I was 230 when I retired in 2002. (Pretty high for a short guy, 5′-7″)
This morning, 151, where I have been the past year or so. Below 160 for several years.
I first hit 230 in 1980. Between 1980 and 2002, fluctuations up and down between 190 and 230, maybe occasionally 180.
So:
Exercise works. There are a gazillion scientific studies on this, nearly all of which say exercise is useless. I disagree, the more access to activity I have, the better I control my weight. I currently ride my road bike about 3 hours a day, obviously not possible while I still worked.
CICO, calories in, calories out. The laws of Conservation of Energy and Conservation of Matter and Thermodynamics remain true. Calorie balance counts.
My experience is bulky foods like raw vegetables are good for appetite control. I do not find fatty foods satiating, they make it easy for me to overeat.
Nutritionally, fat soluble micronutrients are important as is omega three, so I do eat a lot of fatty fish, several eggs a day (the high omega three kind) and a couple of ounces of cheese. Other than that, I try hard to minimize other fats. (Fat makes me fat.)
I think it better to eat significantly more than the RDA of protein.
Some controversial opinions:
Vegan diets suck, there is plenty of evidence of severe long term bad health effects on most vegans.
Extreme low carb high fat diets suck. This is obviously difficult to study, and I am not aware of studies that show ill effects. I do, though, find it hard to believe that going ketogenic is not very long term unhealthy.
Congratulations!
The problem isn’t that exercise doesn’t contribute to losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight afterwards, it’s that an extreme amount of exercise is a fragile means to accomplishing the goal. One knee or foot injury upsets can easily lead not just to regaining all the lost weight but add more to the previous top weight.
At the societal level, modern life reduces the required caloric intake in large and seemingly insignificant ways and at the same time, food calories have never been so abundant and affordable. For example, if I beat up the egg whites with a wire whip, I’m consuming calories — not many but some; whereas if I throw them into the KitchenAid, I’m consuming none. Ten steps to get into the car vs. walking a block or two to catch a bus. Virtually none compared to some. (Plus people eat/drink while driving/riding, neither of which are permitted on basic public transit facilities.) Something as small as taking the stairs up three or floor flights instead of the elevator packs in some exercise and burns some fuel. It’s even possible that reading anything rather than watching TV consumes more calories (our little brains use more energy than any other organ).
All good, but my family had no car when I was young. I’m afraid my hindbrain associates buses with poverty.
For my wife, it’s cabs. When we visited New York City in the mid-90s we had to take buses everywhere (I knew better than to rent a car), she refused to take a cab. Although in those days we walked a lot too. New Yorkers were astounded that we walked from 43rd Street to 87th Street.
They were?
The great thing about living in NYC – and I dearly miss it at times – is that you walk everywhere.
Maybe because we were out-of-towners? (P.S. I love that movie)
Yeah, that “hindbrain” associating certain childhood experiences with poverty can trip us up as adults. A friend would rather skip lunch than brown-bag it because for her a brown-bag = too poor to buy lunch. Whereas for me, brown-bagging it meant more to spend on something else. And if “more” didn’t exist, my brown-bag lunch didn’t feel like punishment or a daily deprivation.
Did you choose to walk those 43 blocks or was it an unfamiliarity with the NYC public transit systems?
We chose to walk. Got a better feel for the city than riding the bus. The weather was perfect. BTW, some very strange people ride those buses. I remember one with wild eyes and muttering to himself sitting across from us. I kept thinking “Please don’t let him get off on our stop!” The bus was crowded with several people standing, but he had the whole long (sideways) seat to himself.
Congratulations!
And thank you for posting on the topic which I’m spending all my time on to distract me from our national nightmare:-)
Yes, everyone is right: Calories In, Calories Out. But here’s the thing: exercise makes you hungry. And if you moderately to intensely exercise on a moderate to high carb diet, exercise makes you very very hungry. (Or not, maybe you are one of the lucky few who doesn’t!) And Marie3 is right too – excessive exercise can lead to injury.
That’s not to say I’m against exercise: I successfully maintained my weight for years because I excercize like a banshee. HIIT x 2/wk; Weightlifting to failure x 2/wk + 1 or 2 bike rides (3 hours+) at a moderate pace.
However, I could never loose the 30 pounds I gained in grad school even working out like crazy and doing weight watchers. Sure, I could loose 5, but not 10 or 20 or 30. After I had my first child, loosing weight became even more difficult.
Why? Because I became insulin resistant during my pregnancy. Sure, I was able to get 40 of the 65 pounds (on a 5’0 frame!) off through weight watchers and exercise, but now I found myself heavier than ever and unable to shed even with diet and exercise.
