People are overweight because of the abundant availability of affordable food. We have to fight instinct to not follow our genetic conditioning. Oil has fuelled (sic) massive hikes in food production and therefore population growth (sic).

Dieting is counter instinctive. You can't blame people for following their instincts.

Oh my goodness.

Two years ago i weighed in at a whopping 425 pounds.
today, i weigh 260 pounds.

Weight loss is not so complicated. For those who want it enough, it is very achievable.

Someone posted that you have to eat less calories than you burn during a workout to lose weight. This is not exactly accurate. Here is how weight loss works for me, using the Harris-Benedict Principle. This principle generally overestimates Caloric necessity by 5-10% if you are a person of average/below average lean body mass. (i use this because i am an amateur body builder). here, an equation that is allegedly more accurate
http://www.caloriesperhour.com/tutorial_BMR.html (this is the Miflin Equation, i think)

Your body will burn x amount of calories daily just because you are alive. This number is known as your Basal Metabolic Rate. There are methods to calculating this number to a certain degree: here is the one i have had the most success with :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SK2kNBdV3E

Next, you should augment your BMR based on the amount of exercise you do per week, as i will show.
So, once you have your daily caloric necessity, you should aim for a caloric deficit between 200-500 calories.
I will show my numbers, for the sake of clarity

Weight:260 lbs
Height:5'9"
Age:18
BMR= 66+1612+876.3=2554.3
Now, as for my activity level...
-If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
-If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
-If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
-If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
-If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9
I will use BMRx1.55 because i complete three full body workouts weekly and 30 mins cardio daily.
so, 2554.3*1.55=3,959.165
i currently consume ~3200 calories per day, leaving me with a caloric deficit of ~700 cal/day (because i have learned my body can handle it). across one week, i will lose roughly 4900 calories due to my restricted diet alone.
one pound of fat=3500 calories. 4900/3500=1.4 pounds lost per week. I usually lose more than this simply due to the crazy amounts of exercise that i do.
and now the most important part
The most important part of losing weight is the diet, and the most important part of the diet is its composition. Again, i will show the Macronutrient breakdown that i use.
i consume 3200 cal per day.
40%Protein=1280cal/4=320g
40%Carbohydrate=1280cal/4=320g
20%fat=640cal/9=~71g
Protein/Carbohydrates contain roughly 4 calories per gram;fat is 9 calories per gram(http://www.caloriesperhour.com/tutorial_gram.php)
and that is how weight loss is done.

Not even sure why i posted this...

(March 18, 2014 at 9:13 pm)Aractus Wrote: It's the fat people who don't care about the very real health issues, and most of them don't believe it will happen to them.

Wait wait, I am confuse. Are you still in character arguing your satire, or was the satire not a satire at all?

(March 18, 2014 at 10:12 am)Aractus Wrote: Yeah I thought I'd post this in the quintessential format that atheists choose on the Religion forum. It really does my head in.

What I've learned so far disturbs me greatly. People are so, so dumb.

I know people who worry about their weight, but don't do anything to change their destructive/unhealthy lifestyles! It's like they never bothered learning nutrition and they don't want to learn it now.

This is what I've learned: people are extremely ignorant. In fact they're so unaware that they try "fad diets" with no concept as to why it would or wouldn't work. They say that they want to lose weight - but don't even bother to make the easy small changes to their eating habits that would guarantee it!!

Like true, I don't really understand how my car engine works and that's why I let a mechanic take care of it - but we're talking about our bodies, how do people not take proper care of their own bodies???

So seriously, how is it that people are so, so dumb??

Says the man who believes in Jesus despite the total lack of evidence........

How is someone dumb enough to be fat? The same way a person is dumb enough to be ruled by religion I guess

(March 19, 2014 at 3:28 am)Jovanian Teapot Wrote: Two years ago i weighed in at a whopping 425 pounds.
today, i weigh 260 pounds.

Just one question - how long did it take you to get to 425lbs? Longer or shorter than 48 months?

