Boy does it suck being overweight

[Gelfin]

Maybe something like this would work:

DIET SECRETS THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT!
Leverage ancient wisdom to shed pounds and keep them off! Scientists are now rediscovering a secret well known to traditional medicine, but almost forgotten in the modern high-tech world: The thing that makes you fat is heat. It sounds like magic, but it's true! Even cold foods like ice cream contain a great deal of heat trapped within their quantum molecular matrices. Your body releases this energy and turns it into unsightly pounds and inches.

Using a surprisingly simple process, we have devised a method of measuring the heat content of the foods you eat, and distilled it down to one easy-to-understand number: The Heat Number. Losing weight is as easy as selecting foods with a low Heat Number. First, find out the Heat Number for the foods you eat every day. Then select foods that have lower Heat Numbers. As long as your total Heat Number for the day is lower, you can eat as much as you want and still lose weight! It's almost like magic!

You can get our guide to the Heat Number of thousands of common foods for only $19.95. Act now and we'll include this DVD of exercises specially selected to complement the Heat Number diet to turbocharge your weight loss! You'll look better! You'll feel better! Do it today!

 

[charlesbronsen]

You can get our guide to the Heat Number of thousands of common foods for only $19.95. Act now and we'll include this DVD of exercises specially selected to complement the Heat Number diet to turbocharge your weight loss! You'll look better! You'll feel better! Do it today!

Sold I'll PM that 19.95 over right meow

 

[Unspeaked]

As long as your total Heat Number for the day is lower, you can eat as much as you want and still lose weight! It's almost like magic!

Something tells me a Heat Number is eerily similar to a calorie.

 

[Gelfin]

Something tells me a Heat Number is eerily similar to a calorie.

SHHH! "THEY" don't want you to know!

 

[angemon89]

You can do it! I went from my highest weight of 270 at age 16 to where I am right now at 180 age 19. Yes, it did take me 2 years but I did it at a very healthy pace. All it takes is hard work and dedication and I bet you can get to your goal in under a year.

 

[takao]

I've got to tell you, the biggest thing I see standing in most people's way (myself included, at one time) is that they tell themselves, "it doesn't matter if I eat right and exercise because I know from experience those things don't work for me the way they do for some genetically lucky people."

It's a big fat lie (pun intended) you tell yourself because it gives you permission not to really try.

You eat worse than you think. You need fewer Calories than you think. You will adjust to a better diet faster than you think. You have never given exercise as much of a chance as you think.

Yes, people are built differently and have different metabolisms, but taking improved diet and exercise as a serious commitment works for everyone who still has a pulse, and frankly you should do it whether or not you expect it to make you all trim and sexified. The fact that it tends to do that too after a while is just a nice bonus.

what's really important is finding a diet which fits your body .. i found that if i eat lots of fruits as recommended then i actually gain weight
simply for the fact that i can eat so many of them without getting any feeling of being full whatsoever ... also it makes me snack them constantly over the course of a day (an apple a day keeps the doctor away but eating 6 oranges, 3 kiwi, 1 banana and 2 apples on top of normal 2 meals is going straight to my fat belts)
on the other side if i leave out pasta, rice, potatoes etc. i'm constantly down and powerless

i eat normally 2 times per day: a warm meal in the evening and sometimes a second warm on weekends for lunch (and those not really "healthy" including sometimes pizza, lots of pasta, fishsticks, potatoes, and vegetable mixes)
for breakfast (and sometimes night snack) oatmeal + almonds/hazelnuts or raisins or both
combined with using the bike for commuting + 1,5 hour of sports with friends at university sports course different ball games etc. + additional biking for exercise when the weather is fine/warm between 45 minutes and 2 hours .. i should say that during august/september that meant doing that 4-6 times per week
but not really much during the last 2 months (living in the alps etc.) but i tried to compensate at least with a few (20-30 perhaps) crunches / push ups etc.

result: from end of august until end january i lost around around 26 pounds (if it weren't for christmas i suspect it would have been more) though the last weeks during semester break i was falling back a little: didn't need to commute being at home + multiple birthdays (= cake + alcohol) + super snowy weather + mother/grandmother cooking

as a result i guess i worn down my cheap university bike more that i expected... which meant that today after halfway back from sports at 22:30 pm, in the rain, with the dynamo engaged, on a 18 year old tire with the flexibility of terra-cotta, filled with a tube of the same age pumped up a little too enthusiastically ... "Standing into the pedals" (how is "Wiegetritt" called in english ?) on a short uphill with all i had was not really the smartest idea

PS: needless to say the rain sure cooled down my anger on the 2 miles pushing it home
PSS: to the original poster: i'm also around 5'9" and went from 180 to 154 pounds (and up again 2-3 pounds thanks to delicious cake as explained above) just keep up the exercise again, watch food a bit more and keep the stress down .. what works for me during spare time is that reading really exiting books, doing interesting stuff etc. can make me forget eating from time to time

 

[Iscariot]

1) I have slow metabolism for one thing, so unless I get an hour of exercise every day, everything I eat seems to get stored as fat.

