[ForeverZero]

Hey guys, about 2 years ago I went through some serious life crises and decided that my entire life needed an overhaul. One of my ongoing projects has been weight loss. Over the last 2 years, I went from 275lbs to 190 lbs, then back up to 210 with muscle gain. Before I undertook this task, I asked around for hints and tips, and I did a lot of legitimate research before I planned my diet and workout regime.

You'd be surprised how much of the information and diet plans out there that have become mainstream fact are completely baseless and are usually just marketing ploys for you to buy their crap. Seeing as a lot of weekend warrior dieters (failing miserably themselves) have no problem dispensing the same bad advice they received I figured I'd share the fruits of my hard work in one convenient thread. I did read a lot of studies, and I'm not sure about the linking policies here, but if you PM me, I'd be more than happy to provide you with the study I found that supports what I'm saying. I also want you all to know I'm no professional, I'm just a dude who did it right the first time.

The myths:

Cutting carbs results in weight loss, therefore if i lower the number of carbs, i'll lose weight. This is a myth originating from the atkins diet. Carbs have nothing to do with fat gain. There are 4 types of calories carbohydrates, proteins, fats, alcohol. One gram of each of these does not produce the same amount of calories, therefore a meal based entirely on proteins will not yield the same amount of calories as a meal based on fats. Carbohydrates in particular come in different varieties. Simple and complex. All you really need to know is that simple carbs like sugar/soda are easy to break down, and your body doesn't have to work as hard to get at the calories as it does for complex carbs like cheerios.

Cutting simple carbohydrates from your diets and replacing them with complex carbs will get you more food with less calories. Your stomach will stay full longer, and you'll poop better. Proteins are even harder for your body to break down, so swapping a carbs for proteins is even better. Just cutting carbs is a pointless venture. It's what you replace them with that counts. And not all carbs are bad carbs.

The older you get, the more difficult to lose weight it is. Your age has nothing to do with your ability to lose weight. What is important is how set in your ways you are. The more driven into your routine you are the more difficult it will be to change it. That's all. Your age isn't some magic force that makes your body hang onto fat. Diet and exercise works for middle aged people as well as it does for young people.

Eating after x o'clock will cause you to store fat more Let's say you go to bed at 11 O'clock. Right before bed you eat all of your food, a full 2000 calorie meal. You ate nothing else earlier in the day. Your body will store that because you're going right to bed and not burning it off right? Where do you suppose the calories your body burned earlier in the day came from? They came from somewhere, and since you burned them before you ate them, your body didn't just shut down until you ate. Calories in/Calories out. The time of day has next to no relevance at all, this is just more horse crap people spout out without thinking.

I'm a woman, it's more difficult for me to lose weight I will concede that losing one pound exercising is more difficult for a woman than a man. Calories in/Calories out. Cutting 500 calories a day will result in 1lb of fat loss per week, man or woman. Exercising is a little different, men have more mass, so a 200lb man burns more calories running for an hour than a 150lb woman. However, the obesity is a different percentage. A woman that loses 1lb has lost .75% of her body weight. A man that loses 1lb has lost 1lb has lost .5% of his body weight in that example. Therefore less fat has been burned, however the BMI percentage is different, so a man might be able to lose 20lb total, whereas a woman that is just as out of shape only has to lose 15 lbs.

Diet pills work They don't result in weight loss. Appetite suppressants suppress your appetite. If you only ate when you were hungry, and only ate enough to fill you up. You wouldn't be overweight, So these aren't the drug for you. Pills that prevent your ability to digest and store fat only do that. You won't be able to digest fat, as the necessary enzymes will be blocked, you'll poop crazy and be gassy and it'll be for nothing. They do what they're supposed to do, but not that much of your caloric intake comes from fat calories. Research shows in the average user that amount to about 3 to 4 lbs of fat loss a year.

My (insert joint) hurts, i can't exercise. Chances are it's your knee or ankle. Chances are your knee/ankle/hip hurts because you're overweight. No, you shouldn't do high impact exercise. Yes, you should exercise in a low impact fashion.

My buddy's buddy steve tried this diet and he lose 20 lbs in a week. No he didn't. If he lose 20 lbs in one week he'd be in cardiac arrest. I suppose it's possible if he was morbidly obese, but even then, it all came back the next week. Any diets boasting weight loss of anything more than around 3/4lbs a week are unhealthy and temporary. I can shed 20 lbs in one day, it will all be water weight, and my health will be at great risk, AND it will all come back when I start drinking water again, fighters do this before competitions to have misleadingly low weights.

