lol Thremp is my hero

This thread has concluded brilliantly. I was just reading the first several pages raging at the **** OP was spouting. Then Thremp heroically dives in w/the wrath of short, angry jewish scientists.

NYCballer,

To add to Thremp's points, one individual sitting on their ass at the computer all day vs. you speeding around in your lambo and ninja fighting terrorists does not qualify as "genetics". Metabolic rate isn't the same as actual caloric expenditure.

People also significantly underestimate their actual calorie intake. Fatties are notoriously delusional about this.

Yup.

I do believe that people are a little different in how quickly they metabolize food, etc.

However, all of that extra weight has to come from SOMEWHERE. Matter just doesn't magically appear out of nowhere.

does driving a lambo burn more calories than driving a toyota?


this explains why they are so damn expensive

I'll be nice nevermind

Nice to see this thread bumped, and very unfortunate to see it derailed by those who'd rather browbeat people than help them. A little knowledge is still a dangerous thing.

I read this thread last Spring and it convinced me (along with reading I'd done at marksdailyapple.com and the bodybuilding.com forums) to try low-carb. Long story short, I've lost right around 80 pounds in the last 10+ months. I now weigh less than I did in high school, where I was working out or training 25+ hours a week with football, wrestling, and track. I've introduced four friends so far to low-carb: one started with me last spring and has lost 58 pounds as of this morning; one started last summer and is down 50; one started in late November and is down 36 pounds; and one friend started three weeks ago and has lost 15 pounds. Small sample size? Definitely. But every single one of these guys also tried repeatedly over a period of years to lose weight, and nothing ever came close to the success they've had on low carb.

I'm a science guy. I understand there is still a lot of conflicting data when it comes to weight loss science. I also know my own body very well. I didn't lose weight on the type of plan Thremp suggests, despite years of repeated attempts, being highly motivated, and possessing scientific and athletic knowledge, because it was too hard. I lost large amounts of weight quickly on low-carb and have had zero difficulty in keeping it of, because it is so easy.

It's one thing to say that Plan A (salads and treadmill) is guaranteed to make you skinny, but that doesn't ****ing matter if an extremely motivated individual can not stay with that plan to get those results. Some people can. For others, I think it's more valuable to discuss things that may work better for them and possibly change their lives. Thremp, you appear to think it's more important to take a high and mighty tone and presume to tell people you know how to live their lives better than they do. But hey, I guess you're the green.

I didn't advocate any sort of diet, which makes it all the more interesting that you're "opposing" my diet advice which doesn't exist.

I find your self-promotion as a "science guy" interesting. Since you use no science to back up your claims of why low card diets are better.

Then again I've provided more actual information on dieting than the entirety of the rest of the thread combined, so whatever.

Glad to hear!

Being a "science guy" doesn't necessitate any in-depth knowledge of physiology or health science. My own father has two PHDs and fails to realize this.

Not really. There are a lot of conflicting "opinions", but the data and interpretation among the scientific community are pretty straightforward.

No one really takes Taubes seriously, for example. This is pseudo-science and a prime example of a (smart) journalist cherry-picking studies and writing very eloquently to support their contentions and expand their career. The fundamentals of weight loss are clear and easily demonstrated.

Maybe you just made it too hard. Is this so hard to believe?

Nearly every fat person I personally know has at some point been like, yeah, starting a diet. I'm going to bike/treadmill 2 hours a day and eat salads and turkey sandwiches all day. This is after multiple years of food addiction and chronic overeating. Then they give up and mark it as another failed dieting stint. Come on.

Plenty of people have success on all sorts of diets. In fact, every time I've ever known anyone go on any diet and adhere to it, they've lost significant weight 100% of the time.

Low-carb working for you doesn't mean it's the holy grail of dieting. Caloric restriction and adherence are. If low-carb helps you with these things, that's great.

A person who is truly "extremely motivated" can stay with a restrictive dietary plan. Please. In fact, the ideal diet for an obese, sedentary person in the initial stages of dieting is borderline starvation.

For sure.

Adherence is definitely crucial. Some people might be able to adhere to a low-carb diet excellently and blow up like OP with sort of carb-oriented, ultra low kcal approach. Low-carb diets can be great. Most fatties are carb addicts and a low-carb diet can be a very effective way to control calorie intake.

OP's approach worked. Good for him. But suggesting that failure is a certainty otherwise, and that said failure is anyone's fault but your own, is absurd and terrible advice.

But OP is delusional if he thinks he and his unmotivated brethren failed for any reason other than their own limitations and lack of self-control.

The sites that Thremp recommended are excellent. Suspend your disbelief. The level of dogma surrounding nutrition is just absurd.

nice post AJ

thremp saves the day

just stumbled to this thread via the FAQ and just wanted to express my happiness upon reading Thremp and AJ's clinic on the second page. I know almost nothing about health and fitness and I've been spouting the calories in = calories out equation for years (and I'd say about 90% of people flat out disagree with it). good to see some sources backing that idea up

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08...sor/index.html

i didn't read the whole thread but i have a few questions.

1. what was your "typical" day like pre-weight loss?

2. what is your "typical" day like now?

2.5 what was your "typical" day like in the midst of the best weight loss stretch you had?

3. did you ever look at calories in/calories out in a meticulous way or was it more "i know i'm eating well now and have changed the caloric composition enough to know i'm doing well"?

4. how did weight watchers not work for you if you stuck to it? for me, when i did it, it was a matter of "WTF IS WITH THESE STUPID PORTIONS" lol... i think i lost 10 lbs which i gained back instantly.

i really like your story and outlook. i consider myself lucky now but i've also "battled" with weight in high school which really shaped my self image. now, i'm pretty ripped and in great shape (swim 2300yrds 4times/week and lift for an hour after that...weigh 155 at 5'8) but always see things that i'd change about my body. trying to "let that go" is REALLLLLYYY hard :-(. so my last question is:

5. have you been able to "let that go" in terms of constantly judging yourself? if so, how?

Twinkie Diet aka calories in / calories out

27 lb loss on Twinkie Diet

*bump*
Why? Because I was rereading the FAQ and decided to read this, I didn't the first couple of times.

I think its inspirational enough that it needs a bump because quite honestly not everyone will read everything in the FAQ, but if its on the front page?

so fat guy lost a bunch of weight through diet and exercise. bool story cro

bump

grats op

I appreciate both OP & Thremp's take here. Excellent read all the way through.

I wonder if OP has been able to keep the weight off all this time or if he's relapsed.