4 ms·

I lost about 70lbs in about 10 months by cutting out processed foods, cutting out foods with added sugar, eating foods having a low glycemic index, eating a lot

I lost about 70lbs in about 10 months by cutting out processed foods, cutting out foods with added sugar, eating foods having a low glycemic index, eating a lot of chicken, whole vegetables, whole fruit. And by not juicing, and not drinking smoothies. I also did a lot of strength training so as to lose fat and not muscle. I didn't try to reduce the amount of calories I was eating, just change where those calories were coming from. Weight went poof. Energy went way up and my mood improved.

feoren 3y ago
> cutting out foods with added sugar, eating foods having a low glycemic index, eating a lot of chicken, whole vegetables, whole fruit This is great advice for most people, depending on what "whole" means. Am I allowed to cut and cook my vegetables? Stick them in a food processor? Are they still "whole" then? I've never understood why people even bother to throw this word "whole" into anything. You just mean you didn't drink smoothies and concentrated fruit juice? > cutting out processed foods This is utterly meaningless bullshit. > I also did a lot of strength training so as to lose fat and not muscle. This may be the main reason you lost weight and feel better. If nothing else, it may be the reason you were able to stick to your dietary changes. I think everyone I know who lost a significant amount of weight was into strength training while they did it.
- codyb 3y ago
  Whole foods is just a common way to say you're buying ingredients then making them yourself. I think you're just arguing semantics for meanings that are fairly commonly used.
- smolder 3y ago
  Processed foods are a vaguely defined and somewhat arbitrary category of foods, but that does not mean the correlation between foods being highly processed and unhealthy is BS. Things that have ingredients like brominated vegetable oil or various other preservatives and stabilizers for texture and shelf life, artificial colors and lots of HFCS, meat slurries that have been pumped through tubes and formed into precise shapes, the "simulated yogurt" that wrapped the raisins in my trail mix... None of that stuff is a favor to your health. Food optimized for mass market scale and profitability is practically never optimized for nutritional value, except as a hollow gimmick, e.g. Vitamin Water.
  - asdfman123 3y ago
    Lots of things have context specific meanings. If someone says “my cell phone,” you do not yell at them for not clarifying it’s actually a general purpose computer. Similarly, in nutrition, “processed foods” have a pretty well established definition. There’s room to debate the term, but it’s still well understood. Generally speaking, though, one should try to not make the mistake of assuming that others are confused when in fact they are.
- Balooga 3y ago
  > cutting out foods with added sugar, eating foods having a low glycemic index, eating a lot of chicken, whole vegetables, whole fruit >> This is great advice for most people, depending on what "whole" means. Am I allowed to cut and cook my vegetables? Cooked, steamed, cut. Yes. Basically just don't "juice" or smoothie anything. The idea is to have your digestive system do as much of the "processing" as possible, and not outsource this to some external system. The longer it takes the food to digest, the longer you stay feeling "full". And feeling full really helps when it comes to weight loss. It's also harder to eat a dozen large whole oranges and bananas than it is to drink them. > cutting out processed foods >> This is utterly meaningless bullshit. Keeping the glycemic index low means you automatically avoid foods like TV dinners, McDonalds burgers, highly processed white bread, etc.
- NegativeK 3y ago
  When people refer to "processed foods", they're talking about things like frozen dinners and industrially prepared fried foods. Similarly, when people talk about "whole vegetables", I assume they're referring to buying the ingredient in the produce section and eating it without a bunch of fats and sugars. > This is utterly meaningless bullshit. This is unnecessarily combative. Unless you just want to score internet points by insulting people, everyone (including you) will get a lot more out of discussions if you steelman the other person's argument.
- asdfman123 3y ago
  >> cutting out processed foods >This is utterly meaningless bullshit. Actually, it isn’t. If you’d like clarification as to what counts as processed foods, you can ask. To answer your question, processed foods in this context usually means foods with chemicals in them, hydrogenized oils, etc. The actual preparation doesn’t matter. It’s okay to eat food that has been chopped and frozen, for instance. Your digestive system tears food up anyway.
snapcaster 3y ago
Great job! I hope you're proud of yourself 70 pounds is pretty amazing
wincy 3y ago
I lost 80 pounds eating hot dogs and kimchi for about six months. No exercise at all. I don’t know what this means exactly only that people act like I’m crazy when I mention it.
- theonething 3y ago
  Would love to hear more. Like you ate mostly just hot dogs and kimchi for six months? Did you do that on purpose to see what would happen or just kind of felt like doing it?
- Balooga 3y ago
  Not crazy. Well done! The thing with losing weight is that it doesn't differentiate between fat and muscle. So unless the body has a reason to keep the muscle around (the weight training) the body will absorb it (because of the calorie deficit). The weight training helps limit the weight loss to the fat. This will also help to keep the body from looking like a deflated balloon when all that weight is lost.
parentheses 3y ago
Inspiring!! Congratulations

