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I reversed diabetes with diet alone by doing my own research[1], taking charge of my health. I lost 180lbs in the process. No exercise (disabled). Very much

I reversed diabetes with diet alone by doing my own research[1], taking charge of my health. I lost 180lbs in the process. No exercise (disabled). Very much a work in progress. I'm not rejecting the importance of exercise for health - I follow the general principal of eating to get healthy, exercising to get fit - but I think we skip over the absolute tragedy that is the Standard American Diet at our peril. Recovering from the consuequences of three/four generations of preaching the lipid hypothesis[2], as fast as we damn well can, is the ultimate way to defy depression, disease and early death. [1] http://www.thefatemperor.com/blog/2015/9/5/fat-emperor-productions-present-the-kraft-interview-decoding-diabetes http://www.thefatemperor.com/blog/2015/9/5/fat-emperor-produ... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipid_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipid_hypothesis

throwaway0255 9y ago
I'm on the same track as you, I've lost about 80lbs so far and I've done zero exercise. I've found that when I tell people this, they worry about my health even more than they did when I was 80lbs heavier. It's bizarre. Never mind the fact that my blood pressure is now a pristine 110 over 70, all my pre-diabetic symptoms have disappeared, my sleep apnea is cured, my gastroesophageal reflux disease is completely gone, my cholesterol and triglycerides are back to normal, etc. The fact is exercise has an almost negligible impact on weight loss. Let's be very generous and say an hour of typical exercise burns 350 calories. If you're overweight, compare that to the 120 calories you burn per hour spent sitting in your chair. That's an extra 230 calories you burned by exercising for an hour. That 230 calorie expenditure costs you: * 1.5 to 2 hours of disruption to your daily life * An hour spent being extremely bored and uncomfortable * An ever-growing amount of generalized aches and joint pains as you put together consecutive days of doing this And at 230 calories per hour, doing an hour of exercise every single day nets you 1610 calories per week, which is less than 1 pound of fat loss every 2 weeks. You turn your whole life upside-down, make yourself miserable and in pain every single day, take significant time away from work and studying and family, and all you get is LESS THAN 1 additional pound lost every 2 weeks. I honestly think the net impact of promoting exercise as a weight loss option is people getting and staying fatter. People have a tendency to dramatically overestimate the calories they're burning, people want to use exercise as a way to avoid having to eat less, and people use exercise as an excuse to eat more. It also causes an amount of disruption and discomfort in people's lives that's probably the number one cause of people giving up on their weight loss goals. As far as health impacts, I'm still not convinced on the cause-and-effect here. I want to start doing some physical activities soon, but that's not going to cause me to be less depressed, that's a result of me being less depressed because of all the weight I've been losing. All the studies I've seen on exercise and health draw the same sort of "playing basketball makes you taller"-conclusion.
- jasonwelk 9y ago
  > An hour spent being extremely bored and uncomfortable In the beginning, this is often true. But exercise is addictive! When your body gets used to it, you really want it and it is not uncomfortable. That "runners high" is also not a myth.
  - randallsquared 9y ago
    I'm willing to grant that this must be true for some people. However, I don't think it's true for everyone, or maybe even most people. In the early 90s I was in the US Army for a couple years, and exercise never got better: it was always a struggle: boring, painful, and stressful. I suppose one good thing about it was that it was very rare that anything worse happened to me later in the day... :) Looking around at the PT groups I was in during that time, I do not think most of them were looking forward to it.
    - jasonwelk 9y ago
      Just guessing, but maybe a difference between recreational exercise by choice vs duty or imposed regimen. Or perhaps just having choice over the kind of exercise makes a difference.
    - WalterBright 9y ago
      I've never been able to reach a point where weight training is anything but boring and painful. The trouble is it requires mental focus, and I cannot think about other things while lifting. I try to mitigate the boredom by watching a movie while doing it.
      - pnutjam 9y ago
        I listen to headphones, music, podcasts, ebooks. I find it a very stimulating time and I feel better about it at a gym, even though I don't socialize much. Just seeing the same people every day makes me feel like a community member and helps me stay motivated and connected.
