# 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:** 28
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/541 "2011-03-11T00:09:10Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > I did the numbers in my head. I just did the numbers _exactly_. The **whole recipe,** which was halved to begin with, was 885. > > I ate a little more than half of it. Say 500 cal for that. > Add 200 for two tablespoons of butter. > 700. > I was off by 100. > Positively earthshattering. But calories don’t count, right? It’s the composition of the calories, which you have been arguing all along. ---
**Author:** ![BabaBooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@BabaBooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BabaBooey)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/542 "2011-03-11T00:09:46Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Dieters rewarding themselves with taboo food is like smokers rewarding themselves with cigarettes after going a couple of days without. It defeats the purpose. Bullshit. Just finished10 days on Atkins induction, 1 day off, 10 on, 1 off, 7 on, 4 off (Mardi Gras). Started at 207 and as of yesterday (after 4 days of being bad, though not much worse than I used to eat), water weight returned and all, I was at 192. And here I am, after 4 days of fun, on my second day of induction, not falling off the deep end, ready to lose the next 15lbs with a similar method (no 4 day stretch, though). That someone on a diet can’t cheat, so long as they are disciplined, is absurd. > [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > The last time I “cheated” was on January 31st. My daughter’s birthday. I had a slice of pizza, leaving the edge of the crust on my plate, and half a slice of her birthday cake, and a beer. Despite being exhausted after the party, my heart was racing and I didn’t get to sleep until nearly midnight. > > Decided after then that it just wasn’t worth it. I didn’t realize how awful I felt after eating baked goods until I went for weeks without having them and then did. I had a lot more than a slice, but my first cheat after the 10th day gave me the same results. Pigged out during a late night movie, went to bed, and woke up an hour later with my heart trying to escape from my chest. The next two times where I had my first carbs after 10 days went smoothly, though. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/543 "2011-03-11T00:17:52Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > OK, would you just drop it? Jeezusfuckingkeeeristonacrutch.:rolleyes: Yes. As a fat person, I can assure you that we’re fat, not stupid. The excess weight doesn’t cause us to forget math. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/544 "2011-03-11T00:20:33Z")
> [@ladyfoxfyre](#): > > But calories don’t count, right? It’s the composition of the calories, which you have been arguing all along. By jove I think you’ve got it! > [@Stoid](#): > > \*\*\*But it doesn’t really matter either way: I chose to eat a big chunk of cornbread with butter. 600 calories or 6,000 makes absolutely no difference to anything. \*\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/545 "2011-03-11T00:23:09Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > Yes. As a fat person, I can assure you that we’re fat, not stupid. Makes me wonder all of a sudden… what does the slang term “fathead” mean? Is that big ego? ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/546 "2011-03-11T00:37:13Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > But it doesn’t really matter either way: I chose to eat a big chunk of cornbread with butter. 600 calories or 6,000 makes absolutely no difference to anything. I think this is a point that a lot of people are having a hard time understanding. Are truly claiming that, all other things being equal, the amount of calories one consumes has no bearing on whether or not they gain/lose weight? That a person can eat 10,000 calories a day and not gain weight, provided they eat certain foods/types of foods? Are there caveats/assumptions in there that I missed, e.g. we’re assuming the person stops eating as soon as they feel full? Apologies if you’ve covered this earlier in the thread – I’ll confess to having skimmed in several places. ---
