helpful for regular humans. Consider just how much exercise it actually takes to burn an extra few hundred calories every day vs. how easy it is to simply not eat those calories in the first place; diet is by far the more useful and practical thing to focus on if weight loss is your specific goal.
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You wouldn't eat those large portion sizes if they were satiating. They reason the portion are larger is because the combination of fat, sugar, and salt deceives your brain's hunger center to overeat. Try overeating plain boiled potatoes. It's very hard.
Yep, 80% of your fat loss success will come to calorie control whether it be from elimination diets or calorie counting. Anyone who controls their weight via activity only may find themselves obese later in life when they cannot be as active. See ex-athletes for example.
You're not wrong. But try and stop me over-eating food from Asian countries!
I think we are both agreeing with each other for the most part. What he is saying would work. I still think one should be educated enough to know about calories because you don't need to do excersice at all to lose weight. Just count your calories or be educated enough to guesstimate how many calories you're putting in your body to not over do it. I mean, this thread is about fitness after all.
It's possible I may be a little low but I'm 6'0, 190 pounds and in my mid 20s. I'm sederitary AF. I'm probably 200 calories lower than I should be. It's okay though, I don't count religiously and I still lose about 1-2 pounds of fat per week. Which is recommended. So as far as I can tell, I'm doing fine.
I'd wish to be somewhere where you are, but I don't know where to begin. I mean, at that point, you have your food locked down to the macronutrients. Your workout routine and all that stuff. It takes dedication. I don't even know how to cook!
Heh, the only things I do are count calories and try to get around 130 grams of protein or more. That's it. My diet sucks. Besides the fruit i get it for satiety and vitamins I don't eat healthy at all. I have many many years of lifting under my belt. Even my workouts don't have structure. I pretty much just go in and hit muscles that aren't super sore. High frequency moderate volume.
I don't calorie count and I'm down 199->183 over the last 6 months with most of that time being me eating the same shit that got me to 199 in the first place. Just eat less than normal on some days and exercise for an hour a day 4-5 times a week. Just winging it has worked well for me.
Then there is hope for me. The plan: hit muscles that aren't super sore.
I was 263lbs at the beginning of the year. 6'1" for height reference. This morning I weighed in at 224lbs, and I am pushing to see see 200lbs by the end of the year. The lowest I've seen so far was 220lbs before I went on vacation.
Soooo I'm doing my part.
Soooo I'm doing my part.
USA is far ahead of other OECD countries
it's the only way in which the country is the greatest
We're in second place..... WHAT IN THE FLYING FUCK!!!!!?????
Yep, I pretty much only drink water.
I try to get most of my sugars through fruits.
But I've gotten to the point where me and water are pretty much best buds.
I do drank tea and coffee but luckily those aren't calorie dense at all.
Almond milk for cereal and my protein shakes as well.
I noticed this as well, it seems like the health obsession as at an all time high but people keep getting fatter and fatter
Yea, I've been hitting the gym for years and maintained my fat ass weight for a long ass time. I've been increasing how much I could lift though!
I've done calorie counting many times over the years but always fell off because I felt hungry.
I just started doing Keto a month ago and the pounds all of the sudden started melting off. I still count my calories, but it's not a target anymore, it's mostly a byproduct of me counting carbs. I've started noticing that I eat waaaaaaay less calories a day by eating roughly the same amount of meat, maybe even a little bit more, but swapping the carbs I used to eat with veggies. Best of all, I'm constantly full now and don't feel the urge to cheat. Still keeping up the gym though because now I feel even more motivated.
For me, just exercise alone wasn't enough, but now that I've changed my diet as well to one I can keep up with, I am seeing some big results.
I've done calorie counting many times over the years but always fell off because I felt hungry.
I just started doing Keto a month ago and the pounds all of the sudden started melting off. I still count my calories, but it's not a target anymore, it's mostly a byproduct of me counting carbs. I've started noticing that I eat waaaaaaay less calories a day by eating roughly the same amount of meat, maybe even a little bit more, but swapping the carbs I used to eat with veggies. Best of all, I'm constantly full now and don't feel the urge to cheat. Still keeping up the gym though because now I feel even more motivated.