Short of a health condition, there isn't really such a thing as a "slow metabolism" any more than there is such a thing as a "fast metabolism". Metabolism is a function of body functions + muscle mass, and the energy requirement of muscle is pretty much constant. Studies actually tend to show that overweight people tend to have a higher resting metabolic rate than leaner people, since their bodies are simply bigger. There is certainly some legitimate variance in RMRs, but the idea that your weight is controlled by your metabolism or your genetics is a myth, perpetuated by people who don't want to take responsibility for their size and a diet industry hungry to prey on them.

Muscle has an upkeep cost that you pay in calories. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories your body will burn in a resting state. If you want to improve your metabolism, you increase your lean muscle mass.

I strongly suggest you start by keeping an absolutely exhaustive food journal at a calorie counting website such as nutridiary.com or fitday.com. If you accurately input your age, height, weight, it will calculate your daily caloric needs, as well as help generate a plan of how to lose weight by controlling your diet and exercise. I've gained 45 pounds in the past two years simply by utilizing these amazing resources and carefully considering the food I eat and the activities I pursue.

 

[SlasherDuff]

Short of a health condition, there isn't really such a thing as a "slow metabolism" any more than there is such a thing as a "fast metabolism". Metabolism is a function of body functions + muscle mass, and the energy requirement of muscle is pretty much constant. Studies actually tend to show that overweight people tend to have a higher resting metabolic rate than leaner people, since their bodies are simply bigger. There is certainly some legitimate variance in RMRs, but the idea that your weight is controlled by your metabolism or your genetics is a myth, perpetuated by people who don't want to take responsibility for their size and a diet industry hungry to prey on them.

Muscle has an upkeep cost that you pay in calories. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories your body will burn in a resting state. If you want to improve your metabolism, you increase your lean muscle mass.

I strongly suggest you start by keeping an absolutely exhaustive food journal at a calorie counting website such as nutridiary.com or fitday.com. If you accurately input your age, height, weight, it will calculate your daily caloric needs, as well as help generate a plan of how to lose weight by controlling your diet and exercise. I've gained 45 pounds in the past two years simply by utilizing these amazing resources and carefully considering the food I eat and the activities I pursue.

I use a free applicaion for the iPhone and iPod Touch called Lose It!. So far I like it, it does calorie counting, as well as provides a food and exercise journal

and here is proof that diet and exercise does work

Me, taken in July of last year. I was wearing a size 16 then

and here I am today, wearing a size 12

 

[GGGUUUYYY]

Groundbreaking.

It truly is..

 

[gadgetgirl85]

A lot of exercise and a reasonable diet does help:

Before

After

 

[Tesselator]

Yup, exercise!! But also I keep coming across literature which shows that there is a kind of bacteria that when introduced into the system can make you feel artificially hungry - hungry all the time. Each time I read it there's usually some free or extremely cheap way to kill the little buggers - so I tend to believe it. It says it's extremely prevalent in the US.

I'm a skinny guy so I didn't have me remember the details.

 

[iAlan]

Keep up the good work people

Well done to all who are sharing.

I too was in a similar situation when I woke up one day in the middle of September 2008 and thought 'How the hell did I get so fat?"

I was 109 kg / 240 lbs, had a 38" waist, a size 44 neck on my business shirts, 178 cm / 5'8" and about to turn 41

20 weeks later I am 85 kg / 187 lbs, 34" waist (a little loose actually) and size 42 neck.

I lost 24kg / 53 lbs - an average 1.2 kg / 2.6 lbs per week (a lot faster at first, slowing down now)

AND I FEEL GREAT!

It sounds a lot, and it actually is, and some people who hadn't seen me for a while were concerned about my health.

Well, I made some fundamental changes in my lifestyle - all healthy.

