How hard is it for you to lose weight

[jjimm]

Clarification: I do subscribe to the simple-carbs-equals-trouble view of things. Fatty foods per se are not the problem. So for “fatty foods” above please subsitute “fattening foods” - or the tasty but corrupt high-fat-high-carb combo.

[Miss_Gnomer]

Recently I went on a strict calorie control diet with food provided (and I did NOT cheat) … first 2 weeks was 1500 calories … then 5 weeks at 1200 calories … I lost 2lbs.

I continued to do my normal levels of exercise (interval running and high level horse riding) … I felt like a zombie. It was hiddeous.

Went off the diet … ate as I pleased (lots of chocolate!) … didn’t gain weight.

So I can put in the hard yards, completely control my food, continue to exercise … maybe lose a tiny bit.

I have previously lost 55lb when I was in my 20’s … I have kept that off … my weight is very very stable.

[John_DiFool]

I put in option six just because I was curious, as I’ve heard stories of dieting backfiring in that way for certain people, but perhaps the data here indicates that it is an urban legend.

And as for me once I relinquish my attachment to one whole ice cream tub a night, or one whole bag of cookies or can of Pringles or whatever, and I can get my lazy ass onto my living room bike, I’m pretty good-lost 3 lbs. since the holidays, -45 in 2 1/2 years now, tho that has come in bits and spurts.

[even_sven]

@RickJay

For me losing weight’s a matter of will and knowledge. When in 2009 I decided to lose weight, and actually tried to lose weight, it fell off me like glasses off a clumsy waiter’s tray. Of course, before that happened I had to actually start reading labels and learning what stuff would do to me; I did not realize that throwing lean meat and veggies on a dry cup of rice is nutritionally equivalent to throwing them into a Big Mac. (No, really. Look it up.) I didn’t know that a couple of sandwiches can be an absolutely terrible meal for you. I learned that stuff, and holy crap, where are the pounds going? But then I lost interest, and stopped eating right and went back, to some extent, to eating poorly, although I didn’t gain much back.

…

And if you don’t know what’s in stuff, you’re doomed anyway. “Counting calories” can be made fun of but I’m endlessly surprised myself, and some people really have no clue. My father’s been trying to lose weight for I don’t know how long and mentined that he goes through an applie pie a week. The processed ones from the grocery store. With a big glass of milk. “Dad,” I said, “That’s like a whole extra meal of calories, and your body gets almost nothing out of it.” He won’t believe me..

I really do think this is a key point. I don’t think a lot of people have a realistic idea of how many calories food has and how precious few calories a healthy diet has room for.

[RickJay]

@even_sven

I really do think this is a key point. I don’t think a lot of people have a realistic idea of how many calories food has and how precious few calories a healthy diet has room for.

Mostly the former.

I wasn’t kidding about rice. My parents will put food on an absolute mountain of rice, and they were shocked the first time I was there to visit and left most of the rice behind. “But rice is good for you!” “Uhh, not this much of it.” Pre-cooked rice has more calories than an equivalent volume of vanilla ice cream, and isn’t much better for you. (I just checked the labels; that’s really true. A cup of precooked Minute Rice is 360 calories; a cup of Breyer’s Rich & CReamy French Vanilla is 240 calories.) 2% milk is as fattening as Coca-Cola. Six little frozen meatballs - just six - is 230calories, which is more than some TV dinners and about the same as a pound of asparagus.

I’m not advocating becoming obsessed with this sort of thing, fad diets, the South Beach Atkins Miami Vice Seafood Diet bullshit whatever, or getting into organic food and whatnot, but people really do need to make themselves aware of how many calories there are in food, and a lot of folks struggling with weight (I refer to no one in this thread, but real people I know IRL) don’t have a frickin’ clue; they cut out chocolate bars but for lunch have two mayo-loaded salmon sandwiches with a frosty glass of milk, which is about a thousand calories.

And hey, I’m not Mr. Fit. I will break down and go nuts on a steak dinner; it’s been a two and a half year struggle to lose 55 pounds, and I have a bit more to go. That’s the other side of the challenge. But I know a lot of people who really honestly try but don’t realize that they’re still putting away a huge amount of calories, and become frustrated when the results aren’t there.

[even_sven]

@RickJay

I wasn’t kidding about rice. My parents will put food on an absolute mountain of rice, and they were shocked the first time I was there to visit and left most of the rice behind. “But rice is good for you!” “Uhh, not this much of it.” Pre-cooked rice has more calories than an equivalent volume of vanilla ice cream, and isn’t much better for you. (I just checked the labels; that’s really true. A cup of precooked Minute Rice is 360 calories; a cup of Breyer’s Rich & CReamy French Vanilla is 240 calories.) 2% milk is as fattening as Coca-Cola. Six little frozen meatballs - just six - is 230calories, which is more than some TV dinners and about the same as a pound of asparagus.

I have a friend who is trying to lose weight. She will drink at least a couple of bottles of gatorade or juice every day. i don’t have to heart to tell her that that is basically a meal’s worth or more of calories she is gulping down without thinking about it or even really enjoying it.

[Don_t_Panic]

@even_sven

i don’t have to heart to tell her that that is basically a meal’s worth or more of calories she is gulping down without thinking about it or even really enjoying it.

How do you have the heart *not *to tell her?

[Sicks_Ate]

I voted ‘can lose…when I apply myself’.

I have lost about 50 pounds in the last year, weight which I gained mostly over the course of the previous year. I have lost more than 50 pounds of fat, because I have added quite a bit of muscle mass and density.

When my progress started to really show, which was probably mid-summer, I started getting the comments from overweight people about how nice it must be to be so naturally skinny that I can lose weight whenever I want. Talk about wanting to bitchslap some folks.

Here is my ‘secret’ to losing weight: If you want to make any kind of significant improvement in the condition of your body, you will…must…spend incredible amounts of time in a state of physical distress. Not discomfort; distress. Sometimes, extreme distress.

I know plenty of people who go do their Zumba, or tradmill, or elliptical, or other ‘cardio’. I also know that those people spend most of the time in a comfort zone; they figure as long as they are there, they are working out. What folks don’t understand/aren’t willing to do in many case is push themselves MOST of the time.

Several comments were made about people not really being aware of the calories that foods contain. I think there is also quite a bit of confusion as far as how many calories exercise consumes. I believe that most people tend to greatly over-estimate how many calories they are burning. No, your 30 minutes on the treadmill did not burn 700 calories.

There…that’s my combination of poll answer, advice, and rant. Good morning!