And that’s about when my Amazon feed recommended The Obesity Code by Jason Fung, a kidney specialist working in Canada. On a whim, I bought it. I devored it in a few hours. And that’s how I got hooked on the Ketogenic diet and intermittant fasting. I’m never starving hungry, despite continuing to exercise like a banshee.
For the first time, I understand how insulin and metabolism really work, how The Biggest Losers have destroyed their basel metabolism, and why I am desperately trying to significantly reduce the amount of pasta, bread, and sugar that my 6 year old eats.
This January, my husband is going on the ketogenic diet for his epilepsy. It has become the standard of care for children with drug-resistant epilepsy, and has just become available (ie medically supervised by a neurologist) in my city. It only has a 50% of working for an adult, but that is 50% better than what we have.
For some very cool research on ketogenic diets, check these out:
https:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isag23C_Hu8
https:
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fM9o72ykww
http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/treating-seizures-and-epilepsy/dietary-therapies/ketogenic-diet
Long term effects of a high carb diet (aka the food pyramid) are already known: the obesity epidemic, with resultant diabetes, pcos, metabolic syndrome, Alzheimer’s and cancer.
When I was young, sugar was the enemy. We ate a lot of high fat food, greasy french fries, pizza with oil swimming on the top, fried chicken. Looking at my High School year book, most everyone looks incredibly skinny.
Those we thought were fat, look trim today. Those we thought incredibly fat look normal today.
Disagree. We ate plenty of sugar, but how much varied by family income, parental restrictions, and individual inclination.
The Sis recently said to me that she ate tons of sugar when she was a kid. I objected with “we didn’t eat that much. To which she replied, “you didn’t. If we both had ten cents, you bought that itty-bitty Heath bar and I bought the jumbo five cent candy bar and five cents worth of penny candies.
With the invention of HFCS, it’s dumped liberally in a much higher percentage of processed foods. Because it’s cheap and people like sugar even when they’re unaware that they’re consuming it.
The kids I knew drank maybe one Coke a day. Candy was occasional, usually on the weekend at the movies. Dessert rare and often Jello or Kosto pudding. I guess Welch’s grape juice is sugary, but it’s not the same as soda pop. Most kids drank milk, but I hated it (I like 2% now). I out-stubborned my mother (not an easy task) and she let me drink coffee and tea. Now I know that I was probably ADD and the caffeine helped. Even today a couple of cups of coffee will calm me and lower my blood pressure. Sounds like the paradoxical response to me. In college I probably should have taken bennies to focus (was once a standard treatment before Ritalin).
Uh, sugar – soda v. grape juice.
Lots more potassium and hardly any sodium. Different sugars too. Doctor wants me to limit sugars but says I can eat all the fresh fruit I want. In season I ate six tree ripe peaches a day, plus two store bananas, and one store Orange. No cake. No cannoli (sob!). No pie.
Eggs instead of cereal. A1C dropped into the normal region from pre-diabetic.
IOW — eat don’t drink.
In the ’80s I would put four sugars in my coffee but I weaned myself away from this and already in the ’90s I was putting zero sugar in the coffee.
Sugar and salt seem to have a saturating effect. By this I mean when you start to cut down things taste flat but when you get used to it, your former levels seem too sweet or too salty as the case may be. I had a sandwich today in a restaurant. it seemed extremely salty. I checked their nutrition guide and it said the sandwich had 1380 mg sodium, more than I’m supposed to get all day! I took an extra potassium ill when I got home. I’m afraid to check my BP but at least I don’t have any angina. It was a Turkey/cranberry panini. You would think that was a healthy sandwich.
Pat yourself on the back, because 90% of the people who lose weight do not keep it off. It’s quite an accomplishment.
When I think of high-intensity workouts, serious long-distance running regularly, major weight-lifting, etc, I recall two people: the guy (was it Jim Fixx?) who back in the 70s helped start the running craze, became famous and wealthy by it, but died of heart failure (iirc) not long thereafter, probably after or during a long run.
Also one Jane Fonda, another who started a fitness craze, the aerobics stuff. All those years spending hours a day pounding on the hardwood floor of her Beverly Hills boutique gym, all those videos from the 80s. Then I read that 15-20 yrs ago she had to have hip replacement surgery.
The body just was not made for such heavy impact on a regular basis. I stick to a regular semi-vigorous low-impact daily walk, just enough to work up a light sweat. 45-50 min/day, a bit longer to shed some pounds, a bit less to maintain.
Eating: When I lost major weight last decade, I went to an old American formula from the last century, whereby moderation is the key more than calorie counting. And a tip that worked for me: drink diluted Concord Grape Juice about 1/2 hour before major meals and again last drink at night before bed. Keep doing it daily. Helped me no longer crave sweets and starchy food (chips etc). I found myself reaching for fruits for dessert instead of cheesecake.
