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Personally, I feel like the media frequently tries to over complicate the issue of obesity and make excuses for people who can't lose weight. The individual dep

Personally, I feel like the media frequently tries to over complicate the issue of obesity and make excuses for people who can't lose weight. The individual depicted here clearly has underlying psychological and substance abuse problems, but in no way is he reflective of the general population of obese individuals. Baring psychological issues, it's really not hard at all to pick a diet and adhere to it. It literally requires a few hours of upfront effort and a bit of time each day. I was able to go from about 300 lbs as a 6'3" male to 210 lbs with significant muscle mass added by following a basic diet and lifting 3 times a week, and I literally started on a whim. If you want to lose weight, I would start by getting an idea of what you already eat using http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ Once you get an understanding of your habits, head on over to http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ and select a diet plan which will make you the happiest (low carb, low fat, zone, stricty calorie deficit etc). Every morning, plan your meals using myfitnesspal and the output from iifym. It's really that simple.

mattmanser 12y ago
So how did you get to be 300lb in the first place? Obviously it's not that simple is it. You had to dedicate a long and sustained effort to lose weight you didn't want! If it were simple it wouldn't have taken 50% extra body mass for you to act and learn how to lose weight. I really do congratulate you, but let's not pretend this is an easy problem, or it simply wouldn't exist!
- Thriptic 12y ago
  > So how did you get to be 300lb in the first place? I never paid attention to what I ate, I ate until I was stuffed, I drank way too much beer, and I never exercised. Basically I was lazy and didn't give a shit. This was the normal lifestyle of most people I knew who were 16-22. The ramifications of being fat were not enough to overcome the perceptions of the difficulty of dieting and exercise I gleaned from most people, so I didn't even try. In fact, dieting was not difficult, so when I actually tried it with an established plan I had immense success.
  - mdemare 12y ago
    And because it worked for you, it'll work for everybody...
    - Thriptic 12y ago
      Yup, that's kind of how metabolism works. If you run a caloric deficit, you will lose weight...
      - jimmaswell 12y ago
        I counted calories for over a month with some intense exercise and nothing happened. Maybe because I had an extra burger one of those days and that ruined the whole thing, or I was absorbing calories through photosynthesis. If it takes even more than what I tried then I hardly believe it's even worth it. I'd rather live happily for one less year than never get to eat fulfillingly and live on a bootcamp exercise regimen.
        deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
        LeonRobrotsky 12y ago
        > I counted calories for over a month with some intense exercise and nothing happened. I suggest re-learning to count. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUZaPCLJA3c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUZaPCLJA3c
        BSousa 12y ago
        Hi Jim One of the main problems people have with counting calories is accurately being able to do so. While I don't think counting calories is for everyone, if you do try again, try to weight everything you eat. Don't forget the teaspoon of olive oil in the salad and those kinds of small things that add up. Research has shown that comparing food logs of people that say they have a slow metabolism and that they count calories, when subjected to something I think is called, reverse isotope water (or similar), shows that they are not accounting for a lot of the things they eat. Also, a month isn't a long time to notice changes even on the scale. It isn't uncommon to not drop weight due to water retention during a few weeks (depending where you start) when starting a diet.
yasth 12y ago
You will gain it all back in 5 years with 80% probability. (and likely worse odds because of the size of the weight loss and the fact you are male) http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/82/1/222S.long http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/82/1/222S.long It isn't that hard to lose weight. It is very hard to keep it off.
- Thriptic 12y ago
  It's just as easy to keep the weight off as to lose the weight. It's literally the same methodology. I've kept my weight at a healthy level for over 4 years.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
- sten 12y ago
  It's easy if it's a lifestyle change and not just a diet until you're thin. If you give up cake so that you can lose weight so that you can eat cake again... well, you're gonna have a bad time.
BSousa 12y ago
It really isn't and I say this as someone that never went over 180 pounds and is usually around 12% body fat. Just the 'lifting 3 times a week' will take out a lot of the working population out of the picture. Why? If include commute to gym, working out time and shower/etc, we are looking at least 6 hours per week. Add the gym costs/going to the gym costs and you have maybe 100 bucks a month as a cost. We are fortunate we can spend that time/money on ourselves, but seriously, a lot of people can't. Heck, if you take 80% of the comments here in HN how they work 60+ hours a week in their startups, I doubt even us techies will have the time to do so. In my country (and I think the USA as well) obesity is highly correlated with low income. Then you have the psychological aspects to it. Stress is a major contribution to over eating. If everyday you are worried if you have enough at the end of the month for rent, you wont stop, go online, get a recipe, go to the grocery store to get fresh vegetables, come on, cook for an hour to have a nice healthy meal... You most likely will pick up a microwavable lasagna and be done with it. I don't disagree with you that losing weight is easy, it is, basically "eat less than what you need", but being able to do that, based on many many factors isn't as easy. (congrats on the weight loss)
- cko 12y ago
  I agree that it's not easy to overcome the inertia (the psychological aspects). I've been skinny all my life and I still have to motivate myself to exercise. You don't necessarily need to "go to the gym" though. There are lots of bodyweight exercises that can produce great results. Not just pushups, either: http://www.beastskills.com/tutorials/ http://www.beastskills.com/tutorials/ http://www.dragondoor.com/articles/building-an-olympic-body-through-bodyweight-conditioning/ http://www.dragondoor.com/articles/building-an-olympic-body-... Some of those exercises are very difficult - the only one I can do is the single leg squat (pistol). But pullups, dips, pistols, sprinting, kettlebells (cheap one-time purchase) can take you a long way.
- colomon 12y ago
  For what it's worth, when I lost weight I was exercising for 90 minutes a day 6 days a week (half of that hard exercise, half more casual) AND carefully watching everything I ate. The idea that this is "easy" is completely cracked. I could only do it because I was self-employed and single. I gained a bit back after getting married, and I've gained 10 pounds a year on average since my son was born.
magic_beans 12y ago
"Baring psychological issues." There's the problem. Obesity IS a psychological issue for 90% of obese people. It is not a disease that can be combatted with simple will.
dragonwriter 12y ago
> Baring psychological issues, it's really not hard at all to pick a diet and adhere to it. More accurately, barring psychological, physiological, or economic issues, its not hard to pick a diet and exercise pattern and adhere to it and lose weight. > I was able to go from about 300 lbs as a 6'3" male to 210 lbs with significant muscle mass added by following a basic diet and lifting 3 times a week Look, I'm a male whose been able to loose substantial weight without even having a structured diet just a few loose guidelines on eating patterns -- plus ballroom dancing, and then adding in other activity later once the weight loss was well under way (and that, more to improve performance for dancing than for weight loss.) But I also recognize that being male is, itself, a substantial advantage for both weight loss and muscle building over much of the population. And I've known lots of other people for whom my pattern wouldn't work as well (many of whom have succeeded in weight loss, with much greater difficulty) for reasons that aren't primarily psychological. I don't know if media tries to overcomplicate the issue, but you are definitely oversimplifying it.