**Author:** ![Gestalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90ced4/32.png) [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/547 "2011-03-11T00:47:00Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > Hey, **Submerged**? _waves politely_ Can you take a break from being a jerk to **Stoid** and talk to me for a minute? I promise it won’t hurt. > > I eat _very much_ like what **Stoid** just described, minus the cornbread of course, and have been doing it religiously since the beginning of January. Since January 19th, I have lost 2.5 inches on my hips, 2 on my waist, 1.5 on my bust, and 15 pounds. I have done this _without exercising_, so it’s just diet and nothing else. According to my scale, which measures body fat, I’m down about 4% body fat since I started. I’m down a pants size and am well on my way to the next one. Acquaintances are beginning to ask me how much weight I’ve lost and what I’m doing. Am I really just getting fatter and I don’t realize it? Or have I lost a clothing size worth of water weight? > > You can deny it works all you want. You can disbelieve my single anecdote. So I’ll just point you in the direction of [Dave](http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-unconquerable-dave/). And there’s more where he comes from. > > Please tell that guy he’s fatter. He’d probably kill you with his bare hands. 😉 **Drain Bead** , if you don’t mind me asking, how much do you need to lose in terms of weight or inches? I need to lose 3.5-4 inches off my waist (roughly corresponding to about 50 lbs for me but I don’t keep track of weight v. much) and am just wondering what kind of progress I can expect. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/548 "2011-03-11T01:27:12Z")
> [@Gestalt](#): > > **Drain Bead** , if you don’t mind me asking, how much do you need to lose in terms of weight or inches? I need to lose 3.5-4 inches off my waist (roughly corresponding to about 50 lbs for me but I don’t keep track of weight v. much) and am just wondering what kind of progress I can expect. I need to lose about 60 more pounds to get to a “normal” BMI. I’m down approximately 30 from my absolute high. The first 15 I lost while I was half-assing Primal (I would eat following my diet for breakfast and dinner, and mostly on weekends, but not always at lunch, and I would sometimes snack). The second 15 is the one I talk about, that I’ve lost since January when I really started cracking down, and started really paying attention not only to what I eat, but to my measurements and scale weight. But that weight means nothing, really. I’m 5’11" and have a pretty good waist-hip ratio. It takes me about 25 pounds to lose a size, whereas shorter women would lose several sizes in 25 pounds. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/549 "2011-03-11T01:35:48Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Seriously??? Srsly What do you think of that recipe review? ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/550 "2011-03-11T02:08:52Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > Apologies if you’ve covered this earlier in the thread – I’ll confess to having skimmed in several places. No problem… (honesty and asking nicely go a long way with me) > [@](#): > > I think this is a point that a lot of people are having a hard time understanding. Are truly claiming that, all other things being equal, the amount of calories one consumes has no bearing on whether or not they gain/lose weight? That a person can eat 10,000 calories a day and not gain weight, provided they eat certain foods/types of foods? Are there caveats/assumptions in there that I missed, e.g. we’re assuming the person stops eating as soon as they feel full? Essentially, yes. (although my god, 10,000 calories is a horrifying amount of food.) It is a hard notion to wrap one’s head around, I absolutely agree. It’s like…wait…what??? How can that possibly be? Couple things: _I_ claim nothing when it comes to Taubes’ book, contrary to many persons’ misstatements. I am conveying _his_ ideas, which happen to make an enormous amount of sense to me, now that I have, thanks to Taubes, a much better understanding of how the whole calories-nutrients-sugars-insulin-fats-fatty-acids-etc chemistry works. Secondly, the theory is yes, no amount of calories matter to a correctly functioning fat regulation system, because a correctly functioning fat regulation system will do whatever is necessary to make sure that the correct amount of fat is in the cells, no more, no less, and it will rev up as needed to burn off anything extra. As startling as the idea seems when viewed from this perspective, it’s actually very familiar to most of us in the form of very lean people who have big appetites and never gain weight. Since you skimmed you may have missed this post from earlier today (which remains unanswered): > [@Stoid](#): > > By the way, a very serious question for those who still insist it’s all about energy balance. > > What is your explanation for the people, and we all know them, who really can stuff themselves and never gain an ounce? He’s an imperfect example, because he’s an athlete, but supposedly Micheal Phelps could and did pack away 15,000 calories a day. Since super hard swimming burns about 600 calories an hour, even 10 solid, unbroken hours of swimming (which he did not do!) would only burn 6,000. Say his swimming burns 1000 an hour… he’s still 5,000 over if he swims 10 hours a day, and there’s no way he does. (Google says 6 hours). > > But forget him… I think every one of us has known people who could scarf up