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Over- and underestimating: Overestimating the effects of exercising, while underestimating the amount of kcal people eat and drink, especially alcohol. Also th

Over- and underestimating: Overestimating the effects of exercising, while underestimating the amount of kcal people eat and drink, especially alcohol. Also the amount of muscle people build. Human beings are extremely energy efficient. And excess muscles only drain human bodies from energy. Does not make sense. My pro tip: count your kcal for one month. Everything that goes into your mouth - except water - needs to be tracked and especially weighted. You gonna be surprised. Everything, no exception. I count kcals and exercising for years now. My simple best advise: eating is 80-90% of the deal. Disciplined eating beats sports every time. More sports leads to more energy demand. And many overweight people cannot do sports. I give you another example. If I manage to get a negative kcal of more than 500kcal a day, this is very tough to take. Your body revolts. It takes a lot of discipline to go with -500kcal for a couple of days in a row. Another tip: go plant based. Added sugar etc. does not help.

thefz 4y ago
> I count kcals and exercising for years now. My simple best advise: eating is 80-90% of the deal Exactly this. A climb up the local hill with my MTB taxes me for 1000kcal. Skipping three beers after amounts for the same amount of energy, and is way easier to achieve
bsder 4y ago
> If I manage to get a negative kcal of more than 500kcal a day, this is very tough to take. Your body revolts. It takes a lot of discipline to go with -500kcal for a couple of days in a row. And -500kcal per day is only 1 pound of weight lost per week. Gaining weight is easy. Losing weight is very rough.
- aix1 4y ago
  > Losing weight is very rough. As someone who went from 105kg to 75kg, I wouldn't describe the process as "rough". It took a series of small, sustainable changes to activity levels and diet over an extended period of time. At no point did I feel like I was forcing myself to do stuff I didn't want to or was depriving myself of anything. Couldn't be happier with the results (with how I feel, with the various active pursuits that are now part of my life etc).
- Jensson 4y ago
  > And -500kcal per day is only 1 pound of weight lost per week. So 500kcal per day is only 1 pound gained per week? Sounds like gaining weight is a lot of work! Basically you have to eat 5 large meals for just a single pound? At that rate it will take years of work to go from healthy to obese!
  - domepro 4y ago
    While 500kcal is a good meal (by no means large), it's also less than a 100 gram chocolate bar which I can devour in about 25 seconds. Most of the problem nowadays it that a lot of food is of EXTREME caloric density.
- matwood 4y ago
  > Gaining weight is easy. Losing weight is very rough. For many, this is not true. My normal activity levels and eating tendencies make gaining weight quite hard for me.
lumost 4y ago
Anecdotally, I think this underestimates the impact of physical activity. It's much easier to lose weight when I'm physically active. I suspect that this is part of the bodies conditioning response. Too much fat, particularly fat above the bodies carrying capacity - leads to steep declines in athletic performance. If you suddenly need to shed heat for regular high intensity aerobic work, or pull yourself up a mountain - then its in your bodies best interest to lose the excess weight (up to a point). Our bodies seem to be extremely good at maintaining homeostasis in different conditions, why would body fat percentage be any different?
erfgh 4y ago
I wouldn't say that cutting 500 calories a day is tough. I cut out breakfast recently and I was only really hungry for the first 3-4 days and only for a couple of hours each day. Thereafter I didn't even think of eating in the morning. Lost 3 kilos in about a month. I am going to the gym daily and also go for runs outside.
matwood 4y ago
> count your kcal for one month Bingo. When I was much younger I was super skinny. I was weight lifting, but simply not gaining weight. I thought I ate a lot, and decided to start tracking. I barely ate anything. Even as a kid I hated to stop doing whatever it was I was doing and taking time to eat. That spilled over into adult life. But, once I saw numbers it became clear and I was finally able to adjust. Humans are generally terrible at estimations like this. I suggest tracking anything that you think may be a negative in your life.

thefz 4y ago

> I count kcals and exercising for years now. My simple best advise: eating is 80-90% of the deal Exactly this. A climb up the local hill with my MTB taxes me for 1000kcal. Skipping three beers after amounts for the same amount of energy, and is way easier to achieve

bsder 4y ago

> If I manage to get a negative kcal of more than 500kcal a day, this is very tough to take. Your body revolts. It takes a lot of discipline to go with -500kcal for a couple of days in a row. And -500kcal per day is only 1 pound of weight lost per week. Gaining weight is easy. Losing weight is very rough.

aix1 4y ago
> Losing weight is very rough. As someone who went from 105kg to 75kg, I wouldn't describe the process as "rough". It took a series of small, sustainable changes to activity levels and diet over an extended period of time. At no point did I feel like I was forcing myself to do stuff I didn't want to or was depriving myself of anything. Couldn't be happier with the results (with how I feel, with the various active pursuits that are now part of my life etc).
Jensson 4y ago
> And -500kcal per day is only 1 pound of weight lost per week. So 500kcal per day is only 1 pound gained per week? Sounds like gaining weight is a lot of work! Basically you have to eat 5 large meals for just a single pound? At that rate it will take years of work to go from healthy to obese!
- domepro 4y ago
  While 500kcal is a good meal (by no means large), it's also less than a 100 gram chocolate bar which I can devour in about 25 seconds. Most of the problem nowadays it that a lot of food is of EXTREME caloric density.
matwood 4y ago
> Gaining weight is easy. Losing weight is very rough. For many, this is not true. My normal activity levels and eating tendencies make gaining weight quite hard for me.

lumost 4y ago

Anecdotally, I think this underestimates the impact of physical activity. It's much easier to lose weight when I'm physically active. I suspect that this is part of the bodies conditioning response. Too much fat, particularly fat above the bodies carrying capacity - leads to steep declines in athletic performance. If you suddenly need to shed heat for regular high intensity aerobic work, or pull yourself up a mountain - then its in your bodies best interest to lose the excess weight (up to a point). Our bodies seem to be extremely good at maintaining homeostasis in different conditions, why would body fat percentage be any different?

erfgh 4y ago

I wouldn't say that cutting 500 calories a day is tough. I cut out breakfast recently and I was only really hungry for the first 3-4 days and only for a couple of hours each day. Thereafter I didn't even think of eating in the morning. Lost 3 kilos in about a month. I am going to the gym daily and also go for runs outside.

matwood 4y ago

> count your kcal for one month Bingo. When I was much younger I was super skinny. I was weight lifting, but simply not gaining weight. I thought I ate a lot, and decided to start tracking. I barely ate anything. Even as a kid I hated to stop doing whatever it was I was doing and taking time to eat. That spilled over into adult life. But, once I saw numbers it became clear and I was finally able to adjust. Humans are generally terrible at estimations like this. I suggest tracking anything that you think may be a negative in your life.