Quote:Your body will burn x amount of calories daily just because you are alive. This number is known as your Basal Metabolic Rate.

Correct. For an average man it's 2500, average woman 2000, once you're older than 40 your requirements drop by 200 calories - and, someone that is overweight or obese requires more than average to maintain weight (thus has a higher metabolism), and for this reason can eat 2500 calories/day (man) and lose weight.

Quote:i currently consume ~3200 calories per day, leaving me with a caloric deficit of ~700 cal/day (because i have learned my body can handle it). across one week, i will lose roughly 4900 calories due to my restricted diet alone.
one pound of fat=3500 calories. 4900/3500=1.4 pounds lost per week. I usually lose more than this simply due to the crazy amounts of exercise that i do.

Not 100% accurate. One pound of fat yields 3500 calories. One pound of muscle yields 600 calories. If you are losing more weight than your maths shows then it could be because you are losing muscle as well as fat which will drop your weight faster. Whereas if you are building muscle mass then the net result should be lower weight loss than your maths.

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(March 19, 2014 at 2:45 am)max-greece Wrote: I'd say we are bombarded with commercials for fast food all the time - and fast food is a MAJOR contributor to obesity in our societies.

I agree. In fact, I think people are educated through experience and when they eat take away or other pre-prepared meals it teaches them that "this is a meal".

Quote:This is bad in Greece but its worse in the UK. I catch a lot of UK TV and the sheer number of ads for take-away's is astonishing. KFC, McDonnalds, Fast Food Chefs (with an ad about stopping people cooking over the weekend), pizzas (various) and so on.

Well yes, but also they want you to "supersize" and bundle meals etc. I had a burger not long ago at a local chain, it really wasn't very good I can make much better at home, and I was asked three times if I wanted chips and gravy. THREE TIMES! I feel like going back with rape-crisis flyers "no means no" and putting them up all over their joint.

Quote:Genuinely what proportion of our meals are prepared at home any more?

That makes no difference since you have healthy or unhealthy options for takeaway anyway. If you're eating takeaway more than once a day - and you aren't eating healthy meals - then it is indeed cause for concern.

Quote:Even if you do stagger to the supermarket - how many pre-prepared meals are there on the shelves, in the refrigerators and frozen for you to choose from?

No idea, because I've never bought one. In fact I spend extremely little time in the isles since I generally go straight to meat/produce/baked goods and then the fridge for eggs, cheese, milk, bacon...

Actually depends how technical you want to get - the 2-minute noodles I used to eat. But they don't have enough calories to be a problem if you eat them as a meal, if you eat them as a snack you may be in trouble!

Quote:Why are people overweight?

The food industry.

It's easy to blame others, but I wouldn't do so

(March 19, 2014 at 2:20 am)FlyingNarwhal Wrote: Dude I really don't give a fuck about being a fat guy. If I die from a heart attack, I'll die happy knowing I ate more cheeseburgers than you.

See? Apathy.

That's how a lot of people get fat. Myself included. For many of us, it has nothing to do with ignorance, food addiction, or just being dumb. We just don't really care that much.

There are so many factors that go into being over weight.

I gained 10 lbs after quitting smoking and I eat mindfully and exercise. Rarely do I exceed 1,600 calories in a day but my body STILL put on 10 lbs. I'm not over weight but it bothers the crap out of me so now instead of doing what was working before I have to be more extreme.

I just love that this thread morphed into a serious discussion of weight loss and nutrition

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(March 19, 2014 at 9:26 am)No_God Wrote: There are so many factors that go into being over weight.

I gained 10 lbs after quitting smoking and I eat mindfully and exercise. Rarely do I exceed 1,600 calories in a day but my body STILL put on 10 lbs. I'm not over weight but I bothers the crap out of me so now instead of doing what was working before I have to be more extreme.

If you exercise, maybe you put on muscle mass?

Oh hell no. It's totally fat haha

I'm not ashamed to admit it because I did something good for myself by not smoking.