If i do a million crunches, i'll lose extra weight and have abs! You can't stimulate fat burning in a specific area. Your body will burn fat in reverse order from the way it stored it. It'll tap into all your fat stores evenly. Don't get me wrong, if you have a low body fat percentage, targeting certain areas will result in better definition, but if you're obese, you should pursue an all around diet and exercise plan, not just attack one area.

I'll add more as they piss me off. Feel free to ask questions, I'll gladly pitch in for a sexier america.

[N0help4u]

If you can not lose weight the older you get it is because of metabolism and enzyme problems or hormonal/thyroid problems.

Metabolic Stimulants of Fat Cell Storage

Also eating empty calories full of preservatives (junk food)

At least that is why I can't seem to lose weight I think

[ForeverZero]

Medical conditions are exceptions to the rule, I'll research that eventually.

Metabolism is largely a product of your muscle mass. 1lb of muscle burns 50 calories a day doing nothing. The more muscular you are, and that doesn't mean big sweeping body builder muscles, it could be dense knotty muscles, the more food you'll need to sustain weight. Metabolism isn't a magic calorie vacuum. Calories are energy and they have to go somewhere.

A calorie isn't always a calorie, however, if you ate 1500 calories of bacon a day, you'd be losing more fat than a person eating 3000 calories of salad a day, that's assuming you're overweight by the same % and body type is the same. Protein calories usually cause you to burn about 10-15% just breaking them down. Fat Calories are far easier to break down. While the bacon eater will burn more fat, I doubt he'll be healthy when you consider vitamins and all around health, I'm just talking from a fat loss perspective.

I'll also specify once again. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BE IMMUNE TO WEIGHT LOSS. Fat is stored energy. Energy comes from calories. Calories come from food. People don't just convert air into fat, it's all linked to diet and exercise.

[N0help4u]

Instant fat for me are donuts and bacon and I take digestive enzymes sometimes.
I can work really hard and gain weight or sit around doing nothing and MAYBE lose weight
Eating the same foods etc...
I really don't get it.

[ForeverZero]

Count your calories and weigh yourself every day. Then see what works for you. Don't go based on when you feel slimmer or fatter.

[N0help4u]

That's the funny part I can feel bloated and fat and I weigh myself and weigh 10 lbs less
Then I can feel really thin and weigh myself and I gained 10.
But my waist remains a constant 32 inches

[ForeverZero]

Don't look for excuses to quit. They're easy to find. Reasons to continue are the hardest.

[linnealand]

The myths:

Cutting carbs results in weight loss, therefore if i lower the number of carbs, i'll lose weight. This is a myth originating from the atkins diet. Carbs have nothing to do with fat gain. There are 4 types of calories carbohydrates, proteins, fats, alcohol. One gram of each of these does not produce the same amount of calories, therefore a meal based entirely on proteins will not yield the same amount of calories as a meal based on fats. Carbohydrates in particular come in different varieties. Simple and complex. All you really need to know is that simple carbs like sugar/soda are easy to break down, and your body doesn't have to work as hard to get at the calories as it does for complex carbs like cheerios.

Cutting simple carbohydrates from your diets and replacing them with complex carbs will get you more food with less calories. Your stomach will stay full longer, and you'll poop better. Proteins are even harder for your body to break down, so swapping a carbs for proteins is even better. Just cutting carbs is a pointless venture. It's what you replace them with that counts. And not all carbs are bad carbs.

Eating after x o'clock will cause you to store fat more Let's say you go to bed at 11 O'clock. Right before bed you eat all of your food, a full 2000 calorie meal. You ate nothing else earlier in the day. Your body will store that because you're going right to bed and not burning it off right? Where do you suppose the calories your body burned earlier in the day came from? They came from somewhere, and since you burned them before you ate them, your body didn't just shut down until you ate. Calories in/Calories out. The time of day has next to no relevance at all, this is just more horse crap people spout out without thinking.

I'm a woman, it's more difficult for me to lose weight I will concede that losing one pound exercising is more difficult for a woman than a man. Calories in/Calories out. Cutting 500 calories a day will result in 1lb of fat loss per week, man or woman. Exercising is a little different, men have more mass, so a 200lb man burns more calories runnin for an hour than a 150lb woman. However, the obesity is a different percentage. A woman that loses 1lb has lost .75% of her body weight. A man that loses 1lb has lost 1lb has lost .5% of his body weight in that example. Therefore less fat has been burned, however the BMI percentage is different, so a man might be able to lose 20lb total, whereas a woman that is just as out of shape only has to lose 15 lbs.