mattmanser 12y ago

So how did you get to be 300lb in the first place? Obviously it's not that simple is it. You had to dedicate a long and sustained effort to lose weight you didn't want! If it were simple it wouldn't have taken 50% extra body mass for you to act and learn how to lose weight. I really do congratulate you, but let's not pretend this is an easy problem, or it simply wouldn't exist!

Thriptic 12y ago
> So how did you get to be 300lb in the first place? I never paid attention to what I ate, I ate until I was stuffed, I drank way too much beer, and I never exercised. Basically I was lazy and didn't give a shit. This was the normal lifestyle of most people I knew who were 16-22. The ramifications of being fat were not enough to overcome the perceptions of the difficulty of dieting and exercise I gleaned from most people, so I didn't even try. In fact, dieting was not difficult, so when I actually tried it with an established plan I had immense success.
- mdemare 12y ago
  And because it worked for you, it'll work for everybody...
  - Thriptic 12y ago
    Yup, that's kind of how metabolism works. If you run a caloric deficit, you will lose weight...
    - jimmaswell 12y ago
      I counted calories for over a month with some intense exercise and nothing happened. Maybe because I had an extra burger one of those days and that ruined the whole thing, or I was absorbing calories through photosynthesis. If it takes even more than what I tried then I hardly believe it's even worth it. I'd rather live happily for one less year than never get to eat fulfillingly and live on a bootcamp exercise regimen.
      - deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
      - LeonRobrotsky 12y ago
        > I counted calories for over a month with some intense exercise and nothing happened. I suggest re-learning to count. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUZaPCLJA3c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUZaPCLJA3c
      - BSousa 12y ago
        Hi Jim One of the main problems people have with counting calories is accurately being able to do so. While I don't think counting calories is for everyone, if you do try again, try to weight everything you eat. Don't forget the teaspoon of olive oil in the salad and those kinds of small things that add up. Research has shown that comparing food logs of people that say they have a slow metabolism and that they count calories, when subjected to something I think is called, reverse isotope water (or similar), shows that they are not accounting for a lot of the things they eat. Also, a month isn't a long time to notice changes even on the scale. It isn't uncommon to not drop weight due to water retention during a few weeks (depending where you start) when starting a diet.