prodigious amounts of food and remain slim. If calories in/out is the name of the game, how do you explain that? And if you explain that by saying that some people are fortunate enough to have freakyass fast metaboilisms that blaze through every excess calorie…what stops you from turning that over and seeing the other end of it, where unfortunate people have freakyass slow metabolisms that manage to turn a stalk of celery into fat? And of course, given this, why so much resistance to the idea at all when we’ve all seen it in action? We all know people who can stuff themselves with impunity. It’s harder to imagine someone who has already demonstrated their tendency to gain being able to do the same, but the theory applies to everyone: if the fat regulation system ([post 484](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13553569&postcount=484), which is a direct lift from the book: The First Law of Adiposity, body fat is carefully regulated, if not exquisitely so.) is functioning normally, it will prevent obesity. That’s its job. What it will _also_ do, of course, is make it far less likely that you’d have the slightest desire to eat 10,000 calories to begin with-as part of the system’s process, it will tell you that you are satisfied and shut down your appetite. But _ **it is not** _ because it tells you not to eat 10Kcals that you wouldn’t gain: That is a misstatement and misunderstanding that has been pushed around, that somehow everything all the low carb advocates are saying boils down to nothing more complicated than using carb restriction as an appetite suppressant which will result in eating fewer calories and therefore weight loss. This is how the people who actually recognize that carb restriction works reconcile that reality with their rigid conviction that the only issue in weight regulation is energy balance (calories in/out). The problem with that, of course, is that it’s not at all what Taubes says or means, and it willfully ignores his clear and consistent rejection of the idea that energy balance is the key. [Post 407](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13552077&postcount=407) is from the book, and this is from the introduction, wherein he tells us what he’s going to tell us: > [@](#): > > The first part of this book will present the > **evidence against the calories-in/calories-out > hypothesis.** > > … > They argued, as I will, that **it is absurd to > think about obesity as caused by overeating** > because anything that makes people > grow-whether in height or in weight, in > muscle or in fat-will make them overeat. > > I will argue in this book that\*\* the fault lies > entirely with the medical orthodoxy-both the > belief that excess fat is caused by consuming > excess calories, and the advice that stems > from it. \*\* > > I’m going to argue that\*\* this > calories-in/calories-out paradigm of adiposity > is nonsensical: that we don’t get fat because > we eat too much and move too little, and that > we can’t solve the problem or prevent it by > consciously doing the opposite\*\*. So while [some](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13548785&postcount=366) [will](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13527897&postcount=254) argue that it’s just that the appetite is reduced and that’s why it works, anyone who asserts, as [some](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13552573&postcount=449) have done, that this is what Taubes’ intends us to understand from the book, they are clearly mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/551 "2011-03-11T02:13:48Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Srsly > > What do you think of that recipe review? I think I’d go ahead and try the recipe s it was written. (if it appealed to me, of course.) ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/552 "2011-03-11T02:56:25Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Essentially, yes. (although my god, 10,000 calories is a horrifying amount of food.) > > It is a hard notion to wrap one’s head around, I absolutely agree. It’s like…wait…what??? How can that possibly be? > > Couple things: _I_ claim nothing when it comes to Taubes’ book, contrary to many persons’ misstatements. I am conveying _his_ ideas, which happen to make an enormous amount of sense to me, now that I have, thanks to Taubes, a much better understanding of how the whole calories-nutrients-sugars-insulin-fats-fatty-acids-etc chemistry works. > > Secondly, the theory is yes, no amount of calories matter to a correctly functioning fat regulation system, because a correctly functioning fat regulation system will do whatever is necessary to make sure that the correct amount of fat is in the cells, no more, no less, and it will rev up as needed to burn off anything extra. > > As startling as the idea seems when viewed from this perspective, it’s actually very familiar to most of us in the form of