4 ms·

Then I think berdon's concerns are misprioritized. It's very rare for the necessary reduction in CI to require medical supervision. The overwhelming majority

Then I think berdon's concerns are misprioritized. It's very rare for the necessary reduction in CI to require medical supervision. The overwhelming majority of obese people in America are eating more than is reasonable to eat, and a reduction in consumption would improve their lives considerably with no real risk of malnutrition occurring. By focusing on obscure edge-cases, all we're really doing is to make it easier for people in the common case to rationalize away their situation. That's very common. There are more voluntary overeaters who claim they have an involuntary obesity-inducing disorder than there are people who actually have such disorders. I've got a whole family full of them. A big bowl of ice cream after every meal is a choice, not a genetic condition.

berdon 7y ago
Partialrecall - my concerns are my own but the point I was attempting to make has nothing to do with what you're talking about. All of which I agree. My point is the body is very complex and any attempt to simplify it is doing a disservice to anyone listening to you. I was overweight for 20 years and lost the weight by calorie reduction. It works - clearly. But in a forum reserved for educational discussion I'm not OK glossing over the complexity of the body because it's true in the general case. That'd be as sinful as saying quantum physics is wrong because newtonian is generally the deciding set of rules.
- AstralStorm 7y ago
  Nobody is glossing over it, it is subject of active research. Until that research produces any generally useful results (drugs, tests, treatments), the advice stays the same. We know exactly one applicable test: thyroid hormone levels. This one is worth checking. Eat less everything but more fresh vegetables, especially greens, exercise more. How much depends on how fat you are - not necessarily just overweight, body composition and fat percentage is more important and still reliably measurable. "Toffee" kind of fat is a thing, where a thin looking and not very heavy person is actually fat inside, just lost muscle so weight stayed similar. On the other hand, nobody wants people with big muscle mass to always cut diet to levels expected of show body builders.

berdon 7y ago

Partialrecall - my concerns are my own but the point I was attempting to make has nothing to do with what you're talking about. All of which I agree. My point is the body is very complex and any attempt to simplify it is doing a disservice to anyone listening to you. I was overweight for 20 years and lost the weight by calorie reduction. It works - clearly. But in a forum reserved for educational discussion I'm not OK glossing over the complexity of the body because it's true in the general case. That'd be as sinful as saying quantum physics is wrong because newtonian is generally the deciding set of rules.

AstralStorm 7y ago
Nobody is glossing over it, it is subject of active research. Until that research produces any generally useful results (drugs, tests, treatments), the advice stays the same. We know exactly one applicable test: thyroid hormone levels. This one is worth checking. Eat less everything but more fresh vegetables, especially greens, exercise more. How much depends on how fat you are - not necessarily just overweight, body composition and fat percentage is more important and still reliably measurable. "Toffee" kind of fat is a thing, where a thin looking and not very heavy person is actually fat inside, just lost muscle so weight stayed similar. On the other hand, nobody wants people with big muscle mass to always cut diet to levels expected of show body builders.