3 ms·

270 word comment about trying to lose weight and you didn't mention anything about diet. I know people hate trite phrases like "You can't outrun a bad diet" or

270 word comment about trying to lose weight and you didn't mention anything about diet. I know people hate trite phrases like "You can't outrun a bad diet" or "The best weightloss exercise is a fork-putdown", but what do you say to people when they literally don't consider diet as a relevant part of weight management and instead focus entirely on exercise?

jrockway 3y ago
Personally I'm not doing too well on the whole diet thing. I'm well aware of the importance and make grand plans. Then I get really hungry and like eat a pound of noodles or something. I literally can't sleep if I'm hungry at bedtime, I will lay awake all night! Given that I have to go to work the next morning or won't be able to afford things like "shelter", I usually opt to try and get some sleep. Having been on the other side of these brain problems, I understand your skepticism. I have many apparently-normal friends that, once a month or so, disappear off the face of the planet and eventually they come back and they're like "I thought everyone hated me so I stopped going to work and talking to my friends". My honest thought is "WTF" but I offer them reassurances that that's not true at all and everyone likes them. Then they're OK for another month. Meanwhile behind the scenes, they're seeing a psychiatrist and a therapist every couple weeks, and the fact that they're around at all, ever, is because of this work with their doctors. You have to accept that people's brains are wired differently, often in harmful ways, and that there are treatment options available. It's totally alien to me to be too unhappy to get out of bed. But it does happen to people, the data says it. So I believe the data and try to be supportive. I really think not sticking to a diet is the same sort of problem.

3 ms·

270 word comment about trying to lose weight and you didn't mention anything about diet. I know people hate trite phrases like "You can't outrun a bad diet" or

by elevatedastalt 3y ago

jrockway 3y ago
Personally I'm not doing too well on the whole diet thing. I'm well aware of the importance and make grand plans. Then I get really hungry and like eat a pound of noodles or something. I literally can't sleep if I'm hungry at bedtime, I will lay awake all night! Given that I have to go to work the next morning or won't be able to afford things like "shelter", I usually opt to try and get some sleep. Having been on the other side of these brain problems, I understand your skepticism. I have many apparently-normal friends that, once a month or so, disappear off the face of the planet and eventually they come back and they're like "I thought everyone hated me so I stopped going to work and talking to my friends". My honest thought is "WTF" but I offer them reassurances that that's not true at all and everyone likes them. Then they're OK for another month. Meanwhile behind the scenes, they're seeing a psychiatrist and a therapist every couple weeks, and the fact that they're around at all, ever, is because of this work with their doctors. You have to accept that people's brains are wired differently, often in harmful ways, and that there are treatment options available. It's totally alien to me to be too unhappy to get out of bed. But it does happen to people, the data says it. So I believe the data and try to be supportive. I really think not sticking to a diet is the same sort of problem.