...

I'll add more as they piss me off. Feel free to ask questions, i'll gladly pitch in for a sexier america.

I'm glad you posted this! I'm from the states, but I've been living in europe for 6 years. When I go home, I am absolutely mind boggled by the weight issue in america and the diet culture that seems to be doing more damage than good.

When I moved to italy, I left everything I thought I knew about food, eating, cooking, and health behind. I did a lot to learn how it's really done here, and I thank my lucky stars that I did so. Why did I think it would be smart to follow what's done here? People in italy look really, really good. They're slim, they look healthy, and they're never afraid of food. Plus, many people consider tuscan cuisine to be the healthiest in the world (including dr. andrew weil).

I'm happy you posted the carb myth because this is something I can't get people to buy out of. I swear to you that pasta, rice and bread are absolutely abundant here. Not only is it very common to eat pasta every single day, but it's not unusual to eat it twice a day. Carbs are not the problem. I will also add that less popular whole grains like spelt and farro are absolutely delicious, and they're incredibly good for you. Also, beans are a phenomenal addition; there are so many different kinds, and they're all extremely healthy.

I would also like to put another idea onto your list: that of fearing fat. Your body needs fat to function properly, and so does your brain. Taking in drastically low levels of fat is the worst thing you can do if you want to lose weight. If you aren't eating it, your body will crave it. Now, there are good fats and bad fats. The best fat you can use is high quality extra virgin olive oil. It's full of things that are great for the body, including vitamins and anti-oxidants, it even has anti-inflammatory properties, and it lowers bad cholesterol. It's also unbelievably delicious, and anything you add it to will be better for it. Like they say, fat is flavor. Nobody should be eating anything made with shortening, margarine, trans-fats, or processed oils.

Eating ready-made or diet foods is a recipe for disaster. I absolutely believe that it's part of the reason people can't lose weight. They're full of weird ingredients that the body cannot process properly, and they can actually stick to you.

You talked about "eating after X o'clock." I know that I used to eat dinner at 6, or even earlier, just like most people back home. One idea behind this was that eating later than that could make you fat because you would store the food like a hibernating bear. Now, like the rest of italy, I never eat dinner before 8 pm. Actually, dinner in our house is usually between 9:30 and 11:30. You can eat dinner late without any problems. I will say, however, that if I ever have a snack at 2 am and go straight to bed, I do feel like my body has to digest it while I sleep, which doesn't make me feel great in the morning.

The reason many women don't lose weight at the rate men can is usually because of the difference in muscle mass. This doesn't mean that women should bench press their own body weight (actually, that's kind of gross), but it does mean that it's good to lift things, take the stairs, and exercise with adding a little muscle in mind. There are three places in the world with more centenarians than anywhere else (one in italy, one in japan and one in costa rica), and all of them are places where the old culture had them walking uphill with a water bucket and carrying it down again - every single day.

Adages that aren't fallacies: the more natural your food it, the better it is for you. Ideally, it should look like it just came out of the ground. Filling your plate with different colors of foods is a brilliant idea. Actually, different colors in fruits and veggies represent different vitamins. Fill yourself up on extra veggies and fresh fruits. Don't starve yourself. Don't walk around feeling guilty, and don't beat yourself up. The best thing you can do in life is to enjoy everything in moderation. You can eat ice cream and indulge in whatever treats you want, but do it on occasion. Actually, real chocolate can actually be beneficial, and the darker it is the better. And believe it or not, even a little coffee can be good for you.

If you learn to love good food, moving around (think dancing or going for a pleasurable walk with a friend) and being happy, your body will follow suit. You'll feel good, you'll look good, and you'll feel more confident when you're shopping, dating or getting naked.
There's no reason to avoid the real pleasures in life, especially if they're also the tastiest, the most fun and the best for you!

[N0help4u]

Yes people fear eating fat but you do need fat.
I truly believe that the main reason so many Americans are over weight and can not lose it is because of all the chemicals, preservatives and hormones in many foods.
They say that boys are starting to look more feminine because of the hormones in meat and soy. I believe that is a big reason for that.

I try eating healthy home cooked meals.

[DoulaLC]

Anytime you have people leading more sedentary lives and eating more processed/fast foods you will see weight gain. Many parts of Europe are not without these same issues and, unfortunately it is growing, but... for the most part, more of the population in many other countries walk/bike more... cars are simply not as necessary or used as much in many areas, and meals tend to be homecooked... so you know how it was prepared.