One thing you believe that nobody else does

[Anonymous]

I feel more full after a small bowl of cereal or noodles than "egg" "yogurt" "a handful of nuts".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Being hungry all the time or everyday to stay “thin” and believing it is “willpower” is worse for your overall health than being overweight.

Who is actually, truly "hungry" all the time? Is your stomach doing that painful scraping thing??

No one eating more than 1500 calories/day is ever actually hungry, unless they're running 10 miles a day.

I think many people confuse cravings, boredom, or lack of fullness for "hunger." Because if you're eating a decent amount (say 1500 calories) and still feeling that painful scraping feeling in your stomach, you need to see a doctor.

1500 calories a day isn’t a lot.

Wasn’t there an Ancel Keys study during WWII where they restricted men’s calories to 1500 calories a day for six months, and they all went kind of crazy?

PP here, and I agree that 1500 isn't a lot if one is active and female. It's the amount many women should eat if they were at rest, all day every day.

But most of us get a bit of movement here and there. 1500, however, is fine if if you're trying to lose weight (and no sorry, I don't believe the "I can't lose weight on 1200 calories!" posters). Point being, you're not going to actually feel physical hunger if you're eating 1500 calories/day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Being hungry all the time or everyday to stay “thin” and believing it is “willpower” is worse for your overall health than being overweight.

Who is actually, truly "hungry" all the time? Is your stomach doing that painful scraping thing??

No one eating more than 1500 calories/day is ever actually hungry, unless they're running 10 miles a day.

I think many people confuse cravings, boredom, or lack of fullness for "hunger." Because if you're eating a decent amount (say 1500 calories) and still feeling that painful scraping feeling in your stomach, you need to see a doctor.

1500 calories a day isn’t a lot.

Wasn’t there an Ancel Keys study during WWII where they restricted men’s calories to 1500 calories a day for six months, and they all went kind of crazy?

PP here, and I agree that 1500 isn't a lot if one is active and female. It's the amount many women should eat if they were at rest, all day every day.

But most of us get a bit of movement here and there. 1500, however, is fine if if you're trying to lose weight (and no sorry, I don't believe the "I can't lose weight on 1200 calories!" posters). Point being, you're not going to actually feel physical hunger if you're eating 1500 calories/day.

I don’t know. Those guys started hoarding food, got mildly depressed, stopped being interested in sex, and got obsessed with thinking about themselves and their health.

They also had a ton of trouble when they started eating normally again.

It doesn’t sound good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Being hungry all the time or everyday to stay “thin” and believing it is “willpower” is worse for your overall health than being overweight.

Who is actually, truly "hungry" all the time? Is your stomach doing that painful scraping thing??

No one eating more than 1500 calories/day is ever actually hungry, unless they're running 10 miles a day.

I think many people confuse cravings, boredom, or lack of fullness for "hunger." Because if you're eating a decent amount (say 1500 calories) and still feeling that painful scraping feeling in your stomach, you need to see a doctor.

1500 calories a day isn’t a lot.

Wasn’t there an Ancel Keys study during WWII where they restricted men’s calories to 1500 calories a day for six months, and they all went kind of crazy?

PP here, and I agree that 1500 isn't a lot if one is active and female. It's the amount many women should eat if they were at rest, all day every day.

But most of us get a bit of movement here and there. 1500, however, is fine if if you're trying to lose weight (and no sorry, I don't believe the "I can't lose weight on 1200 calories!" posters). Point being, you're not going to actually feel physical hunger if you're eating 1500 calories/day.

I don’t know. Those guys started hoarding food, got mildly depressed, stopped being interested in sex, and got obsessed with thinking about themselves and their health.

They also had a ton of trouble when they started eating normally again.

It doesn’t sound good.

Are those dudes like 6'10" and weight 250lbs? Well yeah, they should eat more than 1500 calories.

But a 5'5" woman? 1500 is perfectly healthy, if you're trying to drop a couple lbs. It's odd that you think 1500 is low. That's literally how much they'd feed most women if they were in a coma (and it would be perfectly healthy).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That the key to easy weight maintenance is only eating REAL food. No to artificial sweeteners, low fat products made with xanthan gum, etc. But YES to butter, bacon, whole milk alongside vegetables, lean meat, whole grains.

