# I unhappily report that I am right about obesity and diet (Very long) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 16, 2011, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543 "2011-02-16T04:25:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/21 "2011-02-16T13:32:14Z")
I think that we try and simplify this too much - there are millions of factors that impact how our body responds to everything - why would weightloss be any different. I just spent a week hiking in Death Valley, an average of 3-4 miles a day which is substantially higher than my normal walk from meeting room to meeting room. During the same week my water consumption was way up and my food consumption was not only way down, it was healthier than my normal diet. When I arrived home I discovered I was exactly the same weight as I was when I left. This doesn’t mean that I can’t lose weight but it sure does mean that there’s more to it than calories in/calories out. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/22 "2011-02-16T13:39:06Z")
You might also try one of the on-line nutrition counters, like SparkPeople which **Ferret Herder** has suggested. I personally was oblivious to how many carbs I was eating each day. Just changing what foods I eat made a big difference. My target is between 1200 - 1500 calories a day. I eat at least four times a day. Typical day: Oatmeal (prepared from 1/2 cup dry) 1/2 medium apple 1/8 c almonds 4 cups coffee with whole milk & Splenda 2 to 4 oz baked chicken or fish 1/2 c zucchini 1/4 c brown rice 1/2 c carrots 1 slice whole-grain bread 1 oz lo-fat turkey lunchmeat 1 oz lo-fat mozzarella 2 slices tomato 4-6 oz broiled fish 1/4 c brown rice 1/2 c spinach 1/2 baked sweet potato I still have room for a serving of lo-fat yogurt, 1/4 c Special K or sugar-free hot chocolate at night. I have been losing at the rate of 1 to 2 pounds a week; I’ve hit a plateau a couple of times. But since September I’ve lost 25 pounds by following that nutrition plan. I think one of the key things is to replace a lot of starchy stuff with vegetables and lean protein. I basically quit eating crackers, white bread, and pasta. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/23 "2011-02-16T13:41:13Z")
I forgot to add: Budget some splurges in your diet. Pick a day where you CAN eat the stuff you want. It goes a long way to keeping you on an overall track if you don’t have to think “I haven’t had a dark chocolate peanutbutter torte in SIXTEEN WEEKS!” In my case, it was alcohol, I’d get a Martini once a week, and it really helped stay the course. Also…step on the scale once a week, no more. If you get into ANY kind of physical shape, **you will gain weight**. Muscle is heavier than fat. It’s why you should pick a different metric. Do your clothes fit better? Can you carry the laundry without getting winded. (Which is, paradoxically, not the same a breathing hard. If you’re in shape, and you sprint up a flight of stairs, you’ll find your body is saying 'okay, I’ll breathe harder and pull in more oxygen, with the expectation that you’re not done excercising yet.) Ignore weight. Accept the fact that you’re genetically predisposed to carry a certain amount of it anyway. Focus on capability and how your clothes fit. And be patient, it took you 50 year sto get here, you don’t undo that in three months. (and least not in a healthy, sustainable, fashion) Get a good pair of shoes and go walking three times a week. In two weeks, you’ll be able to walk farther than when you started. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/24 "2011-02-16T13:41:19Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > You’re obsessing on weight, but the ability to gain or lose weight is in direct proportion to things that are different in lots of people. I think so too. It works far better for me when I focus on nutrition rather than calories/weight loss. And that’s the real reason we do it anyway, isn’t it? So that we are in good health? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/25 "2011-02-16T13:49:32Z")
I agree with UB. You’re psyching yourself out. I’m a lifelong fatty (female, 32, over 250 lbs by 13 and higher now) and haven’t done much yo-yo dieting. I did lose 80 lbs on Atkins but I’ve grown tired of meat and don’t think I can do it again. I’m also not a “food lover”. In fact I am pretty sick of food. I don’t eat much but I’ll be the first to admit that what I eat is not that balanced of a diet. I decided to stop worrying about food and weight and start focusing on getting rid of back pain, and heart health. Started going to the gym and got a personal trainer to give me a good back workout. After I do that, I walk (not speed walk or jog) around the track for 30 minutes at a slightly brisk pace. After 6 months, I lost 20 lbs. I haven’t changed my eating habits at all. In fact, I probably eat more because I need to make sure I’m not starving before I go to the gym. 20 lbs in 6 months seems so slllooow but I know it’s “quality pounds.” I also keep telling myself that I don’t care, it’s just a side effect of wanting a stronger back and better cholesterol numbers. You’d be surprised what you can do through exercise, **Stoid**. Even if it’s painful…a physical therapist can get you on the track to it being less painful and while you are working out the kinks…you’re exercising! You don’t have to start out as a marathon runner. As a sedentary person, you get to start off slow and still have benefits. IMHO you need to stop worrying about the numbers, stop worrying about weight, and start thinking about getting healthy. