Why exercise wont make you thin

[Tempra]

40%fats?!?

On a 3000 calorie diet, that is only 133 grams of fat. Considering a quarter cup of nuts has 21ish grams of fat, it is not that much fat...

[DanteGabriel]

People's obsession with weight and weight loss is so fucking stupid. It hurts yourself and it hurts those around you. It's the last form of acceptable predigest there is, and no one cares.

Do you mean "prejudice"?

In any case, you can speak for yourself. I'm feeling a lot healthier and happier having lost all this weight. I was not healthy or happy before. I'm not advocating that everyone strive to be model-thin. But our sedentary lives and poor diets full of industrially produced foods are not healthy.

[Greywolf2375]

What I'm learning is exercise is beneficial, both mentally and physically, but its not enough, even with diet. I just started roller-skating again, next will be getting back in the dojo and maybe even joining a fencing club. I'm determined to lead a much more active lifestyle, that I think will be the final piece of the puzzle.

What you said about how you feel is the most important - if you feel uncomfortable at your current weight whether it is from fat or muscle, then changing up will be a good thing. You're right tho about not being enough, diet, exercise, attitude, sleep, stress...and more, go into how your body reacts.

My reccie is to go get your body fat % tested - see where you are sitting from that perspective as that may help you make the decision. It is, in my opinion, a far better indicator of where you are than weight or BMI.

[Lyanna Stark]

People need to stop comparing themselves to unattainable ideals of beauty and start accepting what they have to work with and that feeling great and being healthy is far more satisfying than looking like a model or movie star. jeezuz

Yep, I totally agree with this.

Your body is your temple, in a way, so it should be in your own interest to take care of it and make it healthy and happy. So to me it's not about looks, it is about health. I've rarely had an "ideal" body according to the beauty ideal (apart from when I had a really bad ulcer) but I have faith in my body and find exercise enjoyable since it makes me feel and become stronger and healthier.

Even if you don't lose a lot of weight from exercising, doing some is still better than nothing, since you will be healthier for it.

I also think that if you feel good and are healthy, your overall looks improve regardless if you lose the last bit of weight or not.

[Nichole]

In any case, you can speak for yourself. I'm feeling a lot healthier and happier having lost all this weight. I was not healthy or happy before. I'm not advocating that everyone strive to be model-thin. But our sedentary lives and poor diets full of industrially produced foods are not healthy.

I agree. BTW, good job on your weight loss.

For me, I do not wish to be a size 2, but I want to be healthy and active. I made a decision to lead a more active life and I feel better because of it. Exercising and eating healthy is not just about being physically healthy, it also helps me mentally. I suffer from depression and being healthy helps tremendously.

[Odie]

You've had this weird mentality for a long time. It is not a bad thing to want to be healthier and fitter. It is not going to hurt you or anyone around you if you decide not to eat a cookie, not to have the second slice of pizza, to substitute water for Coke, to take the stairs instead of the elevator. Is it an obsession? It may be, for people who know how their bodies will react to fatty, sugary, unhealthy food.

The fact that you presume I do those things proves my point very eloquently.

Weight and weight loss is a serious issue in America, and becoming a serious issue in other countries around the world. We are fat. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. In order to prevent dying at the ripe old age of 45 from a heart attack, it's necessary to watch what you eat and make sure you get enough physical activity. There are people who eat Big Macs and smoke cigs all their lives and nothing ever happens. Amazing that in a population of over 300 million in the US alone that there are outliers. You cannot base your statement on outliers alone.

And you can keel over from a heart attack at any time, fat or no.

I don't have a problem with making healthier choices. I have a problem with the obsession people have with them, and the disdain they have for those who choose not to be as obsessive about their choices. Not unconsciousness, just not as laser-focused on it.

You're free to have your opinion, but there are a lot of us here who are quite interested in prolonging our health and our lifespans who will get angry at what you say. You have a differing opinion. In this case, I think it'd be best if you found someone who agrees with you and talk to them, and not say anything about it on this thread. Because then you'll get people like me who will jump in and wonder what the hell is your problem.

Doesn't bother me a bit.

My problem is people who find fat people to be lesser beings.

