6 ms·

> The thing is, I'm never full. I can eat until I physically can't eat anymore (not something I do regularly, of course), and as soon as my stomach has emptied

> The thing is, I'm never full. I can eat until I physically can't eat anymore (not something I do regularly, of course), and as soon as my stomach has emptied a bit, I feel fairly hungry again. "Eat until you feel full" is literally a human experience I had never really had. I feel exactly the way you do, and yes, I was fat, lost it in one go and never gained it back. I try to keep my BMI around 18, never went over 20 since losing weight. It's been around 15 years now. I still have the exact same unlimited appetite I have always had. If you put food I like in front of me, I'm going to eat it. I don't do anything special. I eat the same foods I always have, just less of them. Got really good at counting and never get more food than I need. The trick is to not put yourself in a situation where you have to stop eating in the first place. It's hard to just stop eating something you want to eat. Not that hard to stop yourself from going to the store again or ordering more (especially when other people are around). I feel like most people never get serious enough about counting, try to eat stuff they don't enjoy, waste effort on exercise or let other people interfere.

fortran77 4y ago
[flagged]
- SamPatt 4y ago
  Counting calories correctly is really hard. I've lost 90 lbs, achieved a healthy body weight, and kept it off for years, but I keep trying to lose just 10 more pounds. I only make progress when I'm religious about calorie counting, including weighing every meal or needing to do precise food prep beforehand. That's such a pain in the ass that I inevitably fail and keep returning to my body's new average weight. I think you're right about truly obese people. They're eating so many calories that they would lose weight if they could manage a better diet. For people who aren't obese, the same principle may apply, but it's now a matter of much tighter margins and much greater precision, and it's remarkably difficult. Natural bodybuilders seem to manage their weight with precision, so it's not impossible with knowledge and effort. But I suspect very few people are capable of managing that if they tend towards obesity to begin with.
  - naasking 4y ago
    Strange, I've found doing meal prep one day a week that you partition into fixed quantities for each day to be way easier than making a meal every day. I'm surprised you found it such a pain in the ass. It's a pain to setup and do the calculations that first time, but once you do it's fairly easy to maintain the routine.
    - SamPatt 4y ago
      I have a family. I could do meal prep for only me and eat separately, but I value eating the same meal with everyone. And I'm not doing meal prep for our entire family. I do this sometimes for lunches, which we eat separately anyway. But that's only 1/3 of my meals.
      - leokennis 4y ago
        This indeed makes it harder. If I wok some dish for 4 people and use 1 tbsp of olive oil, did I consume 1/4th tbsp? What if 2 of those 4 were kids, so I ate slightly more than 1/4th?
        frameset 4y ago
        Over time it will even out. Also if you weight out the whole dish it's easier. I'm assuming we're talking about e.g. rice dishes or stews, curries, etc. "one pot" dishes. Otherwise if it's like steak and vegetables, you can weigh each steak and the vegetables, do them in different racks of a steamer etc.
      - naasking 4y ago
        Sure, there are other ways. For instance using different dishes than the rest of your family to limit portion size. You can share most of a meal, but have a specific side for yourself, etc.
    - bearmode 4y ago
      >Strange, I've found doing meal prep one day a week that you partition into fixed quantities for each day to be way easier than making a meal every day I can't stand eating the same thing multiple days a week. Are you preparing multiple different meals for each day, one day a week? Not to mention that it's never going to be as nice as a freshly-cooked meal anyway.
- kergonath 4y ago
  > But it's always true that if you manage to eat fewer calories than your body needs each day you will lose weight. No, not necessarily. Several studies have shown that different people can get different amounts of energy out of the same food, depending amongst others on their gut micro biome, though stress also seems to play a role. It’s never going to be that simple. > the laws of thermodynamics won't fail Conventional thermodynamics don’t work when you consider a full human, which is a very out-of-equilibrium and not-isolated system. Conservation of energy does not tell you anything about the efficiency of the energy extraction process.
