to think eat less, move more isn't as simple as it sounds

[starshaker]

People say to lose weight you need to use more calories than you eat. This is obvious. However metabolism plays a big part too. How do you know how much calories you actually burn so you can work out how many to eat? Ive never been slim and yes, i probably need to exercise more but i have so much other stuff going on that getting the chance to isnt that simple.

So AIBU in thinking that its not as simple as what people say

Most overweight people just need to cut carbs, not calories. I spent years calorie counting & exercising, and just got bigger. I cut carbs and lost 12 lbs in a week.

Yy to restaurant portions. I can finish them but I know what's coming if I do. I wouldn't dream of putting so much meat and so little veg on my plate at home.

It is that simple, but fails to take into account at all the reasons people eat more than they should. Those reasons are often not straightforward at all, and not necessarily easily overcome by 'willpower' either.

"just need to cut carbs, not calories."

Carbs have a lot of calories. You are saying the same thing.

Carbs don't have as many calories per g as fat. But I agree in principle it comes to the same thing, because people tend to load their plates with big carb portions (partly because they're supposed to be healthy, and can therefore be eaten in unlimited quantities, and partly because they're very moreish).

If I eat too much it is carbs. But, for me it's comfort eating. When I'm overwhelmed by all the demands on me from several small children, isolated at home and anxious about money, it's hard not to succumb. I'm overweight, but not massively so.

Some time ago I had to give myself a good talking to and accept that if I was in a restaurant and didn't finish a huge plateful, this was FINE and NORMAL and not a waste of money.

yy to eating much less sugar and fewer carbs. It's almost unbelievable how many cheap carbs we could cram into our bodies daily if we wanted to, easy and cheap and fast.

Eat less, move more didn't work for me... but only because it emerged that my pituitary gland had died off so I was barely producing any hormones (thyroid, oestrogen, cortisol...). Now I'm on replacements, I've shed the 21lbs I gained by cutting starchy carbs - bread, pasta, potato, rice - and eating whatever fats, mea, fish and veg I want. (Yes mercibucket, I am on Erfa T3 thyroid, or else I would still be getting nowhere!)

It's amazing how much longer you stay full when eating a bit of fat as opposed to a massive plate of pasta. But you have to find what suits you. In my case it's weight training for an hour three times a week, rather than plodding along on a boring treadmill for the same. Likewise, my relationship with sugar is like an addict with crack - but now I'm back to normal I can give in a bit :)

I have spent my entire life overweight. I reached "morbidly obese" two tears ago.
I used to tell people I was dieting but I wasn't because my portions were to big, I'd constantly graze but not count it (i don't think I even acknowledged the amount I was eating)
Then 15months ago I was told I needed to lose weight to get fertility treatment. So far I've lost 5stone by eating less and exercising more. It just clicked. It's true.
I know they're expensive but I bought a Wii fit. 3times a week after work.
Try going on the British heart foundations website as they have good info on changing tour lifestyle and that's what you need to do. Low gi is done for short term but if you're not careful when you go back to "normal" you'll put it back on.

JustAHolyFool yeah clearly im deluded and obviously since im fat i dont know how to cook a basic sauce. Slightly patronizing dont you think?

I dont snack, i follow my plan but obviously im lying.

I accept IBU so im just going to leave the thread because people are either not reading the thread or assuming im lying.

"cutting carbs", or "cutting fat" or whatever doesn't really matter what, the way to reduce calorie intake if you're trying to but failing is just to do something which reduces how palatable you find the food you have. So you don't overeat. Just about everyone given a completely nutritious gruel and nothing else to eat self regulates to a healthy weight, it doesn't matter if the gruel is fat or carbs for the calorie needs. But because it doesn't taste good or contain drugs which encourage eating, people don't overeat and tend to lose weight if overweight or maintain weight if not.

For a great many people, cutting carbs does a great job of reducing palatability, I think more people have sugar, bread and potato habits than do fat ones.

I eat lots of carbs, but slow release ones - wholemeal bread etc. Wholegrains are a valuable source of many vitamins, minerals and fibre. They don't make you fat, they do fill you up, and they don't overload the kidneys like excess protein does. If you eat more protein than the body needs it is simply broken down to provide energy the same as a carb, with the nitrogen being excreted in urine. This process is very hard on the kidneys.