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/26 "2011-02-16T13:54:51Z")
Stoid, you’re pretty much the same as me, it seems - I’ve found that losing weight through dieting alone just does not work very well for me at all. When you have a lot of weight to lose, dieting alone tends to make you burn through your muscle mass, creating a really nasty cycle of resurgence of weight gain. The same principles that apply to losing 10 pounds just don’t apply as well if you need to lose many times that – human beings just don’t do very well with calorie restriction alone. A lot of people (generally people who have never lost significant weight) will sneer, “well, look at concentration camp victims – are you suggesting you can’t lose weight if you’re starving?” Well, sure, you can, but can most human beings starve themselves to that state by willpower alone with an abundance of food available? Fuck no. For me, I’ve found, the way to a healthier life is through exercise. I know that the wiseacres will say it’s just not worth it on a calorie basis, but for me it’s the only way to diet and not fail in willpower sooner or later when my energy level tanks. I haven’t figured it all out – I’m not at my goal yet – but exercise has made my life a lot more livable along the way. All my medical screenings are great - my cholestrol, blood sugar, blood pressure, are all normal now, where before they were somewhat risky levels. In fitness tests, I consistently score average or better in every category for my age, despite still being significantly overweight. It’s frustrating to not see the scale go down like I’m used to. It creeeeeeps down now - because I’m not shedding muscle and water consistently anymore. I’m moving to measuring my progress through measurements and body fat to get a more comprehensive approach. I’m in better shape than I ever was at less weight now that I lift weights and work out. I feel better, I can do more. I feel like weight lifting is really the answer for those of us who just have shitty metabolisms (I was put on my first diet before my first birthday - it’s just innate for me). I’ll never be model thin, but I’ll work on making progress and in the meantime I’m living a better life than I was starving myself. For me, high-protein (not necessarily low carb - just getting sufficient protein for muscle building), low-sugar, small meals, whole grains… these are critical, just as much as watching the calories, to long-term success. The way I look at it is this. Maybe I’ll never be “thin”, but really why do I want to lose weight? To look better, to feel better, to have more energy, to be able to do more things. Weight lifting has absolutely started to achieve those things for me within a far shorter time than I could lose fat. People have pointed out to me that my posture has improved, I carry the weight differently (smaller around the waist), and it’s far easier to mark incremental improvements than relying on the scale. I’m about ready to chuck the scale entirely. It doesn’t matter how much I weigh, in the end - it’s how much of it’s fat. It’s about health, and the scale is very misleading, especially for women. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/27 "2011-02-16T13:56:38Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > That said, portion control is a harsh mistress. The raw truth is that you really don’t “get” a lot of food a day. This. Portion sizes are all out of control. I hear over and over that the portion sizes on most packages are crazily small - who eats less than a cup of cereal?!? - but honestly, for me to maintain my weight, they’re spot on. We’re just not used to them. Hell, I don’t even eat a whole piece of fruit anymore, unless it’s something super tiny, it gets cut in half and split with Mr. Athena. Everyone seems to get all caught up in WHAT to eat (should I go low carb? Low fat? Can I never have ice cream again? etc) but I think that’s completely inconsequential. It’s how much you eat, and how much you SHOULD eat is a LOT smaller than we’ve been taught to believe. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/28 "2011-02-16T13:59:06Z")