For me, just exercise alone wasn't enough, but now that I've changed my diet as well to one I can keep up with, I am seeing some big results.
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America is a land of extremes lol.
I know some super fitness fanatics. They either do Crossfit or run marathons and such. They're always bragging about it on social media lol. It's almost like a religion for some.
But that's not most people.
Sugar isn't even a problem.
People should stop making sugar,fats,carbs or whatever a villain.
It always comes down to burning more calories than you take in.
Obviously you fill up your calorie-allowance for the day faster with Sugar-stuff but overall it actually won't matter if you eat less calories than you would need for maintenance.
It will also be harder to "survive" and don't go crazy the day while eating sugar-stuff while trying to lose weight because you reach your limit for the day quite fast without actually getting full enough to not think constantly about food.
But even with eating your daily calorie deficit goal in the shape of cake,sweets,snacks or so you would still lose weight.
You will just be 22 hours of the day really hungry and have next to no energy.
And something i learned over the years in the Gym and adjusting eating habbits.
There is no specific diet to lose weight and to gain weight - These days i eat for both directions the same things.
Just the amount will be different of the individual ingredients as an example chicken,rice,noodles etc
I just watched a couple days ago a Youtube Video about eating habbits and there they showed portion sizes of your take-out meals or fast food in the USA vs other countries.
Your stuff is sometimes twice or three times as big as in other countries.
You would practically need to have a scale with you all the time to keep track of what you eat lol
People love to vilify carbs but the slimmest 3 countries Italy, Korea and Japan have a carb dominate diet. It's a combination of being sedentary(I'm positive people walk a lot more in those countries) and cheap highly palatable processed foods. They have plenty of pasta and sweets in Italy, and you'd be hard pressed not to find some rice or noodles in any Japanese meal.
Also, most foods that people call carb sources such as donuts and pizza actually have more fat calories than carb calories.
Also, most foods that people call carb sources such as donuts and pizza actually have more fat calories than carb calories.
You just refuted your own statement. Of course sugar is a problem. Sure you can just eat sugar and still lose weight, but you won't be healthy. Quality of food is also important to losing weight. If it is low quality and filled with sugar, it will have higher calories and be less satiating therefore you will eat a lot and gain weight.
Of course it isn't a devil. Food is a tool. If you need energy quick, eat a chocolate bar. If you need lots of protein, eat a steak. The problem is people are eating chocolate bars but they don't need energy quick, and all that energy they are eating just gets stored but never used. People are eating huge portions of food but none of that building material is being used, so it just gets stored away as fat. And the people keep doing it and so become overweight. They become contractors with a big storage full of materials but don't build anything.
Many Japanese and Korean dishes also have sugar or corn syrup added.
I would just worry less about the label of "fast food" and count the calories. Look up the Nutrition facts on subway's website, because they have so many traps that makes them just as troublesome as getting a big mac and fries. However, you can eat decently there For example- they have their "fresh fit" sandwiches, all which promise sandwiches under 400 calories, which of course isn't bad at all for a meal like lunch
But, look at the fine print- these fresh fit sandwiches are all:
1. six inch with the wheat bread only (forget those footlongs- when you order those, you are eating TWO sandwiches, not one- and sorry but you only need eat ONE sandwich. And of course avoid that Italian white bread)
2. They exclude ANY kind of cheese- which of course is like the first thing they ask you after you tell when what meat you want- when you decline it, they look at you like a crazy person. But honestly, removing those slices saves quite a few calories and it really doesn't add much, does it.
3. No sauces- so forget that Mayo, Southwest, ranch, etc. or whatever else you are probably using- those add like 100 calories to the mix. I usually just roll with black pepper and oregano for my "flavoring"
4. Forget that bag of chips which adds another 200+ calories to the mix (completely empty too, for a food that doesn't do anything to fill you up). They do have the applies which are a decent side option through.