Not vegetarian but plenty of veggies and fruit. Occasional seafood (I avoid N Pacific fish and farm-raised) and fowl, baked and never fried. No fried foods and no carbonated beverages. The diet I follow ends up giving me a slightly more alkaline result in the body; most Americans’ diets are acidic. Keeping things slightly on the alkaline side also reduces/eliminates getting colds as cold germs do not thrive in an alkaline environment.
Works for me.
Jim Fixx had a heart attack while running and kept running apparently, age 52. His Dad died age 43 from heart attack without being a fitness nut, so I think just bad genes.
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/22/obituaries/james-f-fixx-dies-jogging-author-on-running-was-52.html
.
As for Jane Fonda, she spent many years being eating disordered/anorexic – my guess that much harder on the body than gym workouts.
I wouldn’t doubt having eating disorders of an extreme type does damage to the body. But logically I think there’s a more direct line of causation between years of high-impact exercise and joint/bone damage.
Perhaps one day the science will definitively confirm that link, but I’m not waiting around. Too many previous cases of the science going back and forth (coffee vs decaf and cups/day, low-fat diets, low-carb diets etc) to make me want to put much credence in current studies. Get back to me sometime later this century, in my next lifetime, and we’ll discuss it then.
Bear in mind low body fat correlates with poor immune system function, osteopenia and osteoporosis.
A big problem is that many studies are funded by industry groups. I recall reading about one that said Americans didn’t eat enough salt. More salt would lower blood pressure. Turns out the study was funded by the Morton salt Company.
like those studies from the Tobacco companies that said smoking didn’t cause cancer.
We evolved on the African plains, walking continuously. We also ate a lot of carrion (aged for flavor) so I wouldn’t worry too much about the farm raised fish. Heavy metals are another matter and I wonder about the pacific Fish and Fukishima. I eat a good amount of atlantic salmon, but not excessive because of Mercury.
Diets are like religions – acolytes, converts, proselytizers for the various. Political parties are also.
“… Political parties are also. … “
(Like Religions). Particularly the GOP which I consider basically just a gigantic cult these days.
Politics is not religion, or if it is it nothing but the Inquisition.
Camus
Fad diets for sure. We’re still in the era of the fad diet, though not as much as a few years ago.
Not to be confused with sensible, moderate and healthfully balanced diets such as, for instance, the type called the Mediterranean or Jesus diet. I found a non-fad set of dietary recommendations from 100 yrs ago — where many of the recs are slowly being accepted today– and it worked for me. The occasional doctor check-up visit tended to confirm the very positive results.
Low carb used to be the standard of care for T2 diabetes and obesity. Ancel Keys put us on a different path. If you want a fascinating look at the diet wars read The Big Fat Surprise by investigative reporter Nina Teicholz.
http://thebigfatsurprise.com/about-nina-teicholz/
You can find some high power Nina Teicholz debunking here:
http://carbsanity.blogspot.com/
another pretty credible link for nutrition type stuff …
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/
She defends herself here. http://thebigfatsurprise.com/media/
Read the book. Her index is substantial.
That said, it doesn’t really go into the science of metabolism which my main interest.
And if you are looking for a political who done it….well we all know how Exxon supported faulty climate science, same thing is happening with the processed food corps. Billions of dollars are at risk.
I should also add that these lectures on the aetiology of obesity are fascinating.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YpllomiDMX0
I lift and I run.
It turns out lifting is much better for losing weight than running.
In any event I hate it. I get no joy out of it at all. Running: Pain. 45 minutes of pain. Just awful. Lifting: pain. Nothing more.
Happiness is the day after I lift because I don’t have to do it again.
Oh, and I eat a salad everyday for lunch.
For those who hate veggies, a friend of mine, raised on the traditional AA diet, juices. It’s easier to just swallow a liquid than chew something you don’t like.
He does work out also.
Wow. I’m almost feeling the pain just reading that. I won’t go near heavy weights unless I’m training for the NFL and expect a big pay day soon for my efforts. Otherwise, unless you’re competing in the Mr Universe contest, I don’t see the point, especially if you find it painful and unenjoyable.
And whenever I see people running outside I want to stop them and ask what they are running from or what’s the hurry. Enjoy the outdoors, fresh air (depending on location), birds chirping, the occasional squirrel scampering about — a chance to connect with nature, something we’re hell bent on destroying as fast as possible.
Just my humble, but I think when you experience pain, your body is trying to tell you to knock it off, a warning this is going beyond its natural limits and there could be trouble ahead. Good luck, but as you describe it, it’s hard to imagine this is a regimen for the long term. Most normal people (Dems, a few Republicans and several Indies I’m sure) end up ditching the deplorable activities in favor of the more agreeable ones.
The daily salad is an excellent choice. Especially with raw veggies. Helps regulate the elimination system and I’ve also read that green leafy types of lettuce contribute to reducing bad bacteria in the gut.