To think this Why We Eat Too Much is a fad?

[Rainingonsaturday]

OK - probably provocative title, and I’m not trying to be goady or anything like that.

However, I’m losing weight. Every time I click on a weight loss thread this book is being pushed at people.

I remember this happening with Paul McKenna and more recently some Facebook weight group, then it was all about fasting. AIBU to think it’s another faddy thing?

Will have a look at the threads but does anyone want to convince me otherwise?

Have you read it?

Come on @PurpleDaisies

I know you are an intelligent woman you can read!

It's not faddy. It's an explanation of metabolism and insulin resistance and why crash diets are counter-productive. The key recommendations are reducing/removing sugar and ultra processed carbs, and not restricting calories too much. And exercising but not to extremes. It's pretty sensible tbh.

I have and actually I was less impressed by the book than by the threads on here.

Firstly, his main expertise is in gastric surgery, which is great but not actually repeatable unless you are going to get operated on.

He's trying to reproduce the effects of gastric surgery via diet, and I am not sure how straightforward that is.

There is some confused advice in there (don't eat wheat/eat pasta salad; the Japanese diet is very healthy but don't eat tofu).

His big idea - don't eat nuts and seeds so that your body doesn't store fat for autumn is not clinically proven, it's a hypothesis.

Plenty of people on threads on here do lose weight with it, it's a good old fashioned healthy eating plan. I don't, because it's not enough of a change for me. I eat very healthily, just too much of it!

Hmm I don’t like the sound of that at all, I must say. Thanks for answers - really informative.

I hate seeing people pushing that book. I put on half a stone in two weeks after reading that bloody book. Took ages to shift it again.

Yabu.

Many doctors are understanding the link with eating real food and being healthy.

Your diet doesn’t just impact your weight. Try reading the book, Dr Chatterjees book and then think about it.

@Rainingonsaturday

Come on *@PurpleDaisies*

I know you are an intelligent woman you can read!

I agree with @PurpleDaisies, your OP is very confused and it’s not clear if you’ve read the book.

It really works for me, I've tried every diet known to man and not been as successful. I actually put weight on whilst doing SW! My DM however didn't get on with WWETM. Horses for courses.

I think posts like yours are totally fair @dontstealmymagnolias, I just do get a bit suspicious when I see things constantly being pushed. I’ve seen it online before with so many things and it gets a bit annoying when if you say it doesn’t work for you or isn’t what you’re looking for you’re told you’re doing it wrong! I have seen three or four posts in just the last day or so pushing it.

It's a really good book.

The reason it's 'pushed' as you call it, is because it's based on sound science and it works. The author is a bariatric surgeon so he understand the issues around weight (gain and loss).

My only criticism of it, really, is that it isn't actually a diet book, so it's very difficult to follow it as a diet - which is probably why it hasn't worked for posters like @AlphabetStew

This is the point though @BIWI - I’ve lost count of the number of times I have seen this over the years.

First it was Paul McKenna and I Can Make You Thin.

Then it was some man and a FB group. Can’t remember what it was called.

Fasting - 2 days a week, I think.

Slimming World had its day in the sun but everyone hates it now!

Every time - if you aren’t losing weight it is because you’re doing it Wrong. But actually some diets just don’t lend themselves easily to some lifestyles and taste buds.

Why don't you read it and see what you think?

I think there will always be "new" ways of losing weight. They will all work if you can and do stick to them forever. They're all the same but different.

I think I’ve got enough of an idea from the posts above, to be honest. I’m fairly sure it wouldn’t suit me, and I must admit I’m not a massive fan of diet books generally.

@wiltonism

I have and actually I was less impressed by the book than by the threads on here.

Firstly, his main expertise is in gastric surgery, which is great but not actually repeatable unless you are going to get operated on.

He's trying to reproduce the effects of gastric surgery via diet, and I am not sure how straightforward that is.

There is some confused advice in there (don't eat wheat/eat pasta salad; the Japanese diet is very healthy but don't eat tofu).

His big idea - don't eat nuts and seeds so that your body doesn't store fat for autumn is not clinically proven, it's a hypothesis.

Plenty of people on threads on here do lose weight with it, it's a good old fashioned healthy eating plan. I don't, because it's not enough of a change for me. I eat very healthily, just too much of it!

Don't eat nuts and seeds so you don't store fat for autumn? Is the book aimed at humans or squirrels?

I’m reading this book at the moment and finding it utterly depressing as it seems to tell me the only way I can lose weight is surgery. I’ve started googling surgery costs.

No matter what I try, I can’t shift the 4 stone I need to lose (well 3.5 stone to be BMI 24 which Id be happy with).

I enjoyed the book as information rather than using it as a diet method so I can't comment on the efficacy of the diet plan suggested.

It does however say in the book that it isn't you that is doing it wrong when a diet fails, it goes into damaged metabolism and evolutionary reasons why it is hard to be successful, particularly if you have dieted many times.

I’ve lost 4 stone - still got 2 to go - and I didn’t have surgery, @LineofFruity

I did meal replacements. They aren’t for everybody, but I do find they work for me.

What is a meal replacement? Shakes? Which ones do you use?

Shakes are available although I don’t find them all that filling so I go for porridge, meals, bars. I did what used to be Cambridge, but there are cheaper ones - exante I think.

I've read the book and post on the threads about it as it has worked for me.

However, I'm very aware that it may not work for everyone - just as SW and WW and 5:2 work for some people but not everyone.

What intrigued me about this way of eating was not having to count and weigh everything I'm eating so it has been much easier and more sustainable for me than any other diet I've done.

Consequently I've lost over 2 stones and am confident I can keep that weight off as I'm not finding the diet restrictive or overly demanding.

Not everyone may agree, but I can only speak from my own experience.

It's a book which is part of an industry which, if the advice given actually worked in a broad sense, would cease to exist.

Barring medical issues, the only way to lose weight is to find a way to eat that means you consume fewer calories than you expend, forever. It means having a detailed picture of your energy expenditure for the day, and an accurate grip on your food consumption. It means doing those two things in such a way that you can do it every day, for as long as you live -- and the diet industry is well aware that most people won't do that with their "plans" so they come back for more.

The more things you need to restrict (don't eat this type of food, don't eat at this time, avoid this or that) the more likely it will fail UNLESS you can keep those things up.

If you read the book and it introduces you to a sustainable way for you to live in a caloric deficit, then terrific.

Reading this thread really hammers home how badly the diet industry has screwed with people’s minds.

Being healthy isn’t about fitting into size 10 jeans. There is more to a calorie than a calorie. You can eat cake all day long within 1200 calories and you’ll feel like shit, your skin will be shit, you’ll sleep like shit etc etc.

Or 1200 calories without even realising that’s all you’ve had in lean proteins, and loads of wholesome fibre in a really balanced diet. Natural weight loss than you don’t even notice, maintenance of your endocrine system and other hormones. I know which i’d rather choose.

The problem is people want to eat shit and lose weight. In which case go back to SW - there’s a reason that business is worth billions and it isn’t because it works. It’s because you fall on and off the wagon 20 times a year for 20 years.

Enjoy!

First ad I seen when I clicked on this thread