5. Skip the soda, drink water.
I guess my point, is you can eat reasonably there, but it really flies in the face of 95% of what they offer and are trying to steer you towards, and what you probably are ordering. So, you might feel good about that Turkey sandwich (worked for Jared, right?). But if its a footlong with cheese, mayo, bag of chips, and coke it is a gutbuster meal.
But get the six inch wheat, with turkey/chicken no cheese, no sauce/dressing, and pile on the veggies, skip chips/soda, then you got a decent meal you shouldn't feel guilty about if one is conveniently available and you have it once in a while.
Been trying to lose weight for years, and have doubled down the past two weeks: One meal a day, under 20g carbs, MORE veggies. I try to eat 2k calories a day or under. Haven't started working out yet cause I'm just in too much pain from being fat, so I'm hoping I can lose enough just eating right to get me back into a more workable state, and than start working out. Also drink a ton more water and gave up soda, even diet soda.
These are my staple foods right now: Broccoli, asparagus, spinach, eggs, chicken, ground beef, bacon, cheese, peanut butter. I'll eat any combination of those foods as long as I stay 2k calories a day and 20g carbs a day.
I'm only two weeks in and what I'm getting so far.... Keto flu sucks, but overall I feel slightly better. My joints seem to be aching less and I'm pretty even keeled throughout the day energy wise. Though I have had some days where I'm extra grumpy I guess because I'm still adapting to the new lifestyle.
Anyway, I totally agree that quality of food should be looked at more, even over amount of calories. 2k calories a day of good healthy food is much better than 2k calories a day of McDonald's.
But what the hell do I know?
These are my staple foods right now: Broccoli, asparagus, spinach, eggs, chicken, ground beef, bacon, cheese, peanut butter. I'll eat any combination of those foods as long as I stay 2k calories a day and 20g carbs a day.
I'm only two weeks in and what I'm getting so far.... Keto flu sucks, but overall I feel slightly better. My joints seem to be aching less and I'm pretty even keeled throughout the day energy wise. Though I have had some days where I'm extra grumpy I guess because I'm still adapting to the new lifestyle.
Anyway, I totally agree that quality of food should be looked at more, even over amount of calories. 2k calories a day of good healthy food is much better than 2k calories a day of McDonald's.
But what the hell do I know?
I don't see anything wrong with his post. Sugar itself isn't unhealthy that's no different than saying fruit is unhealthy. Some extra vitamins and fiber don't all of a sudden cause something unhealthy to be healthy. At the end of the day if you're filling all your calories with processed foods which causes you to not get proper nutrition, then yes, you have an overall unhealthy diet. But you can partake in anything if your overall diet includes enough of the healthy stuff. Just look up Mark Haub a nutrition Professor who went on a vending machine diet. All of his health parameters improved and he lost 27 pounds in 3 months I believe. Of course he was taking a multivitamin but still, it goes to show you that a simple pill which anyone serious about their health should be taking anyway in my opinion, is all you need if your diet isn't so vitamin rich can get and remain healthy. I myself have about 150 grams of sugar a day and my blood work is geeat. Sugar is just a form of carb and carbs are just energy.
When calories and protein are equated it doesn't matter if the rest of your calories come from fat or carbs where fat loss/gain is concerned. There are several metabolic Ward studies that prove it.
Thank you for this. It's amaizng how a soda , sauce and chips add so many calories but can barely make me feel full. I've been pretty much doing what you are saying, except for the cheese and I always get a foot long lol. Gonna switch to 6 inches.
Cook at home and cut out the sugar/salt/portion crazy middle man. I'm 37, 105lbs and just off baby #2, and still eat whatever I want and drink whenever I want.
It's not surprising at all considering all the dumb choices people make in terms of what they eat but it's disappointing considering how easy it is to access information these days. I would at least hope the future generation of kids can be taught by more health conscious parents who learned from fucking up their own decisions.