Agree. Real food is the key. I grew up in Eastern Europe and we only had real food. We never went to any restaurant ( non-existent in small towns), no fast food etc. We had unpasteurized milk that fermented after 2-3 days just sitting on the kitchen counter, fruits/vegetables from our garden, eggs from chickens that were roaming free etc. We ate tons of bread, butter, potatoes, meat, chicken broth soups, organ meats. We didn't have vending machines, there were no crappy pizzas, juices, chips, cereal, sodas etc. Everyone was slim. Our food here ( in USA) is just a disaster for the most part. Only those who have some awareness/knowledge and money, can live a healthy lifestyle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I believe: most doctors are idiots when it comes to diet, and probably shouldn’t speak to it at all.

You're right about that. Doctors only prescribe pills.

[Anonymous]

Not saying nobody believes this, but ab exercises do make a difference!

I know a lot of people say you shouldn't train abs, or training abs can make your waist thicker or abs are made in the kitchen etc. (that one is true).

And I stopped training abs specifically for a long time. But I wasn't happy with my midsection so I starting incorporating more ab exercises into my workouts and its made a huge difference. I've been cutting calories too which I'm sure has helped but the ab work has made my stomach look more taut and "sucked in" than it did previously.

[Anonymous]

African American women aren't naturally "thick" with "curves" and "thick thighs"; many of us are just plain overweight

Now this is going to be very unpopular: I think our weight issues have gotten worse since the rise of the natural hair movement

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:African American women aren't naturally "thick" with "curves" and "thick thighs"; many of us are just plain overweight

Now this is going to be very unpopular: I think our weight issues have gotten worse since the rise of the natural hair movement

Another black woman here - disagree with first statement.

Second statement - please explain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not saying nobody believes this, but ab exercises do make a difference!

I know a lot of people say you shouldn't train abs, or training abs can make your waist thicker or abs are made in the kitchen etc. (that one is true).

And I stopped training abs specifically for a long time. But I wasn't happy with my midsection so I starting incorporating more ab exercises into my workouts and its made a huge difference. I've been cutting calories too which I'm sure has helped but the ab work has made my stomach look more taut and "sucked in" than it did previously.

This is encouraging to read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not saying nobody believes this, but ab exercises do make a difference!

I know a lot of people say you shouldn't train abs, or training abs can make your waist thicker or abs are made in the kitchen etc. (that one is true).

And I stopped training abs specifically for a long time. But I wasn't happy with my midsection so I starting incorporating more ab exercises into my workouts and its made a huge difference. I've been cutting calories too which I'm sure has helped but the ab work has made my stomach look more taut and "sucked in" than it did previously.

The same with any muscle training really. Even if your diet isn't totally in check, if you train your muscles you WILL look better. Your weight will distribute differently and everything will look tighter. I'm a big calories in, calories out follower but you cannot deny the benefits of weight training too.

[Anonymous]

Core training is always a good idea. That is at least one way to stave off a whole host of other issues, including lower back discomfort and pain. How it looks visually is a side benefit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Permanent weight loss without surgical or medical intervention is mostly a myth.

Yep. As a person who has done a million diets and not one that stuck, and now five years out of weight loss surgery that has stuck, this is a fact.

There are millions of people who keep weight off without surgery. Just because you can’t doesn’t mean it’s not true for the rest of us. Stop denying our lived experience.

x10000

NP sand actually there aren’t millions of people who lose weight and keep it off permanently. They have studied it and the people who successfully do this are the exception and not the rule.

It's not because it's not possible, but it's because those people aren't willing to do the work and make the long term changes.

Because newsflash, most people in life don't want to do hard things or uncomfortable things.

Okay. That’s fair. In order to lose weight and keep it off, you have to not only do the work to lose it, but to be willing to commit the rest of your life to working on it. Whatever else might be going on with you, this has to be one of your main priorities.

I would say this is true of the people I know who had lost weight and kept it off. It is part of their identity.

Or you could just more normally. That’s also a possibility. Once you learn how not to over eat and what works for you it might just happen without thinking about it.

Yeah. I don’t know anyone like this. I don’t know anyone who was just like, “I was overweight all of my life, and then I just realized that I was just eating an abnormally large amount of food at every meal for absolutely no reason. So, I quit doing that, the weight fell off, and now I never think about it.”