The problem arises when people eat too much of everything, and load up the carbs they eat with fat - lots of butter on bread, fried potatoes, fatty sauces etc. It really isn't rocket science. Low carb diets work because people eat less over all.

starshaker Please find a way to get more exercise, particularly some high intensity exercise into your day, it'll really help probably more than any diet. Walking is okay, but getting out of breath is much better.

Watch the biggest loser - metabolism doesn't matter those people are huge and have all kinds of different metabolisms. They get their diet provided for them and they move a hell of a lot and it drops off of them.

It may be that you are just not eating enough and your body is deciding to not burn calories and hold on to them to stop you going into a malnutrative state - something that even an obese person could do if they stop eating suddenly.

starshaker I said I know not all fat people are like this. Wasn't getting at you in particular.

Holyfool is spot on, walk everywhere, reduce carbs and you will at least be on your way to better health.

EndoplasmicReticulum 'I don't exercise'.....'walk five miles...do a lot of walking/geocaching'.

sounds like exercise to me. Movement is exercise.

never been in a gym in my life. Not fat. Like my food. Go figure

to go back to the original question; unless there is another health problem, losing weight IS that simple.

Don't feel like that, starshaker. As I said, we're all convinced of the rightness of what worked for us - and that helps keep us on the straight and narrow, but it probably also makes us dogmatic about handing out advice.

You'll find something that works for you if you stick at it

So much myth peddling on this issue.

But anyone who has worked with animals, notably mamals ( including humans) KNOWS that if, say, a horse is a hit fat and unfit, you excercise him more and feed a bit less ( or less rich food), same with dogs, cats, any creature really.

It is odd that this starvation mode people talk about doe not apply to animals, and if you lessen their food portions, the fat does not magically stay on due to this starvation mode thing holding onto the fat....

People are so deluded. There is too much mumbo jumbo.

It is SIMPLE. But it is not EASY at all, not at all easy. We could all be slim if someone else dictated our food intake, but there are so many moments of temptation in a day, it is hard to stay strong.

How old are yor children? From the sounds of it your twins are poss toddlers and dd1 at school.

I would do the walk to school then either walk a long route home adding 30 mins to fast walk with double buggy or head to the park and run/ fast walk with buggy through the park for half hour min.

You say you have a dog. Walk dog twice a day. Either with youngest in buggy or in the evening with all three children after dinner/ before dinner.

Get a trailer for bike. Then twins can go in and you can use when dd1 is at school. Over the next few months try to teach her to ride bike so in the summer you can all go off for the day.

When at home and the children are in bed, try walking up and down the stairs say 10 times. Increasing as you get better.
You could also get a fitness DVD such as the shred, or a yoga DVD and mat. You could probably do these whilst children around and they will join in, or in the evening too. You could also get weights or/ and excercise ball for at home.

I've always wondered about that "starvation mode" thing too. Would welcome any info anyone has about it. It can't possibly be true that you go into "starvation mode" every time you have a hunger pang. The period in my life when I put on tons of weight was when I decided to eat "three square meals a day" like a grown-up. I just don't need that much.

I am surprised by all these people saying that exercise didn't make any difference to their weight. It makes me wonder exactly what exercise they were doing. I was walking at least 7 miles a day, 5 days a week for a year, and it didn't make any difference at all. Then I started doing an hour's exercise class 4-5 times a week, and lost a stone and a half in four months without changing my diet at all. A step class, two pump classes and a Pilates class and voila! I have the body of a lithe 17-year-old. (Sadly I still have the wrinkly, haggard head of a 39-year-old Mum-of-three, but if I wore a paper bag over that, I would look FAB!)

I agree that it is that simple but not easy.

Just walking isnt enough, you need to walk so fast you cant talk. And really concentrate on it, pulling your stomach muscles in etc.
Not just ambling along, you could walk a marathon like that and not lose weight.

Then when you get home, in the evening you need to find the time to Shred, its only half an hour.

If you combine that with the diet you are on then you will lose weight and get much fitter but if you make excuses that you dont have the time to exercise then you wont.

SpecialSubject - people don't count walking as exercise though - see the post above mine from YouBrokeMy.

walking is execise