feoren 3y ago

> cutting out foods with added sugar, eating foods having a low glycemic index, eating a lot of chicken, whole vegetables, whole fruit This is great advice for most people, depending on what "whole" means. Am I allowed to cut and cook my vegetables? Stick them in a food processor? Are they still "whole" then? I've never understood why people even bother to throw this word "whole" into anything. You just mean you didn't drink smoothies and concentrated fruit juice? > cutting out processed foods This is utterly meaningless bullshit. > I also did a lot of strength training so as to lose fat and not muscle. This may be the main reason you lost weight and feel better. If nothing else, it may be the reason you were able to stick to your dietary changes. I think everyone I know who lost a significant amount of weight was into strength training while they did it.

codyb 3y ago
Whole foods is just a common way to say you're buying ingredients then making them yourself. I think you're just arguing semantics for meanings that are fairly commonly used.
smolder 3y ago
Processed foods are a vaguely defined and somewhat arbitrary category of foods, but that does not mean the correlation between foods being highly processed and unhealthy is BS. Things that have ingredients like brominated vegetable oil or various other preservatives and stabilizers for texture and shelf life, artificial colors and lots of HFCS, meat slurries that have been pumped through tubes and formed into precise shapes, the "simulated yogurt" that wrapped the raisins in my trail mix... None of that stuff is a favor to your health. Food optimized for mass market scale and profitability is practically never optimized for nutritional value, except as a hollow gimmick, e.g. Vitamin Water.
- asdfman123 3y ago
  Lots of things have context specific meanings. If someone says “my cell phone,” you do not yell at them for not clarifying it’s actually a general purpose computer. Similarly, in nutrition, “processed foods” have a pretty well established definition. There’s room to debate the term, but it’s still well understood. Generally speaking, though, one should try to not make the mistake of assuming that others are confused when in fact they are.
Balooga 3y ago
> cutting out foods with added sugar, eating foods having a low glycemic index, eating a lot of chicken, whole vegetables, whole fruit >> This is great advice for most people, depending on what "whole" means. Am I allowed to cut and cook my vegetables? Cooked, steamed, cut. Yes. Basically just don't "juice" or smoothie anything. The idea is to have your digestive system do as much of the "processing" as possible, and not outsource this to some external system. The longer it takes the food to digest, the longer you stay feeling "full". And feeling full really helps when it comes to weight loss. It's also harder to eat a dozen large whole oranges and bananas than it is to drink them. > cutting out processed foods >> This is utterly meaningless bullshit. Keeping the glycemic index low means you automatically avoid foods like TV dinners, McDonalds burgers, highly processed white bread, etc.
NegativeK 3y ago
When people refer to "processed foods", they're talking about things like frozen dinners and industrially prepared fried foods. Similarly, when people talk about "whole vegetables", I assume they're referring to buying the ingredient in the produce section and eating it without a bunch of fats and sugars. > This is utterly meaningless bullshit. This is unnecessarily combative. Unless you just want to score internet points by insulting people, everyone (including you) will get a lot more out of discussions if you steelman the other person's argument.
asdfman123 3y ago
>> cutting out processed foods >This is utterly meaningless bullshit. Actually, it isn’t. If you’d like clarification as to what counts as processed foods, you can ask. To answer your question, processed foods in this context usually means foods with chemicals in them, hydrogenized oils, etc. The actual preparation doesn’t matter. It’s okay to eat food that has been chopped and frozen, for instance. Your digestive system tears food up anyway.

snapcaster 3y ago

Great job! I hope you're proud of yourself 70 pounds is pretty amazing

wincy 3y ago

I lost 80 pounds eating hot dogs and kimchi for about six months. No exercise at all. I don’t know what this means exactly only that people act like I’m crazy when I mention it.

theonething 3y ago
Would love to hear more. Like you ate mostly just hot dogs and kimchi for six months? Did you do that on purpose to see what would happen or just kind of felt like doing it?
Balooga 3y ago
Not crazy. Well done! The thing with losing weight is that it doesn't differentiate between fat and muscle. So unless the body has a reason to keep the muscle around (the weight training) the body will absorb it (because of the calorie deficit). The weight training helps limit the weight loss to the fat. This will also help to keep the body from looking like a deflated balloon when all that weight is lost.

parentheses 3y ago

Inspiring!! Congratulations