  - phpisthebest 4y ago
    >>Several studies have shown that different people can get different amounts of energy out of the same food, depending amongst others on their gut micro biome, though stress also seems to play a role. It’s never going to be that simple. Nope still that simple. Your claim just means those people need less calories in to be in a state of calorie deficiency
  - svalorzen 4y ago
    > No, not necessarily. Several studies have shown that different people can get different amounts of energy out of the same food, depending amongst others on their gut micro biome, though stress also seems to play a role. It’s never going to be that simple. Sure, so they just need to compute their at-rest calorie consumption differently, and from there the rest is the same. > Conventional thermodynamics don’t work when you consider a full human, which is a very out-of-equilibrium and not-isolated system. Conservation of energy does not tell you anything about the efficiency of the energy extraction process. This is like saying that even if you don't refuel your car it will never stop, because different cars have different mpg ratings. A human is indeed a closed system when you consider the works it outputs and the calories it ingests, unless I somehow missed a newfound capacity for photosynthesis. The fact that it might be a bit harder to compute calorie requirements than what might be naively done does not allow you to just dismiss everything else.
    - kergonath 4y ago
throwawayfatty 4y ago
> Not that hard to stop yourself from going to the store again or ordering more Well, actually... I'm fat. Like BMI 40 fat. Most of my life I have been fat. I was laughed at in school for it, as far back as I can remember. It probably wasn't all that bad when I think back. Certainly not as bad as now. But I was the fat kid in class, and I felt like the fat kid. Anyway, I have lost a lot of it at a few points. Once by going to a place with more disease than I could handle. Months of intermittent diarrhea helps apparently. And once I reduced intake to about 1200 kcal per day for a year, combined with walking around for 5 hours everyday. I got to BMI 26 or something. Not very obese, but still overweight. It felt amazing to be able to do a lot of things, but it also took a LOT of time and effort. But then I got a job, and kids. And I started to backslide. Just an hour per day walking during my commute, instead of 5 during the day... And oh, that pastry looks gooood. Slowly at first, with intermittent periods of faster backsliding because life required a bit more from me. I got it back faster than I lost it. I have re-lost it a few times after that. Each time the losses are a bit less, and the peaks get a bit higher. I always gain it back faster than I lose it. And annoyingly, initially, gaining it back feels way better than losing ever does. Like finally laying down after a day of strenuous work. Or like the first breaths of fresh air after being cooked up in stale air for a while. During my losing periods the things you describe help. Keep the food away, and you don't have to expend effort to not eat it. I even enjoy the healthy stuff. But that's not how it is during my gaining periods, oh no. I get bored with the good food, and start craving the bad. I go to the shops to buy stuff. A small packet of candy at first, or a pastry. But that spirals out of control quickly. Soon I start scheming: * How can I get the food without my family noticing? * If I go to multiple shops I can buy twice as much without looking like a greedy fuck. * Oh, and I won't be able to go tomorrow, so I should make sure I have supplies for the day. * And eating only candy makes me sick, so I should also buy crisps so I can alternate and keep eating. I'm in gaining mode now. I ate a box of Pringles, a box of cookies, and a box of candy, just today. In addition to the regular meals with my family. I'm here. I see myself doing this, but I can't seem to stop. Until it runs its course. After a few months or a year or two, I can usually cycle back into a losing mode for a few months. A doctor might help, but I'm not going. The medical state of the art of dealing with obesity seems to be "just don't". A consult seems pointless and humiliating. I've learned to take and make fat jokes, and other than that to not think too much about this. My BMI will probably keep oscillating higher and higher, and I guess that means I'll get some obesity disease at some point. Maybe that'll stop it, but I'm not confident it will. I guess we all have our issues, and this seems to be mine. C'est la vie.

