FSTDT Forums
Community => Science and Technology => Topic started by: Witchyjoshy on January 26, 2012, 06:17:24 pm
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/dieting-stop-diets-dont-work_n_1231472.html
It seems like there's a new fad diet or food "discovery" nearly every day that promises to help us lose weight and be healthier. But is eating right and maintaining a healthy weight so complicated that we must drown ourselves in new techniques and data, searching for the ever-elusive answer to our body issues?
Thankfully, no. Eating right is a practice, and there are some pretty straightforward ways to get and stay on track. But perhaps what's equally important is understanding why these "diets" don't work -- so you can ditch them once and for all. Here's why you should forget about the "promising" eating programs -- plus tips for how to live a healthy life, the right way.
Essentially, it talks about the psychological factors with dieting. How stress makes your body convert food into fat instead of muscle, and how diets make you stress about food. About how it makes your body and your mind want to rebel against the diet. About how your body pretty much knows what it needs to be healthy, all you need to do is pay attention to your body's cues more. And about how taking away certain kinds of food based on things like carbs or starches will make your body crave non-nutritional foods like candy to replace it.
My opinion? Right on. I've gained more weight on diets than I have off of them. I've lost more weight by eating slower, taking fewer portions, and ending the meal when the food starts to get tiresome than I have on "remove carbs/meat to lose weight" diets.
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I'm doing fine on my "diet" which is much less a diet, than it is "I'm eating less and making it healthier". I'm not worrying about it or stressing - and my weight loss has been fantastic.
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A big reason a lot of these diets fail is because people do them short term. To truly lose weight you need to make a permanent change in how you live. A heavy, but steady, weight is preferable to a fluctuating one.
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Key to losing weight (barring health issues): eat less, exercise more. And even if you don't lose weight doing that, it'll at least make you healthier. I've never understood the obsession with all the fad diets. Counting calories isn't that much work.
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A big reason a lot of these diets fail is because people do them short term. To truly lose weight you need to make a permanent change in how you live. A heavy, but steady, weight is preferable to a fluctuating one.
Actually, I thought the big reason a lot of these diets failed was because it required you to battle your own body, whereas a diet that worked would be one that worked with your body.
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A big reason a lot of these diets fail is because people do them short term. To truly lose weight you need to make a permanent change in how you live. A heavy, but steady, weight is preferable to a fluctuating one.
Actually, I thought the big reason a lot of these diets failed was because it required you to battle your own body, whereas a diet that worked would be one that worked with your body.
Depends on the diet in question, but to some extent any weight loss plan is battling your body. From a physiological perspective our bodies will do whatever it can to avoid losing weight and whatever it can to put on more weight.
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Am I the only one who read the title as "Deists are Counter-Productive"?
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Am I the only one who read the title as "Deists are Counter-Productive"?
Delis are counter-productive.
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A big reason a lot of these diets fail is because people do them short term. To truly lose weight you need to make a permanent change in how you live. A heavy, but steady, weight is preferable to a fluctuating one.
Actually, I thought the big reason a lot of these diets failed was because it required you to battle your own body, whereas a diet that worked would be one that worked with your body.
Depends on the diet in question, but to some extent any weight loss plan is battling your body. From a physiological perspective our bodies will do whatever it can to avoid losing weight and whatever it can to put on more weight.
I'm pretty sure that mostly applies during times of stress (the whole "must gain weight and never lose weight") but not so much during times of not-stress.
Anytime your body feels stressed, it goes into a preservation mode. Where it preserves everything as fat. One of the things that can cause this is "starvation mode"
Essentially, it's when your body thinks it is starving, but in reality it isn't. Some things that can cause this are losing weight too quickly, depriving yourself suddenly of specific nutrients, making any major reduction to your diet... when the body goes into starvation mode, it essentially clings tightly to the fat cells, holding onto them for as long as it possibly can.
...The trick isn't to wait it out, unless you have an immensely strong psyche (And if you had an immensely strong psyche and still got fat, then there's probably reasons why you're fat that no diet can really help with) but rather, to increase the amount of food you take in to end the starvation mode. Not too much, of course.
