To think that people who say diets don’t work aren’t really trying

[amijumping]

I’ve lost a stone since having A baby got another stone to loose. It’s Been fucking hard I felt hungry for my usual snacks and rubbish for ages and still do but I’ve had to really get the willpower out to actually loose some weight. At first I tried to just easy a hit healthier but soon realised it wasn’t working as I wasn’t actually reducing my calories. Science states time and a time again it’s calories in vs calories out I’ve managed too lose weight slowly and sensibly by tracking everything that passes my mouth it’s hard it’s boring sometimes not fun but it’s the only way it’s worked. Otherwise I’ll think I’m being healthy and low calorie but things seriously add up that extra bit of mayonnaise extra slice of toast eyeballing butter in mash for example all adds up. Surely if people have been actively eating less calories than they need they would loose weight

@PuppiesProzacProsecco how is the OP’s post idiotic when she’s saying that you lose weight by reducing calories and you’ve proved that to be true by presumably doing this yourself multiple times.?

The rest is motivation, discipline etc and yes this causes people to yo-yo but it doesn’t detract from the calories in/out being correct. The weight loss jabs prove this - when calories are reduced, people lose weight. That’s literally what the OP said.

"Science states..."

No. No it doesn't. You are mistaking science for the popular opinions of people who know jackshit because they were never taught to use common sense.

Weight loss is not as simple as calories in vs calories out, because that's not how the human body works. It's not a combustion engine. Try reading some actual science to discover why weight loss is far more complex than that (and while you're at it, have a go at figuring out what calories are and what they aren't. Hint: look at who defined a calorie and how they did it, then ask yourself: is this how digestion works? If you conclude no, you can carry on to draw logical conclusions about how relevant calories are when talkinhg about weight loss.)

Well yes, but i dont eat an entire pizza or an entire meal. With pizza i usually stick to max half a pizza.
But yes of course its still very high calories. Im just saying i know people who eat like this every evening and then wonder..
I have a work collegue who complains about her weight all the time. We often eat out together or eat our food brought from home.
I just dont get how she can sit there finishing an entire pizza while I nibble on my salad and then a couple days later she tells me she wishes she could be slim and eat whatever she wants, just like me.. ive told her many times if i ate everything i wanted, i would probably not be this slim. But she doesnt want to hear that, to her im just lucky.

I could keep weight off when I had a decently job and long hours and children.

drugs that cause weight gain especially the steroids are a whole other ball game.

I hope you never end up like me with disabilities I wouldn’t wish it on anyone but I’d hope that before I became so disabled and unwell I wasn’t smug and patronising. But maybe I was.

There have been huge advances in our understanding of metabolism in the last decade. Look up current science, not some of the shite being spouted on here. Fat Science podcast has an excellent episode about why it’s not calories in/calories out in the way we’ve been told for decades.

@LoveMySushi , I eat what I like, and fortunately pizza and chinese isn't what I like, but the 'it's not fair, you can eat what you like' brigade don't eat the same as you and I do.
With takeaways, I usually have leftovers the next day.

Must tell perimenopause this information

She seems to think otherwise

@Namechanged4obviousreasons but it's not that simple. As countless other posters have pointed out. The original post is idiotic because its a huge oversimplification (and a patronizing one at that) of a much, much more complex issue.

Blood sugar management in people without diabetes could be handled by not eating so much sugar.

It is true that people say they cant lose weight and it's nothing to do with what they eat until they're on appetite suppressing drugs and they lose significant amounts of weight because they dont eat so much. How strange.

People massively underestimate what they're actually eating.

Theres a lot of talk about obsessive behaviours on this thread but there's a world of difference between obsessive behaviours and accountability for what you choose to consume.
I strictly do not count anything under 10 calories
I've made sensible swaps (eg ice lattes rather than ice capps/frapuccinos, 1 cal spray over oil).
It's not a choice between obsession vs being overweight.
It's being brave enough and loving yourself enough to make changes if that's what you want.
Yes its hard, yes there are days I can't be bothered but I do it. I've focused on what I can do rather than what I can't which is important because I have Dyspraxia which is a life long condition and does mean there are things I absolutely can't do. But wasting time focusing on what I can't do doesn't serve me.

A specific low calorie diet will help someone lose weight

However, making changes to someone's food intake and lifestyle in order to lose weight takes time and conscious effort

"Science says... " lol. Science does not say anything. What you mean is some people claim this. And guess what? Others have debunked it!

