4 ms·

I was obese before I lost weight (now BMR 21). I calculated, that my obesity amounted to 1 teaspoon of sugar extra, every day. Our bodies are excellent, mirac

I was obese before I lost weight (now BMR 21). I calculated, that my obesity amounted to 1 teaspoon of sugar extra, every day. Our bodies are excellent, miraculous regulating machines if they can stay within those tolerances regardless of what kind of shit we put in. The bad news is, for everybody who wants to lose weight, that we have much less free will when it comes to eating than we think. To lose weight long term we need to fix whatever caused the regulating machinery to malfunction as we can't really eat less (over long term).

XorNot 3y ago
I have no idea how you determined this: 16 calories a day (1 teaspoon of sugar) would make no difference either way. Your day to day metabolism is not that precise, nor are calorie counts on packaging.
- onetimeuse92304 3y ago
  I think you misunderstood. I don't count calories. It does not work most of the time. What I mean I calculated that amount of extra fat I gained over so many decades and divided it by the number of days and converted to amount of teaspons of sugar.
  - helboi4 3y ago
    Well that is definitely not any sort of accurate representation of how you gained the weight.
lifeisstillgood 3y ago
What was your take on how to fix that regulatory mechanism? (Also weird the use of word regulator for finance and other NGOs - but do they really adjust? What would a regulator that said “wow we are making too much profit this quarter, let’s slow down a bit boys we must be taking steam out of the rest of the economy”)
- onetimeuse92304 3y ago
  Not sure why this is downvoted. IT IS AN EXCELLENT QUESTION! First is realising you want to get healthy to reduce weight. Not reduce weight to get healthier. Understanding what causes disregulation which is mostly caused by and part of metabolic syndrome, which in turn is mostly insulin resistance. Almost every overweight and every obese person has some level of insulin resistance. Just because they are not officially classified as diabetic is because medical establishment needs binary definitions. I like to think diabetes typically starts early in childhood with a wrong diet but it takes decades for the accumulated damage to the body to start gaining weight and then can take some more decades for this in turn to cause diabetes. How to fight this? Well... undoing insulin resistance is the way to go. I started classified as prediabetic and currently have absolutely stellar scores on any measure like HBA1C, fasting/fed blood glucose, etc. How I improved my insulin sensitivity: * cut off all sugar, sweet or sweetened drinks, and most carbs (I still eat carbs, just much less of them). This also tends to help with hunger. * Cut almost all snacking. If I need to snack, I have alternative snacks that do not raise blood sugar (fresh vegetables, fatty/protein snacks like beef jerky, etc.) * Intermittent fasting -- I try to maintain short eating window throughout the day. Usually about 4-6 hours. * Sometimes keto diet / longer fasts -- While I don't like the idea of staying on keto diet permanently, I think doing it from time to time exercises certain important chemical pathways. So is a water fast. * Running in the morning in fasted state. Really forces body to get good at burning fat, promotes more and better mitochondria. * Exercise after meals, especially if the meal contains carbs. Taking a walk right after a meal has clearing effect on blood glucose -- the muscles producing energy for movement are much more eager to clear blood sugars making it as if insulin is more sensitive. It is a trick, but if you do it every day the body does not care, from its point of view it uses X amount of insulin and it causes Y amount of sugar cleared. * Never eat naked carbs. Carbs should always be accompanied by fat and protein which causes digestion to take longer time and effectively lowers maximum blood sugar levels. * Better sleep and less stress -- stress causes the body to release cortisol which raises blood sugar levels which causes insulin. You want less stress if you want to lose weight. Running increases stress, unfortunately, but I think it is good tradeoff.
  - theonlybutlet 3y ago
kaskakokos 3y ago
>> To lose weight long term we need to fix whatever caused the regulating machinery to malfunction as we can't really eat less (over long term). Hi, why do you say this? I mean I was a glutton (and still am), but I have been able to reduce the amount of food eaten by skipping dinner as a way of eating less. I've been at it for 2 years now, not long term maybe but medium term and I have no intention of stopping given the benefits I'm having.
- XorNot 3y ago
  I lost about 15kg last year over the span from August to December. That was a lot faster then expected, but the primary change I made was to cut out a lot of empty calories in favor of defined meals: i.e. I drink a lot of coffee, so I cut out the milk. I moderated morning cereal down to an exact serving suggestion and a specific amount of milk. Cut out having toast as snack food, cut out sour dough bread (which is absurdly dense). Reduced rice serving sizes. And honestly? With those habits changed, I'd say I basically don't notice the difference. I'm not dieting now, and it's actually taken some effort to stop losing weight (which I just had a look at my calorie tracker app and realized accounting for thermic effects probably explains why 2750 naive calories is closer to 2275 if I'm targeting 120-150g of protein per day since now I chase muscle gains because it turns out I can get them). Basically I eat better, and more frequently, then I did and enjoy it more. Which is to say: my bad habits were just unfulfilling, and as soon as I actually held myself accountable for the effects, the changes in my diet were all improvments in my overall quality of life.