It's easy to say "It's healthiest to eat only x y and z", it's another to actually put that into practice. And that is where most fad diets fail. They focus on the goal and not the method you get there with.
The best "diet" is to eat less of everything... but not to cut it out entirely. Like chocolate? Have some every day. Just limit yourself on it to only a little bit. Craving that immensely delicious meal your parents make once a week? Have some, eat less of it.
The problem is that we (as a society) spend so much time vilifying fat people for being fat that we don't focus on the cause or the cure. We focus on the end goal, and that is what fad diets all aim towards.
People who only look at the goal will trip over every obstacle along the way. And that's terrible.
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I'm pretty sure that mostly applies during times of stress (the whole "must gain weight and never lose weight") but not so much during times of not-stress.
Loss of weight is in and of itself stressful for the body and there are important differences in the physiology of people who lost weight and people who have been at a certain weight for a long time. Like, I've been at 170 lbs for quite a while, as a result I actually need more calories per day than somebody of the same height, same build, and same weight, but who was 250 lbs a half decade ago.
This (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html?_r=3&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all) is actually filled with lots of good information and it explains a part of why this is, and one reason has to do with muscle anatomy. There are two types of skeletal muscle fibers, fast twitch and slow twitch. Fast twitch fibers are very strong, but are inefficient and can't be used for a very long period of time. Slow twitch fibers are efficient and great for endurance, but do not have the strength of fast twitch fibers. If you want to sprint, you want fast twitch fibers; if you want to run a marathon, you want slow twitch fibers. The reason this is important is because people who lose weight actually have a greater number of slow twitch fibers. As a result of this they have a much lower basal metabolic rate and have to be very careful with their dietary intake. The article mentions a woman who has calculated her caloric expenditure while biking to be 5/minute, but the "official" figure is 11 calories/minute. That is how drastic of an effect weight loss can have on a body. Please do not belittle me with your lecture on "starvation mode." I fucking know what it is, I study this shit.
That said, you are absolutely right when you said,
The best "diet" is to eat less of everything... but not to cut it out entirely. Like chocolate? Have some every day. Just limit yourself on it to only a little bit. Craving that immensely delicious meal your parents make once a week? Have some, eat less of it.
The problem is that we (as a society) spend so much time vilifying fat people for being fat that we don't focus on the cause or the cure. We focus on the end goal, and that is what fad diets all aim towards.
People who only look at the goal will trip over every obstacle along the way. And that's terrible.
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Key to losing weight (barring health issues): eat less, exercise more. And even if you don't lose weight doing that, it'll at least make you healthier. I've never understood the obsession with all the fad diets. Counting calories isn't that much work.
I've lost a lot of weight just by only eating when I'm very hungry. I don't eat just to pass the time, and I usually wait until a meal before eating as much as I want. I never force myself to eat if I don't feel hungry. My metabolism knows best, IMO.
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I'm gonna be nitpicky and point out that it's FAD diets that are counterproductive, not "diets." A "diet" is, well, anything you do as an eating regimen. Cutting back on sugary shit and eating more veggies is an example of a diet, just not one that's got a big, widely known name.
Vene's already said basically everything I could say on the matter. You can't ever stop being on a restricted diet once you've exceeded a healthy weight for your body. Unrestricted diet is a good chunk of how people GET fat. Sucks but it's true.
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in my case, my parents have gone breadless. Sure, they've lost weight, but me, I've gone for a more balanced approach. More salads, lighter portions, and I'm not depriving myself of treats now and again.
The satisfying thing about my diet, beyond the fact it's not a fad thing? I'm a huge chocoholic, and on a recent shopping trip, I actually picked up a package of Oreos, did a little more shopping, thought about it, and put the Oreos back, because they were tempting, but I didn't need them.
I've dropped about 7 pounds in the past month.
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in my case, my parents have gone breadless. Sure, they've lost weight, but me, I've gone for a more balanced approach. More salads, lighter portions, and I'm not depriving myself of treats now and again.