yasth 12y ago

You will gain it all back in 5 years with 80% probability. (and likely worse odds because of the size of the weight loss and the fact you are male) http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/82/1/222S.long http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/82/1/222S.long It isn't that hard to lose weight. It is very hard to keep it off.

Thriptic 12y ago
It's just as easy to keep the weight off as to lose the weight. It's literally the same methodology. I've kept my weight at a healthy level for over 4 years.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
sten 12y ago
It's easy if it's a lifestyle change and not just a diet until you're thin. If you give up cake so that you can lose weight so that you can eat cake again... well, you're gonna have a bad time.

BSousa 12y ago

It really isn't and I say this as someone that never went over 180 pounds and is usually around 12% body fat. Just the 'lifting 3 times a week' will take out a lot of the working population out of the picture. Why? If include commute to gym, working out time and shower/etc, we are looking at least 6 hours per week. Add the gym costs/going to the gym costs and you have maybe 100 bucks a month as a cost. We are fortunate we can spend that time/money on ourselves, but seriously, a lot of people can't. Heck, if you take 80% of the comments here in HN how they work 60+ hours a week in their startups, I doubt even us techies will have the time to do so. In my country (and I think the USA as well) obesity is highly correlated with low income. Then you have the psychological aspects to it. Stress is a major contribution to over eating. If everyday you are worried if you have enough at the end of the month for rent, you wont stop, go online, get a recipe, go to the grocery store to get fresh vegetables, come on, cook for an hour to have a nice healthy meal... You most likely will pick up a microwavable lasagna and be done with it. I don't disagree with you that losing weight is easy, it is, basically "eat less than what you need", but being able to do that, based on many many factors isn't as easy. (congrats on the weight loss)

cko 12y ago
I agree that it's not easy to overcome the inertia (the psychological aspects). I've been skinny all my life and I still have to motivate myself to exercise. You don't necessarily need to "go to the gym" though. There are lots of bodyweight exercises that can produce great results. Not just pushups, either: http://www.beastskills.com/tutorials/ http://www.beastskills.com/tutorials/ http://www.dragondoor.com/articles/building-an-olympic-body-through-bodyweight-conditioning/ http://www.dragondoor.com/articles/building-an-olympic-body-... Some of those exercises are very difficult - the only one I can do is the single leg squat (pistol). But pullups, dips, pistols, sprinting, kettlebells (cheap one-time purchase) can take you a long way.
colomon 12y ago
For what it's worth, when I lost weight I was exercising for 90 minutes a day 6 days a week (half of that hard exercise, half more casual) AND carefully watching everything I ate. The idea that this is "easy" is completely cracked. I could only do it because I was self-employed and single. I gained a bit back after getting married, and I've gained 10 pounds a year on average since my son was born.

magic_beans 12y ago

"Baring psychological issues." There's the problem. Obesity IS a psychological issue for 90% of obese people. It is not a disease that can be combatted with simple will.

dragonwriter 12y ago

> Baring psychological issues, it's really not hard at all to pick a diet and adhere to it. More accurately, barring psychological, physiological, or economic issues, its not hard to pick a diet and exercise pattern and adhere to it and lose weight. > I was able to go from about 300 lbs as a 6'3" male to 210 lbs with significant muscle mass added by following a basic diet and lifting 3 times a week Look, I'm a male whose been able to loose substantial weight without even having a structured diet just a few loose guidelines on eating patterns -- plus ballroom dancing, and then adding in other activity later once the weight loss was well under way (and that, more to improve performance for dancing than for weight loss.) But I also recognize that being male is, itself, a substantial advantage for both weight loss and muscle building over much of the population. And I've known lots of other people for whom my pattern wouldn't work as well (many of whom have succeeded in weight loss, with much greater difficulty) for reasons that aren't primarily psychological. I don't know if media tries to overcomplicate the issue, but you are definitely oversimplifying it.