    - 9y ago
dennis_jeeves 9y ago
Exercise is probably over rated is my opinion. Moderate activity like not being a couch potato, and walking around is probably good enough for most people rather than vigorous exercise. Also correlation is confused with causation. The person who is is not active is not necessarily lazy. It the the probably obesity and ill health that makes him/her inactive. Personally I'm on a ketogenic ( about 60 %to 90% calories from saturated fat) nearly all carnivorous diet for the last 4 years. Vegetables, fruit and greens aren't necessarily your best foods. I regret all the earlier years spend eating main stream definition of a 'healthy diet' ( low saturated fat, little or no meat, lots of greens, whole grains and other nonsense.) Takeaway - you can fool most people most of the times, including the mainstream 'scientific' community.
- jdc 9y ago
  Would you say it's just a matter of calories in minus calories out?
  - reese_john 9y ago
    Being on a caloric deficit is a sufficient condition for weight loss[0]. The composition of your diet will determine what ratio of it is actually fat/lean body mass, ie diets higher in protein will usually yield higher fat loss and keep more LBM. Exercise/resistance training is also a factor. [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1734671 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1734671
  - dennis_jeeves 9y ago
    >Would you say it's just a matter of calories in minus calories out? Strictly speaking , yes, Otherwise, no it is not. If one were to really calculate calories in/out that would be really complicated: you have to consider many factors for example energy required to digest food, energy extracted from the food, energy lost as body heat etc. as far as I vaguely recollect, even something like body heat burns more calories that vigorous exercise. In general the calorie obsession is nonsense. Just because some scientific sounding jargon is thrown in does not make it well thought off. On a 'good' diet most people will never have to count the calories. Again the takeaway should be that you can fool most people, most of the time. Treat any subject that has popular endorsement with skepticism.
uoaei 9y ago
The typical refrain that I hear for weight loss/getting back to a healthy balance is "80% diet, 20% exercise" and that the exercise is more to raise your basal metabolic rate up a little so maintenance requires more calories, and thus eating at a deficit has a greater effect. I think the same thing is achieved with even mild physical activity and a solid, well-rounded diet.
lisper 9y ago
So what exactly are you eating now vs before?
- jcousins 9y ago
  I was eating a typical western high carbohydrate, moderate protein, low fat diet with a modest caloric deficit. Lots of starchy veg, breads, rice and pasta. I migrated gradually (six months) to a very low carb diet including abstinence from all forms of artificial sweetener. 9g/122g/100g carbs/fat/protein. On the plate that's lots of saturated fat, moderate protein from meat and dairy (largely unprocessed) and huge volumes of green vegetables (but they are simply a vehicle for fat and micronutrients.) I will experiment with abstinence from dairy in the future. I keep my eating to a six hour window, two meals. The artificial sweetener ban is due to the insulin response they can provoke, which goes directly against my goal - to significantly improve my insulin sensitivity. I hope that is specific enough!
  - bakoo 9y ago
    > The artificial sweetener ban is due to the insulin response they can provoke I also eat during a 6 hour window and try to keep the carbs at a minimum, and the 18 hour fasting period works wonders for my insulin levels. Ingesting zero calorie artificial sweeteners during the fasting window have no measurable impact on my insulin.
  - lisper 9y ago
    Yes, thank you!
  - sn9 9y ago
    Protein also promotes an insulin response.
tomcam 9y ago
Amazing! Congratulations! You seriously rock.
alecco 9y ago
A close relative does this diet. He gets eggs and bacon for breakfast. And is quite close to ideal weight in spite of occasional slips. A couple of minor inconveniences: First his stool is hard. Second, he just had triple by-pass surgery as his cholesterol is sky high. The Atkins/South Beach/Keto madness has to be stopped.
sigi45 9y ago
So i don't get your comment. First of, the article doesn't say much or anything about weight and health. Second, there is a simple and easy to understand solution to your overweight problem: If you take in only the amount of calories, you use, you can't get fat. I'm not even sure what your overweight/previous overweight (i assume it because you are able to loss 180lbs) has to do with lipid hypothesis. There is not even an german article available for lipid hypothesis. What is a doctor telling you when he/she beliefs in this hypothesis?