My problem is that people worry too damned much over every single calorie they eat.

My problem is that people think that thin = healthy and fat = unhealthy. It's not that cut and dry.

My problem is that it's just not that bloody easy for everyone to lose weight, let alone "look like the stars" (from one of your posts above). Trust me, if I could just not eat, I would. After all, given the "it's as simple as burning more calories than you consume" argument, not eating would be the ideal option. Drink plenty of water, take a multi-vitamin or two, and you'd be good to go. But clearly, you can't just not eat.

My problem is that people aren't allowed to enjoy food anymore. I'm not talking over eating. Nor am I talking living off of fast food. I'm talking enjoying good food, generally homemade, that actually tastes good. What's the point of eating a dish that looks like and kinda tastes like something, but is just unsatisfying? Again, this has nothing to do with overeating or fast food. Unsatisfying food leaves your hunger half-appeased and looking for MORE FOOD. How the heck can that help anyone lose weight?

My problem is that, for all that people and doctors are "OMG TEH DEATH FAT!!!" weight loss surgeries are considered to be elective plastic surgeries. If it's SO BAD for you, shouldn't the medical community and the general public demand that something be done to help these individuals? Something more permanent and helpful than trying to scare them into suffering, and then still dying due to some un-related ailment?

[Ormond]

for me, I do not wish to be a size 2, but I want to be healthy and active. I made a decision to lead a more active life and I feel better because of it. Exercising and eating healthy is not just about being physically healthy, it also helps me mentally. I suffer from depression and being healthy helps tremendously.

There is actually a good bit of research evidence that regular exercise has an anti-depressive effect for most people.

However, like most such things involving health, there can also be some causal factors in the other direction. Being depressed also makes it harder to motivate yourself to exercise, because one of the main factors in depression for most people is "what's the use?" sorts of cognitions.

Personally I have never been able to lose weight in a healthy way without exercise. The only time I lost weight mostly through diet was when I was actually anorexic and went down to 118 pounds (I'm 5'9") in my late 20s. I don't consider that to have been a healthy result in any way. I am tyring to lose weight again right now at age 58, but one thing I will not do is weigh myself more than once a week, because weighing myself every day is I think part of what contributed to my anorexia.

I also don't think genetics are "just an excuse". One of the paradoxes of research on weight the last 30 years is that there is more and more evidence that genetic factors are strongly correlated with weight and obesity at the same time the huge increase in obesity shows the environment is also a factor. Our genes give us a "possible weight range" given the environment we are in. The modern environment has changed so that many more people are at the top of their "possible range" than used to be the case. But genes (as well as other past biological factors like whether or not you were overweight as a child and so developed extra fat cells) do make it harder for some people to fight off the modern environment than others. Genes are a lot of what makes it impossible for most of us to obtain those "unrealistic ideals of beauty".

I haven't read the article, but from others' comments it seems that part of the problem is the expectation that increasing exercise should be enough without any conscious attention being paid to what one eats. If you allow increased hunger, or justifications about "I can eat that because I exercised" to affect how much you eat, of course exercise by itself won't necessarily lead to weight loss. But if you consciously commit to not increasing your calorie intake, surely increasing exercise will normally result in weight loss. As someone said earlier, one has to deal with the fact that losing weight WILL mean one can't eat whatever one wants whenever one feels hungry. That's why weight loss is "worK" both mentally and physically.

[IheartTesla]

The article may be crappily written, although some of the responses here are probably just bandwagon hopping. But no one seems to explicitly tackle the premise that vigorous exercise depletes your 'self control muscle' so I presume that anecdotally for everyone here it doesnt. Lets all publish our results in Newsweek or Salon.

[Eponine]

For me, exercising outside in the heat and humidity kills my appetite. Anyone else like this- just don't want to eat much when it's really sticky outside?

[Nakkie]

The article may be crappily written, although some of the responses here are probably just bandwagon hopping. But no one seems to explicitly tackle the premise that vigorous exercise depletes your 'self control muscle' so I presume that anecdotally for everyone here it doesnt. Lets all publish our results in Newsweek or Salon.