Going to the gym and upping your physical activity a ton isn't going to offset eating a ton more. People have a false sense of equivalency in terms of much they can eat after doing exercise. It just doesn't work that way. They aren't entitled to a healthy body when having unhealthy lifestyle. Some people will have it easier with genetics that work in their favor but for a good chunk of us that won't be the case.
If someone doesn't have the discipline to keep their physical activity+diet in check and they don't have a physical condition that causes them to gain weight then they have very little reason to complain. It's easier to show empathy to people who have it hard like single parents with multiple kids or people working multiple jobs. It becomes harder to plan your food intake and physical activity when that happens but it's far from impossible.
Going to the gym and upping your physical activity a ton isn't going to offset eating a ton more. People have a false sense of equivalency in terms of much they can eat after doing exercise. It just doesn't work that way. They aren't entitled to a healthy body when having unhealthy lifestyle. Some people will have it easier with genetics that work in their favor but for a good chunk of us that won't be the case.
If someone doesn't have the discipline to keep their physical activity+diet in check and they don't have a physical condition that causes them to gain weight then they have very little reason to complain. It's easier to show empathy to people who have it hard like single parents with multiple kids or people working multiple jobs. It becomes harder to plan your food intake and physical activity when that happens but it's far from impossible.
I think this is a huge issue and it's one that always bothered me in terms of it's logic. Prepping or cooking healthy meals isn't that hard. I've spent way more time driving to a McDonalds on the way home from work(when I actually had a car) than I do now going home and making my own meal for dinner. I'm all for enjoying what you eat and not caring about how you put on weight, but I always worry for people in terms of the health implications they'll endure later in life. It's fine to say they don't care about that moment later in life but I feel it's something a lot of them will regret.
Isn't that hard for who? Families living in poverty and hardly making ends meet?
We know very little that's useful about diet and weight loss, which is why there's such a proliferation of un-scientific diet fads. If you take a look at the diet advice that passed for scientific in 1900, you'd think it was absurd, and I think we'll be feeling pretty similarly in 2100. I'm not saying that general rules of thumb and folk remedies like exercising more, laying off the fast food and caloric drinks, and eating fruits and vegetables is a bad idea, but I am saying that anyone who thinks they know the causes of the obesity epidemic is trying to sell you something. Hopefully gut fauna analysis will eventually help us figure out what item in the modern diet is fucking us up so badly or offer remedies based around restoring healthy gut microbiomes. For now, the amount of squandered misery spent trying to control something we fundamentally don't understand is kinda sad.
In my earlier post I do mention that it is harder for families like that(I just realized I posted back to back).
I mean.. if you're privileged, have access to stores around you that provide foods for a decent price, got the necessary education in regard to diet/staying healthy, are single/aren't in poverty.. yeah, losing weight is easier. But lots of people even still struggle with maintaining a healthy weight.. because the food industry is designed to make you fail and pick the easy, comfortable choices.
It's an uphill battle. And it's designed that way.
Even in this thread, we have people saying dumb shit like "sugar isn't a problem"; people who actually think they're well informed enough to post in this thread. There's lots of contradictory and confusing info out there. Again, this is a result of the food industry fighting tooth and nail to get you to buy their unhealthy, cheap garbage.
Which is why relying on personal willpower isn't a realistic solution, otherwise everybody would be way skinnier/healthier.
Government needs to step in. This shit needs to be treated like big tobacco as far as I'm concerned. People won't agree with that though.
this is a very, very false statement. Poor people can buy rice and meal prep and exercise too, it's not the end of the fucking world. I work fifty hours plus too but I find a way.
Everyone can find fruit, vegetables, rice, and basic protein sources.
Thank you. Co-signed.
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Yea fast food is expensive but easy and a ton of heavily advertised foods are some of the worst things to put in our body. Like no one seriously needs sugar filled cereals or burgers but it's just so easy for them and it's filled with so much excess garbage sugars and unnecessary empty carbs.
That's my point. Virtually everything you see heavily advertised in grocery stores is shit. The advertising needs to be changed. The way people think about food needs to be changed. Willpower only gets you so far. People need the means to be able to do something with their personal choice instead of run up an endless hill.