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The evidence says otherwise. “Even if someone loses weight, they will always need fewer calories and need to exercise more,” says Skinner. “So we’re putting peo

The evidence says otherwise. “Even if someone loses weight, they will always need fewer calories and need to exercise more,” says Skinner. “So we’re putting people through something we know will probably not be successful anyway. Who knows what we’re doing to their metabolisms.” Well yes they will need to eat fewer calories to prevent themselves from gaining even more weight. If they're eating too many chocolate bars and soft drinks then yes they may need to eat less of those. For me, I've never understood dieting, I'm not going to be dieting for the rest of my life, so why would I do it now? How about I just be conscious of the foods I'm eating, exercise more and eat less junk and focus on cooking my own meals. A lot of people don't actually realise the caloric density of the foods they're eating. If you have a desk job you need to do some form of consistent exercise. Doesn't have to be lots, doesn't have to be overly intensive. But if you don't and you also eat too many high calorie foods you will gain and continue to gain weight.

dwaite 4y ago
> The evidence says otherwise. “Even if someone loses weight, they will always need fewer calories and need to exercise more,” says Skinner. “So we’re putting people through something we know will probably not be successful anyway. Who knows what we’re doing to their metabolisms.” There has been evidence of previously morbidly obese people having a severe metabolic impact, where they need to consume around 500 kcal less a day than someone with their body composition who had not been morbidly obese. This is observed to be independent of appetite - it is not uncommon for people who have lost large amounts of weight to constantly have to eat smaller portions while closely monitoring their intake (count calories) to keep weight off long-term. The last I read about this (three years ago?), there were investigations into how techniques like intermittent fasting might impact this. This is IMHO a general problem with the weight loss industry and weight loss oversimplicications like 'calories in, calories out' - we aren't simple furnaces, and there are endocrinological factors that are very important that such simplifications have caused us to ignore. The most obvious evidence I can point to here is around bariatric surgery for morbidly obese patients. There are many temporary and permanent solutions (e.g. folds, inserting balloons, etc), but generally only the permanent removal of stomach tissue has been shown to have permanent weight loss impact. This has led to additional study on the impact that the hormone ghrelin, produced by the stomach tissue itself, has on appetite, energy storage, insulin sensitivity, etc.
Llamamoe 4y ago
You don't need to diet precisely because your body and hunger mechanisms are calibrated properly, and yet you somehow twist that around into disparaging people who don't have this luxury. It's trivial to retrospectively say "oh I've never had this problem because X Y Z" and gain leverage over people who do, but it's naive at best and malicious at worst to assume that people struggling with weight aren't aware or trying the very same thing. To me it just reads as more just world fallacy bullshit.
- NoPicklez 4y ago
  I disagree, perhaps I was a little too blunt in my response. But while I am a fairly active person, I still do gain weight if I find myself eating too much junk or if I've been lax on exercising. Especially after starting an office job. The problem I see (from my small world) is that some people when they go into "diet mode" they go to extremes. They start counting calories, eating super healthy food that they wouldn't normally eat and in fact don't really enjoy. They might even start exercising a lot more than normal which makes then even hungrier, especially if they're also trying to cut calories. To me, people shouldn't be dieting, unless they have an intolerance to a particular type of food or have diseases such as Diabetes. Otherwise, the best "diet" is everything in moderation, but the majority of which should be wholefoods. You should be maintaining a slight calorie deficit, of which can be adjusted based on your life circumstances. But cutting gluten, cutting sugar, going keto, going paleo, cutting fat, these type of restricted diets are unsustainable. I agree that losing weight is really hard and keeping it off requires you to maintain a combination of eating a suitable amount of calories, in line with the amount of exercise you do. Even having the odd dessert a few too many times a week can throw off the scales over time. I'm not saying that people aren't trying, but I do think many people try too hard in a way that is unsustainable, where they bite off more than they can chew. Having said all of this, there are absolutely going to be edge cases where people's bodies whether genetically or otherwise make it more challenging for them to lose weight. For that, then only certain interventions will work. Otherwise, most of us aren't an edge case.

dwaite 4y ago

> The evidence says otherwise. “Even if someone loses weight, they will always need fewer calories and need to exercise more,” says Skinner. “So we’re putting people through something we know will probably not be successful anyway. Who knows what we’re doing to their metabolisms.” There has been evidence of previously morbidly obese people having a severe metabolic impact, where they need to consume around 500 kcal less a day than someone with their body composition who had not been morbidly obese. This is observed to be independent of appetite - it is not uncommon for people who have lost large amounts of weight to constantly have to eat smaller portions while closely monitoring their intake (count calories) to keep weight off long-term. The last I read about this (three years ago?), there were investigations into how techniques like intermittent fasting might impact this. This is IMHO a general problem with the weight loss industry and weight loss oversimplicications like 'calories in, calories out' - we aren't simple furnaces, and there are endocrinological factors that are very important that such simplifications have caused us to ignore. The most obvious evidence I can point to here is around bariatric surgery for morbidly obese patients. There are many temporary and permanent solutions (e.g. folds, inserting balloons, etc), but generally only the permanent removal of stomach tissue has been shown to have permanent weight loss impact. This has led to additional study on the impact that the hormone ghrelin, produced by the stomach tissue itself, has on appetite, energy storage, insulin sensitivity, etc.

Llamamoe 4y ago

You don't need to diet precisely because your body and hunger mechanisms are calibrated properly, and yet you somehow twist that around into disparaging people who don't have this luxury. It's trivial to retrospectively say "oh I've never had this problem because X Y Z" and gain leverage over people who do, but it's naive at best and malicious at worst to assume that people struggling with weight aren't aware or trying the very same thing. To me it just reads as more just world fallacy bullshit.

NoPicklez 4y ago
I disagree, perhaps I was a little too blunt in my response. But while I am a fairly active person, I still do gain weight if I find myself eating too much junk or if I've been lax on exercising. Especially after starting an office job. The problem I see (from my small world) is that some people when they go into "diet mode" they go to extremes. They start counting calories, eating super healthy food that they wouldn't normally eat and in fact don't really enjoy. They might even start exercising a lot more than normal which makes then even hungrier, especially if they're also trying to cut calories. To me, people shouldn't be dieting, unless they have an intolerance to a particular type of food or have diseases such as Diabetes. Otherwise, the best "diet" is everything in moderation, but the majority of which should be wholefoods. You should be maintaining a slight calorie deficit, of which can be adjusted based on your life circumstances. But cutting gluten, cutting sugar, going keto, going paleo, cutting fat, these type of restricted diets are unsustainable. I agree that losing weight is really hard and keeping it off requires you to maintain a combination of eating a suitable amount of calories, in line with the amount of exercise you do. Even having the odd dessert a few too many times a week can throw off the scales over time. I'm not saying that people aren't trying, but I do think many people try too hard in a way that is unsustainable, where they bite off more than they can chew. Having said all of this, there are absolutely going to be edge cases where people's bodies whether genetically or otherwise make it more challenging for them to lose weight. For that, then only certain interventions will work. Otherwise, most of us aren't an edge case.