I find that exercise increases my self control if anything. Yes, I eat more when I work out more, but that doesn't mean I shovel everything in sight in my mouth. Exercise not only makes me physically stronger, but also mentally stronger, which translates into better self control with everything. Just my opinion and personal experience.

[Eurytus]

My problem is that people aren't allowed to enjoy food anymore. I'm not talking over eating. Nor am I talking living off of fast food. I'm talking enjoying good food, generally homemade, that actually tastes good. What's the point of eating a dish that looks like and kinda tastes like something, but is just unsatisfying? Again, this has nothing to do with overeating or fast food. Unsatisfying food leaves your hunger half-appeased and looking for MORE FOOD. How the heck can that help anyone lose weight?

Of course you can enjoy food, homemade food that tastes good. Its pretty easy to cook a great many Asian dishes that are in no way going to send you over the recommended daily calorie intake. In fact with spices its pretty easy to get flavour without adding calories. With ready meals not so much because invariably fat, salt, sugar or corn syrup is added to mask the lack of flavour, because actually adding proper flavour would mean the ready meal couldn't be ludicrously cheap.

If you know what you're doing its not that hard to cook very enjoyable and tasty food from the basic ingredients without any risk of adding a ton of calories.

[Nichole]

For me, exercising outside in the heat and humidity kills my appetite. Anyone else like this- just don't want to eat much when it's really sticky outside?

Heat kills my appetite. Doesn't matter if I'm exercising in it or not. It also makes me crave fresh things. I'm less likely to actually want fast food in the summer.

[Stego]

My problem is that people think that thin = healthy and fat = unhealthy. It's not that cut and dry.

No. Thin can = unhealthy.

But fat ALWAYS equals unhealthy. ALWAYS.

You can keep using roundabout arguments if you like, but the bottom line is obvious..... you are making excuses.

[Iskaral Pust]

I find that exercise increases my self control if anything. Yes, I eat more when I work out more, but that doesn't mean I shovel everything in sight in my mouth. Exercise not only makes me physically stronger, but also mentally stronger, which translates into better self control with everything. Just my opinion and personal experience.

Agreed. When I'm exercising a lot I feel very healthy and health-conscious and therefore much less likely to eat junk. And when exercising, I have far less need of stress eating or boredom eating (which I don't acknowledge I am doing until I stop and change habits).

When feeling out of shape and eating comfort food, it seems so hard to change habits, and the initial change is hard, but once you get far enough into it you shed that mentality entirely and feel very differently about both food and exercise.

Odie - I don't know you very well, but your posts sound like some of the fat-apologist crap that has become PC because no-one wants to feel bad about themselves. If you eat reasonable portions of healthly home-made food then you won't get overweight in the first place. You can only be overweight if you are consuming more calories than you need. It's not a good thing to obsess about having an impossibly perfect body, but that doesn't happen very much. There is a much higher frequency of people being complacent about obesity and its health risks, and you do a lot more damage by pretending that there's nothing they can or should do about that. The stuff we are talking about here is not going to cause anyone to develop anorexia (a much deeper and more complicated pathology), but it might address some of the apologist disinformation that is preventing overweight people from improving their health and life expectancy.

[Eurytus]

I also don't think genetics are "just an excuse". One of the paradoxes of research on weight the last 30 years is that there is more and more evidence that genetic factors are strongly correlated with weight and obesity at the same time the huge increase in obesity shows the environment is also a factor. Our genes give us a "possible weight range" given the environment we are in. The modern environment has changed so that many more people are at the top of their "possible range" than used to be the case. But genes (as well as other past biological factors like whether or not you were overweight as a child and so developed extra fat cells) do make it harder for some people to fight off the modern environment than others. Genes are a lot of what makes it impossible for most of us to obtain those "unrealistic ideals of beauty".

I do think genetics make it harder for some to lose weight than others but I absolutely do think that, overall, genetics are used as an excuse the vast majority of the time. Sure genetics may make it harder to lose weight depending on your body type. But harder is not impossible.

You hear ludicrous percentages bandied about as the percentage for whom genetics has caused their obesity, anything up to 33% I have heard. That's frankly bollocks.