XorNot 3y ago

I have no idea how you determined this: 16 calories a day (1 teaspoon of sugar) would make no difference either way. Your day to day metabolism is not that precise, nor are calorie counts on packaging.

onetimeuse92304 3y ago
I think you misunderstood. I don't count calories. It does not work most of the time. What I mean I calculated that amount of extra fat I gained over so many decades and divided it by the number of days and converted to amount of teaspons of sugar.
- helboi4 3y ago
  Well that is definitely not any sort of accurate representation of how you gained the weight.

lifeisstillgood 3y ago

What was your take on how to fix that regulatory mechanism? (Also weird the use of word regulator for finance and other NGOs - but do they really adjust? What would a regulator that said “wow we are making too much profit this quarter, let’s slow down a bit boys we must be taking steam out of the rest of the economy”)

onetimeuse92304 3y ago
Not sure why this is downvoted. IT IS AN EXCELLENT QUESTION! First is realising you want to get healthy to reduce weight. Not reduce weight to get healthier. Understanding what causes disregulation which is mostly caused by and part of metabolic syndrome, which in turn is mostly insulin resistance. Almost every overweight and every obese person has some level of insulin resistance. Just because they are not officially classified as diabetic is because medical establishment needs binary definitions. I like to think diabetes typically starts early in childhood with a wrong diet but it takes decades for the accumulated damage to the body to start gaining weight and then can take some more decades for this in turn to cause diabetes. How to fight this? Well... undoing insulin resistance is the way to go. I started classified as prediabetic and currently have absolutely stellar scores on any measure like HBA1C, fasting/fed blood glucose, etc. How I improved my insulin sensitivity: * cut off all sugar, sweet or sweetened drinks, and most carbs (I still eat carbs, just much less of them). This also tends to help with hunger. * Cut almost all snacking. If I need to snack, I have alternative snacks that do not raise blood sugar (fresh vegetables, fatty/protein snacks like beef jerky, etc.) * Intermittent fasting -- I try to maintain short eating window throughout the day. Usually about 4-6 hours. * Sometimes keto diet / longer fasts -- While I don't like the idea of staying on keto diet permanently, I think doing it from time to time exercises certain important chemical pathways. So is a water fast. * Running in the morning in fasted state. Really forces body to get good at burning fat, promotes more and better mitochondria. * Exercise after meals, especially if the meal contains carbs. Taking a walk right after a meal has clearing effect on blood glucose -- the muscles producing energy for movement are much more eager to clear blood sugars making it as if insulin is more sensitive. It is a trick, but if you do it every day the body does not care, from its point of view it uses X amount of insulin and it causes Y amount of sugar cleared. * Never eat naked carbs. Carbs should always be accompanied by fat and protein which causes digestion to take longer time and effectively lowers maximum blood sugar levels. * Better sleep and less stress -- stress causes the body to release cortisol which raises blood sugar levels which causes insulin. You want less stress if you want to lose weight. Running increases stress, unfortunately, but I think it is good tradeoff.
- theonlybutlet 3y ago

kaskakokos 3y ago

>> To lose weight long term we need to fix whatever caused the regulating machinery to malfunction as we can't really eat less (over long term). Hi, why do you say this? I mean I was a glutton (and still am), but I have been able to reduce the amount of food eaten by skipping dinner as a way of eating less. I've been at it for 2 years now, not long term maybe but medium term and I have no intention of stopping given the benefits I'm having.

XorNot 3y ago
I lost about 15kg last year over the span from August to December. That was a lot faster then expected, but the primary change I made was to cut out a lot of empty calories in favor of defined meals: i.e. I drink a lot of coffee, so I cut out the milk. I moderated morning cereal down to an exact serving suggestion and a specific amount of milk. Cut out having toast as snack food, cut out sour dough bread (which is absurdly dense). Reduced rice serving sizes. And honestly? With those habits changed, I'd say I basically don't notice the difference. I'm not dieting now, and it's actually taken some effort to stop losing weight (which I just had a look at my calorie tracker app and realized accounting for thermic effects probably explains why 2750 naive calories is closer to 2275 if I'm targeting 120-150g of protein per day since now I chase muscle gains because it turns out I can get them). Basically I eat better, and more frequently, then I did and enjoy it more. Which is to say: my bad habits were just unfulfilling, and as soon as I actually held myself accountable for the effects, the changes in my diet were all improvments in my overall quality of life.