to think that losing weight isn't as complicated as it's made out to be?

[upsylazy]

NB I am not saying that losing weight is EASY as i have learned from personal experience. But there do seem to be this plethora of methods, books, videos, personal plans out there about it. Through my lifetime, I've had to listen to people drone on endlessly abouy the grapefruit diet, the F plan diet, the Cambridge diet, diets where you can't mix food groups right up to Atkins and all the low carb stuff.
My understanding from biology at school is that food contains units of energy (calories) and I seem to remember this being demonstrated by burning a peanut and seeing how much it raised the temperature of a test tube of water.
The understanding I have is that if you consume more calories than you burn off, you'll put on weight and vice versa. I've never found that idea particularly complex. I don't doubt that a lot of these diets work but they can only work if you burn up more calories than you consume.
Also, can someone please please tell me why carbs have suddenly become so bad for you? I can understand that saturated fat is bad as it clogs up your arteries and that too much salt is bad as it can raise blood pressure and reduce bone density but what do carbs DO to you that make them so terible?
I'm sitting in an office with that food pyramid thingy on the wall which basically says that carbs are good and that your diet should contain more of them than meat or dairy products. So are they wrong about this?
I don't have a problem with things like weight watchers as I can see that group suport can be invaluable. It's just all the new books and plans and programmes which various people (none of whom seem to be dieticians) are obviously making a packet from. I am perfectly prepared to stand corrected BTW.

word greed ffs

No of course not ICBINEG

The person constantly over eating an obscene amount of food that they don't need would be the greedy one.

Not all greedy people are fat and not all fat people are greedy.

But there's no denying there are many greedy people who just won't admit to themselves that they are in fact greedy.

My views on this have changed recently. I was always firmly of the belief that overweight people just ate too much. I come from a thin family and so does DH.
DS1(17) is skinny.
DS2(14) however seems to be made of different stuff. He eats far less than the rest of us and is very prone to weight gain. The only reason he is not over weight is because he eats less crap he has learned to make healtier choices than his brother.

worra DS2 confided that he thought he must be dyslexic. I told him he was just crap at spelling

Worra, the DSM confines its definition of obesity as an addiction to extreme overeaters - so it can't be used as an excuse by most people who suffer from a lack of self-control. Similarly, the "fat gene" issue - I'm not convinced by this, I think it's a lot to do with people looking for an excuse. Yes, there's the Prader Willi syndrome but that's rare.

I have to say that I am shit at spelling. If it wasn't for predictive texts I'd be fcuked!!

But I think some people do use it as an excuse Thumbwitch

Perhaps their thinking is that if they have an 'addiction', that's a 'legitimate excuse' to continue over eating and that those around them will have to be more understanding.

In reality, no-one needs a 'legitimate excuse' to do anything to their own body

But I think the first step to change, is usually honesty.

I have to think twice every time I type the word dyslexic as it just doesn't look right

So I have no syndromes and I have no addiction.

My situation is this: If I eat the same number of calories I burn I feel really hungry all the time.

If I stop thinking about calories and simply eat normally (no binging or takeouts etc. just responding to the hunger stimulation by eating normal healthy food) I will 'over eat' by around 300 kcals per day. So I will put on around 2 lbs a month, a stone and a half per year.

A few years down the line and I'm obese. Great.

Am I greedy?

I can be eating less calories than you, be going to bed hungry every day and still be gaining weight.

Is that greed?

I am not unusual. Most people who are fat, got fat because they ate the same way thin people do. They eat until they felt full.

People stay fat because it's hard to decide it's worth fighting everyday, feeling horrible everyday just so you can lose weight. I recently decided I was worth it and am half way through losing 5 stone. So I know exactly what it takes and how miserable it is. But worst of all is knowing that this never stops now. If I want to stay this size I will be feeling hungry for the rest of my life.

Sorry - I know they do - they just shouldn't, Worra.

I just have a problem calling it an addiction - almost a way to negate responsibility for their actions - not me guv it is my syndrome ... The same way that bipolar syndrome has been overused.

People (including members of my family) have addictive personalities and giving it a label is really not helpful.

If someone is addicted to alcohol the solution is sobriety, drug use is abstinence - what is the gold standard for 'addiction' to food?

gastric band? drugs?

Eat less, Move more, Job done

Yeah, very simple. I'll just stop taking the steroids that cause weight gain and magic away my polycystic overies and insulin resistance then.

ICBINEG Only you'll know if you're greedy...it's not for anyone else to decide.

There's no point in asking me as I don't know you.

On a different note though, the more we get used to eating, the more it takes to fill us up and vice versa.

Eat less, move more, feel shit every day.

ohh yes sign me up! sounds great

worra thats a nice theory but after 3 months of calorie restriction I am not feeling any less hungry day on day.

Oh I know I am not greedy. It isn't greedy to eat when you feel hungry. How can it be.

The point of what I am writing is to make thin people wake up to the fact that the assumption that fat people are eating past the point they feel hungry is, on average, bollocks.

Oh but I meant to say IC, I don't agree with this...

"Most people who are fat, got fat because they ate the same way thin people do. They eat until they felt full."

I know loads of overweight people who will tell you they eat well past being full. Some will eat because 'it's there', they have a sweet tooth, they don't like waste..etc..

Wel it ain't fun and should be looked at as more of a change of lifestyle than being on a diet. Sometimes, we call it a diet and then are set to fail. If you just make healthy changes, small baby steps it is easier and not so much of a shock. I guess it depends on how much weight a person needs to lose - are they losing weight for vanity or health reasons.

well there are lots of different people in the world. I doubt someone says "I eat too much because I hate waste" and then tell you they are addicts.

Did you not read any of MN/Facebook or anything else over Christmas?

Loads of people were posting about the sheer volume of food/sweets/cakes/drinks they were consuming and believe me it had nothing to do with hunger.

Yes, most people like an extra treat during the holidays but some people took it to a very extreme level.

Imo that is the definition of greed.

James I bet with that combo you would put on weight eating 1000 kcals a day. Still nice to know that eating half the average daily amount makes you greedy eh?

Who has said James is greedy then?

Worra I totally agree with you.

yes but most of those boasting will have been thin.

Eating a whole pack of mince pies is what 1/3 of a pound of body fat? That makes feck all difference long term.

What makes you fat is the biscuit you eat every day at 3:30 because you can't get any work done due to the starvation messages pouring in from you poor maladjusted stomach.

That what makes you obese over the years.

There was a time when I would have agreed with the OP, but I am better informed now: I went to a lecture from a leading physiology professor at Cambridge who specialised in obesity. He had some very interesting things to say including:

Some people can eat a lot and NOT get fat (they burn it off). The obverse is NOT true btw - anyone who eats too little will get thin.

There are certain genes which, if you have them, mean that when you are presented with an all-you-can-eat buffet, you will reliably eat several hundred more calories than someone without this gene (more so if you have two copies). This is to do with the way your body PHYSIOLOGICALLY registers calories through the production of leptin and ghrelin

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17212793

So, I conclude some people (this includes me) just find it EASY to be thin through the luck of genetics that mean I don't get that hungry and that if I eat too much, I burn it off.

I accept fully now that for other people, it is MUCH HARDER. We live in an obesogenic environment where food is available all the time and if your genetics make you hungry then it must be a constant battle not to get fat. That must be tough. one day soon there will be a pill you can take that will make you feel full at the right point and it will be easy.