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I got bored and couldn't finish the article, but I was leaning towards your opinion. In any event, it only seems to argue against willpower versus addiction. A

by rconti 8y ago

I got bored and couldn't finish the article, but I was leaning towards your opinion. In any event, it only seems to argue against willpower versus addiction. As someone who has spent his life on-and-off exercising, I finally made a more long-lasting change and have lost 50lbs in 18mo and I'm in the best shape of my life. There's no secret, but the more time you spend thinking about it and focusing on it, and putting it in practice, the easier it gets. To me, it's mostly willpower. To the article's credit, however, I've had much better luck exercising regularly and cutting out bad foods than I have at cutting out alcohol :)

deleted 8y ago
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pmarreck 8y ago
I'm 12 down and trying for 50. I'm 46, 6'3", 245. Frankly it is difficult as a mfer. It feels like pure willpower as I'm not naturally athletic. Orangetheory is helping (holy crap, what a workout!), but also LoseIt (the app). Been at it since November and only have 10 lbs to show. But I will keep at it. Interesting thing- what finally hooked me exercise-wise was the mental boost, not the physical benefits (which are also great). And the Orangetheory workout is just great- and cost-effective. I'm going to end up being in the best shape of my life at 47. I wish I had not waited this long.
- nradov 8y ago
  Exercise is great for many reasons, but if you want to lose 50lbs you're going to have to focus on the input side. Eating about 500kcal/day less than maintenance level will get you to your goal in about a year. Most people find that rate sustainable.
  - pmarreck 8y ago
    Yep, that's exactly what the LoseIt app is doing for me. But I have to log every single thing I eat (and my personal rule is "before it enters my mouth"), and that becomes quite onerous after a few months.
    - rconti 8y ago
      I'm not sure if this helps or hurts your motivation, but meal tracking was the one thing I said I'd never do ("I'd rather die than be one of those miserable calorie-counters"), but when I started (I use MyFitnessPal, but all should be the same), it was the best thing I had ever done. Not just for results, but for the positive feedback loop. To see, in realtime, "hey, I'm on track to lose 2lbs this week" and then see it show up on the scale, just made it the one thing I ever did that worked. Without tracking, your inputs and outputs are so disconnected. You might 'eat right and work out' out for a month, and see zero results, and give up. In fact I've done dry january maybe 3 years, and each time I said "well, I guess alcohol's not a problem, because I didn't lose a pound!" It's so easy to tell yourself these obvious lies when you're motivated to hear them, and don't see evidence to the contrary. The other thing is, it made me realize that most of my habits were actually really good, but the few bad ones were far worse than I thought, from a consumption standpoint. I've been tracking meals for the whole 18mo, and I barely even notice it anymore. I stopped entirely when I went on a 3 week vacation to south america, but the nice thing is, it's so easy to pick up where you left off.

by rconti 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

pmarreck 8y ago

I'm 12 down and trying for 50. I'm 46, 6'3", 245. Frankly it is difficult as a mfer. It feels like pure willpower as I'm not naturally athletic. Orangetheory is helping (holy crap, what a workout!), but also LoseIt (the app). Been at it since November and only have 10 lbs to show. But I will keep at it. Interesting thing- what finally hooked me exercise-wise was the mental boost, not the physical benefits (which are also great). And the Orangetheory workout is just great- and cost-effective. I'm going to end up being in the best shape of my life at 47. I wish I had not waited this long.

nradov 8y ago
Exercise is great for many reasons, but if you want to lose 50lbs you're going to have to focus on the input side. Eating about 500kcal/day less than maintenance level will get you to your goal in about a year. Most people find that rate sustainable.
- pmarreck 8y ago
  Yep, that's exactly what the LoseIt app is doing for me. But I have to log every single thing I eat (and my personal rule is "before it enters my mouth"), and that becomes quite onerous after a few months.
  - rconti 8y ago
    I'm not sure if this helps or hurts your motivation, but meal tracking was the one thing I said I'd never do ("I'd rather die than be one of those miserable calorie-counters"), but when I started (I use MyFitnessPal, but all should be the same), it was the best thing I had ever done. Not just for results, but for the positive feedback loop. To see, in realtime, "hey, I'm on track to lose 2lbs this week" and then see it show up on the scale, just made it the one thing I ever did that worked. Without tracking, your inputs and outputs are so disconnected. You might 'eat right and work out' out for a month, and see zero results, and give up. In fact I've done dry january maybe 3 years, and each time I said "well, I guess alcohol's not a problem, because I didn't lose a pound!" It's so easy to tell yourself these obvious lies when you're motivated to hear them, and don't see evidence to the contrary. The other thing is, it made me realize that most of my habits were actually really good, but the few bad ones were far worse than I thought, from a consumption standpoint. I've been tracking meals for the whole 18mo, and I barely even notice it anymore. I stopped entirely when I went on a 3 week vacation to south america, but the nice thing is, it's so easy to pick up where you left off.