To think I shouldn't be THIS heavy??

[Lotsofsausage]

So to start, I know I am no supermodel. Fairly tall at 5'8, size 14, smaller waist, medium bust. Fairly curvy arse/ thighs but toned. I am fit and strong and exercise 4-5x per week, including strength training.

Now I know measurements and photos are a better gauge than the scales, and muscle is meant to weigh more than fat (but I thought that was bullshit).....I am 14.5 stone! I have a friend with the same body measurements as me and same height and she is TWO STONE lighter.
Can some people just be 'heavy'???

So, Paradise, if you ate less than your TDA of calories but it was all carb, would you gain or lose weight do you think? I think I might have a tendency to IR (there for sure is in my family) but if I eat less than my TDA cals I lose weight regardless so maybe not.

It is not so much about losing weight, although it is a pleasant consequence. If you have insulin resistance tendency, low carbing will improve your quality of life overall. You will stop experiencing overpowering cravings, will be happy to skip meals, your appetite will return to ‘normal’ levels. Your energy will soar and brain power will increase. You will sleep better and feel happier. Moods swings and crashes will become things of the past.

I know if I go back to eating ‘a little bit of cake’ occasionally, it will all come flooding back (and uncontrollable weight gain will follow as a result). No thanks. I like not having to think about food. I like not being a prisoner to my appetite. And I quite enjoy feeling great and full of energy, rather than sluggish, tired and flat.

It is easy to check if you have likely got insulin resistance. Do you leave food on your plate regularly? Can you easily go 6-7h between your meals and not notice? Are you capable of eating one square of chocolate out of a bar and not touching the rest for a week? Do you experience a slump in your energy levels a couple of hours after a meal? Can you pile on 2kg overnight?

If the answer is yes, low carbing may benefit you. Once you try it and see the difference it has made to your well-being you wouldn’t want to go back to eating trashy carbs.

I don't think losing weight is easy for all people. Simple, yes- and it is down to calories, thermodynamics and all that. But harder to actually achieve for people with strong hunger cues, for those who have taught themselves to comfort eat (often from childhood), for vegetarians or other people who mightn't get nearly enough protein, for people who simply lack the knowledge of what calories are and how big portions should be, and so on.

Some people are going to have to exercise more discipline, some might need therapy or something to help them avoid comfort eating, some might need a lifetime's worth of dietary ignorance beaten out of them.

It's certainly not a level playing field. But then, what is?

I’m 5’8 size 16 and 14 stone 10. I’ve lost nearly a stone in the past few months but while I’m noticeable less wobbly I’m still the same clothes size (although clothes are a bit less tight)

Well if you believe that the professional sportsmen are fat, what can I say...

Counting calories does not work. Food is not about calories. Following your logic there is absolutely no difference to your body if you eat 2kg of steamed broccoli or 1 doughnut. If somebody is deluded, it’s not me.

Diet is not ‘details’. It is fundamental to one’s health and well-being. It is a cornerstone of a good happy healthy life, not some abstract made-up ‘calories’ one consumes.

Sumo wrestlers are amazing athletes & very fat.
They consume about 20,000 calories a day to stay very fat.
Including lots of beer (relatively low carb stuff).

Counting caloriesdoes not work. Food is not about calories. Following your logic there is absolutely no difference to your body if you eat 2kg of steamed broccoli or 1 doughnut. If somebody is deluded, it’s not me.

The difference to your body is in feeling more full, getting more nutrients etc. Energy resource wise (so keeping on topic about weight) if they have the same calorie content they have the same calorie content.

The karma one could reap by posting some of this to /r/fatlogic

Counting calories does not work. Food is not about calories. Following your logic there is absolutely no difference to your body if you eat 2kg of steamed broccoli or 1 doughnut

There probably isn't much difference in terms of calories but you'd feel pretty sick after 2kg broccoli!

Losing weight is totally about calories!

/r/fatlogic is the best

I've found my people.

Well, those particular rugby players do look fat, you can clearly see the fat on their stomachs and chests. Compare them with pictures of rugby players (or anyone else) from the 1950s-1970s. Even 1980s.