fortran77 4y ago

[flagged]

SamPatt 4y ago
Counting calories correctly is really hard. I've lost 90 lbs, achieved a healthy body weight, and kept it off for years, but I keep trying to lose just 10 more pounds. I only make progress when I'm religious about calorie counting, including weighing every meal or needing to do precise food prep beforehand. That's such a pain in the ass that I inevitably fail and keep returning to my body's new average weight. I think you're right about truly obese people. They're eating so many calories that they would lose weight if they could manage a better diet. For people who aren't obese, the same principle may apply, but it's now a matter of much tighter margins and much greater precision, and it's remarkably difficult. Natural bodybuilders seem to manage their weight with precision, so it's not impossible with knowledge and effort. But I suspect very few people are capable of managing that if they tend towards obesity to begin with.
- naasking 4y ago
  Strange, I've found doing meal prep one day a week that you partition into fixed quantities for each day to be way easier than making a meal every day. I'm surprised you found it such a pain in the ass. It's a pain to setup and do the calculations that first time, but once you do it's fairly easy to maintain the routine.
  - SamPatt 4y ago
    I have a family. I could do meal prep for only me and eat separately, but I value eating the same meal with everyone. And I'm not doing meal prep for our entire family. I do this sometimes for lunches, which we eat separately anyway. But that's only 1/3 of my meals.
    - leokennis 4y ago
      This indeed makes it harder. If I wok some dish for 4 people and use 1 tbsp of olive oil, did I consume 1/4th tbsp? What if 2 of those 4 were kids, so I ate slightly more than 1/4th?
      - frameset 4y ago
        Over time it will even out. Also if you weight out the whole dish it's easier. I'm assuming we're talking about e.g. rice dishes or stews, curries, etc. "one pot" dishes. Otherwise if it's like steak and vegetables, you can weigh each steak and the vegetables, do them in different racks of a steamer etc.
    - naasking 4y ago
      Sure, there are other ways. For instance using different dishes than the rest of your family to limit portion size. You can share most of a meal, but have a specific side for yourself, etc.
  - bearmode 4y ago
    >Strange, I've found doing meal prep one day a week that you partition into fixed quantities for each day to be way easier than making a meal every day I can't stand eating the same thing multiple days a week. Are you preparing multiple different meals for each day, one day a week? Not to mention that it's never going to be as nice as a freshly-cooked meal anyway.
kergonath 4y ago
> But it's always true that if you manage to eat fewer calories than your body needs each day you will lose weight. No, not necessarily. Several studies have shown that different people can get different amounts of energy out of the same food, depending amongst others on their gut micro biome, though stress also seems to play a role. It’s never going to be that simple. > the laws of thermodynamics won't fail Conventional thermodynamics don’t work when you consider a full human, which is a very out-of-equilibrium and not-isolated system. Conservation of energy does not tell you anything about the efficiency of the energy extraction process.
- phpisthebest 4y ago
  >>Several studies have shown that different people can get different amounts of energy out of the same food, depending amongst others on their gut micro biome, though stress also seems to play a role. It’s never going to be that simple. Nope still that simple. Your claim just means those people need less calories in to be in a state of calorie deficiency
- svalorzen 4y ago
  > No, not necessarily. Several studies have shown that different people can get different amounts of energy out of the same food, depending amongst others on their gut micro biome, though stress also seems to play a role. It’s never going to be that simple. Sure, so they just need to compute their at-rest calorie consumption differently, and from there the rest is the same. > Conventional thermodynamics don’t work when you consider a full human, which is a very out-of-equilibrium and not-isolated system. Conservation of energy does not tell you anything about the efficiency of the energy extraction process. This is like saying that even if you don't refuel your car it will never stop, because different cars have different mpg ratings. A human is indeed a closed system when you consider the works it outputs and the calories it ingests, unless I somehow missed a newfound capacity for photosynthesis. The fact that it might be a bit harder to compute calorie requirements than what might be naively done does not allow you to just dismiss everything else.
  - kergonath 4y ago

throwawayfatty 4y ago

> Not that hard to stop yourself from going to the store again or ordering more Well, actually... I'm fat. Like BMI 40 fat. Most of my life I have been fat. I was laughed at in school for it, as far back as I can remember. It probably wasn't all that bad when I think back. Certainly not as bad as now. But I was the fat kid in class, and I felt like the fat kid. Anyway, I have lost a lot of it at a few points. Once by going to a place with more disease than I could handle. Months of intermittent diarrhea helps apparently. And once I reduced intake to about 1200 kcal per day for a year, combined with walking around for 5 hours everyday. I got to BMI 26 or something. Not very obese, but still overweight. It felt amazing to be able to do a lot of things, but it also took a LOT of time and effort. But then I got a job, and kids. And I started to backslide. Just an hour per day walking during my commute, instead of 5 during the day... And oh, that pastry looks gooood. Slowly at first, with intermittent periods of faster backsliding because life required a bit more from me. I got it back faster than I lost it. I have re-lost it a few times after that. Each time the losses are a bit less, and the peaks get a bit higher. I always gain it back faster than I lose it. And annoyingly, initially, gaining it back feels way better than losing ever does. Like finally laying down after a day of strenuous work. Or like the first breaths of fresh air after being cooked up in stale air for a while. During my losing periods the things you describe help. Keep the food away, and you don't have to expend effort to not eat it. I even enjoy the healthy stuff. But that's not how it is during my gaining periods, oh no. I get bored with the good food, and start craving the bad. I go to the shops to buy stuff. A small packet of candy at first, or a pastry. But that spirals out of control quickly. Soon I start scheming: * How can I get the food without my family noticing? * If I go to multiple shops I can buy twice as much without looking like a greedy fuck. * Oh, and I won't be able to go tomorrow, so I should make sure I have supplies for the day. * And eating only candy makes me sick, so I should also buy crisps so I can alternate and keep eating. I'm in gaining mode now. I ate a box of Pringles, a box of cookies, and a box of candy, just today. In addition to the regular meals with my family. I'm here. I see myself doing this, but I can't seem to stop. Until it runs its course. After a few months or a year or two, I can usually cycle back into a losing mode for a few months. A doctor might help, but I'm not going. The medical state of the art of dealing with obesity seems to be "just don't". A consult seems pointless and humiliating. I've learned to take and make fat jokes, and other than that to not think too much about this. My BMI will probably keep oscillating higher and higher, and I guess that means I'll get some obesity disease at some point. Maybe that'll stop it, but I'm not confident it will. I guess we all have our issues, and this seems to be mine. C'est la vie.