The satisfying thing about my diet, beyond the fact it's not a fad thing? I'm a huge chocoholic, and on a recent shopping trip, I actually picked up a package of Oreos, did a little more shopping, thought about it, and put the Oreos back, because they were tempting, but I didn't need them.
I've dropped about 7 pounds in the past month.
Awesome, you get an exalt.
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aw, gee, Vene, now I'm blushing...
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One of the things I've been doing other than working out and lifting weights is simply eating until my hunger is sated and I'm satisfied. There's a big difference between eating until you're satisfied and eating until you're full.
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The next step in my health regimen will be trying to work my way up from five-pound barbells. I have stick arms.
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I'm vaguely curious about whether I've gained or lost weight since starting college. On one hand, I'm eating out more often. On the other hand, I'm eating a lot less overall.
Trouble is, I have neither a scale, nor any knowledge of my weight.
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I cut out a lot of sodium and sugary things and it seems to be working. It isn't drastic weight loss but considering my weight has stayed steady since I got a really bad infection and couldn't move further than my bathroom for an entire year I think it's good to lose a handful of pounds.
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Sodium seems to be what's kicking the hell out of me, too, Shane.
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Yeah. I have heart problems so the sodium wasn't doing me any favors. The problem is my mom puts so much effing salt in the food... so I generally end up eating smaller portions of things she's cooked to try to keep up with my 'diet'. My doctor told me to cut back on my soda and my sunflower seeds (that killed me) and I did. I feel a bit better but it's not a drastic change. And I never expected it to be. I miss my sunflower seeds but I don't miss the palpitations.
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Funny thing is, I eat a lot of salt out of preference.
...And when I had my physical, my blood pressure was absolutely great, much to my surprise.
So, apparently, I'm fine eating salt :V I suppose that's just how my body is.
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I wouldn't go that far. Some people can become hypertensive. The older you get the higher the risk especially with high sodium intake. So I wouldn't count on going 'eh, my body's fine with sodium' then suddenly you've got a hypertensive emergency.
Other factors can lead to hypertension earlier as well like poor sleep patterns, weight (though oftentimes people are hypertensive while being stick thin. I have been hypertensive all my life and only recently as in the past few years gotten overweight), large amounts of liquourice (still learning why), as well as some medications.
Therefore, I'd be careful continuing with your high salt intake. Hypertension can hit you like a locomotive and that is not a preferable thing.
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Yeah, that's another thing. Hypertension can affect anyone, anytime, especially if you have a family history of it (I do, both sides... everyone.) I became hypertensive at 25 or so. Healthy otherwise. My doc said she wasn't surprised. She said with such a strong history of it in my family, it was just a matter of when, not if.
I went from 155/100 down to the normal range 120/80 and lower until you faint when you get up... then it's too low.
Lisinopril worked a charm on me.
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Yeah, that's another thing. Hypertension can affect anyone, anytime, especially if you have a family history of it (I do, both sides... everyone.) I became hypertensive at 25 or so. Healthy otherwise. My doc said she wasn't surprised. She said with such a strong history of it in my family, it was just a matter of when, not if.
I went from 155/100 down to the normal range 120/80 and lower until you faint when you get up... then it's too low.
Lisinopril worked a charm on me.
I'm on 10mg lisinopril AND tiazac 120mg since the lisinopril wasn't cutting the palpitations. It however has not changed my headaches even tho I was told they were hypertension related.
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Huh... Would you happen to be on any Wellbutrin?
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Nope. Why would I be? I think what I'm on is enough. Not to mention it reacts with 3/4 of what I'm already taking. Besides, it's a depression med and I already stopped taking what I was. I also stopped taking celexa ages ago so the withdrawal shouldn't still be effecting me as well as the fact I have had headaches for ages that was supposed to be related to my heart palpitations and the like.
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Eh, just throwing a hunch out there. One of Wellbutrin's common side effects are nagging headaches. Some folks worse than others. I don't have many at all, but some do.
Sometimes it's not what ails us that ails us, it's what we take for what ails us that's actually ailing us... or something.
Headaches can be caused by so many things... I just hope you find out the cause of yours and you can feel better soon.
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I was also told it was dehydration but I drink so much water during the day it can't be.