Are you exercising as well as watching what you eat? If you combine weight training of some sort along with cardio exercise and calorie control, you’ll lose a lot more a lot faster than by either one alone. Apparently the weight training and cardio rev up your metabolism and somewhat offset that lowering effect you get from restricting your calories. Another thing to consider are things like Healthy Choice tv dinners. I know they’re processed, but they’re usually decent nutritionally, and more importantly, they’re a fixed size. You don’t have to worry as much about portion size- just eat it, and go about your business. None of this “entire pot of mashed potatoes, and I only get 3 tablespoons.” kind of temptation there. Honestly though… the hard part isn’t losing the weight, it’s keeping it off. I lost about 60 lbs over about 10 months about 9 years ago (average of 1.5 lbs/week), and managed to keep about 45 of it off for about 4 years. What broke me back then was graduate school. I’m a stress eater (where some people chain smoke or drink too much, I eat too much), and grad school kicked that into overdrive. I’m back at about 295 (and 6’1"), and really need to get my ass in gear again, so I’ve been looking into how to go about it lately. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/29 "2011-02-16T13:59:13Z")
Oh, one more thing. I find that St. John’s Wort is very effective for me. It really helps with my motivation, and with not being such a negative nelly when my body starts to burn fat (it does affect your energy and state of mind!). People pointed out that I’ve consistently found ways to find progress insufficient, and to blow small failures out of proportion. I’m not normally an herbal supplement person, but there’s good science here too, and for me it really, really helps. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/30 "2011-02-16T14:04:06Z")
Like others said and I forgot to add - be okay with a slower weight loss. It’ll help you keep the weight off if you lose slower, and maybe you just need a slower rate. I only wanted to lose less than 25 lbs and I’m under 2 lbs a week as well. But I’m halfway to my target. Besides, making smaller adjustments in how you eat and taking more time to get used to them will help you stick with the loss. You might also be interested in [Frank Bruni](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Bruni)’s book, **Born Round**. He’s struggled with his weight all of his life, and wrote about getting down to a healthy weight after being a NYTimes food critic for years. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/31 "2011-02-16T14:04:28Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > Honestly, I don’t see a whole lot of mean-spirited sneering in those threads. \ I don’t think you’ve been looking closely enough then - it’s definitely there. > [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Stoid: > > I think you’re getting too bogged down by the numbers. Forget the precise number of calories vs. precise amount of weight loss. Fact is, you _can_ lose weight. And you do it by eating less. If you’re not losing weight, it simply means you have to eat less than whatever you’re eating now. This kind of post, while not mean-spirited, is not helpful. It is NOT SIMPLE for some people. There is A LOT more going on in the human body than just calories eaten and calories burned. I saw a news story a while ago about calorie information on food packages - an insane amount of them were just plain wrong. That might be part of the problem with calorie counting - bad information in. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/32 "2011-02-16T14:34:11Z")
You said in the OP that you were going to apply yourself to exercise and weightlifting. Have you started that already? I ask because back in 2009 when I got serious about weight loss, I was calorie tracking just as you are, but I also started running. I didn’t lose any weight for six weeks. However, in that time my fitness level improved quite a bit. I’m not sure if it really is just what everyone says, that “muscle weighs more than fat” so I was putting on muscle faster than the fat was coming off, or whether there was some metabolic process at work. All I know is that for six weeks I lost nothing, and then after the six-week mark, I started losing about 1-2 pounds per week. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/33 "2011-02-16T14:42:46Z")
Missed the edit window. Additionally, you’ll hear a lot of people talk about how exercise is overrated when it comes to weight loss, and this is true. I.e., the amount of calories you burn in a half-hour of moderate exercise is pretty easily zeroed out by overeating just a little bit. (The example I’ve used in the past is that if you walk for an hour and burn 200 calories, you can eat a muffin from Starbucks that contains more calories than you just burned, but then people yell at me and say “I’m on a diet! Of course I wouldn’t eat a muffin at Starbucks!” but hopefully you get the point I’m going for here.) THAT SAID, and this is my main point, I’ve lost a lot of weight, and I’ve improved my fitness level a lot, and if I had to give one of those things up - either gain back 25 pounds, or go back to my prior level of fitness? I’d take the 25 pounds back in a heartbeat. So whatever you’re doing for fitness improvement, keep that up even if you never lose a pound doing it. You’ll feel so much better, you’ll move better, you’ll be less winded, etc. Totally 100% worth it, outside of any weight-loss benefits. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/34 "2011-02-16T14:48:40Z")