I don't eat late at night (I am on teleconferences 2-3 times a week with places all over the world between 11.00 pm and 1.00 am and used to snack), eat less fried food/fast food, eat a lot more vegetables/salad, Subway sandwiches for lunch and not 'bento' every day (rice with greasy stir fry stuff mostly), cut back on soda, chocolate, ice-cream, and similar - but not completely, I still do eat treats as I didn't want to think of dieting as a chore that would limit my intake or resort to calorie counting - all in moderation can't hurt was the approach I took, less meat - more fish, and more liquides between meals and not snacks.

And EXERCISE. I joined a gym. I jogged 2x a week, swam laps 2x a week and did basic weights as well but not to build mass, to exercise parts of my body I forgot about.

The only downside was my clothes didn't fit! which meant lots of shopping in Australia when I went home for Christmas (and the exchange rate made my yen go further)!!

So, it can be done, it takes commitment, and I have a few kg to go, but I don't feel like it is something of a chore. I enjoy the swimming and jogging. I enjoy the variety of food available (and KFC/McD every now and then). I enjoy being able to fit into nicer clothes (fat boy sizes aren't attractive at all).

I feel good about myself. And that's what counts.

 

[sushi]

I feel good about myself. And that's what counts.

Awesome!

Sounds like you really concentrated and made a difference.

 

[benlangdon]

your success stories make me depressed because i couldn't walk once i got home at 6 and have been icing on and off every 15min. its been like this for 2+/- weeks

this sucks.

o, ya... my knee got kinda injured again.
some guy working at the gym (ya i actually had a schedule of going to the gym) checked my gym card then asked me for id. ( no to give some background the normal gym i go to barely even asks for my card let alone id) then i said no don't have any and it was in my car, he said get it, i said no way, he then took my card and said im going to cancel your membship because you refused to give id, then yada yada, i was pissed, then worked out and bam, worked out to hard and here i am again.

 

[followme]

Complete lifestyle changes are necessary for most overweight people.

Unfortunately, they want the "diet solution." Follow a diet, lose the weight, then go back to their regularly scheduled lives. FAIL.

Weight training is highly effective because additional muscle means more calories burnt. Weight training combined with cardio as well as a "clean" diet of nutrient-rich foods is optimal.

Myths of fat loss:

1) High-fat diets are a major cause of obesity. Following a low-fat diet will help you lose weight

WRONG. Think about it. Americans are tearing off skin from chicken, cutting fat off of beef and pork, eating low-fat cheese/yogurt/milk, and avoiding heavy fat sources like oils/butters, and they are fatter than ever. Fatter than the years when they DIDN'T do all of that stuff (remove skin, fat, avoid butter, etc). Nutritional "fat" content isn't the problem.

2) Carbohydrates are what make people fat. Avoid carbs and you're fine.

TRUE, but WRONG. Ketosis can cause weight loss, but it's a trick based on a restrictive diet. Most people will have extreme trouble maintaining a low-carb diet. Most people will and have failed to maintain weight loss that was achieved.

3) You need to cleanse your colon, or remove candida, or block hormones, or prevent cortisol, or take a special herbal supplement to remove some bad thing that keeps you fat.

WRONG. Again, these claims are all without scientific support. Most are merely "snake oil" solutions, and the others only have a small inkling of truth.

4) Replacing a meal with a shake, or some jelly product, or a pill will solve the problem.

WRONG. These products have been sold and used ineffectively for years or even decades. Meal replacement strategies leave dieters hunger and sometimes with inadequate nutrition in the long-run.


Most weight loss products/diet plans only make one thing thinner: your wallet. The basic strategy is simple:

Calories burned > Calories consumed

Calories burned varies by person and activity level, but increasing your activity will simultaneously reducing excess calories is a permanent solution. Learn to eat less, but also eat smarter. Eat nutrient-valuable foods. Don't eat low value foods. They include white bread, cookies, candies, cakes, highly processed sugary cereals, french fries, and pretzels/potato chips.

High nutrient-valuable foods include most vegetables, fruits, meats, dairy, and nuts/legumes. Cook food yourself and it's amazing how much better you feel after a week or two. Eat lots of chicken with vegetables. I like to cook chicken with the skin on it, and depending on how I feel either eat or not eat the skin. Total calories and the nutrient value is what matters, not the fat grams/carbohydrate grams.

 

[EV0LUTION]

You can do it! I went from my highest weight of 270 at age 16 to where I am right now at 180 age 19. Yes, it did take me 2 years but I did it at a very healthy pace. All it takes is hard work and dedication and I bet you can get to your goal in under a year.

This is what I did, and am still doing. A year ago I was 230 now i'm 200, I should weigh 180 so I still have some to loose but if you loose it at a safe rate and change your life style the weight goes and stays off.