very lean people who have big appetites and never gain weight. Since you skimmed you may have missed this post from earlier today (which remains unanswered): As one of the those lean people who doesn’t gain weight I’m far from an expert on weight loss. (Although this is less true as I’ve gotten older, plus I exercise and eat fairly well by conventional definitions: minimal processed foods, whole grains as much as possible, lean proteins, etc. so it’s hard to say what my weight would be if I ate a lot of junk and didn’t exercise.) So I can’t really intelligently argue against what you’ve put forth, although it does seem that it only explains why people with efficient metabolisms don’t gain weight, not why people with slower metabolisms can completely ignore calories as a relevant variable in trying to achieve weight loss. Not the only variable, to be sure, but a relevant one. As an outside observer to the obesity epidemic, the CDC data showing the universally soaring obesity rates over the last 30 years would seem to indicate that there is clearly non-genetic component that has changed. My personal theory is that processed foods and soda are primarily to blame, with lower exercise rates and larger average portion sizes being factors as well, but that’s just my personal gut feeling. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/553 "2011-03-11T03:09:33Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > I think I’d go ahead and try the recipe s it was written. (if it appealed to me, of course.) OK, but I was asking about the recipe review itself. Do you find any problem with someone taking what’s been a fairly successful recipe for everyone else, mixing up the instructions and throwing in the mix whatever the cook feels like, and then blaming the recipe when it doesn’t actually work? ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/554 "2011-03-11T03:13:06Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > My personal theory is that processed foods and soda are primarily to blame, with lower exercise rates and larger average portion sizes being factors as well, but that’s just my personal gut feeling. There’s also another reasonable theory that shows where high subsidies to corn farmers lowered the price of corn so dramatically, it became cost effective to start placing high fructose corn syrup into just about everything on the market as an alternative to less empty caloried alternatives. ---
**Author:** ![TravisFromOR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@TravisFromOR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TravisFromOR)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/555 "2011-03-11T03:14:52Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > I think I’d go ahead and try the recipe s it was written. (if it appealed to me, of course.) > [@Enderw24](#): > > OK, but I was asking about the recipe review itself. Do you find any problem with someone taking what’s been a fairly successful recipe for everyone else, mixing up the instructions and throwing in the mix whatever the cook feels like, and then blaming the recipe when it doesn’t actually work? See, she said, “if it appealed to [her].” Obviously, a strict diet that requires self denial and dedication didn’t appeal to her, so like in your ( **Enderw24** ) example, she would just do what she wants, then blame the recipe. She’s finally found something that allows her to stuff her face, which appeals to her. (Although she still isn’t following the instructions, what-with the whole cornbread thing.) ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/556 "2011-03-11T05:01:14Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > not why people with slower metabolisms can completely ignore calories as a relevant variable in trying to achieve weight loss. They can’t, unless they lower their carbs sufficiently to correct their system. > [@](#): > > As an outside observer to the obesity epidemic, the CDC data showing the universally soaring obesity rates over the last 30 years would seem to indicate that there is clearly non-genetic component that has changed. My personal theory is that processed foods and soda are primarily to blame, with lower exercise rates and larger average portion sizes being factors as well, but that’s just my personal gut feeling. It is genetic (largely - that’s how we’re all made, after all, is via the genetic blueprint). But until the last 30 years of (Fat is bad! Eat more “heart healthy” carbs! Avoid meat! Stock up on cereal and grain! Fat? Well, for god’s sake don’t eat fat or meat! Just keep going with the carbs and someday it will work!" it wasn’t aggravated so frequently. Our consumption of carbohydrates, both good (whole grains, high fiber) and bad (soda soda soda…) has soared. Then, when our regulatory mechanism has collapsed under the onslaught and take to turning everything into fat, the “cure” we’re handed is…more of the same thing