throwaway0255 9y ago

I'm on the same track as you, I've lost about 80lbs so far and I've done zero exercise. I've found that when I tell people this, they worry about my health even more than they did when I was 80lbs heavier. It's bizarre. Never mind the fact that my blood pressure is now a pristine 110 over 70, all my pre-diabetic symptoms have disappeared, my sleep apnea is cured, my gastroesophageal reflux disease is completely gone, my cholesterol and triglycerides are back to normal, etc. The fact is exercise has an almost negligible impact on weight loss. Let's be very generous and say an hour of typical exercise burns 350 calories. If you're overweight, compare that to the 120 calories you burn per hour spent sitting in your chair. That's an extra 230 calories you burned by exercising for an hour. That 230 calorie expenditure costs you: * 1.5 to 2 hours of disruption to your daily life * An hour spent being extremely bored and uncomfortable * An ever-growing amount of generalized aches and joint pains as you put together consecutive days of doing this And at 230 calories per hour, doing an hour of exercise every single day nets you 1610 calories per week, which is less than 1 pound of fat loss every 2 weeks. You turn your whole life upside-down, make yourself miserable and in pain every single day, take significant time away from work and studying and family, and all you get is LESS THAN 1 additional pound lost every 2 weeks. I honestly think the net impact of promoting exercise as a weight loss option is people getting and staying fatter. People have a tendency to dramatically overestimate the calories they're burning, people want to use exercise as a way to avoid having to eat less, and people use exercise as an excuse to eat more. It also causes an amount of disruption and discomfort in people's lives that's probably the number one cause of people giving up on their weight loss goals. As far as health impacts, I'm still not convinced on the cause-and-effect here. I want to start doing some physical activities soon, but that's not going to cause me to be less depressed, that's a result of me being less depressed because of all the weight I've been losing. All the studies I've seen on exercise and health draw the same sort of "playing basketball makes you taller"-conclusion.

jasonwelk 9y ago
> An hour spent being extremely bored and uncomfortable In the beginning, this is often true. But exercise is addictive! When your body gets used to it, you really want it and it is not uncomfortable. That "runners high" is also not a myth.
- randallsquared 9y ago
  I'm willing to grant that this must be true for some people. However, I don't think it's true for everyone, or maybe even most people. In the early 90s I was in the US Army for a couple years, and exercise never got better: it was always a struggle: boring, painful, and stressful. I suppose one good thing about it was that it was very rare that anything worse happened to me later in the day... :) Looking around at the PT groups I was in during that time, I do not think most of them were looking forward to it.
  - jasonwelk 9y ago
    Just guessing, but maybe a difference between recreational exercise by choice vs duty or imposed regimen. Or perhaps just having choice over the kind of exercise makes a difference.
  - WalterBright 9y ago
    I've never been able to reach a point where weight training is anything but boring and painful. The trouble is it requires mental focus, and I cannot think about other things while lifting. I try to mitigate the boredom by watching a movie while doing it.
    - pnutjam 9y ago
      I listen to headphones, music, podcasts, ebooks. I find it a very stimulating time and I feel better about it at a gym, even though I don't socialize much. Just seeing the same people every day makes me feel like a community member and helps me stay motivated and connected.
  - 9y ago

dennis_jeeves 9y ago

Exercise is probably over rated is my opinion. Moderate activity like not being a couch potato, and walking around is probably good enough for most people rather than vigorous exercise. Also correlation is confused with causation. The person who is is not active is not necessarily lazy. It the the probably obesity and ill health that makes him/her inactive. Personally I'm on a ketogenic ( about 60 %to 90% calories from saturated fat) nearly all carnivorous diet for the last 4 years. Vegetables, fruit and greens aren't necessarily your best foods. I regret all the earlier years spend eating main stream definition of a 'healthy diet' ( low saturated fat, little or no meat, lots of greens, whole grains and other nonsense.) Takeaway - you can fool most people most of the times, including the mainstream 'scientific' community.