Of course OP was being goady. However I also don’t think that weight loss is impossible without the jabs. I know a good amount of people who were slim and/or lost weight long term years ago.

Is it so hard to accept that some want to be slim but not enough to want to stop eating whatever their treat of choice is. They could do it, but on balance prefer to stay fat and enjoy the treats.
Let’s say you want an ice cream, some will choose one scoop of sorbet in a pot, others will prefer several scoops of ice cream in a cone with toppings. This is not about the food noise, it is a clear choice.

Then of course, a small number of people will stay overweight /‘gain weight even on a healthy diet due to medical reasons. Of course it is not a matter of willpower for them.

I'm a post menopausal, mother of 2 and a happy size 10.

I have to watch what I eat as I did creep up to a size 14 after the menopause but I hated how I looked and that was enough to make me lose the extra.

I just prefer to be slim and if that means I have to keep an eye on what I consume then that's a trade off that is worth it to me.

No you're right OP.

Most of the blow back you're getting posters aren't really denying the truth. Saying 'trauma, stress, etc' doesn't make it not the truth. Those are just reasons people are struggling with having the willpower to consume less.

I'm currently pregnant and losing weight because of the amount I'm vomiting. It's not a great place to be in obviously and they're trying to sort me out, but luckily I was at the upper end of my BMI before I got pregnant so I've got a bit of leeway. But the equation is simple - I'm expending a lot more than I'm taking in, so losing weight.

I wouldn't like to say, as I only inhabit my body, not theirs, so have no idea whether diets work for them. For me, CICO works. I'm exactly the weight I'd expect to be based on the calories I consume and the excercise I do. Any variation causes weight gain/loss. However, I do respect other people enough that if they tell me something different about their body, I take them at face value. Tbh it's nothing to do with me anyway, so why would I want to make them out to be lying or making excuses? As long as people return the favour and don't try tell me I'm lucky with good genes or whatever, then all good.

Look at the starving people around the world and show me the ones whose genetics mean they remain fat despite not eating (you wouldn’t be able to because that doesn’t happen).

They are the people who are still alive, whereas those without 'fat genes' are dead - because if you have 'fat genes' you can stay alive on 300 calories a day or whatever pittance is available - you will be very thin, but still alive. If you had a fast metabolism, you'd be dead.

Historical famine situations are responsible for many of us having 'fat genes' because our ancestors survived to reproduce where others didn't.

@FurForksSake , People repeat that diets don’t work and that 95% of people regain the weight. What on earth are you then supposed to do? Just accept obesity and give up?

No, you lose the excess weight using a calorie-reduced diet AND change your mindset and eating habits.

But people say this as though calling it 'changing your mindset and eating habits' isn't what a diet is. Saying 'I'm going to change my mindset about food' doesn't actually make it happen. It's like when everyone decided to start calling a diet a 'Way Of Eating' because 'diet' sounded old-fashioned, not fun and not aspirational enough. It's the same thing. Saying it's a long-term change doesn't actually make it into a long-term change. Genuinely changing your mindset about something as deep-rooted as how you eat is very, very difficult. That's why almost everyone falls off the wagon!

As for 'Well, what do you do, just give up?'. Well... lots of us would probably be slimmer if we hadn't bothered dieting years ago and see-sawed through our lives, wrecking our metabolisms!

Yep, I read a fascinating article about some islanders in various parts of the world who almost all have really serious weight problems. The theory is that they are all descended from the people who had the fat stores to survive the long ocean journeys to colonise the islands. Same with some other places whiuch historically had frequent, serious famines.

You're right, we are just lazy bastards!

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4560968/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3961565/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK555906/

Why wasnt this a problem 50 years ago?

People didnt need weight loss injections to control themselves then. Its just excuses and more excuses.

I say this as someone who is overweight myself.

I would have been dead 50 years ago. I wouldn’t have been a fat bastard problem.

In that case please speak for yourself.

@ILoveWhales 50 years ago was 1975. Lifestyles and eating habits have changed.
Children are fed sugary food and drink and UPF from an early age, they wouldn't have been decades ago. The effects of UPF on children is quite scary.

50 years ago people smoked which in itself is an appetite suppressant and my mother talks of diet biscuits and all sorts of things that people did to control appetites.
also there was far less easy access to calorific foods and people led different lives. But there were still people that were overweight and obese, less but still.

weight gain and the obesity crisis is so multi faceted and complex it’s very hard to point out specific reasons.