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?

@gwenneh

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.

If you read the book, you'll find a very clear explanation as to why calorie restriction doesn't work in the longer term.

@Theythinkitsalloveritisnow I had the same thought re squirrels and laughed when I saw your comment

I haven't read the book but know
People who have, it's not for me. I lost my weight doing very strict low fat/low carb and have been at my target weight for 2 years. I use calorie counting now to maintain. It depends on what works best for you individually, I found the all or nothing approach worked best for me

But we don’t want to read it, Biwi!

Why does it upset you? If you don’t want to read it then don’t, but you started a whole thread about it, which is weird.

Anyway, I had 3 to 3.5 stone to lose in April. I’ve lost 12lb with this without really noticing - slow but steady, I haven’t counted anything, I haven’t stuffed myself with protein shakes, I haven’t walked 15k steps a day, I haven’t stuck to it 100% either. The main things I took from it were to cut out sugar, wheat and processed oils eg vegetable oil, and any other ultra processed food. I’m still eating bacon. I’m most successful with cutting sugar - have it very rarely these days. But I do have occasional takeaways and I’ve still lost weight.

Of course it doesn’t upset me.

It can be a bit annoying when you want to start or read a thread about weight loss and people keep pushing the same thing. It closes down the conversation.

But it’s a mild annoyance, certainly not an ‘upset.’

And believe me, you don’t ‘stuff’ yourself full of protein shakes.

What a strange thread to start then!

People who have read the book/do know what it's about have tried to answer you, in good faith.

No-one is pushing anything - we're just trying to answer your questions.

Oh, and it isn't a diet book. It's about the science and then it develops the principles of a diet.

Currently listening to the audiobook. I've spent years dieting. Lose weight then put it back on and more. Sw, ww, calorie counting, meal replacement, fasting, keto, low carb, bro food. If there's a way out this hell you can bet your booty I'll try it

Agree with BIWI. Strange thread.

It’s not strange at all Biwi. I’ve asked a question and it’s been answered - like literally the whole of the rest of MN.

Start a thread about spray painting a pigeon and it goes in classics, ask whether a diet is faddy and it’s ‘strange’ (I love the pigeon post but you get my meaning …)

I've lost 2 1/2 stone 'inspired' by this book. I don't 100% avoid the foods Jenkinson doesn't recommend, because I don't see it as a proscriptive diet, but I've cut out all ultra-processed food and cut down drastically on processed food (only have cereal and occasionally bread). I cook most of my meals from scratch now. I feel healthier and the weight has come off albeit slowly, although that might be my age. Struggling to lose the last half a stone so may have to do something more drastic but I intend when I get there to maintain by following the Jenkinson principles.

As pps have said, it's a very sustainable way of eating.

I can only say it worked for me. It won't work for everyone - nothing does - but that's no reason to knock it generally. I don't think much of Slimming World, for example, as a way of eating for me - but if it works for others, great!

Totally, it’s all individual, isn’t it?

@Rainingonsaturday

And believe me, you don’t ‘stuff’ yourself full of protein shakes.

That’s because they taste hideous. But I was really meaning when I was on Team RH and you had to hit a protein target which I could only get by eating so much Skyr I felt sick (because I refused to drink protein shakes).

@Rainingonsaturday

It’s not strange at all Biwi. I’ve asked a question and it’s been answered - like literally the whole of the rest of MN.

Start a thread about spray painting a pigeon and it goes in classics, ask whether a diet is faddy and it’s ‘strange’ (I love the pigeon post but you get my meaning …)

There’s a thread about spray painting a pigeon? I need to read that.

@Rainingonsaturday

Of course it doesn’t upset me.

It can be a bit annoying when you want to start or read a thread about weight loss and people keep pushing the same thing. It closes down the conversation.

But it’s a mild annoyance, certainly not an ‘upset.’

These things go in cycles. At one point it was Biwi’s bootcamp, then it was 5:2 and later, Fast 800, that was recommended everywhere. I’ve been here 10 years. Calorie counting is recommended on every single weight loss thread. I personally have tried loads of diets, and I find this one the least effort. Others may differ.

I eat too much because I am a greedy guts and enjoy eating!

It can be a bit annoying when you want to start or read a thread about weight loss and people keep pushing the same thing. It closes down the conversation.

There are umpteen diets, and umpteen MN threads about weight loss, some of which follow particular diets and some of which don't. Most diets will work if people stick to them. The problem is that most people can't stick to them long term. Hence the lucrative merry-go-round of the diet industry.

You have to find what works for you. Maybe something will, maybe it won't. But why you're particularly picking on a book that seems scientifically pretty reliable, when there are loads of other less convincing-sounding diets out there, who knows!

@Mybalconyiscracking

I eat too much because I am a greedy guts and enjoy eating!

Jenkinson might suit you (that is, if you are looking to lose weight) because there's no weighing or counting - it's all about what you eat, not how much.

It's not a million miles away from low-carbing - it's naturally quite low in carbs but you can eat carby fruit and veg as much as you want - which is great for me as I'm an apple fiend.

That’s exactly my point @TooExtraImmatureCheddar - I say something similar in my OP.

The spray painted pigeon is a really good thread!

@lazylinguist to give an example, a few months ago I hit maintenance mode and it just was not shifting. I posted a thread about it. I got a lot of replies urging me over but I was doing a totally different diet and my thread got buried a bit in people being a bit evangelical about it.

I get you can’t always predict how threads will go. But it is a bit annoying when you need support!

I got a lot of replies urging me over but I was doing a totally different diet and my thread got buried a bit in people being a bit evangelical about it.

I can see why that would be annoying.

I haven't read the book. I did 5:2 and lost 25kg on it. Will go back to it post-partum. It's sort of irrelevant to me that it's a fad - as in, that it got popular and was suddenly everywhere - because it's something that suits my particular way of eating and thinking. I'd wager that it's the same with all diets/books about dieting/trends - some things will work for some people.

Why, if it works, has he made an extremely good living from permanently mutilating people's digestive systems? Is he also campaigning for bariatric surgery to be banned because it's no longer necessary now he's 'found' the answer in telling humans they aren't squirrels? Or is this just another multimillion pound moneyspinner punted out in the knowledge that when it goes out of fashion, he'll still have the reliable income of surgery?

@TooExtraImmatureCheddar

These things go in cycles. At one point it was Biwi’s bootcamp, then it was 5:2 and later, Fast 800, that was recommended everywhere. I’ve been here 10 years. Calorie counting is recommended on every single weight loss thread. I personally have tried loads of diets, and I find this one the least effort. Others may differ.

Firstly, the Low Carb Bootcamps are still going here - I started them in 2012, so it's not 9 years on. Hardly a fad!

And second, calorie counting is definitely not recommended on Bootcamp.

I really resent the insinuation that low carbing/the Bootcamp is a fad. It's based on solid science.

It's now, not not 9 years!