EVERYBODY is giving you their own advice in this thread, so I dunno why mine would carry much weight, but my two observations are: 1. Years of yo-yo dieting have probably wrecked your metabolism, so it doesn’t surprise me that you could maintain a very high weight on a very low caloric intake, and 2. You can’t possibly be eating enough, which I think may be your problem. I suggest you try eating more like 1800 calories a day… if you are exercising, more like 2000. Better yet, go to SparkPeople, enter your 10% weight loss goal IN A REASONABLE TIME FRAME (because if you make the time frame too short the software will drop you to the lowest 1200-1500 range and you’ll be back where you started), and see how much it tells you to eat. I think that two pounds a week is too fast… not reasonable. Give yourself time to lose .5 to 1 pound a week. That will give you a good calorie range. Exercise is how to fix the borked metabolism problem. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/35 "2011-02-16T14:58:05Z")
Here’s a highly recommended e-book. It has a good way to track your weight, that will tell you mathematically, whether or not you are gaining or losing, despite the daily ups and downs. [The Hacker’s Diet](http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/www/hackdiet.html) Downloadable editions, suitable for offline reading available [here](http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/#offline). A month is too short a time to tell without mathematical methods such as this has. It also has other tips you may or may not find useful, that’s for you to decide. But the mathematical weight tracking method will help regardless of what sort of diet you decide to use. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/36 "2011-02-16T15:21:26Z")
> [@Moonlitherial](#): > > I think that we try and simplify this too much - there are millions of factors that impact how our body responds to everything - why would weightloss be any different. > > I just spent a week hiking in Death Valley, an average of 3-4 miles a day which is substantially higher than my normal walk from meeting room to meeting room. During the same week my water consumption was way up and my food consumption was not only way down, it was healthier than my normal diet. When I arrived home I discovered I was exactly the same weight as I was when I left. > > This doesn’t mean that I can’t lose weight but it sure does mean that there’s more to it than calories in/calories out. Walking burns around 100 calories a mile, so 3-4 miles a day is pretty easy to neutralize with a granola bar and a bottle of gatorade. I’ll believe you were eating healthier, but when you are suddenly eating healthy foods it is pretty easy to overeat. You know you shouldn’t eat a whole bowl of ice cream, but it’s hard to internalize that can’t have a heaping bowl of quinoa-nut-fruit salad, either. Water could also be a factor- if you are normally slightly dehydrated, the pound or so you’d lose from the extra walking might not show. If you start walking 2-4 miles every day during your commute or lunch hour and you incorporate good diet changes in to your everyday life, I would be shocked if you did not begin to lose weight within a month. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/37 "2011-02-16T15:27:54Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > 1. Years of yo-yo dieting have probably wrecked your metabolism, so it doesn’t surprise me that you could maintain a very high weight on a very low caloric intake, and Is there any evidence that yo-yo dieting has an impact on basal metabolism? There may well be, but I’ve never seen it. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/38 "2011-02-16T15:31:21Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > 1. You can’t possibly be eating enough, which I think may be your problem. I suggest you try eating more like 1800 calories a day… if you are exercising, more like 2000. This. Eating too little on diets was my problem for the longest time. Putting an obese, adult woman on 1200-1500 calories a day (or less!) means plummeting energy levels and diminishing ability to exercise properly. I also found that my recovery time shot up alarmingly, too, if I cut calories too much. The point isn’t losing weight, it’s losing fat. If you diet too extremely, you will lose weight (mostly muscle and water), but you are sacrificing your ability to lose fat over a sustained period. I know, it’s hard. I have to repeat all this to myself a lot! ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/39 "2011-02-16T15:38:12Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > I actually lost 2.5 pounds (or appeared to lose - I have a doctor’s scale that’s pretty precise but I know from years of experience that my weight can fluctuate in a 24 hour period as much as four pounds) Then I gained it back. So basically over the past month I’ve maintained on 1388 calories daily. So - you actually _are_ seeing changes, they’re just not the changes you were expecting. A few weeks is way too soon to start expecting to see consistent loss. It doesn’t matter if things worked differently in the past - you’re older now. Your body’s different. You body will need more time to adjust to the new reality. That doesn’t mean you should immediately jump to some extreme ballerina diet. It means you need to adjust your expectations about how fast and how easy this process will be. If you sign up at Spark people, your initial caloric range is likely to be around 2000 calories and they would spread the weight loss goal of about 30 lbs over the course of 9 months or so. They have a group there called the Slowest Loser that focuses on incremental baby steps - I think it might be a good fit for you. You need to not think about restrictive, temporary, diets. You need to focus on changing your relationship to food so that you find healthy choices that fit your caloric range and still fill you up. You need to find foods you enjoy and are comfortable eating so that a day’s worth adds up to about 2000 calories. Then, you can start adjusting that downward - what sort of healthy choices can you make to take it down to 1900? The point is, you want to change your overall eating habits so that you’re comfortable when you find an amount that facilitates your weight loss. The key is making little baby steps gradually, so that your body and mind adjust a little at a time, rather than suddenly jumping into the Hunger Games Diet and feeling miserable. Good luck - you can do this, one small step at a time. Oh - and start weight lifting. Muscle tissue weighs more than fat tissue but it burns calories faster. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/40 "2011-02-16T15:47:14Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I don’t think you’ve been looking closely enough then - it’s definitely there. I know that. I never said that it doesn’t exist. What I said is that I don’t see a whole lot of sneering on this matter. People offer comments – some helpful, some misguided – but that’s not the same as ridiculing people who have a hard time trimming down. The problem is that fitness and obesity are hot-button topics. Yes, some people will be mean-spirited. However, because these are hot-button issues, a lot of other people will tend to be hypersensitive about it. People will tend to perceive sneering where none exists, and they will tend to be outraged by otherwise harmless comments. Hence the frequent comments of “I just know that people will be sneering at me if I join a gym, so I won’t do it!” whenever there’s a discussion of gym etiquette and annoyances. > [@](#): > > > [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > > > Stoid: > > > > I think you’re getting too bogged down by the numbers. Forget the precise number of calories vs. precise amount of weight loss. Fact is, you can lose weight. And you do it by eating less. If you’re not losing weight, it simply means you have to eat less than whatever you’re eating now. > > This kind of post, while not mean-spirited, is not helpful. It is NOT SIMPLE for some people. There is A LOT more going on in the human body than just calories eaten and calories burned. With all due respect, that’s an example of what I was talking about. **Crafter\_Man** didn’t say that losing weight was quick or easy. Rather, he correctly stated that the underlying principle – burning more calories than what one consumes – is simple. That’s not the same as saying that the struggle won’t be difficult or that the results will be attained quickly. I can see how someone might say “Oh, **Crafter\_Man** thinks that weight loss takes practically no effort! He must be looking down his nose at us fatties!” Still, that’s not what he said. Because obesity is such a volatile and emotion-laden issue though, people tend to read more into such comments than what is actually there. > [@](#): > > I saw a news story a while ago about calorie information on food packages - an insane amount of them were just plain wrong. That might be part of the problem with calorie counting - bad information in. If that is true (and I can believe that it is), then I can agree with it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543.md?page=3)