That's not how it goes. It goes something like this.

Something in your life gets to you, and you are forced to reckon with your emotions/past/feelings/etc. You realize that food has filled a void for you, and you learn that exercise is an awesome outlet for releasing feelings and emotions. So you eat a bit less. Move a bit more. You begin to feel better mentally, and that helps your body feel better physically. You keep it up, consistently, because it starts to feel nice. And slowly, you lose weight.

And your body even finds a new set point, after you cultivated some new habits. And you do it for a year. Then 2. then 5. Then 10. To break the old habits, you need to make new ones.

Of course diets don't work. To keep weight off, you need sustainable (NOT extreme) long term changes. It's completely and totally doable.

- lost 60 lbs, kept it off for 10 years after being obese for 25+

I don’t know what to tell you. This hasn’t been my experience. Most fat people do not have an emotional void, and most do not “feel nice” when they make these changes. For most people, a 5% weight loss over the course of a year is associated with feelings of depression.

I’m glad that this worked for you, and it sounds like you had some disordered eating habits, but I don’t think your experience is generalizable, attainable, or even desirable for most people.

Bullshiat. No one is overeating significantly (enough to become obese) just because they like food. There's something else going on, even if they haven't mentally untangled it yet. And of course it doen't "feel nice" immediately when you make (small, consistent) changes. But after a little bit, you do notice the positive effects of eating better quality food and moving more. That is biology, not exceptionalism.

But there's a mental hurdle pushing them to go back to the food that gave them comfort or security, and that's the thing you have to do to achieve success.

But please, go ahead and continue to make excuses. Trust me, I'm familiar with all of them and the stories we tell ourselves.

Wow you hated fat self so, so much and continue to hate fat people now. Your contempt drips off your post.

NP. I’m a new poster to this thread and I didn’t even have to read the rest of the thread to know who you are talking about. It’s the lady who claims she lost something like 60 lbs about 20 years ago and kept it all off, right? But clearly has massive emotional issues, and her story sounds very fake? Yeah. She is relentless and posts here all the time. You can ignore.

I dunno I am basically that lady and believe the same things. I had a ton of unaddressed childhood trauma and was obese. Picked up intermittent fasting (because I have PCOS and that seemed to line up with my specific weight issues) and went to therapy and the weight started to come off. Added exercise. Made slow incremental changes and lost 50 pounds over 2 years. Have kept it off for 4. I do live in terror of being the statistic that regains. So I will say it is something that is on my mind a lot. But I also found her description up there to be very much in line with how it was for me. I started to feel better and incremental success built upon itself.

Where that poster goes wrong is not acknowledging how HARD that all is. I started in 2019 and right as I was getting to the point of having good habits in place COVID struck. And what COVID did for ME was put me in a situation where I could not eat out, I was cooking and eating everything at home, and I was stressed out so I was exercising a lot! I bought a peloton and rode it every day for a year because there was nothing else to do. I had a large weird societally altering life circumstance that created a perfect situation to really create and nurture new habits and enough money to follow through with it.

Even the small incremental change method is hard, and requires a lot of life infrastructure to accomplish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Core training is always a good idea. That is at least one way to stave off a whole host of other issues, including lower back discomfort and pain. How it looks visually is a side benefit.

I believe this. Pilates or core specific training should ideally be done three times a week. For me, Pilates never gets any easier even after 20+ years, and core work is one of my least favorite things to do, probably because it's so hard, but I try to do one or the other two or three times a week.

When your abs/core are sore, you really notice how they are involved in many every day functional movements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Core training is always a good idea. That is at least one way to stave off a whole host of other issues, including lower back discomfort and pain. How it looks visually is a side benefit.

I believe this. Pilates or core specific training should ideally be done three times a week. For me, Pilates never gets any easier even after 20+ years, and core work is one of my least favorite things to do, probably because it's so hard, but I try to do one or the other two or three times a week.

When your abs/core are sore, you really notice how they are involved in many every day functional movements.

I agree too, based on my experience. I used to have regular back pain from about 25-38. More or less constant. Then I started some basic weightlifting, with deadlifts and crunches. Back pain — GONE. Every so often I’ll have a few days where it’s a slight problem, but nothing like before. I’m 42 now.