jdc 9y ago
Would you say it's just a matter of calories in minus calories out?
- reese_john 9y ago
  Being on a caloric deficit is a sufficient condition for weight loss[0]. The composition of your diet will determine what ratio of it is actually fat/lean body mass, ie diets higher in protein will usually yield higher fat loss and keep more LBM. Exercise/resistance training is also a factor. [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1734671 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1734671
- dennis_jeeves 9y ago
  >Would you say it's just a matter of calories in minus calories out? Strictly speaking , yes, Otherwise, no it is not. If one were to really calculate calories in/out that would be really complicated: you have to consider many factors for example energy required to digest food, energy extracted from the food, energy lost as body heat etc. as far as I vaguely recollect, even something like body heat burns more calories that vigorous exercise. In general the calorie obsession is nonsense. Just because some scientific sounding jargon is thrown in does not make it well thought off. On a 'good' diet most people will never have to count the calories. Again the takeaway should be that you can fool most people, most of the time. Treat any subject that has popular endorsement with skepticism.

uoaei 9y ago

The typical refrain that I hear for weight loss/getting back to a healthy balance is "80% diet, 20% exercise" and that the exercise is more to raise your basal metabolic rate up a little so maintenance requires more calories, and thus eating at a deficit has a greater effect. I think the same thing is achieved with even mild physical activity and a solid, well-rounded diet.

lisper 9y ago

So what exactly are you eating now vs before?

jcousins 9y ago
I was eating a typical western high carbohydrate, moderate protein, low fat diet with a modest caloric deficit. Lots of starchy veg, breads, rice and pasta. I migrated gradually (six months) to a very low carb diet including abstinence from all forms of artificial sweetener. 9g/122g/100g carbs/fat/protein. On the plate that's lots of saturated fat, moderate protein from meat and dairy (largely unprocessed) and huge volumes of green vegetables (but they are simply a vehicle for fat and micronutrients.) I will experiment with abstinence from dairy in the future. I keep my eating to a six hour window, two meals. The artificial sweetener ban is due to the insulin response they can provoke, which goes directly against my goal - to significantly improve my insulin sensitivity. I hope that is specific enough!
- bakoo 9y ago
  > The artificial sweetener ban is due to the insulin response they can provoke I also eat during a 6 hour window and try to keep the carbs at a minimum, and the 18 hour fasting period works wonders for my insulin levels. Ingesting zero calorie artificial sweeteners during the fasting window have no measurable impact on my insulin.
- lisper 9y ago
  Yes, thank you!
- sn9 9y ago
  Protein also promotes an insulin response.

tomcam 9y ago

Amazing! Congratulations! You seriously rock.

alecco 9y ago

A close relative does this diet. He gets eggs and bacon for breakfast. And is quite close to ideal weight in spite of occasional slips. A couple of minor inconveniences: First his stool is hard. Second, he just had triple by-pass surgery as his cholesterol is sky high. The Atkins/South Beach/Keto madness has to be stopped.

sigi45 9y ago

So i don't get your comment. First of, the article doesn't say much or anything about weight and health. Second, there is a simple and easy to understand solution to your overweight problem: If you take in only the amount of calories, you use, you can't get fat. I'm not even sure what your overweight/previous overweight (i assume it because you are able to loss 180lbs) has to do with lipid hypothesis. There is not even an german article available for lipid hypothesis. What is a doctor telling you when he/she beliefs in this hypothesis?