that got us in this fix, until we are the fattest nation on earth. If you’d encountered the Pima indians in the 1850s, you would have noted, as a particular Army battalion did at the time, that they were “sprightly” and “in fine health”. You would also have noted, as he did, that they had “The greatest abundance of food”-storehouses full of it, so much that at the request of the governement they shared it with tens of thousands of travelers passing through during the next decade of the gold rush. If you’d gone back in first few years of the 20th century, you would have found, as two different anthropologists did, that the formerly fit Pima “exhibit a degree of obesity that is in striking contrast with the ‘tall and sinewy’ Indian conventionalized in popular thought.” What changed? Well, in the 1850s, they were eating fish & clams, hunting, raising cattle and chickens, and growing melons, figs, beans and corn. In the by 1900, they were living on government rations that were made up of…wait for it…white flour and sugar. The point being that the diet brought out the genetic predisposition then, in the Pima, and it has today, in millions of Americans who, if they were eating more like we did 50 years ago, would not be obese. > [@Enderw24](#): > > OK, but I was asking about the recipe review itself. Do you find any problem with someone taking what’s been a fairly successful recipe for everyone else, mixing up the instructions and throwing in the mix whatever the cook feels like, and then blaming the recipe when it doesn’t actually work? What are you talking about, Ender? Because you seem confused. First, what “successful recipe” for “everyone” could you possibly be referring to? Rising tide of obese people need to know as soon as possible, cuz not much is working for them, and they are certainly part of “everyone”. Obesity researchers want to know, too, because they are about at the end of their own ropes. Second, what instructions are getting mixed up? What recipe is being blamed for not working? By me, anyway. The only thing I said wasn’t working was starving. And I did it for about six weeks, stuck with it like glue and lost a pound or two. I was extremely uncomfortable on several fronts. In this, I am not at all unusual. I’ve been eating low carb (almost accidentally, since I had planned to sort of finish up my carby groceries, just found I’d rather let the bread go moldy.) for 9 days. I’ve lost 6 pounds. On one of those days I treated myself to cornbread. I’m ok with that, not complaining about a thing. So please abandon the hypothetical examples and be clear. ---
**Author:** ![Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9adbd/32.png) [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fell_through_the_Ice)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/557 "2011-03-11T05:12:25Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > I’ve lost 6 pounds. Of water. Not fat. ---
**Author:** ![TravisFromOR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@TravisFromOR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TravisFromOR)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/558 "2011-03-11T05:16:28Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Second, what instructions are getting mixed up? What recipe is being blamed for not working? By me, anyway. The only thing I said wasn’t working was starving. And I did it for about six weeks, stuck with it like glue and lost a pound or two. I was extremely uncomfortable on several fronts. In this, I am not at all unusual. A whole six weeks you say? That’s nearly a month and a half! And it didn’t work? No wonder you’re condemning normal dieting. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/559 "2011-03-11T05:31:33Z")
> [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](#): > > Of water. Not fat. You guys are cracking me up. What is the dog you have in this hunt, anyway? Have you stopped to think about it? Are you personal trainers and diet coaches who need to crush any idea that threatens your livelihood? ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543/560 "2011-03-11T05:35:12Z")
> [@TravisFromOR](#): > > A whole six weeks you say? That’s nearly a month and a half! And it didn’t work? No wonder you’re condemning normal dieting. Actually, I’ve always condemned normal dieting, that’s not really new. I just thought I’d try it again, since so many people seem so convinced it’s the big answer, and also convinced that fat people are all delusional about their intake. Hey, could be…let’s see. Turns out not so much. But I’m very glad I brought it up to discuss, because Angel sent me Taubes’ book. So it’s all good and life moves forward in a much happier way than before! Yay! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543.md?page=27) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-unhappily-report-that-i-am-right-about-obesity-and-diet-very-long/571543.md?page=29)