Taking the US alone in barely 2 decades its gone from only having one state above 20% obesity rate to having only 1 below it I believe. That's a massive increase and is quite obviously driven by sedentry lifestyles and a move towards both overconsumption, but more critically I believe, towards ready meals.

When you travel in parts of the world (especially Africa) where food is not in abundance, where people do cook from the raw ingredients and where they are relatively active the different in obesity levels is simply mindboggling.

[Gerold Hightower]

I also don't think genetics are "just an excuse". One of the paradoxes of research on weight the last 30 years is that there is more and more evidence that genetic factors are strongly correlated with weight and obesity at the same time the huge increase in obesity shows the environment is also a factor. Our genes give us a "possible weight range" given the environment we are in. The modern environment has changed so that many more people are at the top of their "possible range" than used to be the case. But genes (as well as other past biological factors like whether or not you were overweight as a child and so developed extra fat cells) do make it harder for some people to fight off the modern environment than others. Genes are a lot of what makes it impossible for most of us to obtain those "unrealistic ideals of beauty".

Neither matter nor energy pop up out of thin air. Your body can't build up body fat if the calories aren't in your diet. It is absolutely impossible to gain weight if you aren't taking in more calories than you burn. Now what the body does with excess calories seems to vary and genetics probably plays some part there. So does age. But all that only matters if you give your body the problem of excess calories to deal with. Genetics is just an excuse.

It's the same as with smoking. Some people get cancer from it, some don't. Does that mean genetics is responsible for the cancer?

[lessthanluke]

Genetics are not an excuse. Fat people are just lazy.

Tempra 133gs of fat in a 3000 calorie diet is high imo.

[DanteGabriel]

My problem is that people aren't allowed to enjoy food anymore. I'm not talking over eating. Nor am I talking living off of fast food. I'm talking enjoying good food, generally homemade, that actually tastes good. What's the point of eating a dish that looks like and kinda tastes like something, but is just unsatisfying? Again, this has nothing to do with overeating or fast food. Unsatisfying food leaves your hunger half-appeased and looking for MORE FOOD. How the heck can that help anyone lose weight?

The reason I've been able to keep to my healthier diet is because I cook at home a lot more, and can cook healthy, tasty, satisfying food. I don't know what mental process took place or what chemicals changed in my brain to make this possible, but I like my steamed broccoli with a sprinkle of soy sauce.

So I do not buy this dichotomy you've set up between "satisfying" food and "healthy" food.

[Odie]

It's not "obsessing" or "prejudiced" to make combatting the obesity epidemic a top national priority -which it should be.

Then they should DO something about it!! Make more options realistically avaliable.

Oh great. Now we're on the plane seat bullshit. It's so unspeakably wrong, and a symptom of the much bigger problem of people truly believing that fat people are worth less than others, and thus should stay home and don't deserve to travel like "normal" people. If we charge them twice as much when plane tickets are already disgustingly expensive, why, they'll just stay home! Fewer fatties on the beach! Or just getting in my way while I'm trying to enjoy my vacation! What a brilliant plan this is!!

Plane travel by its very nature is uncomfortable. And now they have an excuse to cram even more people into a plane, because if you can't fit in a now-smaller seat, it doesn't matter! They just charge you double!

[Odie]

Odie - I don't know you very well, but your posts sound like some of the fat-apologist crap that has become PC because no-one wants to feel bad about themselves. If you eat reasonable portions of healthly home-made food then you won't get overweight in the first place. You can only be overweight if you are consuming more calories than you need. It's not a good thing to obsess about having an impossibly perfect body, but that doesn't happen very much. There is a much higher frequency of people being complacent about obesity and its health risks, and you do a lot more damage by pretending that there's nothing they can or should do about that. The stuff we are talking about here is not going to cause anyone to develop anorexia (a much deeper and more complicated pathology), but it might address some of the apologist disinformation that is preventing overweight people from improving their health and life expectancy.

Not feel bad about myself? Are you kidding? No "PC bullshit" will help me there. But I also realize that a lot of this comes from external sources more than internal. Thus I've flat-out given up. Nothing I do will help. Nor will the medical community help me unless I have thousands of dollars. So fuck it, I'm going to enjoy my life and not sit around counting calories, or freaking out because I ate something with refined sugar.