Quote:
Originally Posted by Double Down
The problem with this is that it is literally a descriptor of "how" to lose weight but not a method of how. It's akin to saying the way to win at that sport is to score more points than your opponent.
Yes, you want to burn more calories than you take in. But you also don't want those calories to be coming from muscle, but rather from fat. So HOW does one do that?
There are plenty of ways to lose weight, but a lot of them are unhealthy, and unsustainable so as soon as you stop, the weight will come right back on. So how does one take it off and keep it off?
It's also literally impossible to know exactly how many calories one burns or consumes because all body types are different, and nutritional info is only a rough approximation. So how does one go about knowing if they're burning more than they're taking in?
The body will also burn more calories based on not just amount of calories taken in, but the type and the timing (see: intermittent fasting). Similarly with exercise, some types of exercise will not only burn calories while doing the exercise, but long after doing them (like HIIT).
This also might not be known to everyone, but building muscle will help lose more weight because muscle burns more calories than fat.
Sorry, it happens to be a real peeve of mine when people drop the ol' "It's just burn more calories than you take in! Duh!" line. It's a smug, superficial ignorance that hypocritically passes itself off as some type of #woke epiphany, like when people say, "All politicians lie, amirite???"
We probably aren't that far apart.
My response was to GatorXP and his "Failed paradigm" posts. Talk about smug nonsense.
You also cut off the part of my post where I said "There are many ways to get there. Some are hard to comply with. Others are more difficult." I think that clearly implied that it's more complicated than "eat less".
I do have a couple of quibbles with some specifics of your post.
Things like "intermittent fasting" and "HIIT" only work if they are part of a larger plan. The extra calories burned are marginal and often don't matter because total calorie intake goes up - "Hey, I just worked out. I deserve a reward. How about some pie!" People take one thing, such as intermittent fasting, and believe that's it some kind of magic bullet. It does no good if you fast for 18 hours a day if you take in 5,000 calories in the other 6 hours.
Muscle burns more calories than fat is also another thing people use the kid themselves about how weight loss works. The difference in practical terms is just not that much. No one loses the same amount of fat as muscle gained unless they are doing a program specifically aimed at building muscle mass. And except for the very obese, most won't lose any fat while doing so. But let's just say someone lost 20 lbs of fat and gained 10 lbs of muscle (a phenomenal result for someone just looking to lose a little weight). A pound of muscle burns about 8 calories of fat a day. So your 10 lbs muscle gain will burn 80 calories. Fat, on the other hand, burns about 3 calories per pound per day. That's 60 calories for the 20 pounds of fat lost. We now have a net of 20 calories burned more per day. Not that much when you need a 3,500 calorie deficit to burn a pound of fat off your body. The main benefit of gaining and maintaining the 10 lbs of muscle is the work needed to get there. You cannot exercise out of a bad diet.
Finally, people burn daily calories in a fairly tight range when you account for weight, body composition, and exercise level. Saying things like "It's also literally impossible to know exactly how many calories one burns or consumes because all body types are different" only serve to give people an excuse for why they can't seem to lose weight, "I'm not like her. She can eat anything. Everything I eat just goes to my hips. It's just the way I am."
So, yes, it's not easy. It takes a change in how someone eats and an increase in physical activity. And these changes need to be sustainable. Most "diets" fail because they are a regimen that people can't, or won't, continue once they've lost a certain amount of weight. New eating and lifestyle habits must be formed that will last. But without an understanding of why it works - fewer calories in, more calories out until an equilibrium is reached - people will eventually fall back into their old ways.