I have always believed that calories dictate weight gain/loss/maintenance but what you eat determines health and satiety...but some people seem to be saying you can gain on less carb calories than protein calories, and lose on more protein calories than carb calories?

No way Adele runs 5k in under 20 mins. It took me a lot of work to get mine to under 19 mins and I was super skinny and trained like a beast to get there

God I salute you for getting a 5K in 19 min. That's fucking amazing.

I was doling out advice that is publicised by medical professionals dealing with insulin resistant obese people and based on their research and medical practice, I.e Dr Jason Fung, Dr Robert Lustig, Prof Roy Taylor among many. You tell them they have got fat logic. Ignorance on this thread is astounding.

Where did I say my current BMI of 32 is my leanest and my best? Do quote me. What I did say was at BMI 32 I could do with probably losing another 10-12kg which will take me to my perfect weight of my personal leanest at BMI 27. Received wisdom is I will still not be good enough weight at that point and need to torture myself, and it will be unnatural to me and absolute torture, just to attain some arbitrary crude standard. If you can’t dismiss the TOFI phenomenon who have got great weight reading by the way, then you will have to admit people in ‘overweight’ range can be perfectly fit and healthy.

May I refer you to the picture of the brave G5000 poster upthread who is ‘overweight’ according to BMI.

The advice from the medical professionals above I personally found life-changing and very helpful, unlike your futile torturous ‘calorie counting’ which is completely and utterly unsustainable long-term. Don’t believe me, check out longitudinal studies which ALL say people were unable to have any lasting weight loss whatsoever, after the initial success, through calorie counting. You are setting people up to fail, beat themselves up about it, lose heart, and spiral further into an abyss. Not a great approach.

No thanks, I will stick with improving my health and well-being, lowering my insulin resistance and reducing my body fat. Can’t care less if my BMI is socially acceptable or not. I can’t see how a TOFI is better than somebody like me. They are only doing ‘well’ because their ‘lucky’ genetics, not because they are so healthy or fit. And shock horror, they are at exactly the same diabetes and other health risks if they have similar amounts of invisible visceral fat and low muscle mass.

The reason for my posting on this thread is to show solidarity with people of similar build to me and let them know they are not odd or abnormal in their ‘natural’ heavy BMI. I am satisfied there are people like me who don’t look or feel in any way fat in the overweight BMI range and look beautiful. You might be the size of the house at BMI 32, I am certainly not.

Although de facto I reduced my calorie consumption compared to 3 years ago when I was at my heaviest at nearly size 20 (after finishing breastfeeding my third child), it happened organically, naturally and effortlessly. I didn’t need to drag myself through hell yet again to lose any weight.

I eat a lot less now factually, but I feel full and satiated, and at no point did I have to go hungry. I just use the knowledge of what will benefit my body’s chemistry and what will send it haywire. That’s all. If it helps anybody improve their lives, all the better.

So you are losing weight because you eat less?

RiversDisguise
No I don't clock every meal of the in-laws 😂 but it's a family thing. They're all built similarly and they absolutely don't eat healthily at all. Plus I don't just see a tiny snapshot of what my DH eats, do I? And he can genuinely eat what the hell he likes and it doesn't make a difference in the least. I can't.

What is that, if it's not a difference in metabolism? 🤔 I'm honestly interested... He's not particularly active, has a desk job most days a week and I tend to get a lot more steps than he does because I do school trips, etc... 🤷🏼‍♀️

RiversDisguise

No I don't clock every meal of the in-laws 😂 but it's a family thing. They're all built similarly and they absolutely don't eat healthily at all. Plus I don't just see a tiny snapshot of what my DH eats, do I? And he can genuinely eat what the hell he likes and it doesn't make a difference in the least. I can't.

What is that, if it's not a difference in metabolism? 🤔 I'm honestly interested... He's not particularly active, has a desk job most days a week and I tend to get a lot more steps than he does because I do school trips, etc... 🤷🏼‍♀️